Guide · 5 min read · updated 2026-09-17

What a servicer-grade trash-out photo package has to contain

For asset managers and landlords: the documentation standard that keeps a trash-out invoice from getting kicked back.

Who this is for

Asset managers, property preservation coordinators, landlords and investors who have had an invoice rejected or a chargeback because the photo set did not prove the work.

It is also a hiring filter. Ask a contractor to describe their photo package before you give them a property. The vague answers tell you everything.

The minimum package

Before set. Timestamped. One wide shot per room from the doorway, one wide shot per elevation from outside, plus detail shots of any pre-existing damage. Pre-existing damage photos are what keep you from being blamed for it.

During set. At minimum one shot mid-clear showing the work in progress. This is what defeats the claim that the property was already empty.

After set. Same angles as the before set. Same room order. A reviewer should be able to scroll before/after and see the match without thinking about it.

Weight tickets. Every load. This is the proof that material went to a permitted facility rather than a roadside.

The invoice, referencing the property address and any loan or asset number, in the same PDF.

Where packages get rejected

Angles that do not match between before and after. Missing timestamps. No weight tickets. Photos that show the debris but never show it gone. Exterior elevations skipped. And the most common one: the package arrives as fourteen separate email attachments instead of one uploadable file.

The personal property hold period

This is the part that creates legal exposure, and it varies by the notice served and the situation. The contractor does not decide it — you do, and you tell them.

What a good contractor does is ask. They should want the date in writing and they should be willing to inventory and store rather than dispose if that is what the situation requires. A contractor who never asks about hold periods has either never been burned or is about to burn you.

What we deliver

One PDF, same day the job closes: timestamped before / during / after by room and elevation, weight tickets, and the invoice referencing the property address. Formatted to drop straight into a servicer portal. Net-30 on volume accounts.