Project portfolios sell.
Stock photography kills.
Builders, EPC contractors, infrastructure developers. The buyer wants to verify your work history before they trust the next quote — and they aren’t credulous about marketing imagery.
You cannot fake construction work history. Buyers know this. Every construction-sector site we’ve audited that leads with stock-photo cranes and aspirational drone footage of buildings that aren’t the firm’s is, on closer inspection, a firm that hasn’t delivered enough projects to fill a portfolio. The savvy buyer takes thirty seconds to confirm this — a quick reverse image search of the hero shot — and walks away. The first rule for construction-sector sites is: only use photographs of buildings you actually built. If you don’t have enough, the answer isn’t stock photography; the answer is leading with the projects you do have and being honest about the firm’s stage.
What a project portfolio entry actually needs
- The client name (with permission) or the project name. Generic “commercial complex in Pune” doesn’t pass diligence.
- Year of completion. Older than ten years is fine; missing entirely is a red flag.
- Scope and scale — sq.ft., or m², or both. Buyers in India use both depending on sector.
- Your specific role: EPC contractor, design-build, sub-contractor, project management. Vague language here is itself a tell.
- Photographs of the finished work, ideally a few from different angles. One drone shot is not enough.
- For RERA-registered residential projects: the RERA registration number, prominently. Buyers check.
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Construction-sector sites we audited in 2024 where the “Our Projects” gallery contained at least one image we could trace, via reverse image search, to a stock-photo agency or to a different firm’s portfolio. The percentage is high enough that buyers in this sector now assume guilt by default and verify.
If a builder’s site doesn’t have the RERA number on every residential project page, I assume they’re not registered. I’ve been wrong twice. I still wouldn’t change the assumption.
Do we need to publish our certifications and licences?
Yes, with verification numbers. ISO 9001 (quality management), OHSAS 18001 / ISO 45001 (workplace safety), the contractor-class registration with the relevant state PWD, and any specialised certifications for the sector you work in (NABCB-accredited for green buildings, for instance). The certification badge is meaningless without the registration number — buyers know which certifications are easy to acquire and which require sustained compliance. Showing the number invites verification, which is the entire point.
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