Beginners Guide

How to Deal With a House that Isn’t Photo Ready

How To Deal With A House That Isn't Photo Ready

It’s a pretty terrible feeling showing up to a house with your camera in hand only to find that it’s not even close to being photo ready. If you haven’t dealt with this situation yet, you definitely will at some point.

You have more options besides rolling your sleeves up and becoming a cleaner for the next hour or so. In fact, starting to clean the house might be your worst option. This article will explain what you should do as a real estate photographer in these situations.

Table of Contents

Questions to Ask Yourself When Dealing with a Messy House

After you get past that initial feeling of absolute disappointment at the current state of how clean the house might be, the next best thing to do is start to ask yourself some questions. I like to ask myself these questions right away:

  1. Is this house even worth cleaning?
  2. Has this happened before with this specific realtor?
  3. How long would it take to get this house clean enough for photography?
  4. When is my next scheduled shoot?
  5. Does that leave me enough time to clean this home and photograph it?

I might not go through these questions in that specific order, but I always start by asking myself if it’s even worth it. If I walk into a home and it’s an absolute wreck, I won’t need to ask myself any other questions because I”l be informing the agent that I’m leaving immediately.

Which bring us to our first option…

Cancel or Reschedule the Shoot

Needing to cancel or reschedule a shoot very rarely happens to me anymore and that’s not by chance. If I walk into a house that’s going to take longer than 30 or so minutes to get photo ready, I already know that I won’t be photographing it.

I do make some exceptions, like if it’s nearly ready and the homeowners have very clearly been frantically getting the home ready for the past few days. Or if it’s a trusted agent that has never put me in this situation before.

But if I’m going to actually need to clean the house and not just move a few things around, I’m going to cancel or reschedule the shoot. Which option I choose depends on my answer to the 2nd question above, ‘has this happened with this realtor before?’

If this is the first time I’ve walked into a messy house with this specific realtor, I inform them of my expectations for future homes and offer them a chance to reschedule.

If this realtor is a repeat offender, I will cancel the shoot entirely and make them reach out to reschedule the shoot. I’ll say something like “Once you know when the home will be ready for photography, just let me know and we can schedule a shoot.”

I do this for a 2 specific reasons:

  1. If the realtor has never done this before, then I’m willing to educate them on my policies and forget about it. Chances are it would be one of our first times working together anyway.
  2. If they’re a repeat offender, then I show them at this is simply unacceptable. They will either fix the issue so it never happens in the future because they know I will leave and they will be without photos, or they’ll waste another photographers time.

Over the years, using this policy has basically fixed this problem for me completely. I virtually never show up to a home that is too messy. However, I do still walk into homes that are a little messy and need some fixing up.

That leads us to our next option…

Help Clean the House

Before I jump in and start cleaning, I ask myself the next 3 questions on the list above, ‘How long would it take to get this house clean enough for photography?’, ‘When is my next scheduled shoot?’ and ‘Does that leave me enough time?’.

If I think it will only take 10-15 minutes or so and my next scheduled shoot allows me enough time, then I’ll consider helping out. The key work here is “help” though. I’ll help clean the house and get it ready. I certainly will not be the only one cleaning though.

We are real estate photographers, not cleaners. Once you decide that you’re going to clean the house before you photograph it, the realtor that you’re photographing the house for will expect you to do the same next time.

There is a big difference between cleaning a home and staging a home. We should fully be ready to move couches, chairs, table settings, etc. in order to properly stage a photo. We should not be taking out the garbage or moving dirty laundry.

You must create boundaries and expectations or you’ll become the real estate photographer that cleans the house beforehand. If you’re going to clean the house, make sure you remind the realtor of your expectations and make sure they are helping.

Photograph it Anyway

Another option is just photographing it anyway. No cleaning, or canceling or rescheduling, just photographing a messy house. The amount of mess that you’re willing to photograph is completely up to you.

If I show up to a house that needs to be cleaned but still is worth photographing and nobody is there or nobody is willing to clean, then I’ll just photograph it as is. The photos won’t look great, but I’ll still be paid and I won’t feel responsible for subpar images.

I always send a Home Staging Checklist, which you can download by clicking that link, to the realtors I work with so they’re well aware of how to perfectly prepare a house for photography. If they’re content with the house being a little messy, then so am I.

Charge a Cleaning Fee

Charging a cleaning fee is the last option that we’ll talk about and one that I would caution against. Although it does make the realtor aware that you expect houses to be prepared and will add to your total invoice, it sets a bad precedence for future jobs.

If you are willing to charge a cleaning fee, it means that you’re willing to clean the house. I personally don’t believe that cleaning a house should be in our job title.

However, if you don’t mind cleaning up, have plenty of time before your next shoot, and your clients are willing to pay a cleaning fee, then by all means go ahead and charge more money.

I think the best thing to do with this option is make the fee relatively high so that the realtor doesn’t want to pay it, but will in circumstances where they need the photos as soon as possible and can’t afford to reschedule.

If the fee is high enough, they will likely make sure future homes are well prepared to avoid paying it. Just make sure that you are consistent about your expectations regarding how a house should be prepared.

If you’re just getting started in real estate photography, check out our Beginners Guide. It’s full of helpful articles and tips that will guide you in the right direction as you begin your real estate photography journey.

You can check out our Gear section as well to see reviews and recommendations on the latest real estate photography gear.

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About author
Matthew Digati is a professional Real Estate and Architectural Photographer. Matthew has worked as a Real Estate and Architectural Photographer since 2015 and has photographed properties and projects all over the United States.
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