Quick answer
Use real photos for anything that proves your work: your team, your trucks, finished jobs and before-and-afters. For scenes that set a mood or explain an idea, AI images and stock photos both work. Stock is cheap and fast, but anyone can license the same photo. AI images cost $0.27 to $1.69 each in AI fees and are made to match your brand.
Estimates by phone: (587) 804-9266 · Good Roofing · Calgary-owned since 2014 · 10-year workmanship warranty.
Every image on a trades website does one of two jobs: it proves something or it sells a feeling. Proof has to be real. The feeling can come from a stock library, an AI tool or a photographer. We make our ads, social posts and new site images in Overs, the AI tool our owner built, and here is how the three options compare for a roofing or home-service business.
01 · Section
The pictures that have to be real
If a homeowner could read the picture as something that happened, it has to be real.
- 01Your team and your trucks. People in a stock photo or an AI image aren’t your crew, so don’t caption or place them as if they were.
- 02Finished jobs and before-and-afters. These are proof of work, and only photos of the actual job belong here.
- 03Reviews and the people in them. Real customers and their real words, with their permission.
- 04Credentials. Licences, insurance certificates and manufacturer certifications, from the real documents.
02 · Section
Stock photos are cheap, fast and shared
Stock libraries license the same photo to anyone. The Unsplash licence, for example, is “nonexclusive” and free for commercial use, so a competitor can put the same roofer on their homepage. Paid libraries cost more: Adobe Stock’s smallest monthly plan was CAD $38.99 for 10 images when we checked on September 24, 2026.
Fit is the other catch. A stock roofing photo shows whatever homes and weather were in front of the photographer, and none of it is in your colours.
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AI images are made for your brand, and they’re marketing only
A tool like Overs starts from your brand: your website, photos you already have and, if you have one, a brand guidelines PDF. It turns those into colours with hex codes, light, lens and grain, then plans each image for the job it has to do, such as a feed ad, a website hero or a banner. You see the plan and the estimated cost before anything is made.
Budget about 8 tries per usable image, which is $0.27 to $1.69 each in AI fees at September 2026 prices, in US dollars. Our cost breakdown shows the math. An AI image is still marketing and illustration, so label it where the platform or the setting calls for it and never present it as a real job. Before you run AI images in paid ads, read the tool’s terms; Overs’ guide to using AI images commercially compares what the big tools allow.
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A photographer shows the real thing
Your crew on a real roof, your trucks outside a real house, a finished job the homeowner agreed to share: those take a camera. A photographer’s day costs far more than AI fees, and it buys the one thing AI can’t give you, which is proof. A lot of that proof can come from a phone on the job site too, as long as the photos are yours and the homeowner has said yes.
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Which to use, image by image
Match the source to the job the image does.
- 01Website hero and seasonal ads. AI images made to your brand, or stock when you need something today.
- 02Social posts. AI images for campaigns and tips, and real photos when the post is about a real job.
- 03Explainers, like what hail does to a shingle. An illustration, labelled as one.
- 04About page, team page and trucks. Real photos only.
- 05Project gallery, before-and-afters and reviews. Real photos only, with the homeowner’s permission.
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What we use
Our ads, social posts and new site images are made in Overs, and our owner, Abhi Chawla, credits it with a big part of how fast Good Roofing has grown. Overs is made by our owner, so weigh that recommendation accordingly. Those images are marketing and illustration, and job photos are a separate thing. Our list of what a contractor should never fake with AI goes item by item.