Need help selecting report software

[Humberto Carvajal]

Originally Posted by Jeff Knight

Quoting from his original answer ... "Now on average including all the above already mentioned, I would say a little over an hour." ....anyways, anything over 10 minutes to me is too long per report.

Jeff, as a software developer, this may be your perspective or view. And maybe rightfully so. But viewing it as an inspector, I seriously doubt there are many inspectors here that can or are willing to put out a report in 10 minutes or under. This is my personal reason for it and I don't pretend to speak for anyone else but, I feel if you spent 2 hours inspecting a particular property and spent just 10 minutes writing a report, you either,

1) Didn't find many problems if any.

2) Didn't look very hard in order to find any issues or problems (which could be interpreted as not being a very thorough inspector).

0r

3) Don't really care a great deal about delivering a presentable report to your clients that have just spent their hard earned money hiring you to perform an inspection for them thats purpose is to alert them to issues that can later cause them to spend even more money.

I know that the vast majority, if not, all the inspectors that I have come across on this site are very conscientious and would spend the hour (if needed) to finalize their report. I'm not saying that a report couldn't be finished in 10 minutes. What I am saying is, I don't do 10 minute reports for the above mentioned reasons. And even if I were to finish the report in 10 minutes, I would spend the little extra time to ensure everything is worthy of my fee.

Regards,

[Jeff Knight]

Originally Posted by hcarvajal

Jeff, as a software developer, this may be your perspective or view. And maybe rightfully so. But viewing it as an inspector, I seriously doubt there are many inspectors here that can or are willing to put out a report in 10 minutes or under. This is my personal reason for it and I don't pretend to speak for anyone else but, I feel if you spent 2 hours inspecting a particular property and spent just 10 minutes writing a report, you either,

1) Didn't find many problems if any.

2) Didn't look very hard in order to find any issues or problems (which could be interpreted as not being a very thorough inspector).

0r

3) Don't really care a great deal about delivering a presentable report to your clients that have just spent their hard earned money hiring you to perform an inspection for them thats purpose is to alert them to issues that can later cause them to spend even more money.

I know that the vast majority, if not, all the inspectors that I have come across on this site are very conscientious and would spend the hour (if needed) to finalize their report. I'm not saying that a report couldn't be finished in 10 minutes. What I am saying is, I don't do 10 minute reports for the above mentioned reasons. And even if I were to finish the report in 10 minutes, I would spend the little extra time to ensure everything is worthy of my fee.

Regards,

Humberto,
First...the majority of home inspectors across the country spend 0 time creating their report after the inspection. Unfortunately there are still more inspectors using checksheet forms then there are inspectors using software. Recent software and hardware releases over the past 10 years have added the ability for inspectors to collect their inspection data on a computer as they walk around has helped put a major dent in this percentage so, I believe, it is getting closer.

The 3 issues you brought up having nothing to do with whether you spent 10 minutes or an hour creating the report after your inspection but everything to do with how much time you spent DOING the inspection. Just FYI..but 2 hours is below the national average time an inspector spends doing an inspection. The average time nationally is over 3 hours but always varies depending upon the size of the house, how bad it is and whether you have a realtor or seller tagging along with you the whole time.

All I am saying is that to cover all 3 of the items you mentioned does not require that you spend over an hour after the inspection to create your report...you can do it by collecting the data as you are doing your inspection and when you are done the software AUTOMATICALLY creates the report for you based on the data you collected and even includes the pictures where they need to be and the report is very presentable. We have the largest franchise in the country producing this report and the largest school in the country so I am very confident in what the report looks like when it is automatically created and its professionalism.

If you want to go over and above what the default report looks like you can since the report is created in a Word document so you can always just open the report in Word and start adding fancier borders or anything else your heart desires. Our main focus is to help eliminate having to reenter the inspection data at home and having all the data you need at your fingertips as you are doing your inspection in the field.

Jeff Knight
Hudson, WI
Knights Software Solutions, Inc.
www.knightssoftware.com
"Leading handheld inspection software for 10 years."

[relliott]

Jeff, my only problem is you are the biggest PDA software yet I see no Inspectors out of the near 10,000 here telling us anything.
Why are they so silent ?

[Jeff Knight]

Originally Posted by relliott

Jeff, my only problem is you are the biggest PDA software yet I see no Inspectors out of the near 10,000 here telling us anything.
Why are they so silent ?

For one there is not 10,000 inspectors on this forum. I am guessing there are maybe a couple hundred active members that visit this forum on a regular basis. Another is that we do not do a lot of marketing ...we would rather spend our money on making the product better and rely on our current clients to do a lot of the marketing for us.

Secondly.. anyone that has actually used our software understands fully the differences between us and everyone else...and unfortunately sometimes this is a disadvantage because they do not want their competitors to know about us.

Thirdly...we have not done enough with InterNACHI to make our presence known enough and it seems like depending upon what day it is InterNACHI is backing a different software solution. I would rather have a permanent relationship with a school or franchise that will back us up and stand behind us completely. We are relatively new to a lot of the InterNACHI members.

I don't hear a lot about PalmTech or InspectIt or even 3D who has the most users of all in the home inspection market on this forum either but I know there are a lot of inspectors using their software also.

Jeff

[relliott]

Jeff if this Association was to back only one product, it would be like a RE Agent refering only one Inspector all the time.

[Joseph Hagarty, CMI]

HomeGauge 4.0 is Superior to any other Service Offering.

Anything Else is Lesser Than.........

[relliott]

At least that is a referal, now out of the two hundred posters , is there not one using Jeffs program?

[Joseph Hagarty, CMI]

Who is Jeff ???

