Two hundred kitchens, twelve photos
You have fitted a lot of good kitchens. Your website shows a handful of them, plus a set of glossy images from your unit supplier's brochure that three other showrooms in the area also use. The fitters take the odd photo on handover day, usually with the old kitchen's rubbish still on the floor and the light from the wrong direction. Nobody asked the customer if the photos could be used. They sit on a phone somewhere.
When a customer in the showroom asks to see a handleless kitchen in a dark green with a white quartz worktop that you have actually fitted, the designer scrolls through their own camera roll.
Why your own work goes unseen
Photographing finished jobs is nobody's job. It happens at the end, when everyone is tired, and the permission question is awkward to ask at the last minute.
- Customers are not asked about photo permission at order or handover.
- There is no list of shots that make a kitchen look its best.
- Photos are not tagged, so finding a particular style later is impossible.
- The website gallery is updated by whoever has time, which is nobody.
- Designers cannot show customers local examples of what they are considering.
How you ask for and record photo permission is for your own privacy policy and adviser. The system records the answer each customer gives.
What the missing gallery costs
Customers choosing a showroom want to see real kitchens fitted by the people they are about to pay. Brochure images do not do that, and savvy customers recognise them. Designers lose a strong selling point in the showroom. And your website looks like everyone else's.
A finished job flow that produces usable photos
- Photo permission is asked at order, with clear options such as website use, showroom use, no identifying details or no photos at all, and the answer is stored on the job.
- At handover, or on a return visit once the customer has settled in, the fitter or designer is prompted with a shot list: full room, island, worktop detail, storage open, lighting on.
- Photos are uploaded to the job and tagged automatically from the order: range, door colour, worktop material, handle style, room shape.
- A person picks the best shots and approves them, and they are resized and published to your website gallery, for example on WordPress, respecting the customer's permission.
- Designers can search the library in the showroom by style, colour or worktop to show real examples.
- Customers who agreed to it can be asked for a review with a link to their own kitchen's photos.
| Photo tag | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Door range and colour | Order schedule |
| Worktop material | Worktop order |
| Room shape | Design |
| Permission level | Customer's answer at order |
| Location | Town only, never the address |
What you have after a few months
A growing library of your own kitchens, searchable by style and material, with permission recorded for every photo. A website gallery that updates without a special project. Designers who can show a customer three real examples of what they are considering. And fewer brochure images anywhere.
It also helps with reviews. A customer who agreed to photos can be sent a short link with their own kitchen's pictures and an invitation to leave a review, which is a nicer message than a generic request. The photos themselves can go on your Google Business Profile, which tends to show recent real work to people searching for kitchen fitters nearby.
Is your gallery thin?
- Your website uses supplier brochure images.
- Finished job photos are on fitters' personal phones.
- You have never asked customers for photo permission in writing.
- Designers cannot find an example of a style you fit regularly.