I hope this is the right place to post this message…
Hello,
I though that this forum might be a good place to do some inital research. My name is Andrew and my primary background is software architecure/design/development (over 10 years experience working at a large Bank). I have always had an intertest in home inspection and am fairly well versed in the basics of electrical, plumbing, structure, etc. and have a fair amount of exposure to contruction/renovations. I am from Ontario, Canada and am also registered as a Certified Engineering Technologist with OACETT.
My main question is what type of market is there for new home inspection software? I am considering starting to gather requirements in order design and build a fully customizable suite of home inspection tools. I know that there are others on the market but do they do everything inspectors want them to do? Any input/thoughts on the subject would be much appreciated. I also have every intention of becoming an InterNACHI member over the next few months.
If it fully customizable, come with starter templates, flexible, work with any computer, PDAs, support remote storage, have great customer service and cheap, throw in hosting of web services including: scheduling, credit card processing, SEO and reports. You would then be equal to some of the competition. Sorry I could not help myself. Tell us what you got and we will all look at it.
I am just getting a feel for what would need to be done. So nothing has been developed yet. The plan is to start gathering requirements and see where it goes from there.
What in addition to what is stated above is better than the competition?
Andrew: As you can see, this is a highly debated topic here.
If you are looking to get into the Home Inspection industry, I suggest buying a software that is customizable and make it your own. If you are good, it wont take you long to make money with it = fast return on investment.
If you are looking got get into the Home Inspection Report Software industry… well its a tough market with allot of competition and controversy. (as you can tell by this thread) You will be competing with many established businesses. I wish you well, consider your options carefully.
I would like to thank everybody for the information/advice so far. Your second paragraph pretty sums up my intention. Myself (and team), are considering entering into the home inspection reporting software industry. Competition can sometimes be a good thing and can honestly see no reason with the correct input why we cannot build a superior product to anything else out there. This would be an opportunity for all the home inspectors to provide their input into the design and development. In the end, the only thing we have to lose is out time and effort.
This would obviously be an ongoing process and the next step would be looking to work with a small number of inspectors to help gather some initial requirements and garner some feedback throughout the process. In return, some possibilities could include free software/hosting/scheduling etc.
Just curious, why all the controversy as to which software is best?
I am just trying to get a feel and throw out some ideas. All of you are the experts and I do not want to attempt to try and do something that will never succeed. Additional features could be an online scheduling service that could be incorporated into individuals existing web sites. From a mobile perspective we could build in Blackberry and iPhone integration in addition to Palm/Pocket PC.
Sorry I could not help myself. Tell us what you got and we will all look at it.
