Talk to any tradie who's been stung by a damage claim and they'll tell you the same thing: the time to protect yourself was the moment you arrived, not the moment the complaint landed. The first few minutes on site, before any work starts, is when you record what the place looked like. Miss it and you've got nothing to fall back on later.
The good news is the routine is simple. You don't need to document the whole property like a building inspector. You just need to cover the areas you'll be working in, and a few you won't. Here's how to do it without slowing your day down.
What to photograph
Think about where a complaint is most likely to come from, and aim your camera there. You're not trying to catalogue the entire house. You're protecting the spots where damage gets noticed and pinned on the last tradie through.
The work area itself
The floor, walls, and surfaces right where you'll be working. Get any existing chips, cracks, scuffs, or stains in shot. If it's already damaged, you want that on record before you start.
The path in and out
Hallways, doorways, stairs, and anywhere you'll be carrying gear or materials. Skirting boards and door frames cop knocks, and they're a common source of "you did that" claims.
Anything expensive nearby
Stone benchtops, glass, polished floors, a parked car in the driveway. High-value items are where clients chase the biggest repair bills, so they're worth thirty seconds each.
Any damage you actually spot
If you notice a cracked tile or a dented wall when you walk in, photograph it close up and make a note. Existing damage you've recorded can't be blamed on you later.
The two things that make photos hold up
A photo on its own is a decent start. Two extras turn it into proof.
The first is a date and location stamp. If a photo can be tied to a specific day and place, nobody can argue you took it after the complaint landed to cover yourself. Your phone records this in the background, but it's buried and easy to dispute. A condition report that stamps it openly is far stronger.
The second is the client's sign-off. If the owner or builder looks at your arrival photos and agrees that's how the place looked, the argument is basically over before it starts. It's the same idea as signing for a hire car. Both sides agree on the starting condition, so there's nothing to fight about at the end.
You won't always have the client standing there when you arrive. That's fine. Recording dated photos still protects you, and you can send them the report to confirm. The sign-off is the gold version, but the photos alone already put you miles ahead of a tradie with nothing.
Don't forget the walkthrough on the way out
The arrival photos prove what you walked into. The departure photos prove you left it the same way. Together they're a before-and-after that makes any new damage obvious, and any false claim fall apart.
This is the step tradies skip most, usually because the job's done and they're keen to get to the next one. But an arrival record with no departure record only tells half the story. Take two minutes on your way out to photograph the same areas again. It closes the loop.
How to make it actually stick
The reason most tradies don't do this isn't laziness. It's that fumbling with photos, notes, and emails feels like admin in the middle of a physical job. The trick is to make it one routine you run the same way every time, with a tool that handles the date, location, and storage for you.
When it's a quick tap-through that spits out a tidy report, it stops feeling like paperwork. It becomes the thing you do before you pick up a single tool, like checking you've got the right gear in the ute. Five minutes, every job, and you never have to argue from memory again.
Make the walkthrough a two-minute habit
TradieCheck guides you through the arrival and departure walkthrough, stamps every photo with date and GPS, and gets the client's signature on the spot.
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