You have me sold Bob…if it works for me fine, if not, well big deal, $99.00 bucks, a tax deduction even if it didn’t work out.
I’d end up with ‘ummm’ and ‘hmmmm’ all over the programming code, wouldn’t look pretty. Can I tell it to remove words that I say? hehe.
Actualy you can train it for shortcuts , like on the word program, but verbal.
For instance you could say carbon monoxide and have it print out a few paragraphs on carbon monoxide dangers.
I have never fully explored its true potential and find it to not be a constant companion , but another tool I am glad to have.
I use Dragon naturally speaking all the time (as you can see by the length of some of my posts here)!
Using Microsoft’s voice dictation engine in no way compares to Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Actually, if it’s on in the background there will be some conflicts and may slow down dragon.
About talking fast, Dragon recognizes phrases rather than individual words. Especially when you use the same type of phrases in your inspection reports over and over, accuracy drastically increases. The program continually upgrades itself on the way you talk. Dragon has drastically improved over the years. I used IBM for many years but found a drastic improvement when I switched to Dragon.
I don’t like carrying around a computer when I’m doing my inspection. I have enough equipment as it is. However, I do use Dragon in the truck to generate on site deficiency list’s for the client when requested.
One thing about voice-recognition is you have to speak reasonably the same way and under the same conditions. Dragon has improved on this over the years allowing considerable background noise without affecting the dictation.
If someone comes in the room when you’re dictating and ask you something like; “are you ready for supper?” It magically appears in your inspection report! So, you have to be careful about what’s going on in your environment when dictating.
I live a considerable distance from my inspection service area and can get a considerable amount of my inspection notes completed during a drivetime, saving a considerable amount of report writing time back at the office.
The nice thing about voice dictation is that you can customize your reports with extreme accuracy and make the report appear individually written (which it actually is) for that house. In comparison, “search and click” reporting reads mechanized and robotic.
I am awaiting version 10, which should arrive today. I will provide an update on this version.
I frequently upgrade as Dragon seems to make significant achievements on a biannual basis.
When using any voice dictation program within another program (such as home gauge) speed and accuracy seems to decline noticeably, mostly due to the particular program you are dictating into directly.
Dragon has two options for dictation within its program. One is " DragonPad " which is like dictating to something like Microsoft’s Notepad. From here you can cut and paste paragraphs or the document in its entirety to place in another program. The second, is a “dictation pad”. Wherever you leave your cursor in another program, is where the text you dictated will go when you close a dictation window. This greatly increases speed and accuracy (especially when making corrections or editing. Other programs don’t like to listen to the computer commands from another program in some cases).
There are also other things that drastically increase accuracy that you need to learn. Proper adjustment of the volume of your microphone input is very important. Often your computer will readjust this volume level without your permission between times that you use the program. There is a modulation scale at the top of the Dragon toolbar that helps you out with this. There are also other options within Dragon that allow you to specifically just dictate words, dictate numbers, spell only, or voice computer commands. In the “normal” mode the computer will do all of these things automatically, but will slow things down because it must check to see if what you said is a computer command, an individually spelled word, a certain format for numbers (such as a telephone number, currency etc.).
Dictating to anything (including a voice recorder) takes practice. When I was a special agent, we had to dictate just about everything and send it to a typing pool for report generation. What you got back in the printed version was often drastically different than what you thought you said! So training the program is not the only training that you must do. One nice thing about voice dictation is that you don’t have to think about typing or making typographical errors, you just have to think about composing your statements.
One other option that is totally useless so far, is dictating to a digital recorder and having the program “transcribe”. Accuracy is not very good. I think the problem is that you speak differently to the voice recorder than you would to the computer program.
Remember, this thing is a computer. Input in = input out. As human beings, we overlook misspoken words and fill in the blanks with only a few words spoken. The computer does not have this luxury. They can only work with your voice input. When you say something incorrectly, that’s what it prints.
[size=2]However, I have knowingly said things incorrectly and the program corrected to what I meant, not what I said!
[/size]
Wal, there’s a mouthful, Dave!
Having lived in Knoxville, I can say that some Tennesseeans would have to stop for lunch and dinner during that lengthy dictation!
Great info, though. And from Bob, too.
Thanks!
Over the many years when inspectors asked us about voice dictation…one of the first things I try to do is manage their expectations. It is not very easy for us normal humans to talk the same way we want our report to look like. We do not always speak grammatically correct which can be a big problem when trying to use voice dictation. It makes you spend a lot of time fixing grammar errors in your report. I would also be very careful in trying to be too unique for each inspection. If you run into the same problem every week in a lot of houses you do not want it to be worded different every time, yes…you want it to have different values for the location of the issue or the severity, but you do not want to word it completely different. I also now I can always select a sentence from a drop-down menu much quicker then anyone could say the same sentence and have it dictated. Now…voice NAVIGATION is a different story…and I think it is something that will be coming soon to the inspection market.
Jeff Knight
Knights Software
www.knightssoftware.com
As a practicing Home Inspector I must dis-agree on the voice dictation comment , though I understand what you are saying.
