What is chain of evidence in construction lending?

The links in the chain.

Each link answers one question a reviewer may ask later about a draw:

1. Capture at the source. Were the photos and observations recorded on site during the visit, rather than gathered afterward from a camera roll or a forwarded file?
2. Metadata. Does each capture carry the date, time and location it was made?
3. The original record. Is the evidence the lender reviewed the same evidence that was captured, not a cropped, re-saved or retyped copy?
4. Custody. Who captured, submitted, reviewed and approved it, and when did each step happen?
5. The decision. Does the disbursement record name the inspection and evidence it relied on?

A break weakens everything after it. A photo with no date can't show progress at the time of the draw. A percentage with no photo behind it rests on the inspector's word alone. An approval with no named reviewer can't show who made the call. Remote and self-captured inspections depend on these links even more; see what a remote draw inspection is.

Chain of evidence and the audit trail.

The two overlap but ask different questions. The audit trail is the record of actions on the file: orders, status changes, approvals. Chain of evidence asks whether each piece of evidence can be traced back to its source and forward to the decision it supported. Here the term describes lending practice, not a legal standard for evidence in court; questions about legal proceedings belong with counsel.

Why it matters for lenders.

The FDIC's construction and land development procedures ask whether inspection reports are detailed enough to support disbursements, whether inspectors are independent of the lending function and whether management reviews written inspection reports before funds are released. The OCC's Comptroller's Handbook describes inspection reports that support disbursements based on percentage complete and calls for independent review of the records. A clear chain lets a lender, an auditor or an examiner follow any advance back to the site visit. See how examiners review construction loan monitoring.

How RAZE handles it.

The RAZE Mobile App captures photos on site with GPS latitude and longitude, date and time stamps, device type, device ID and photo tags the app generates, and photos link to the draw sheet line items they support. Lenders' own inspectors on Direct Request use the same capture as RAZE Marketplace inspectors. Submitted reports go to lender review, the status history records each change and who made it, and a rejection keeps the reviewer's reason. RAZE documents the field side of the chain; the lender makes and records the funding decision in its own systems.