How do painters use before and after photos to get calls?
Before and after photos let a homeowner picture the result, so they belong on your profile, your site, and your social pages. A homeowner who cannot imagine her faded siding in a new color can look at a house like hers that you already painted. The photos also show her that you are a real company doing real work in her town, which is what she wants to know before she lets a crew onto her property.
Why do before and after photos help a painter get calls?
Painting is hard to buy because the homeowner is paying for something she cannot see yet. She has a color chip the size of a business card and a house that has looked the same for fifteen years, and she has to trust that the two will come together. A before and after pair closes that gap. She can see a tired front porch and then the same porch finished, and she can picture her own.
Photos also answer a question she may never say out loud, which is whether your work is any good. Anyone can write that they do quality work. A clean cut line along the trim, taken in daylight on a house two streets over, says it for you. For a homeowner deciding which painter to call, that picture often carries more weight than any sentence on your website.
What makes a before and after photo worth showing?
The best pairs are taken from the same spot, at about the same time of day, so the only thing that changed is the paint. When the before shot is a close up on a gray afternoon and the after shot is a wide view in full sun, a homeowner can tell the comparison is not quite fair, and it makes her trust the photo less.
Honest photos of ordinary jobs do more for you than a few polished showpieces. A homeowner with a small ranch house wants to see small ranch houses, and one with a dated kitchen wants to see kitchens. A short note with each pair helps too, such as the part of town, the kind of job, and anything the homeowner asked for, because it lets the next homeowner match the photo to her own house.
Where should a painter put before and after photos?
Each place catches the homeowner at a different point in her search. Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing she sees when she searches for painters near her, and photos of finished jobs are one of the things that make a profile look complete and current. The Google Business Profile checklist covers the rest of what belongs there.
Your website is where she goes when she is seriously considering you, and a gallery of your own jobs is part of what a home service website needs so homeowners call. Your social pages keep your work in front of people who already know you, including past customers and their neighbors.
Do I need the homeowner's permission to post photos of their house?
Yes, ask first every time. Homeowners who liked the work are often happy to say yes, and asking shows respect for the fact that it is their home. Some will say no, often because they do not want the house recognized online, and that is their right.
Even with a yes, leave out anything that identifies the address or the family, such as house numbers, license plates, and people in the frame. A photo that shows your work and nothing personal protects the customer and still does its job for you. If you are unsure about the rules where you work, that is a question for someone who knows your local law.
Why do painters end up with good photos they never post?
The photos usually exist. The crew lead took them on his phone, the owner took a few more at the final walkthrough, and they are sitting in camera rolls next to receipts and pictures of the kids. Nobody has asked the customer for permission yet, and nobody has the time on a Friday night to pick the best pair and put it anywhere.
That is how a painting company with years of good work can have a Google Business Profile with four photos, two of them of the truck. The company has plenty of material, and posting it is simply nobody's job, so it happens only when someone remembers.
What a fix looks like
In a painting company that has fixed this, the photos from each finished job come off the crew lead's phone the day the crew wraps up, and the homeowner's answer about posting them is written down with the job. Each week the best pair goes on the Google Business Profile and into the website gallery, so a homeowner searching for painters near her sees houses and rooms that were finished last month. Past customers see the same work on the company's social pages, and the name is fresh in their minds when a neighbor asks who painted their house.
Home Service Guild keeps your Google Business Profile complete with those finished jobs and builds the gallery on your website as part of Getting Found, all in your company's name and using only the photos each homeowner agreed to.
Questions owners also ask
Should interior jobs get before and after photos too?
Yes. A homeowner planning a kitchen or a stairwell wants to see rooms like hers, and interior jobs are easy to photograph from the same spot twice. Keep family photos, mail, and anything personal out of the frame.
Is it all right to edit before and after photos?
Straightening a crooked shot or fixing the brightness is fine. Changing how the paint looks is not, because the homeowner who hires you based on that photo will compare it with her own house when the job is done.
How many photos should a painting company post?
There is no magic number. A steady flow of recent jobs tells a homeowner the business is active, while a gallery that stopped two years ago makes her wonder whether you are still around.