I have my canned comments all loaded up in my HIP software and often make use of them, but find that over a three hour period become freindly with my customer to the point where using robotic statements makes no sense.
Robotic type insertions such torn screens living room are replaced with my narrative of
Upon opening the window next the the Living rooms ventless fireplace I discovered a small tear which appears to have been caused by a nail I found sticking out of the left side window track.
I would suggest removing it and having the screen repaired or replaced.
As you may recall we found a few more of these nails sticking out of the bedroom window and found them rubbing against the screens in that room also.
I have my Introduction letter to begin with in which I explain certain facts pertaining to things discussed during the Inspection which simply can’t be software stored .
Sure the first canned statement is easily stored , and I understand why yourself and Dominic included ,would want to push the speed and or portibility that your respective softwares offer.
I only use Dragon when doing reports as I am still a 6 finger typist and need the practice these forums afford me.
Personaly , I have recieved comments from clients on how easy and through my reports are.
By the time I search through 50 comments I can speak my mind on Dragon.
Is it for everyone? NO.
Not everyone has the ability to convey defects in unique language and the canned comments are a great help to have in front of me for ideas.
All in all I would not make a blanket statement on report style as there are many different ways of conveying information which should be matched to how the Inspector does business.
Some prefer PDA, Tablet, or going home and pounding out a word document.
Guys also still feel comfortable with checklists.
It is good to have options and though we all pick a side , there is no clear cut winner, and there are ways to master all styles.
Just my thoughts.
Robert,
Don’t take this the wrong way… but I would say that your inspection reports would be pretty unique in the home inspection world. I would picture your report as a recap of your inspection experience written in a narrative style format that would take the client along with you as you do your inspection to give them the personal touch that would make reading one of your reports a very pleasant experience instead of the dry type I always see.
Instead of saying something like…
“Evidence of rodents observed in kitchen cabinets. Suggest review by licensed pest control specialist for corrections as needed.”
you might say instead…
“Upon opening the third cabinet door from the right during my inspection in the kitchen I was startled by the sound of four tiny feet scurrying in front of a Cheerios cereal box. As this critter attempted to run past me and jump over my shoulder I take a brutal swing with my trusty Surefire flashlight to try and erradicate the problem. Unfortunately the smaller mammal was faster then my lightning fast reaction swing and escaped unscathed. In my experience there are usually a family that comes with one of these pests and I would strongly suggest you call your local pest control company to see if they may try and smoke these guys out or at the very least set up some mouse traps to put an end to their free lunch.”
:):)
Just kidding!! Couldn’t help myself. I just thought if inspectors would be a little more light on their comments and not be so serious that everyone might lighten up during the home transaction process and that things may go more smoothly.
Jeff Knight
www.knightssoftware.com
Don’t forget several pics of the rodent making his getaway.
Linas,
You are right…Robert did say he takes a lot of pictures during the inspection process !! 
Jeff
Jeff
Please make your posts short and to the point.
Just kidding:)
I know your software exists for fast, less information is better format ,so I can (can as in canned, yuk yuk) assume that you would figure it is not a good idea to narrate a report.
My clients recieve high end service and expect more than me picking robotic verbage from a list. I go home and spend up to 2 hours on my reports, as not everything is cut and dry.Are your speedy guys looking at serial and model numbers, or researching information when needed?
No , I did not think so.I do and as I stated use Dragon on reports.
Sorry if my example was unimpressive as I made it up, and real comments pertain to real situations.
Here is from yesterdays report (undoctored I promise)
Shutoffs under Bathroom and kitchen sinks should have more
accessable shutoffs.
The type installed are old , and may have a tendency to leak or not
operate properly as they are made for screw driver use.
Now tell me how many canned comments I would need to scroll through to find that.
I can say that much faster than scroll through 1,000s of words (get it)
Do you feel there is a better comment for the data base that you could store which will pertain to the above situation?
I look forward to your reply.
Searching out “hunt-and-click” comments takes me way more time than dictating the same thing every time with Dragon.
There are comments that state a fact that does not require and change from inspection to inspection. This is where “hunt-and-peck” comes into play.
I have a lot more information that the client needs than just what’s wrong.
The report is what your fees are all about.
Maybe if we all approached things this way we all could make some more money!
Agreed
Which is why I use hunt and peck only for material discriptions such as major wall surface is drywall, etc;
The other instance would be inserting documents.
I’m not sure I would say it is better but here is one that is from an actual client…
[Old Shut-Offs]Shut-off valves observed under the ^room^ sink(s) are old and are not readily accessible. Client is advised to have new shut-off valves installed as a plumbing upgrade.
First thing you may notice is that the comment is preceded by what we call a comment-label. This is a word or words at the beginning of any comment surrounded by “]” that easily signifies what the comment is about so it is easy to find in your drop-down list of comments. When the comment is selected this text is not inserted into the comment area.
Secondly, you may notice that the word “accessible” is spelled right in this comment and not spelled “accessable”. This is why having prewritten comments can avoid spelling errors if they are already spell-checked ahead of time.
