How Plumb Daily began
Plumb Daily began with our own new house build. Here's the story, first as a short film, then in my own words.
The story in under a minute
With sound and captions. The film's narration, music and artwork are made with AI – the build photos are real.
What the film shows and says
Scene by scene, with the narration
A paper-collage backyard at dusk, with a gum tree, a fence and a neighbour's tiled roof. A man in an orange polo and glasses and a woman in a green jumper are set down on the pegged-out block, facing each other, with name tags that read "Matthew" and "Sarah". Then 2 stakes land and an orange string pulls tight between them.
Narrator: "Sarah and Matthew are building a new home."
The name tags peel away. Sarah looks up, and a card appears in the sky above her. It shows 3 drawings of the block, each a stage further on, with the fence and the roof at the same height in all 3 and a dashed brass line along the fence tops.
Narrator: "Sarah wanted a way to take photos of the build –"
"lined up" is written on a tag beside the card. A brass-topped peg appears at Sarah's feet, and she taps it into the ground with her boot.
Narrator: "lined up from the same spot, over the next year."
The picture tears away to a stack of drawn prints of the block that flick like a flip book. Each one sits a little off – shifted, zoomed in or tilted – so the fence jumps from print to print, and "jumps about" is written beside them.
Narrator: "But phone photos drift, so a time-lapse jumps about."
Back on the block, a trestle table with a laptop stands between them. Matthew holds up a card with a pencilled phone on it, and "an app" is written under it. Sarah looks at the card and nods.
Narrator: "Matthew offered to build her an app. She agreed."
Matthew works at the laptop. Beside it, a first draft comes together: a paper phone, a brass star and a sheet of tracing paper. He slides it along the table to Sarah, who picks it up and holds the phone up to take a photo while he watches. "straight away" is written on a card above them.
Narrator: "He built a first draft, and she started using it straight away."
Close up over Sarah's shoulder, her hands hold the phone, which shows the block. A drawn print drops beside it and a brass star marks it as the key photo. A see-through sheet with the block pencilled on it slides down over the phone's screen and is taped at 2 corners, and "like tracing paper" is written above.
Narrator: "The key photo – the first one – sits over the viewfinder like tracing paper."
The picture tears away to a pin-board with 2 real photos of the build, taken from the roof: a mown backyard on 16 Aug and a concrete slab on 9 Sep. Matthew and Sarah stand either side, looking at them, and a tag reads "24 days apart". In the portrait version of the film, the 9 Sep photo drops over the 16 Aug one.
Narrator: "On their own build, 24 days apart, the backyard became a slab –"
A ruler slides in along the top of the back fence, and a brass pencil rules one line across both photos: the fence sits on the same line in each. Matthew and Sarah nod. In the portrait version, a strip tears down the 9 Sep photo to show the 16 Aug one underneath before the line is ruled.
Narrator: "and the back fence stayed put."
The picture tears away to a navy dusk card. The Plumb Daily icon and name drop in, small paper stars appear, and a brass plumb bob on a long string drops in at the side and swings.
Narrator: "It's called Plumb Daily, after the plumb line –"
The plumb bob settles and hangs straight down, and "a true vertical" is written under the name.
Narrator: "the builder's tool for a true vertical."
Small paper figures of Sarah and Matthew walk in along the bottom edge and stop, facing each other. A brass tag that reads "Join the waitlist" drops in, with the address plumbdaily.com underlined below it. Sarah nods, then Matthew, and the card holds until the film ends.
Narrator: "To hear when it's on the App Store, join the waitlist at plumbdaily.com."
Why I built Plumb Daily
I'm Matthew Sweet. Plumb Daily began with my wife, Sarah, and our new house build. She wanted a way to take photos of it, lined up from the same spot, over the next year.
I offered to build her an app to do that, and she agreed. So I built a first draft, and she started using it straight away.
Photos taken on a phone never quite line up. The framing drifts, the zoom changes and the horizon tilts, so a time-lapse made from them jumps about.
Plumb Daily helps you put the phone back where it was. Set the first photo. Match it every day. Export the lot at the end. The name comes from the plumb line – the builder's tool for a true vertical.
Plumb Daily is in TestFlight beta now, on iPhone and Mac. I make it on my own in Australia, under my business, Platform21.
– Matthew
The build so far
Here's our block from the same spot on the roof, 24 days apart. In between, the yard was cleared and levelled, and the slab was poured.
The app so far
Version 0.5.1 is out to testers on iPhone and Mac. I write release notes for every beta, so you can read what's changed in each version.
Hear when Plumb Daily is on the App Store
You're on the list
You'll get one email when Plumb Daily is on the App Store. There's nothing else you need to do.