The 5 job photos every contractor should take

Say you build fences in Denton. Last week's job was 140 feet of cedar privacy fence, $6,800, and the only photo on your phone is a close-up of a post hole with a shovel in it. Nobody hires off a post hole. The homeowner's neighbor, who watched the whole thing go up and wants one too, has nothing to look at.

Most contractors take photos already. Twenty of the same thing, from wherever they happened to be standing and none of them line up. Five, in a fixed order, fixes that.

The crew photo is the one most contractors skip, and it's the one homeowners look at longest. They are hiring people, not pickets.

They are hiring people, not pickets.

Before you start

• Your phone, charged, with at least a few gigabytes free.
• Something to wipe the lens. A shirt tail works.
• The homeowner's first name, so you can ask for the OK.
• The lettered truck or a yard sign on site.

The routine

1. 1

   Step 1 - Take the wide before from the street

   Before anyone unloads a tool, stand at the curb and shoot the whole house, yard or system. Note where your feet are: a crack in the sidewalk, a mailbox post.

2. 2

   Step 2 - Take the problem close-up

   Get within arm's reach of what you were called for: the rotted fascia, the cracked coping, the rusted coil. One frame, in focus, nothing else in it. This is the photo that makes the after mean something.

3. 3

   Step 3 - Shoot the crew working

   Mid-job, take one photo of the crew doing the work. Faces are optional; shoot from behind if anyone would rather not be in it. Hands, tools and material going in are what a homeowner wants to see.

4. 4

   Step 4 - Take the wide after from the same spot

   Go back to the exact spot from step 1. Same distance, same height, same grip. Shoot the finished job. If the two wides do not line up, the before-and-after post falls flat.

5. 5

   Step 5 - Shoot the truck or sign in front of the finished work

   Pull the lettered truck up so the finished work is behind it, or plant the yard sign in the same view. Keep the phone number readable. This one goes on the Facebook Page and the website.

6. 6

   Step 6 - Shoot it right

   Wipe the lens first, every time. Hold the phone horizontal for Facebook and the website, vertical for Reels and TikTok. Tap the screen to focus. Never pinch to zoom; walk closer. Turn on the camera grid in your phone's camera settings so the before and the after line up.

7. 7

   Step 7 - Name and save the set

   Make one album per job in your photos app, named with the date, town and job type: 2026-09-20 Plano reroof. Move the five photos in before you leave the driveway. A month from now every gray roof looks the same.

8. 8

   Step 8 - Get the homeowner's OK

   Ask before you post any exterior shot with the house in it: "Mind if we post the before and after? We never show the address or street." Most say yes. Write the yes into the job notes.

The five frames, in order, shot the same way every job

Common mistakes

Different spots for before and after. The post only works if the two wides match. Stand on the same crack, hold the phone at the same height, and don't cheat closer because the fence looks better that way.

Dirty lens. A phone that's been in a work pocket since 7 a.m. shoots everything through a haze of drywall dust and thumb. Wipe it. Every time.

Shooting into the sun. Sun behind you or off to the side. A 4 p.m. wide facing west in Texas is a silhouette of a house.

Address numbers in the frame. Check the wides for house numbers and street signs before you post.

And yes, five is a lot to ask on every job. We argued about cutting it to four. Four leaves out the truck and the truck shot is the one that gets the phone call.

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