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Solution / Change Order Evidence

When the variation is disputed, the footage is already there.

Change orders cost contractors and owners billions. Most disputes come down to what was done and when. Buildcam provides a date-specific visual record you can pull within seconds, before a variation is even raised.

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The problem

Most change order disputes are arguments about the past.

A variation is often raised weeks or months after the work in question. By then the site has moved on, the people who were there have rotated to other projects, and the record is a patchwork of phone photos, emails, and memory. The dispute becomes a contest of recollections, and the side with the tidier paperwork tends to prevail, regardless of what actually happened on the day.

Continuous timelapse changes the terms of that argument. A camera running on a fixed schedule from the first day of the project builds a timestamped, unbroken visual record of the site. It does not decide in advance which moments will matter, so it captures the ones that turn out to. When a variation is raised, the evidence already exists, dated and in sequence, ready to pull in Sentinel OS.

The record earns its keep on the work that disappears. Services run before a slab is poured, structural connections closed up behind finishes, ground conditions covered over as the build proceeds. Once that work is buried, a written note is often the only proof of how it was done. A timestamped frame from the day it happened is a much harder thing to dispute.

How it works

From variation raised to evidence in hand.

01

Camera captures the disputed area throughout the project

Buildcam runs continuously from day one. It does not know which frames will matter. That is the point.

02

When a variation is raised, pull frames from the relevant dates

Open Sentinel OS, enter the date range, and retrieve the frames. No trawling through photo albums or email threads.

03

Present the visual evidence and close the dispute

A timestamped frame from the day of the disputed work is an objective record. It does not rely on anyone's recollection.

What you get

Evidence that pre-dates the dispute.

Date-specific retrieval

Pull frames from any date in the project timeline within seconds.

Objective third-party record

No photographer, no post-processing. The camera ran on a schedule, unattended.

Buried services documented

Services and structural items covered before completion are captured before the concrete goes in.

Faster resolution

Variation disputes that took weeks to resolve close in days when the footage already exists.

Scope of work clarity

Disputed scope is visible in the archive. What was installed, when, and in what sequence.

Continuous coverage

No gaps. The record runs whether or not a dispute is anticipated.

Change order evidence

Questions contractors ask about using footage in a dispute.

The ones that come up most on change orders and variation claims. The full FAQ lives in Resources.

The evidence already exists before the variation is raised. When a change comes up, you pull timestamped frames from the exact dates in question and attach them to the change order, so approvers work from an objective record rather than competing recollections. That removes most of the back-and-forth that slows approvals down.
The camera runs on a fixed schedule, unattended, and does not know which frames will matter. Every image is timestamped at capture and held with its original metadata. There is no photographer choosing the shot and no post-processing, so the record is a neutral account of what happened and when.
Yes. In Sentinel OS you retrieve any date range in seconds, so each change order can be matched to the frames from the days it covers. You are not trawling through phone photos or email threads to reconstruct a timeline.
That is one of the strongest uses. Services and structural items that are buried before completion, under concrete or behind finishes, are captured in sequence while they are still visible. If the scope of that work is later disputed, the footage shows what was installed and when.
Sentinel OS has role-based access, so you can grant a read-only view of a single project to an external party. They see the timeline and imagery for the scope you define, without access to your account or your other projects.
Vantage point is chosen at install to cover the areas most likely to matter, and cameras can be repositioned or added as the work moves. For sites with a specific high-risk zone, that zone is factored into the camera placement during the pre-install call.
For the life of the project, your footage stays in Sentinel OS and remains exportable at full resolution with its capture timestamps intact. Exports carry the original metadata, so your solicitor or quantity surveyor can work directly from the files.

Different question?

The full FAQ covers hardware, platform, security, and billing. Or skip the search: talk to a real person on the callback.

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