What to Photograph Before Your Neighbour Starts Building

Before demolition, digging or building starts next door, take dated wide and close-up photos of the parts of your property you can safely access. Record how they look now, including cracks and marks that are already there. The aim is to make it easy to find the same spot and take a comparable photo later.

Start at the boundary and work inwards

• Outside — Photograph the boundary fence and posts, retaining walls, paving, driveway and the walls on your side nearest the work. Include changes in level or existing gaps that can be seen safely.
• Inside — Start in rooms closest to the boundary. Take a wide shot of each relevant wall and closer shots of existing cracks around windows, doors, ceilings or skirting boards. Note any door or window that already catches.
• Shared or inaccessible areas — Make a note of any location you couldn’t see. Ask the owners corporation or building manager about shared areas. Take photos from places you can lawfully and safely access.

Take a wide shot, then a detail

For a crack over a window, take one photo showing the room, one showing the whole window and another close enough to see the crack. Where it is safe to do so, hold a ruler beside the mark in the close-up. Save the original photos and log the date, room and location. A useful entry might read “Rear bedroom, above the left side of the window, visible before excavation”. Keep an unedited copy of the files.

Check whether a formal survey is part of the work

Your photo log is a household record. If the relevant building surveyor determines that protection work is required in Victoria, the Building and Plumbing Commission explains how the formal survey of adjoining property is prepared and acknowledged before protection work begins. If you receive a notice or proposed survey, ask the relevant building surveyor about the process and how to flag areas the record has missed.

See the Victorian guidance on protecting adjoining properties and our guide to what a dilapidation report records.

Use the same viewpoint if something changes

If you spot a change later, keep the original photo and take a second one from the same position with the date and any observations. Photographs help show when a change was noticed. Determining what caused it can require a building professional. If you want an independent record before works start, see PrimeCheck’s dilapidation inspection service in Victoria.