GarageDoorBossPro Blog — Commercial Doors

Before-and-After Photos on Commercial Door Jobs: Proof the Facility Manager Can See

On a residential job, the homeowner is usually standing in the driveway watching. On a commercial job, the person paying is often across town. They didn't see the bent track or the frayed cable, and they won't see the fixed door unless they walk out to the dock themselves. Photos close that gap.

Photos Live on the Job

Written inspection results are covered in Inspection Reports for Facility Managers: Showing What Was Checked on Every Door. Photos are the other half of the proof.

In GarageDoorBossPro, the tech takes before-and-after photos right in the tech app, and they stay attached to the job. The office sees them as soon as the job is completed, alongside the tech's notes and checklist results. Months later, when someone asks what was done to Dock 3, the photos are still on that job at that address.

What to Photograph

A few shots cover most commercial jobs:

• The whole door, before. Wide enough to show which door it is.
• The problem, close up. The dented section, the worn rollers, the damaged bottom seal.
• The label. Brand, model and serial, to back up the door record.
• The work, after. The same views again once the job is done.
• The whole door, after. Closed and open, working.

Ask techs to take the same set every time. Consistent photos are easier for the office to use and easier for the manager to understand.

Get the Number in the Frame

The most useful habit for commercial photos is getting the dock number, bay number or unit number in at least one shot. Eight dock doors look the same in a close-up. A photo with “4” painted above the door leaves no doubt which one was repaired.

The same goes for storage units and townhomes: a unit number on the door or an address number on the wall, in the first photo, ties everything else to the right place.

Photos for Approvals

When a tech finds more than the job called for, photos make the case. A manager asked to approve a section replacement is far more likely to say yes after seeing a photo of the cracked section. The office can build the estimate from the service list and send it for online approval, with the tech's photos and notes on the original job to point to.

For more on getting managers to approve, see Getting a Property Manager to Say Yes: Online Estimate Approval and Follow-Ups.

Photos for Disputes

Commercial doors take hits. A truck backs into a dock door, a forklift catches a bottom section, a tenant drives into a unit door. Sometimes the question comes up of when the damage happened. Before photos from the last maintenance visit, showing the door in good shape with the number in the frame, are a clear record.

Photos also settle the “did anyone actually come out?” question. A job with before-and-after photos and checklist results answers it without an argument.

Photos for Billing

Accounts payable offices sometimes ask for backup on a bill. When a property manager on monthly billing gets one statement with every address on its own line, the photos on each job are what the office can point to if a line is questioned. Clients can see their invoices in the customer app, and the office can answer questions with the job history in front of them.

That kind of backup is part of why commercial clients stay with a door company. Paperwork that answers questions before they become problems makes you easy to work with.

Photos on Maintenance Visits

Photos aren't only for repairs. On a maintenance visit, a quick before-and-after set of each door gives the client a picture of the whole building at that point in time. When the next visit comes around in 90 days, the tech can look at the last set and spot what changed. A bottom seal that was fine last time and torn now is easy to see side by side.

Keep maintenance photos simple: one wide shot per door with the number visible, plus close-ups of anything flagged on the checklist. That is enough to build a useful record without slowing the visit down.

The same habit helps new techs learn the building. Looking through the last visit's photos before walking in shows them every door, where it sits and what it looked like, before they ever meet the dock lead.

A Small Habit With a Big Payoff

Taking photos adds a minute or two to a job. On commercial accounts, it pays back in approvals, fewer disputes and managers who trust what they are paying for. Make it part of every commercial job, not just the big ones.

For how photos fit with door records, maintenance and billing, go back to the commercial garage door software page.