They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
In the case of construction photography, it can deliver an indisputable audit trail and extreme peace of mind for construction managers.
The Board of Selectmen on Tuesday approved a request from the Saxe Building Committee for $21,640 to use the construction photography services of Multivista of Connecticut in order to document the Saxe Middle School project.
Penny Rashin, chairman of the Saxe Building Committee, said the firm’s construction photography would be used for the construction of the school’s new addition, not the renovation of the existing building.
As Rashin explained, Multivista takes photographs of the construction process at key junctures so as to capture whether the work is being done correctly and up to code.
In the case of the Saxe school project, photos will be taken at about 12 different intervals during the construction process.
The photos, Rashin said, essentially serve as an audit trail and are linked to the plans.
“So, if there’s a problem later… you can go back to these photos and find out…,” she said. “For example, there was one school that was being put up, and later there was a problem with it leaking. Well, when they went back and looked at [the installation of] the windows, they found that when the caulking was done, they caulked over the weep holes. So they knew exactly what the problem was and how to fix it.
“So, it’s a little bit like an insurance policy – and there are other ways they can use it,” she added.
Selectman Nick Williams said, “For a lawyer, it is like an insurance policy, because you have monitoring of the work that is being done – and if there’s a problem at the end, you have the proof.”
Another advantage, Rashin adds, is that “20 years for now, when we have a whole new staff, there’s still an audit trail…”
First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said he’d like to see construction photography considered for all major town construction projects.
“I love the idea – and when we have big construction projects, we should talk about that right at the beginning,” he said.
In addition to construction photography, Multivista also offers construction webcams which provide real time monitoring of construction sites and construction video documentation, which documents all construction activities in a live-motion format.