Dispute-ready records

Keep dispute-ready contractor completion records

By the LockProof Team · Last updated July 16, 2026

The dispute never comes the day of the work. It comes months later, from a client, an insurer, or an attorney, asking what was done and when. If your answer lives in a group chat, you lose time you do not have. Dispute-ready contractor completion records mean the proof of each finished job is already filed and one search away.

What makes a contractor completion record dispute-ready?

A dispute-ready record can be produced on demand and stands on its own: a live photo of the work, a server timestamp, and a chain of custody showing it has not been altered, plus GPS when the worker shares location. It is audit-ready, searchable by site and date, and shareable as a tamper-evident link a client or insurer can open.

Why do slip-and-fall and liability claims hinge on documentation?

Premises-liability and slip-and-fall claims usually turn on one question: can you show the site was actually serviced, and when? If a walkway was salted or a lobby was cleaned, dated proof of that visit is your defense. Without it, it is your word against theirs.

Why the stakes are high

  • Falls on the same level cost U.S. employers nearly $10 billion a year. (Liberty Mutual 2024 Workplace Safety Index)
  • Floors and flooring materials contribute to more than 2 million fall injuries each year. (National Floor Safety Institute)
  • Medical costs from falls among adults 65 and older topped $50 billion in 2015. (CDC)

Sources: Liberty Mutual 2024 Workplace Safety Index; National Floor Safety Institute; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

How fast can you produce proof when a claim lands?

Search the Evidence Vault by site and date, open the exact visit, and share a tamper-evident link in seconds, not a day of scrolling through chats and inboxes. A claim can arrive months after the work; because every visit was filed when it happened, the record is already there.

What should a vendor record include to hold up?

At minimum: a live photo of the actual work, a timestamp the worker did not set, a way to show the record has not been edited since, and the location when the worker shares it. LockProof attaches the photo and the timestamp to every submission — plus the location when the worker shares it — and seals it with a SHA-256 fingerprint, so the record is tamper-evident.

How long should you keep vendor proof?

Long enough to outlast a claim. Slip-and-fall and billing disputes can surface months or years later, so records need to stay searchable, not get lost in a rotating group chat. LockProof keeps every verified visit in the Evidence Vault, filed by site and date, ready to pull whenever someone asks.

When a claim lands, here’s the difference

The value of a record shows up under pressure, on the day someone disputes the work and you have minutes, not days, to answer.

Work claimed doneDispute raisedWhat records exist?Self-logged noteSays it happenedWord against wordThe claim carries no weightSealed photo recordCaptured live, sealedDispute-ready answerTime, place, sealed photo
The same dispute, with and without a sealed record.
When a claim landsLockProofScreenshots + inboxShared photo drive
Find the exact visitSearch by site + dateScroll and hopeIf named well
Prove the time on the recordServer timestampNoFile date, editable
Prove locationGPS when sharedNoRarely
Show it was not alteredSHA-256 chain of custodyNoNo
Share with an insurerTamper-evident packetA screenshotA link, no proof
Time to produceSecondsHoursVaries

Open a sample verified record to see exactly what a client or insurer would receive.

The five properties that separate the last column from the first are set out in our founder’s notes on why worker-chosen photo proof kept failing.

Property managers running this on a rotation, not just after one bad dispute, usually want it built into the routine across every site rather than reached for after the fact — and when the dispute is not about whether someone showed up but whether the actual work order was finished, verifying every work order with a live photo is the narrower question this record already answers.

Keep proof a claim can't argue with

See how every verified visit is filed by site and date, ready to share as a tamper-evident link.