The five things that make a property shoot run late

A one-bed usually takes thirty to sixty minutes. Occasionally the same flat takes two hours, and it is almost never because of the photography.

This is the list, in the order it actually costs time. It is our own experience on London jobs rather than anything from a survey.

1. Nobody knows who is letting us in

The single biggest delay, and the easiest to remove. The instruction says 10 am. At 10 am there is a tenant who was told nothing, a concierge who wants written authorisation, or a key safe with a code that has changed.

Twenty minutes lost here comes off the end of the shoot, which means it comes off the last rooms — usually the bedrooms, usually the ones already lit worst.

**What fixes it:** one name and one mobile number on the booking. Not the vendor's landline.

2. The property is tidy but not *ready*

Tidy means the floor is clear. Ready means the bin is out of frame, the bath mat is straight, the fridge has nothing magneted to it, and the toilet seat is down in every bathroom.

We will move small things and we do not mind doing it. But a photographer restaging a kitchen is a photographer not photographing, and it is slow work because everything has to go back.

**What fixes it:** send the occupier a short list the day before. We provide one if it helps.

3. The light is doing something the schedule did not expect

A garden-facing kitchen in the afternoon and a garden-facing kitchen in the morning are two different rooms. If the booking is set without reference to which way the property faces, one of those rooms will be shot into the sun.

We check orientation and rough sun position before arriving, which is why the booking time matters more than the booking date.

**What fixes it:** tell us which rooms matter most and let us suggest the hour.

4. Somebody is home and would like to help

Genuinely well meant, and it doubles the time. Rooms get followed into, lights get turned on behind us, and there is a conversation to be had in every doorway.

**What fixes it:** nothing rude. Just a warning in advance that we work quietly and quickly, and that we will say when each room is done.

5. The brief arrives on the day

"While you're here, could you also do the garden, the communal entrance, and a couple for the landlord?" Each of those is fine. Three of them together is another forty minutes and a different lighting setup.

**What fixes it:** put the extras on the booking. We would rather quote them than rush them.

The pattern

Four of these five are decided before anyone picks up a camera. The shoot is the fast part — it is the twenty minutes either side of it that decide whether a job runs to time.