Inspection Software

[David Nasser]

I do business in calif. I want to use a software and get away from hand writing inspections. Which one do you recommend ? I want user friendly and best for a computer novice.

David

[bschumacher]

if you do a quick search you will find a bunch of threads/polls for the best software.

i suggest you checkout a couple download their demos and try them see what works for you.

[Justin Watts]

Hi David,
InspectVue is hands down the BEST SOFTWARE!!!!!!!!!!!! As an inspector that uses it, and as an authorized dealer that has sold it to serveral NACHI Inspectors, all of us are very satisfied with it! If you would like a free demo disk, let me know.... I can also sell it to you at a discount, $845.00 out the door.

By the way, David, you are close to my area.... Moreno Valley is about 50 minutes from Orange County, Rancho Santa Margarita. Trust me your clients and you will love the software!

Justin Watts
American Dream Home Inspection
www.americandreamhomeinspection.net
(949) 331-2602

[Mario A. Kyriacou, CHI]

David,

Try these top sellers;

http://www.homegauge.com/inspector/

http://www.pvsoftware.com/index.shtml

http://www.homeinspectorpro.com/

[ROBERT W. NEWLAND, JR.]

Homegauge; User friendly with great tech support.

[Dominic J. Maricic]

David,

As Mario suggested. Download a few programs and try them out. They all have demo's you can download and try out and find what best suits your needs. Different people have different tastes and you'll need to choose what works for you!

Dominic

[Dominic J. Maricic]

David, also make sure to take part in th 5+ contests going on right now. You might get lucky and end up winning software for free

[Jeff Knight]

David,
My first suggestion is to make a list of your top 10 requirements/wish list items first. Then get demos of the software and see which ones fulfill your needs. It is the best way of making sure you select the software that is best for you. An example of your wish list may be:

1. Does the software have the option of running on a handheld device so I can carry it with me easily as I do my inspection and avoid double-entering data ?

2. Ability to print on site the full report or summary from the handheld in the field if I so wish.

3. Ability to automatically integrate pictures into the body of the report and not just at the end as an addendum and even print the report with pictures in the field off the handheld if I want to.

4. Ability to customize the comments and build comments on the fly by having dropdowns inside of comments as you select them in the field. Avoiding "Canned" comments.

5. Do I want a Narrative style or check-list style report ?

6. Ability to easily create different inspection types with their own base of comments.

7. Easy to customize and not have to be a programmer or desktop publisher to create the formatted reports that you want.

8. Does the software have it's own proprietary text editor or can I use any off-the-shelf text editor like Word to edit the report.

9. Does it automatically create a summary report without having to enter the data twice.

10. How long has the software company been in business ? how many clients etc.

Hope this helps and everyone should have their top 10 list and see if the software they are currently using meets all of their top ten items.

[bkelly1]

I went with home inspector pro above, and have been impressed after looking at all the other demos available.

[Bob Elliott]

I guess number eleven on the list would be does the software evolve and adapt in response to what the inspectors request.
Are you being charged hard earned cash for updates.
Can the client easily understand navigation.
Can you put photos right where the text is for that componant.
Does it have bookmarks for getting to sections needing to be looked at without hunting.
Can you insert documents
When needing support can you reach someone right away.
Is the report presentation attractive.
Does it have a built in upload service
Is there a MB for posting questions and ideas.
Can you have checklist or narrative and switch with one click.
Is pic download fast.
Is the price less than one inspection
All of the above describe Home Inspector Pro

[Jeff Knight]

Exactly Bob,
Everyone will have their own top ten list and that is what they should use to determine what software they go with. Make sure to put them in priority order also so that the most important one is on the top. If the #1 item on your list is not met by certain software cross them off the list...hopefully by the time you get to #6 in your list you have your choices narrowed down to a couple and it will make it easier to choose.

Many inspectors over the years have gone to trade shows to look at all the software to make a choice and have gone away more confused then they were before they went. It is hard to make a decision when everyone says what their software is good at and then you can't decide since they all are the BEST !!

[Jeff Knight]

>> I guess number eleven on the list would be does the software evolve and adapt in response to what the inspectors request.

I would think all the software companies do this otherwise they would not be in business very long. The companies that have been around a few years have done this. The ones that an inspector decides to try and sell his own invention to other inspectors to recoup his costs usually do not.

>> Are you being charged hard earned cash for updates.

If they are not then the software company will not exist very long. You cannot continue to make improvements in the software and not charge for them at some point.

>> Can the client easily understand navigation.

Hopefully this is not an issue for most software but you should be able to tell from the demo.

>> Does it have bookmarks for getting to sections needing to be looked at without hunting.

Depends upon if you are using it as a Word processor type of application to create your report or if you are using the software for data collection.

>> When needing support can you reach someone right away.

I can sometimes reach someone right away when I call Dell support....but can they actually help me when they are in India. You need both...reach a person right away..and that person can actually help you.

>> Is the report presentation attractive.

This can be a matter of opinion. I have seen inspectors show me their checklist report they created themselves and they think it is beautiful and I look at it and say..."You actually give this to you client ?"

>> Is the price less than one inspection

Price should be your last concern...just like a home buyer price shopping for a home inspection. You get what you pay for. There is home inspection software out on the Web for $49.

[Russell Buchanan]

I recommend performing an inspection on your home or a home with each software demo. Call the company as you need help, and discover which works best for you. Jeff Knight's post had some good points. He must have forgot to include the link to his software so here it is www.knightssoftware.com

[Mark A. Timpani, CMI]

try this one at the bottom

[Jeffrey R. Jonas]

Another important consideration that I rarely see mentioned is what are the system requirements for your computer? I recently looked at software that required Microsoft Office/Microsoft Excel. The program does not work with Excel readers such as Microsoft Works, OpenOffice, etc... Could get expensive if you don't have Office, and it is required.