DepotProof

For AU & NZ hire operators

Prove what the machine looked like when it left your yard.

Photo and signature checks at pickup and return. When a renter says the dent was already there, you have the record.

Start your 14-day trialSee how it works

Four fields, then your card. Nothing charged for 14 days.

The cover of a condition report, listing the reference, hire duration, asset, category, renter, staff member, both timestamps, both locations, and the damage noted at return.

Cover page of a generated report. The hire is invented; the document is real.

  • To start

    Four fields and a card

  • Price

    A$59 per depot, per month

  • Users

    Unlimited, no per-seat meter

  • Photos stored

    Melbourne, private bucket

  • Contract

    None. Cancel any month

A sample hire

One machine, one week, one dent.

Three photographs are the whole product. Staged in a yard for this page, and captioned with what is in frame.

A yard hand in a hi-vis vest photographing a yellow mini excavator with a phone, outside a grey equipment shed.
PickupThe yard hand walks the checklist on the phone from the counter. One angle at a time, on the machine as it stands.
Four photographs of the same mini excavator: from the front, from each side and from the rear.
The recordFront, each side, rear. The angles the checklist names, in the order it names them.
The rear of the mini excavator photographed twice: the panel straight at pickup on the left, dented at return on the right.
Return, seven days laterThe same angle again, set beside the pickup shot. The panel tells the story; nobody has to argue it.

01 — How it works

One flow, run twice.

The same checklist at pickup and at return. That is the whole idea, and it is why the two halves line up.

  1. Step 01

    Photograph it at pickup

    The screen names one angle at a time and shows one large camera button. It will not move on until that shot is taken, or past the last one until every shot is. Both parties sign on the phone before the machine leaves.

    The capture step on a phone, part-way through a checklist: the angle named at the top, a progress rule, the photograph just taken filling the frame, one camera button beneath it, and Back and Next.

  2. Step 02

    It goes out on hire

    The run is written to the phone as it is captured and uploads the next time the app is open in range. The machine reads as out on hire on every screen. A second pickup is refused by the server, not just hidden.

    The asset list on a phone: one machine out on hire, three in the yard, each showing the one action its state allows.

  3. Step 03

    Compare it at return

    The same checklist runs again, in the same order. The two runs come back as one PDF with each angle set beside itself. Damage noted at return is printed on the cover, not buried.

    A page from a finished report: the same angle of an excavator photographed at pickup on the left and at return on the right, each stamped with its own date and time.
    One angle from a generated report

02 — The page that settles it

Every angle, pickup beside return.

A claim about a dent is settled by the pair of photographs rather than by whose memory is louder. Each frame carries its own date and time. Every angle in the checklist gets a page like this.

  • Same angle, same order, both runs
  • A timestamp on every frame
  • Written to be read by someone who was not there
A page from a finished report: the same angle of an excavator photographed at pickup on the left and at return on the right, each stamped with its own date and time.
One angle from a report this codebase generated

03 — The cover

What the renter is handed.

Every field on the cover, named. The hire below is invented. The document around it is the one the code produces.

Page one of a generated condition report, showing the reference, hire duration, asset, category, renter, staff member, both timestamps, both locations and the damage noted at return.
The last page of the same report: renter and staff signatures captured at pickup and again at return, each with the signer's name and the time they signed.
The signature page

The cover prints these fields in pairs: Reference, Hire duration, Asset, Category, Renter, Staff, Picked up, Returned, Pickup location, Return location.

  1. 1

    The reference

    A short code with the ambiguous characters left out, so it survives being read down a phone line and typed back. It names the hire, not the document, so a number quoted the day the machine went out still finds the comparison after it comes back.

  2. 2

    Both timestamps

    When the machine went out, when it came back, and the hire duration between them. Every photo on the pages that follow carries its own time as well.

  3. 3

    Where each handover happened

    One position at pickup and one at return: where the phone was when that handover was started, not a fix on each photo. If the phone cannot supply one, location declined or no fix indoors, the cell reads “Not recorded” rather than guessing.

  4. 4

    The damage note

    Printed word for word from what the staff member typed at return, and only there at all if they ticked the damage box. No tick, no banner.

  5. 5

    Both signature pairs

    Renter and staff sign at pickup and again at return. All four are on the last page, after one landscape page per angle showing the pickup shot beside the return shot.

The asset list in DepotProof: four machines, one marked out on hire since 20 September with a Record return action, the rest in the yard with a Start pickup action.

04 — The yard

The yard, on one screen.

Every machine reads as in the yard or out on hire, with the date it went out. The button follows the state: a machine that is out offers the return and nothing else.

That is the visible half of the duplicate guard. The other half is the server, which refuses a second pickup on a machine already out even if someone reaches the screen from a stale tab.

05 — Checklists

What your staff are given.

