On site reports

Hello all, fresh meat here. Through my 25 supervised inspections I used Inspectit and loved it. Being a new inspector, I found the platform easy for me to use and helped me to touch all bases without missing anything. It would seem that everyone is having issues after purchase which has scared me away from it. Is anyone able to complete their inspections on site? And if so, which software are you using?

On site reports are just stupid .

What is your strategy when you encounter something you are not familiar with and have promised an on site report?

I can’t help but wonder why you feel this way. Some elaboration would have been helpful.

While most of my inspections require some desk time, a few do not. On occasion, I will encounter a property (usually newer construction), that has very few deficiencies with those that I do encounter being covered properly by pre-written narratives. With these, there is no need for research, but simply a careful review over a cup of coffee at a nearby Starbucks to make sure all the information is correct. Post it and off I go.

This way I am on to my next inspection, having reviewed the morning’s work while everything is fresh on my mind. The afternoon’s inspection gets my full attention and I have time to spend with family.

Nothing stupid about working smart.

Dave brings up a good point. I never “promise” on-site delivery for this very reason. I do it when circumstances allow, and only when I am 100% confident that the report is accurate and complete.

I don’t really intend to promise on site reports. I just want to be finished with as muchas possible prior to leaving the job

To answer your original question, I use HomeHubZone, primarily because it offers a room-by-room approach to performing the inspection. It draws info from the MLS to create a template for the property automatically. Once I input the information at ISN, it feeds automatically to HHZ and the report shows up on my computer and mobile device without any further work on my part. Same with syncing between the mobile and desktop apps.

They were recently bought by HomeGauge which was my second choice when deciding which software to use, so it will be interesting to see what the combination of the two will look like.

Do what other Inspectors do when they don’t have a clue about what they see and just leave it out of the report hoping they don’t get called on it. :roll:

That is a good strategy, it sucks to get back to the office and realize you forgot something. We use Home Inspector Pro with the mobile app and do just that, I would rather under promise and over deliver than vice versa. I like to leave room for the occasional item that needs to be researched.

Unfortunately you could be correct. :frowning:

Good recommendation. I just checked them out. Their app flows really well and the report layout seem to be nicely organized without clutter.

I too use Home Hub Zone report software. I like its work flow. No matter which software you use, you will need to put in an extensive amount of work to get it refined, right for how you work & the way you want your product (report) to appear. Here in Texas we don’t have much room at all for customization of the report but your narrative library will always continue to grow. That library is the biggest thing for getting your report or majority of work done on site. None of my reports are done on site because I encounter things I need to research plus I like to customize even my most commonly used narratives to fit the exact situation I am reporting on. I have those narratives written in a general manor then add the specifics. HHZ has the ability for me to then save that narrative for that report only, leaving the general narrative unchanged for the next inspection & without clouding the library with 100 nearly identical narratives.
Quick reporting is good but on site is rather useless to the client… Most all reports are electronic anymore so it’s not like the client is going to stand next to you at the property & scroll through the report on their phone. That will never replace a real walk through. I have a large tablet that syncs to my software where I can show them parts of the report that they may not be able to access with me such as the roof, parts of attic, etc. Even then, just telling them is usually enough & they wait for the report in order to see it.

We complete the reports on site and I train my inspectors to do the same. We use Homegauge. Our template is no where near the base template that you get when you purchase it as I have updated the template throughout the years and have a large comment library and specific checks that my inspectors have to mark off on to make sure everything is completed and documented. If anyone runs into an issue we can text between each other and I have other resources to get them the answer now when they are there. Being able to get the answer now is more powerful then saying “let me check later and get back to you.” This instills more confidence that the buyer has in your reporting. We go over the report on laptops with the client before leaving so that the understand it and can answer their questions or concerns while still on site. While mobile devices and bouncing reports up and down to the cloud is fancy and impressive, I have found it to be more time consuming especially with connection issues. This is why we use cameras and laptops as your pattern of flow through the home and your comment library are the most important things to get a report done on site.

I haven’t found a listing that I can fully trust to be accurate.

No reason you can’t complete them on site. Just can’t deliver from there, unless you have a wireless device.

HHZ does not go all that deep when pulling stuff from the MLS. Location, square footage, year built, number of stories, simple stuff. It’s easy to adjust in the field which is, of course, where I collect the important information.

Same, I like to have time to check things real quick.

This is true in most cases, but I have had a few occasions where the client needed it immediately due to lack of planning and forethought. They were extremely pleased to have it in their email before I left the property.

When I do post from the field, I either include a disclaimer stating that the report may be subject to amendment, or I make 100% sure it is good to go by sitting down and reviewing the report and tweaking it until it is ready to go.

Sometimes I will post from the field for my convenience. If I have a few hours between inspections but not enough time to go back to the office, and if the inspection was not complicated, I get some lunch, tweak the report and post it. It’s nice to get home and have only one (or no) report to put to bed.