GeoAfter every job, capture three things before you leave the driveway: three to six photos (before, during, after, a close detail, and a wide shot), a few lines of notes on what you did and why, and the town or neighborhood. That is all it takes to publish a job post on your website and a post on Facebook and Instagram. The rest of this guide is the checklist, with examples by trade.
Print it, put it in the truck, or save it on your phone.
The short version
Before you pull away, check off:
- Before photo (take it when you arrive, before you touch anything)
- During photo (one or two, showing the work in progress)
- After photo (same angle as the before, if you can)
- Detail photo (the part, the problem, or the craftsmanship up close)
- Wide photo (the setting: the house, the yard, the roofline)
- Notes: what the customer needed, what you found, what you did, what you used
- Location: the town or neighborhood
- Privacy check: no house numbers, plates, faces, or personal items in frame
Photos: the shot list
Before
Take this the moment you arrive. Crews forget this one more than any other, and it is the shot that makes the after photo mean something. Examples: the curling shingles, the rusted water heater, the overgrown bed, the peeling trim.
During
One or two photos of the work in progress. This is the shot that shows skill and care: new decking going down, the trench for a drain line, the panel with the cover off and wires dressed neatly, the pool shell before replaster.
After
The finished job. Shoot from the same spot and angle as the before photo when you can. Side-by-side before and after shots are easy for anyone to understand.
Detail
A close-up of the thing a homeowner would never see on their own: the flashing around a chimney, a clean solder joint, a new expansion tank, a backflow valve, a tight miter on new trim.
Wide
Step back and show the setting. The whole roofline, the yard with new sod, the room after the remodel. Leave out the house number.
Photo tips that make a real difference
- Wipe the lens. Phones live in pockets. A smudged lens is the most common reason job photos look hazy.
- Shoot with the light behind you. Avoid shooting straight into the sun or a bright window.
- Clean up the frame. Move the bucket, the scrap pile, and the ladder out of the after shot.
- Skip the filters. Google's Business Profile photo guidelines ask for photos that are in focus, well lit, and without heavy edits or filters. Real-looking photos build trust everywhere else too.
- Hold the phone steady. Brace against something for detail shots.
Notes: what to write
Notes do not need to be polished. They need to be specific. Answer these five questions in a sentence or two each:
- What did the customer need? "Water heater was leaking from the bottom."
- What did you find? "Tank was 14 years old and corroded through. No expansion tank."
- What did you do? "Replaced with a 50-gallon gas unit, added an expansion tank, new flex lines and shutoff."
- What did you use? Brand, model, material, or equipment, if it helps the story.
- Anything unusual? Tight crawlspace, code update, a second problem you caught.
Specifics are what make a post useful to a homeowner and to search engines. Google's guide to helpful, people-first content asks whether content shows first-hand expertise. "Another happy customer!" does not. "Found a cracked heat exchanger during a fall tune-up and shut the furnace down for safety" does.
Examples by trade
- Roofing: "Re-roof on a two-story in a cul-de-sac. Replaced soft decking near the valleys, added ice and water shield, architectural shingles, new ridge vent."
- HVAC: "Swapped a 20-year-old furnace and AC for a heat pump with a gas backup. Resized the return to fix a noisy, starved system."
- Plumbing: "Replaced galvanized supply lines under the kitchen with PEX after low pressure complaints."
- Landscaping: "Fall sprinkler blowout on a 9-zone system. Found and replaced two cracked heads in zone 4."
- Electrical: "Panel upgrade from 100 to 200 amps to make room for an EV charger."
- Painting: "Exterior repaint. Scraped and primed failing trim, replaced two rotted fascia boards first."
- Pools: "Opened the pool for the season, replaced a worn pump seal, balanced the water."
Location: what to record
Record the town or neighborhood where the job happened. That is what connects the job to the places you serve, both for customers reading your site and for search engines.
Keep it at the neighborhood level when you publish. "North side of Cedar Hills" is enough. The exact address stays private.
What not to post
- House numbers, street signs, and license plates
- Faces, unless the person agreed
- Personal items inside a home: family photos, mail, anything on the fridge
- Unsafe work. A photo of someone on a roof with no fall protection, or a ladder set up wrong, advertises the wrong thing.
- Complaints about the customer or the last contractor's work by name
- Other people's photos. Meta says Pages get the most distribution from original content they filmed or created, and accounts that repeatedly repost other people's work without permission get reduced distribution. Your own job photos are the best content you have.
Get the customer's OK
Most homeowners are happy to have their project shown, as long as they are asked. Two easy ways:
- Add a line to your contract or estimate saying you may photograph the work for your website and social pages, with no address or personal details shown.
- Ask at the final walkthrough: "Mind if we post a couple of photos of the job? No address."
If they say no, still take the photos for your records. Just do not publish them.
Where it all goes
One job's photos and notes can become:
- A job post on your website. Photos next to a short write-up, with plain file names and alt text. Google's image best practices say Google uses the surrounding text to understand images, so the notes matter as much as the photos.
- A Facebook and Instagram post. Lead with the before and after, and keep the caption short.
- A photo on your Google Business Profile. Google's tips for business photos suggest showing your team providing service. Upload a few of your best ones yourself from time to time.
Make it a habit
The checklist only works if it happens on every job, not just the big ones. Make it part of the crew lead's closeout, like picking up the trash and walking the job with the customer. Five minutes in the driveway is much easier than trying to remember the details at 7 p.m.
That closeout is what GeoUP is built around: a crew member's check-in with photos, notes, and location becomes a drafted post for your website and social pages.
Common questions
Do I need the customer's permission to post photos of their house?
It is the right thing to do and it avoids awkward calls later. Many contractors add a line to the contract or ask at the final walkthrough. Even with permission, keep house numbers, license plates, faces, and anything personal inside the home out of the photos, and name the neighborhood or town instead of the address.
What if the job looks boring, like a tune-up or a small repair?
Post it anyway, with a detail shot and a sentence on why it matters. A dirty furnace filter next to a clean one, a corroded anode rod, or a cracked sprinkler head is interesting to a homeowner who has the same equipment. Routine jobs show you do steady, reliable work.
Who on the crew should do the posting?
The crew lead, before leaving the driveway, while the details are fresh. It takes a few minutes. The office or owner can review and edit the post later. Waiting until the end of the day usually means notes get vague and photos get forgotten.
Turn every finished job into proof
GeoUP gives your crew this checklist as a phone check-in (photos, notes, location) and drafts the post for your website and social pages, which you can edit before it goes out.