Every new account starts with these 5, one per equipment category. This is the wording straight from the code that creates them, so it is what staff read on screen. Edit any of them, or add your own, under Settings.

  • 7 shots, in this order

    Excavator / Plant

    1. 01Front
    2. 02Left side
    3. 03Right side
    4. 04Rear
    5. 05Hour meter
    6. 06Tracks / tyres
    7. 07Existing damage close-up

  • 7 shots, in this order

    Vehicle / Trailer

    1. 01Front
    2. 02Driver side
    3. 03Passenger side
    4. 04Rear
    5. 05Odometer
    6. 06Fuel gauge
    7. 07Existing damage close-up

  • 5 shots, in this order

    Power tool

    1. 01Full tool
    2. 02Serial plate
    3. 03Cutting head / blade
    4. 04Cable and plug
    5. 05Existing damage close-up

  • 5 shots, in this order

    Access equipment

    1. 01Full unit
    2. 02Platform
    3. 03Controls
    4. 04Hour meter
    5. 05Existing damage close-up

  • 4 shots, in this order

    General equipment

    1. 01Front
    2. 02Left side
    3. 03Right side
    4. 04Existing damage close-up

06 — Specification

Built for the yard, not the office.

A

Keeps working when the signal drops

Every photo and signature is written to the phone as it is taken, and stays there until the app is next open in range. Finish the run and it will land; one left half-done waits on the phone until someone finishes it.

B

One prompt at a time

The screen names a single angle and shows one large camera button. It will not move on until that shot is taken, or past the last one until every shot is. There is nothing for a staff member to remember.

C

Sits beside your system

No migration, no switching. Keep your spreadsheet or software exactly as it is. This is the evidence layer beside it.

D

Built for a dispute

Two runs side by side, both signature pairs, a timestamp on every frame, and the location each handover was started when the phone can supply one. “Not recorded” when it cannot. It is designed to be read by someone who was not there.

E

Unlimited users

One flat price per depot. Add every counter hand and yard hand you have without watching a per-seat meter.

F

Installs to the home screen

It is a web app, so there is no app store, no IT ticket, and no second device to manage. It works on whatever phone is at the counter.

07 — Honestly

Not for you if…

Better you find this out now than after you have paid for a month.

  • You need bookings, availability or a rental calendar. DepotProof records condition, nothing else.
  • You need invoicing, deposits or payment handling. It does none of them.
  • You want maintenance schedules or compliance reminders. Not in this version.
  • You are looking for a full rental platform to replace what you have. This sits alongside it.
  • Your staff have no smartphone or tablet at the counter. There is no paper mode.
  • Your yard has no signal at all and the app has never been opened on that phone. A handover already under way keeps capturing without one, but the first load needs a connection, and so does the upload afterwards.

08 — Price

One price. Every user.

Per-seat pricing punishes you for having staff. DepotProof charges per depot, so add the whole counter and the whole yard without thinking about it.

See full pricing →

14 days free

Per depot, per month

A$59

In Australian dollars. Any tax is worked out at the checkout.

  • Unlimited users and handovers
  • Offline once a handover is under way
  • Side-by-side PDF reports
  • Email the PDF to the renter
  • Custom checklists per category
  • No contract, cancel from the billing screen
Start free for 14 days

09 — Questions

Straight answers.

Do I have to replace my current system?

No. DepotProof does one job, the condition record at handover. It sits alongside whatever you use for bookings and invoicing, and you keep both.

What happens if I lose signal mid-handover?

Everything from the photo checklist onward is written to the phone as it is captured, so the run finishes without a bar of signal. It uploads the next time somebody has the app open in range. Two things to know: finish the run, because a handover left half-done sits on the phone until it is finished; and until it uploads it exists only on that phone, so clearing the browser's data or losing the phone loses it.

What happens if I stop paying?

A failed card does not cut you off. While the payment is being retried nothing is blocked. When the subscription actually ends, new handovers are. Every report you have already captured stays readable, downloadable and emailable, and a handover already started on a phone can still be finished and synced. We do not hold your evidence hostage.

Where are my photos stored?

In Linode Object Storage, in an Australian region, Melbourne on our production configuration. The bucket is private and nothing in it is readable from the open web: the server fetches the photos itself and builds them into the PDF, which is delivered over your signed-in session.

Can the renter get a copy?

Yes, when you send it. Save the renter's email when you start the handover, then tap Email on that hire in the reports list and the PDF goes to them, and to your company address if you have set one. It is a deliberate tap, not an automatic send.

Can I find an old report months later?

Search by renter, by machine, by date range, or show only the hires with damage flagged. A search returns the 200 most recent matching hires, so narrow the dates to reach further back than that.

Is there a contract?

No contract and no setup fee. It is month to month, and you cancel from the billing screen, which opens the billing portal our payment provider runs.

The next dispute is already on its way. Have the record.

Start your 14-day trialCard up front. Nothing charged for 14 days.