When I started planning the brand session for Sjodin Custom Homes, one thing became clear pretty quickly: photographing beautiful finished homes was only going to tell part of their story.

Sjodin Custom Homes is a father-daughter custom home building team based in Geneva, IL. Samantha works closely with homeowners from the earliest conversations about pricing and contracts through months of decisions about tile, cabinets, lighting, finishes, until all the details eventually become a home. Craig works alongside her on the building side, helping bring the houses from imagination to reality.

Their clients aren’t simply choosing a house. They’re choosing the people who will guide them through a long, detailed, and very personal process.

That was what I wanted their brand photography to show.

So instead of planning a session around traditional headshots, we planned it around Sam and Craig’s actual process: looking through blueprints, comparing materials, walking through a project, talking through decisions, and working together.

We photographed them at two of their custom home projects in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. One was still in the raw framing stage and the other was finished. That contrast gave us a chance to photograph both sides of what they do: the process and the result.

And for a business like theirs, I think you need both.

What should a custom home builder photograph for their website? Finished homes matter, but so do the people, decisions, and work that get you there. A strong brand photography library can show blueprints and planning, material selections, active construction, team collaboration, craftsmanship, and completed spaces.

Because before a potential client ever picks up the phone, they’re trying to answer a bigger question than Do I like these houses?

They’re also asking: What will it be like to work with these people?

Brand photos should show what working with you feels like

Here is what I think is true for anyone building a custom home, and really, for anyone selling something that requires a big investment and a lot of trust.

Before someone ever picks up the phone, they are trying to picture what working with you will feel like.

Who will guide me through this? What happens when I have questions? How are decisions made? Can I trust these people with something this important?

Photos can start answering those questions before the first conversation ever happens.

That is why we didn’t plan a day of traditional headshots for Sam and Craig. We planned a brand photography session around the process.

We photographed at two of their custom homes in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, with Geraldine shooting video alongside me to create a full set of visuals that they can use in their marketing materials.

Sam brought design books, blueprints, and a big collection of tile samples in different textures and colors. We photographed her and Craig actually working with the materials, looking through the plans, and interacting the way they would with a real project.

They also brought several outfits, a step up from what they usually wear, along with some more casual looks.

Craig told me that people relate to them better when they dress the way they actually do out in the field, and I agree with him. My general rule is that the formality should be about half a step higher than what you would normally wear in person.

The polished looks give them images that can live on their website for years. The more casual ones make sense in a house that is still under construction.

Both feel like them.

What should a custom home builder photograph for their website?

A custom home builder’s brand photos should show more than finished houses.

A useful image library might include:

• the builder reviewing blueprints and plans
• material and finish selections
• client or team meetings
• active construction and site walkthroughs
• collaboration between team members
• details that demonstrate craftsmanship
• individual and team portraits
• finished spaces
• horizontal and vertical images designed for different parts of the website and marketing

Of course you want photographs of the beautiful finished work.

But you also want to show how you get there.

That is especially important for businesses like custom home building, construction, architecture, interior design, and other services where a client may work closely with you for months before seeing the finished result.

As a branding photographer based in Barrington, I work with business owners throughout the Chicago suburbs, and this is one of my favorite parts of planning a brand photography session: figuring out what a potential customer needs to see before they are ready to make contact.

The goal isn’t simply to create a collection of beautiful photographs. It’s to create the right photographs for the places your business actually needs them.

One shoot can tell the whole story

The two houses we photographed were perfect for this.

One was still raw framing and the other was finished, so in a single day we could create images from completely different parts of the home-building story.

The finished kitchen was beautiful, and I loved the wooden oven vent cover they had built right in. Off the kitchen was a little sunroom with a gorgeous wood ceiling and a built-in fireplace that I think the owners are going to enjoy for a very long time.

But the unfinished house mattered just as much.

The exposed framing tells one part of the story. The blueprints and material selections tell another. The finished spaces show where all of those decisions eventually lead.

Together, those images give Sjodin Custom Homes content they can use to talk about the design process, construction, craftsmanship, materials, finished spaces, and what happens along the way.

That is one of the things I want from a branding session: not just a handful of great photographs, but an image library that gives a business different stories to tell.

It is also why I plan sessions around how the photographs will actually be used. A website needs more than a headshot. It needs images for the home page, About page, service pages, banners, social media, email, and the other places potential clients encounter a business before they ever make contact.

Show the people behind the business

And then there is Craig.

Sam honestly wasn’t sure he would want to be photographed. He isn’t someone who loves being in front of a camera.

But he didn’t pop in for a couple of frames and disappear. He was there the whole day, and you could see how much he enjoyed working with his daughter and how much he respects her.

He joked on our call that it is really a daughter-run company and he is just a part of it.

Watching the two of them together, you understand what makes their partnership work. They have a real rapport, and that is something a potential homeowner can see in a photograph in a way that would be very difficult to explain in website copy.

And Craig didn’t need to suddenly become someone who loves being photographed. He just needed something real to do, someone familiar to interact with, and enough direction that he didn’t have to think about what he was supposed to be doing for the camera.

That is often when the photographs start feeling like the people in them.

Sam and Craig recently launched Sjodin Custom Homes as their own company, with a new brand and a new website, and they needed images that matched how much is already happening.

What I love about this set is that the images can do some of the work of a first meeting.

A future homeowner can see Sam with the design book open, see the two of them leaning over the blueprints, see the houses taking shape, and begin to picture who will be guiding them through their own project.

What can your future clients see before they meet you?

Businesses are usually pretty good at showing what they sell.

A builder shows beautiful houses. A dentist shows beautiful smiles. A designer shows finished rooms.

But brand photography can also show what it is like to buy from you.

If you are a builder, designer, architect, contractor, consultant, or another business owner whose clients need to trust you before they hire you, your photos can show more than what you look like.

They can show what you do, how you work, who clients will interact with, and what they can expect along the way.

That is what we plan for in a brand session.

Frequently asked questions about brand photography for custom home builders

What photos should a custom home builder have on their website?

In addition to photographs of completed homes, builders should have images of the people behind the company, blueprints and planning, material selections, active construction, team collaboration, craftsmanship details, and the client experience. Together, these images show both the finished work and the process that creates it.

Should builders photograph homes before construction is finished?

Yes. An active construction site can tell a part of the story that finished-home photography cannot. Framing, materials, site walkthroughs, plans, and work in progress help potential clients understand the expertise and decision-making behind the finished result.

What should a builder bring to a brand photography session?

Think about the objects you actually use with clients and on the job. Depending on the business, that might include blueprints, design books, material samples, plans, tools, laptops, or other items that help visually explain your process. We plan these details before the session so they have a purpose in the final image library.

How can a construction or home-building company use brand photos?

Brand photos can be used across the company website, About and service pages, social media, Google Business Profile, email marketing, advertising, proposals, presentations, recruiting, press, and other marketing materials. Planning those uses before the shoot helps determine which photographs we need to create.