Commissioning a piece of architecture, whether a new house, a substantial extension, a garden building, or an interior, produces a record more durable than the building itself. The architect's portfolio, the planning file at the local authority, the construction records held by the contractor, the photographs commissioned for publication, and the periodic press coverage, all accumulate around the project.

The architect's published portfolio is the most prominent of the records. A serious architect publishes their projects on their website, in the architectural press, in the monographs that follow a successful career, and in the awards programmes that recognise the best work. The named client appears, in most cases, in these publications, sometimes by full name, sometimes by initials, sometimes by reference to a known property.

The planning file is among the more candid of the records. It contains the named applicant, the architect, the plans, the materials, the costings in many cases, and the objections raised by neighbours and the responses to them. The file is open for public inspection and is, increasingly, available online through the planning authority's portal.

The press coverage that follows a completed project of any prominence is substantial. The architecture press, the interior design press, the country house magazines, and the wider lifestyle press, all publish features on important new commissions. The features include photographs, plans, descriptions of materials, named architects, named contractors, and frequently named clients.

The work in this category is rarely about preventing publication, which the architectural profession is built on. It is about consideration of the publication agreements, the named identification of the client, the description of the property, and the photographs that circulate. A modest amount of consideration at the moment of completion produces a substantially more discreet record than the conventions of architectural publication would otherwise produce.