I’m torn between HIP and HG. Is there anyone who is familiar with both who can give me advice? I’ve been using trial versions of both and can’t seem to pull the trigger on either one.
I’ve used both and find HIP easier to use which allows for faster report writing.
Good to know. For HG did you utilize their mobile app or scheduling features? Do you now use ISN to supplement? Or do you keep your own schedule?
Only desktop , And I do my own scheduling.
See if you like this Kevin. Scroll down for a list of software. Many have a certain amount you can try without paying beforehand: http://hinarratives.com/?page_id=265
Compliments of Kenton…
Dang forum.
InterNACHI had a little report competition a few years ago. The winner was determined by a vote of the membership. My report was the winner, and is now used as one of the sample reports on the Homegauge website.
Obviously, I chose Homegauge because it was the most intuitive for me. But everyone is different. HIP is more intuitive for some others. They are both great software.
We need a —> Frank Rotte vs Bob Elliott <— Battle Royale!!!
Ha ha. 
I’ve retired from competition.
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Spoilsport!
Ur a sissy…Yep!
How can I respond in 10 characters when I only want to leave an emoji?
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Officially hijacked
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Thanks for the responses guy, don’t think I made any progress though. It’s tough when all I hear is great things about both programs and I don’t hear any negative feedback about either one.
I learned of a nice feature on the HG just this morning. It’s called the Repair/Request List. I have been using HG since last September but no one has ever mentioned it to me. You don’t see it, because it pops up on the Buyer’s screen when they are viewing the Inspection Report on the HG website. Anyway, I got an email this morning from HG informing me that my customer from Saturday’s inspection had logged into the Repair/Request List. I followed the link and found a video and a sample List to work through for a practice session. It’s great! It gathers the Repair Items (with their photos) from the Summary and lays them out individually so the Customer can pick and choose which items to negotiate over, and which items they will accept. (It might be a good idea to tell the customer ahead of time, so they can ask their Buyer’s Agent to work through the List with them). I talked to my Customer tonight- and she had already finalized her Repair/Request List and submitted it to the Seller’s Agent today!
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I’m relatively new to home inspection, maybe 3 or 4 years. I started with HIP and I found it to be good on reporting detail. I eventually realized it was “bulky” for my clients and realtors. It doesn’t have a good summary system. I know I need to report on detail, but not have the detail interfere with allowing clients to easily identify the items one typically identifies as safety, not working, or major concern. The HIP “red” section needs expansion or revision for my needs.
I’m back and forth now between HIP and Home Hub Zone. HHZ is not perfect, but its format is very good, especially the summary section at the start of the report. I think that’s the strongest component of the format. I’m using HHZ on most of my residential real estate inspections now, but it’s been and continues to be an evolving process. My realtors seem to prefer HHZ over the HIP format, and I found my clients were more overwhelmed with the HIP format.
I use and have revised the NACHI list of concerns in HIP. It’s a time consuming process to get them in to HHZ. In addition, HHZ is deficient for organizing and managing the long list of NACHI concerns. HIP is much better in that area. When I started out, I found the detail of HIP combined with the NACHI concerns list helped me a lot to produce thorough inspections.
I believe Home Guage and HHZ are joining together somehow. I haven’t been wiling to put out cash for HG, after purchasing and later upgrading HIP. If the reporting detail of the body of the report in HIP could be combined with the summary section of HHZ, I’d be a happy inspector.
I do use HIP for my energy audit reports and infra red reporting. It’s good for that work, and for commercial.
Tough call what is the best reporting format, but do look at the HHZ summary section on their web site and see if HG has a similar component. Both the summary and the detail sections of the report are very important.
It’s how you are writing your report.
Do you have a sample HIP report?
Who me?
You have already seen mine.
No, the OP. We already know yours is great. 
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