The 7 photos worth taking deliberately
1. The start-of-day condition shot. A wide photo of the work area before you begin: access, weather, what is ready and what is not. It sets the baseline everything else is measured against, and it is the first thing missing when a delay gets disputed later.
2. Whatever is blocking you. The unfinished predecessor work, the area you cannot get into, the services not yet in. This is the causation shot: it shows the delay was not yours, which is exactly the point a main contractor will push back on.
3. Idle plant and standing labour. The excavator parked up, the crew stood down, the crane sitting with nothing to lift. Standby and downtime cost real money, but only if you can show the plant and people were there and could not work.
4. The instruction you were given. A photo of the marked-up drawing, the sketch on the back of a docket, the whiteboard, or the message telling you to just crack on. Verbal instructions vanish; a photo of the direction is often what turns extra work into a paid dayworks or variation claim.
5. Progress against the programme. What actually got done that day, shot so it shows the gap between planned and real progress. Strung together over a week, these are a far stronger delay record than anything reconstructed after the fact.
6. Deliveries and what you were waiting on. What arrived, what did not, and the materials or information you were held up for. Waiting is recoverable time, but only if there is a dated record showing what you were waiting for and for how long.
7. The condition when you leave. Your finished work before another trade gets near it, plus any damage caused by others. This is your protection against back-charges and defect claims for things that were not your doing.
What makes a site photo actually count
The photo itself is only half of it. To carry weight later, each one needs a date and time, a clear location on site, and a short note on what it shows and why it matters, tied to the specific delay, daywork or variation it relates to. A photo sitting in your camera roll has none of that. A photo attached to a dated record has all of it.
Where DelaySolve fits
DelaySolve is built to capture these shots straight into a structured, dated record on site, so the photo, the cause, the affected works and the cost sit together instead of scattered across a phone. Start with the free DelaySolve tools to cost standby and downtime or build a dayworks docket, or see how DelaySolve works end to end. For the difference between a diary entry and a claim-ready record, see site diary vs delay record.
The bottom line
Taking photos is not the hard part; everyone does it. Taking the right photos, with enough context that they still mean something when a delay turns into a dispute, is what protects your margin. Decide the seven shots that matter, take them deliberately, and keep them somewhere they will not get lost.
FAQs
What photos should I take to support a delay claim?
Focus on cause and effect: the thing blocking your work, the plant and labour left standing because of it, and your progress against the programme. Each one needs a date and a note on what it shows, or it is hard to rely on later.
Do site photos need to be dated to be useful?
Yes. An undated photo is easy to challenge. A date, a location, and a short description of what the photo shows and why it matters are what turn a picture into evidence.
Where should I keep site photos so they do not get lost?
Not in a group chat or a personal camera roll that leaves with the phone. Keep them in a dated record tied to the specific delay, daywork or variation, so they are still there, and still make sense, when a claim is prepared.
