Photo consent and privacy for work in customers' homes

What Canadian privacy guidance says, in brief

Canada's federal private-sector privacy law, PIPEDA, covers personal information collected in commercial activity, and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner notes that BC, Alberta and Quebec each have their own similar law that applies inside those provinces. A photo that shows a person, a house number or a recognisable home can be personal information.

The Commissioner's guidelines on meaningful consent make several points that translate directly to job photos:

• tell people what you are collecting, why, and who will see it, at the moment they decide
• give a real yes-or-no choice for anything beyond what the service needs
• express consent is generally expected when a use falls outside what people would reasonably expect
• people can withdraw consent, and use should stop when they do
• consent for children under 13 generally comes from a parent or guardian

Marketing use of photos from inside a home is not something most homeowners would expect by default. That is why we design for an explicit yes. This is a summary, not legal advice; your lawyer should confirm what applies to you.

What the workflow includes

The routine has five parts, each short enough to use on a doorstep.

1. The ask. One plain sentence, for example: "We sometimes share photos of finished equipment on our website and Google page. Nothing that shows you, your address or your belongings. Is it okay if we take a few for that?"
2. The record. A yes or no field in the job notes or work order, with the date and the technician's name.
3. The frame. The do-not-shoot list: faces, house numbers, plates, mail, screens, documents, family photos, children's rooms, security panels.
4. The file. Location data removed before publishing, and file names that use a job number rather than a customer name.
5. The removal path. A named person who handles requests to take a photo down, and a target to do it within a few business days.

Who this is for

Every HVAC company that publishes job photos needs some version of this. It is urgent if:

• photos are already on your website or profile without any record of permission
• technicians post jobs to their own social accounts
• you work in multi-unit buildings, where a hallway shot can show a neighbour's door
• you serve customers in Quebec, where French-language consent wording may also be needed

Timeline

It is the fastest service we offer. Most companies have it running within two weeks.

• Days 1–3: review current photos online and flag any that show personal details.
• Days 4–7: write the script, the job-note field and the do-not-shoot list for your tools.
• Week 2: crew briefing, then the first jobs under the new routine.

How results are measured

• share of jobs where the question was asked and the answer recorded
• share of published photos that trace back to a recorded yes, which should be all of them
• number of photos flagged and removed during the initial clean-up
• removal requests received and how quickly they were handled

Mistakes to avoid

• Burying permission in the invoice fine print. A clause the customer never read is a weak basis for publishing photos of their home.
• Asking after the photos are taken. Ask first, so a no costs nothing.
• Forgetting reflections. Mirrors, glass doors and stainless appliances can show the homeowner or the room behind you.
• Leaving geotags on. A photo's location data can reveal the street even when the frame does not.
• No record. If the yes is not written down, you cannot show it later.

Where to go next

Our long-form consent guide has more wording examples and edge cases. The workflow plugs straight into the job-site photo system, and both are included in the plans on our pricing page. Call, text or email if you want us to review what you already have online.