PlumbingBossPro Blog — Tech App

Before-and-After Photos in the Plumber App: Clogs, Leaks, Corroded Fittings and Old Tanks

Most plumbing work disappears behind a cabinet door, inside a wall or down a drain. The homeowner never sees the root ball in the main, the pinhole in the copper or the corrosion eating the top of the tank. All they see is a bill. Photos close that gap. The PlumbingBossPro tech app lets plumbers take before-and-after photos on the job and keeps them with the job, where the office and the customer can see them.

Photos Belong on the Job

The buttons that move a job through the day are covered in Start, Skip, Complete: The Three Buttons That Run a Plumber's Day. Photos are what the plumber takes between Start and Complete.

Photos taken in the app are saved with the job, not left in the plumber's camera roll among pictures of their kids and their fishing trip. The office sees them as soon as the job is complete. They stay with the job and the address, so they are there next year when someone asks what the water heater looked like at the last visit.

Clogs and Drain Work

Drain cleaning is the plumbing job customers question most, because the result is invisible. The drain works now. Was it really that bad? A few photos answer that:

• The standing water in the tub or the backed-up floor drain, before.
• What came out on the cable: hair, grease, wipes, roots.
• The same fixture draining clear, after.

A photo of a mass of roots pulled from a main line also does the selling for a camera inspection or a follow-up jetting visit. The customer can see why the plumber is recommending it.

Leaks

For leaks, the “before” photo shows where the water was coming from and the damage it was doing. A drip at a compression fitting under a sink, a sweating joint above a ceiling stain, a slow leak at the base of a toilet. The “after” shows the repair, dry. If the customer calls a month later about a new stain, the office can look at the photos and see whether it is the same spot or a different problem.

Corroded Fittings and Old Tanks

Corrosion is the clearest case for photos, because it is ugly and easy to understand. Green crust on a copper fitting, rust on a galvanized nipple, white scale built up around a water heater connection, rust streaks down the side of an old tank. A homeowner who sees those photos does not need a long explanation of why a repair or a replacement makes sense.

For water heaters, a photo of the data plate is worth taking every time. It records the brand, model and serial number exactly as printed, which helps keep the equipment card accurate. More on that in Recording Equipment on the First Visit: Building the House Record From the Plumber's Phone. A photo of the sediment drained on a flush makes the inspection report concrete.

Photos That End Arguments

Every plumbing company has had the call. “Your plumber was here and now there's water under the sink.” “We paid for a drain cleaning and it's slow again.” “I don't think anything was wrong with the water heater.” Without photos, it is the customer's word against the plumber's memory. With photos, the office can look at what the plumber saw and did, and have a calm conversation from facts.

Sometimes the photos show the customer was right and the company should go back. That is useful too. Either way, the office is not guessing.

Taking Photos That Help

A few habits make photos useful instead of a pile of blurry shots:

• Take the before photo before touching anything. Once the trap is off, the before is gone.
• Get one wide shot and one close-up. The wide shot shows where in the house it is. The close-up shows the problem.
• Use a flashlight. Under sinks and in crawlspaces, the phone's light or a work light makes the difference.
• Shoot the same angle after. Before and after from the same spot tells the story without words.
• Add a line in the notes. “Photo 3 is the corroded union on the cold side” helps the next plumber.

Photos upload with the job, so in a basement with weak signal the plumber may need to step outside before completing. That is covered in Basements, Crawlspaces and Weak Signal: Using the Plumber App Where Phones Struggle.

Photos Build Trust Over Time

A plumbing company that shows its work earns repeat calls. When the customer sees photos with the invoice, they understand what they paid for. When the next plumber sees last year's photos, they understand the house. For the rest of the tech app, visit the PlumbingBossPro plumber app page.