Vendor proof
How to prove a vendor did the work
How do you prove a vendor did the work?
You prove a vendor did the work by capturing the work itself, not the paperwork about it. The vendor opens a link and photographs the finished job through the camera, and the record carries GPS and a server-set time. Now you hold the job, the place, and the moment, not just a bill.
The order matters. A vendor is hired, then shows up, then does the job. Most tools stop at one of the first two: they confirm a company is approved, or that someone reached an address. The question an owner actually asks is the last one, and it is the hardest to answer after the fact. Proof of the finished job has to be made at the job, or it is not proof at all.
Why isn’t a paid invoice proof the job got done?
An invoice is a request for payment, not evidence of work. The vendor types it after the fact, and it says whatever they enter. A vendor can bill for a job they skipped, or bill twice for one visit. Proof has to come from the site, at the time, not from an accounts-payable line.
This is not a rare edge case. It is the ordinary shape of a vendor dispute: the invoice says one thing, the tenant says another, and the file holds nothing that settles it. When the only record is the bill, the vendor writes the history. A per-job photo with a location and a time moves the record out of the vendor’s hands and onto the site where the work happened.
What does proof a contractor completed the work actually look like?
It is a single record per job: a live photo taken through the camera (gallery uploads blocked), the GPS where it was captured, a timestamp the worker cannot set, and a SHA-256 chain of custody so any later change shows. It is filed by site and date, and it is dispute-ready the day someone asks.
Each finished job carries only what was captured at the moment of work, nothing typed in later:
- The live photo, captured through the camera, with gallery uploads blocked
- GPS coordinates recorded at capture, checked against the site’s history
- A server timestamp the worker cannot change
- A SHA-256 chain of custody that makes any later edit detectable
- A place in the Evidence Vault, searchable by site, vendor, or date
See a finished example in a sample verified record.
How do property managers verify work was done across a whole portfolio?
Each completed job posts back to one dashboard, marked done, late, or missed. You scan a hundred sites at a glance instead of calling around. Filter by property, vendor, or date, open any job’s photo and location, and share a single record when an owner asks about one address.
A portfolio is where unproven work hides. One skipped job in fifty is invisible in a stack of invoices, and it stays invisible until a tenant complains or an owner audits. When every job returns its own record, the missing one is the gap on the board, not a surprise six months later. You review by exception: look at what is late or missing, and let the proven jobs sit.
How do you hold a contractor accountable without standing over them?
You do not watch them; you ask for proof of the finished job. A per-job photo with a time and a place sets a clear bar: show the work, get paid. Honest vendors prefer it, because it ends the arguments. It is trust-but-verify, not a tracker running all day — one capture at the end.
The distinction is the whole point. Following a worker around a route all day is surveillance, and good vendors resent it. Asking for one photo of the finished job is a receipt. It respects the vendor’s time and still gives you something you can stand on. The bar is the same for everyone, so the honest crews stop paying for the dishonest ones’ disputes.
What happens when a vendor didn’t complete the work?
The gap is visible instead of buried. A job with no record, or a photo that does not match the site, stands out on the dashboard before the invoice is paid. You can hold payment, ask for the work, and keep the record of what was and was not done, so the dispute stays short.
Say a tenant reports that a promised repair never happened (a hypothetical, but a common one). With per-job proof you check one record: either the finished repair is there, dated and located, or it is not. If it is missing, you have caught it before paying, and you have a clean record to show the owner. The argument is over in a minute, not a week.
How do you prove a repair was actually fixed?
Photograph the finished repair at the unit, through the link, so the record carries the location and the time. For a repair, capture the fix itself — the sealed pipe, the replaced part — not a wide shot. The record sits in the Vault by unit and date, ready if a tenant says the problem came back.
A repair dispute usually turns on two things: whether the work was done, and whether it lasted. A located, timestamped photo of the finished fix answers the first cleanly. If the same issue returns later, you compare the new call against the record of the last one, and see whether it is a fresh problem or an unfinished job you already paid for.
Is vendor accountability software the same as proof of work?
No. Most vendor accountability software checks credentials — insurance, licenses, background checks — before a vendor is approved. That confirms who they are, not what they did. Proof of work is the other half: a per-job record showing the task was completed, on site, at a real time. You want both.
This is the gap in most vendor-compliance tools. They are built to vet and onboard, and they do that well, but they go quiet the moment a vendor is approved and working. A certificate of insurance does not mow a lawn or fix a boiler. Pair credentialing with per-job proof and you cover both the vendor and the work.
What unproven work can cost
From 2013 to 2020, a landscaping contractor was the exclusive mowing vendor for the Houston Independent School District. He billed the district for four mowings a month at many properties when the grass was cut twice. Across roughly 150 sites, the overbilling came to about $6 million. In April 2025 a federal jury convicted the contractor and a district official on all counts. What was missing the whole time was simple: a per-site record of how many times each property was actually mowed. A dated, located photo of each finished cut would have made the overbilling plain years earlier, instead of after a four-week trial. Reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office (S.D. Tex.) and IRS Criminal Investigation.
How each kind of “proof” holds up
Not every record answers the question an owner asks. Here is what the usual stand-ins can and cannot do, next to a per-job LockProof record.
| What you’re relying on | A paid invoice | The vendor’s word | A photo texted later | LockProof record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shows the job was done | No | No | Maybe | Yes, live photo per job |
| Tied to the exact place | No | No | Rarely | Yes, GPS at capture |
| Time you can trust | No | No | Editable | Yes, server-set |
| A later change is detectable | No | No | No | Yes, SHA-256 chain of custody |
| Filed by site and date | By hand | No | No | Yes, Evidence Vault |
| Ready to share in a dispute | No | No | No | Yes, signed link |
The pattern is the same across the table. The stand-ins describe the work; a per-job record captures it. That is the line between a bill you hope is true and evidence you can hand to an owner, a tenant, or an adjuster. See how it works for property management teams.
