What to photograph on every kitchen install (and how to find it later)

Most renovation companies already take photos. The problem is not the camera. It is that the record lives in a technician’s roll, a WhatsApp thread, or a shared drive named “final_final_2”. When a client disputes a scratch, an insurer asks for proof, or the office needs yesterday’s progress, nobody can find the picture that matters.

Kitchen installs make this worse. You are working in a finished home, around appliances, plumbing, electrics, and existing finishes. What you did not photograph will be argued later.

Shoot in three phases, not “whenever someone remembers”

One protocol, used on every job, beats a talented photographer who only documents the pretty after shots. Require the same three phases on every kitchen.

• Before anything is touched: room corners, existing worktops, splashbacks, flooring, adjacent rooms, and any pre-existing damage.
• During the job: services before they are covered, cabinet layout, appliance voids, and anything the client will never see again.
• At handover: finished elevations, appliances in place, seals and junctions, and a clean site.

If a photo cannot be found from the office in under a minute, it does not count as documentation. It is a souvenir.

The kitchen-specific shots offices forget to ask for

• Isolation valves, waste connections, and gas or electrical supplies before units go in.
• Walls and floors after old units are stripped, including moisture or out-of-level issues.
• Template or measure photos with a tape in frame when a worktop is going off-site.
• Appliance model labels and serials as they arrive, not after packaging is gone.
• The same elevation from the same spot at start, mid-install, and finish so progress is comparable.

Make filing the default, not a Friday task

A protocol only works if photos land on the job, not in a personal gallery. Field teams should capture against the project while they are on site. Office staff should be able to open that project and see the day without asking anyone to “send the pics”.

That is the bar we built for in RenovateForce: photos live on the project with the tasks, notes, and checklists for that kitchen, so the record is the job, not a side folder.