Thirdy, this comment also contains a drop-down menu called “room” that will come up with a list of rooms (kitchen,bathroom,laundry area) that a sink may be in. This makes it so that this one comment can handle any sink in any room of the house or in many rooms.
Fourthly, this comment is ONLY seen in the actual Step “Sink” comment drop down list so that the list is very short and there is not a 100 comments to scroll through. The most I have ever seen with our system is maybe 25-30 comments in a drop down. On top of it you can group the comments together in the Comment drop down list to make it even easier to find. (Another advanced feature we have is that the comment drop down list will even change based on items you have already checked during the inspection. So…if you checked that the age of the house is a NEW house then this comment does not appear in your drop-down list of comments. This makes your comment popup list shorter and easier to find the comments that you are looking for. In essence it filters the comments out that do not pertain to this particular home as you do your inspection.)
It is hard to relay to you how our system will handle almost any scenario you run into in the field if you spend the time creating the comment template that would work for you. As you have said before…everyone is different and likes their own way of doing things and that is understandable.
I also would never say that our software is for gathering LESS information…because it is just the opposite. When you are using an electronic device to gather your inspection data during the inspection you are able to gather much more information then you could using a paper form, voice-recorder or just taking pictures. Each comment you select during the inspection can be as long or short as you want it to be.
Jeff Knight
Knights Software Solutions, Inc.
www.knightssoftware.com
If that is the case then you are using the wrong software. It should be very quick to find what you are looking for and should also have a way of inserting specific items inside your comment very easily. If a comment does not exist that you are looking for then you can always fallback to dictating it. I think it also depends upon your comment. Here is an example:
*The siding appears to be Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS), also referred to as Synthetic Stucco. Some homes using this material have experienced moisture related problems inside the walls resulting in substantial damage including rot and wood deterioration to the structure. Our visual inspection of the siding showed ^signs^ damage or deterioration. This is a visual inspection only. No destructive testing is performed and many times the damage is not visible to the inspector during a visual inspection. We recommend buyer consider a review by a qualified contractor for a more detailed inspection prior to close. Any cracks in stucco should be repaired as they occur or water infiltration will cause damage, spalling and structural damage to the lath matrix and framing behind the stucco. All door/window/trim junctions should be sealed regularly as these areas can hold water and result in damage as well.
*If you can dictate that faster then me finding it in my drop down comment menu then I admire you. The other point is that this comment is actually tied to a material type which means that as soon as I select the “EIFS” checkbox for the Exterior Wall material type this comment goes into my report automatically…I don’t even have to “hunt-and-peck” for it.
Jeff Knight
Knights Software Solutions, Inc.
www.knightssoftware.com
I guess you don’t use voice dictation much!
I have tried every software out there for 12 years and after a couple of hours of hunting and pecking for the numerous conditions I find in my inspection, I ask myself, “why are you doing this?!”
Currently I am using a report program and voice dictation which allows more compression than I can get any other way and allows maximum use of photographs in the reporting. It works for me. I still can’t get out of there under 2 hours per report, that’s bacause of what I have to say.
There is no “better” hunt-and-click programs, just different.
David,
Yes… I have used Dragon Systems before and it works fine for what it is intended for. I am just not convinced it is the way to go to create an inspection report from. 2 hours of entering data after the inspection is done is too long in my opinion and would be unacceptable for a lot of inspectors. If you are trying to do 2 inspections a day then you are up until 1am creating your report. If it works for you that is great and I am not trying to convince you any other way. I just do not want other inspectors to think they can sit down and start creating their report at home much quicker by using voice dictation instead of selecting the “hunt-and-peck” method of selecting predetermined comments and typing in the blank areas when needed. I think because of your years of experience using it makes it much more feasable for you.
Jeff Knight
Knights Software Solutions, Inc.
www.knightssoftware.com
Ok well I have been following this and now I have to ask this. At one time before I got into this business I used a voice ( dictation ) typing program elsewhere. It was Blue tooth compatable and when I was walking around doing my job I would talk into my blue tooth and it would type what I was saying on my computer. I found this very helpfull but the problem I had with this was that if I got more than 20 feet away from my computer it stopped due to loss of signal. I am trying to see if this is also blue tooth compatable but also am trying to understand if this technology could be integrated into my www.Homegauge software program? I don’t think it can as I would like to use it because I would love to be able to walk through as house or better yet when I am in a crawl space be able to dictate what I am seeing and taking pictures off. If we ever get to that type of technology I am all for it and will be first in line for it.
You can use a common voice recorder to later feed /dictate to your computer, then edit as needed.
Secondly, you may notice that the word “accessible” is spelled right in this comment and not spelled “accessable”. This is why having prewritten comments can avoid spelling errors if they are already spell-checked ahead of time.
Thirdy, this comment also contains a drop-down menu called “room” that will come up with a list of rooms (kitchen,bathroom,laundry area) that a sink may be in. This makes it so that this one comment can handle any sink in any room of the house or in many rooms
Eh …excuse me…Jeff
If you are going to comment on spelling , you may wish to check your own buddy.
Or is thirdy a real word?