Can you license inspection reports and photos to AI companies?
An inspection report says what a person decided after looking. The photos, taken at the time, show what they were looking at. A report beside its photos is a labeled example: this is what it looked like, and this is what an expert concluded. That pairing is valuable, and it brings privacy questions that plain text does not.
What an inspection archive contains
| The report with its findings | The checklist, the notes and the conclusion, written by the person who made the visit. |
| Photos tied to each finding | Pictures taken during the visit and linked to the item they show. |
| Move in and move out comparisons | Two inspections of the same place at different times, which show change. |
| Punch lists and corrections | What had to be fixed after the inspection and the later confirmation that it was. |
| Drone and scan imagery | Aerial or scanned views of a site, tied to the work records for the same job. |
A photo with a conclusion is a labeled example
Images alone show what things look like. An image with an expert’s conclusion shows what a trained eye sees in it. A set that includes both normal and abnormal conditions is more useful than a set of defects only.
The value depends on the link. A folder of loose photos and a separate stack of reports is worth little until each finding is matched with its images.
Pictures carry more than the finding
Photos can show faces, license plates, house numbers, documents on a desk or a view through a window. These have to be removed or blurred before anything is shared, and the text of the report can reveal the address even when the picture does not.
Ownership is simple where a company photographed its own work, and less simple where a client paid for the inspection. Check the engagement terms first.
What is removed from reports and photos
| Faces, plates and house numbers in photos | Removed or blurred before any image leaves. |
| Names and addresses in reports | Replaced with stand-ins that keep a property’s reports together. |
| Reports commissioned by a client | Left out unless the agreement gives the company the right to share them. |
An example, invented for illustration
A property inspection company keeps each report in one system with its photos attached to the findings. A set includes inspections for work it did on its own account, blurs faces, plates and house numbers, replaces addresses with stand-ins and keeps each report beside its photos. Reports commissioned by clients under restrictive terms are left out, and the owner approves a sample before anything is exported.
Questions owners ask about this
Our photos are on phones and in shared folders. Is that usable?
Only once each photo is matched to its report. That matching is the first step of preparing a set, and it can take time.
Do we need the homeowner’s permission?
It may depend on your engagement terms and local rules. Ask your counsel before anything is prepared.
Do clean inspections matter as well as defects?
Yes. A set that shows only problems misses what normal looks like, so passing inspections are worth including.
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Keep reading
Related kinds of records
- Work orders and dispatch notes: A job from request to fix, in a technician's own words.
- CAD and engineering files: The design with its feature history, its simulation and its test, with customer designs and catalog parts left out.
- Lab notebooks and experiment records: Settings tied to results, failures included, with sponsor-owned work and patient data kept out.
Industries that keep these records
- Construction companies: RFIs, change orders and site logs; the floor counts the office, and owners hold the plans.
- Manufacturers: A job tied to its setup, its machine readings and its inspection result, with customer designs kept out.
- Engineering and architecture firms: The review comment and the reply behind a design change, with client drawings and seals kept out.
- Property management companies: Which repair goes first and how it was settled, with tenant details, screening and owner finances kept out.