[Humberto Carvajal]

[quote=Jeff Knight]Humberto,
First...the majority of home inspectors across the country spend 0 time creating their report after the inspection.

Jeff, I for one would like to know where you got this information from. I'm very interested in seeing it for myself.

Secondly, in response to your words to Bob Elliott

"Secondly.. anyone that has actually used our software understands fully the differences between us and everyone else...and unfortunately sometimes this is a disadvantage because they do not want their competitors to know about us."

This is a pretty large organization and although as you point out not all members post on this BB, I've been reading an awful lot of posts making mention of an awful lot of different reporting software. From what I've been able to see here EVERYONE wants the other guy to know about his or her inspection reporting software. Why? Because a software that's that good deserves more recognition. And the main premise of this BB is to further help our fellow inspectors and so on. And if I use a reporting software that I feel is benefiting my business and am very happy with, why wouldn't I spread the word and let my fellow inspectors know about it? To keep tight lipped and not make mention of it wouldn't make much sense.

I'll wait and see until "those" inspectors start posting here on this thread praising that particular software that allows them to spend "0" time creating their reports. I'm sure that out of the 200 or so that you estimate post here, certainly some must be using such software. Maybe some are using your software and may care to mention it. Unless of course they don't want their "competitors" to know?

[Jeff Knight]

[quote=hcarvajal]

Originally Posted by Jeff Knight

Humberto,
First...the majority of home inspectors across the country spend 0 time creating their report after the inspection.

Jeff, I for one would like to know where you got this information from. I'm very interested in seeing it for myself.

Secondly, in response to your words to Bob Elliott

"Secondly.. anyone that has actually used our software understands fully the differences between us and everyone else...and unfortunately sometimes this is a disadvantage because they do not want their competitors to know about us."

This is a pretty large organization and although as you point out not all members post on this BB, I've been reading an awful lot of posts making mention of an awful lot of different reporting software. From what I've been able to see here EVERYONE wants the other guy to know about his or her inspection reporting software. Why? Because a software that's that good deserves more recognition. And the main premise of this BB is to further help our fellow inspectors and so on. And if I use a reporting software that I feel is benefiting my business and am very happy with, why wouldn't I spread the word and let my fellow inspectors know about it? To keep tight lipped and not make mention of it wouldn't make much sense.

I'll wait and see until "those" inspectors start posting here on this thread praising that particular software that allows them to spend "0" time creating their reports. I'm sure that out of the 200 or so that you estimate post here, certainly some must be using such software. Maybe some are using your software and may care to mention it. Unless of course they don't want their "competitors" to know?

Over the past 11 years in this industry I have always asked any classes I have taught or presented in front which inspectors still use checksheet forms and everytime the majority raise their hands. Sometimes it is just over half and other times it is closer to 80%. I have asked this several times during a quarterly TAREI meeting, WAHI meetings, FABI meetings, CREIA meetings, ASHI chapter meetings, NAHI meetings and it has always been the majority. No...I do not have a national survey to prove this and maybe ASHI or one of the insurance companies have the actual numbers but I have asked them in the past and they have told me the same thing.

To the second response I was being facetious when I was saying that no one wants to tell other inspectors about our software...(although there probably are a few that would not tell their local competitor that they may not like) ...We actually have past ASHI presidents and chapter presidents, past FABI presidents, TAREI board members and past presidents, NAHI board members, WAHI presidents and past presidents, CAHPI board members that use our software a lot and talk about it when asked. We are very well known in specific areas of the country but have had little exposure in InterNACHI yet. No...we have not taken a vice-president position yet like some other software companies have..... and as Mr. Elliott pointed out I think it would be a conflict of interest for me to do that since I think InterNACHI should be neutral in this regard.

Jeff Knight
Hudson, WI
Knights Software Solutions, Inc.
www.knightssoftware.com

[Holly Montgomery]

Originally Posted by mmonroe

I am new to the field and I am in the process of choosing a software, any suggestions / comments??

Try Aztrom! Free trial available.
www.aztrom.com

[relliott]

Originally Posted by Holly Montgomery

Try Aztrom! Free trial available.
www.aztrom.com

No samples on the site is a bad sign.

I see it is word based.

[Justin Watts]

Spend the money for the LEXUS of Inspection Software "PORTER VALLEY SOFTWARE INSPECTVUE PROGRAM, and contact me, as an authorized dealer I will give you a discount...
And yes, I use the software for my business, view the Sample Inspection Report at my website. Call me at (949) 331-2602 if you have any questions, or want to save $100 off the retail price. It was the best investment, I ever made......

Justin Watts
American Dream Home Inspection
Porter Valley Software - Authorized Dealer

http://www.americandreamhomeinspection.net
Go to website: click on Sample Report on home page to view a InspectVue Report - Clients are always IMPRESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Porter Valley software:
www.pvsoftware.com

[rdezee]

If you are looking at 3d it's not bad after you learn how to naviagte around it. It came with the package I ordered when I took my home inspection course, but I would never bought it by itself. For the money it's not worth it. I looked at report host and that sounded good, but I haven't tried it yet. From what I've read I think I would try HomeGauge if I were you. If I get the opportunity that's what I want to go with in the future, Good Luck!

[relliott]

Originally Posted by rdezee

If you are looking at 3d it's not bad after you learn how to naviagte around it. It came with the package I ordered when I took my home inspection course, but I would never bought it by itself. For the money it's not worth it. I looked at report host and that sounded good, but I haven't tried it yet. From what I've read I think I would try HomeGauge if I were you. If I get the opportunity that's what I want to go with in the future, Good Luck!

Guess you never tried HIP.