I can’t speak to building department policy. However, on the private side, our insurance company has advised architecture and engineering companies to MINIMIZE the amount of photos and videos taken during construction site visits, to delete photos and videos that don’t capture items directly stated as problems on inspection reports, and to not allow employees to save construction photos on their personal electronic devices.
They have given us numerous examples of court/mediation cases concerning construction defects, where the A&E’s photos and videos were subpoenaed. Lawyers would scour the photos to find the construction defect, perhaps located somewhere in the background of a photo that was focusing on a completely different subject, and present it as evidence that the A&E’s had visually observed the defective condition and failed to write a correction notice. In other words, they try to construct a case of implied negligence in construction observation.