Answer

How do you prove a defect was fixed?

With a photo of the finished work taken by the person who did it, and a separate check by someone who did not. A defect is proven fixed when the record carries the before photo with its capture time, the after photo the trade had to attach before they could mark the work complete, and a close-out by a different role with their name and time on it, with nothing in between edited away. In IssuesId the trade’s Mark as Complete button stays disabled until a photo is attached, the trade cannot close the defect at all, a staff role verifies it at ready to inspect and closes it, sign-off is a further named step where the contract wants one, and every transition and email is on the history.

ANSWERED FROM THE PRODUCT DOCS·UPDATED OCTOBER 2026
Before the tool

A tick is not evidence. A photo on its own is not either.

Most registers prove a fix with a status change: somebody set the row to Done. Ask who, and when, and what they were looking at, and the row has nothing to say. The next step up is asking the trade for a photo, which is better, and still only half of it, because the trade is the one party with a reason to send a flattering photo of the wrong corner. Proof needs two people. One who did the work and had to show it, and one who did not do the work and had to look. Keep those two actions apart on the record, with names on both, and a month later the question “was 3.07 actually fixed” has an answer that is not somebody’s memory.

How it runs in IssuesId

Two people, two photos, one unedited trail

  1. 1Start with a before photo that carries its own time
    The defect is raised with a photo taken in the app or imported from the camera roll. IssuesId keeps the original device timestamp where the file has one, who captured it, and the upload time, and the photo is filed against the room in the location tree. Pin and circle the fault on the photo itself so nobody later argues about which tile.
  2. 2The trade attaches the after photo before they can say it is done
    The trade opens the job from the email link, no login needed. Their Mark as Complete button is disabled until at least one photo of the finished work is attached, and it says so. Until there is a photo there is no claim, which removes the single most common argument on site: “I told you it was done.”
  3. 3Someone who did not do the work looks at it
    Trades cannot change a defect’s status at all; marking the assignment complete puts the defect at ready to inspect, not closed. A site user, building manager or manager compares the after photo against the before photo, on site if it warrants it, and moves it to closed. That transition carries their name, role and time.
  4. 4Where the contract wants it, sign-off is a further named step
    “The trade says it is done” and “we accept it as done” are two claims by two people. Sign-off is recorded separately: requested, then signed off by a configured approver with a timestamp and an optional note. Revoking it stays in the history rather than erasing the original.
  5. 5Nothing in between is edited away
    A note edited after posting shows as edited with a revision count. A deleted note leaves a tombstone. Every email the defect sent, including whether it was delivered, sits on the trail. The history view reads top to bottom as who did what, when, with what evidence, and that is the document a dispute turns on.
Four names, four times, two photos. The waterproofer could not have closed this, and the building manager could not have closed it without the waterproofer’s photo.
Related questions

Asked alongside this one

How do you prove a defect was fixed?
With a photo of the finished work taken by the trade who did it, and a separate check by someone who did not. In IssuesId the trade’s Mark as Complete button is disabled until at least one photo of the finished work is attached, trades cannot change a defect’s status at all, a site user, building manager or manager verifies the fix at ready to inspect and closes it with their name and time on the transition, sign-off is a further named step where the contract wants one, and every move and email sits on an audit trail where edits show as edits and deletions leave a tombstone.
Who closes a defect once the trade says it is done?
Someone on the builder’s or owner’s side who did not do the work. Marking the assignment complete puts the defect at ready to inspect, not closed. A site user or field worker with defects switched on, a building manager or a manager compares the after photo with the before photo and moves it to closed. The transition records who, in what role, at what time. Where the contract wants an explicit acceptance, sign-off is recorded separately by a configured approver and revoking it stays in the history.
What if the trade’s photo is of the wrong thing?
The verifier does not close it. They say why in the defect’s conversation, at a visibility the trade can see, and the defect stays with the trade at its current state until a photo of the right thing arrives. That exchange stays on the record, so the file shows the first photo, the objection and the second photo rather than a single tick that hides the argument.
Does a photo prove when the defect was found or fixed?
A photo taken in the app or imported from the camera roll keeps the original device timestamp where the file has one, along with who captured it and when it was uploaded. It also keeps the GPS position and heading the camera saved, shown to your team as a map link and not to trades, tenants or clients; the location of record is still the defect’s place in the location tree. Together with the named, timestamped transitions around it, the photo is evidence of when, not just of what.
Read on

Where this answer comes from

The docs behind this answer are roles and dashboards (the trade’s three actions and the transition matrix), defects (sign-off, comments and the audit trail) and photos and annotations (what a photo keeps). The other half of the evidence question, proving the defect was there in the first place, is what makes a defect record stand up in a dispute? For the trade’s side of the same screen, read closing a defect without ten messages and a site visit.

IssuesId