Hi Mike,
There’s no hard feelings! I respect guys using other programs. I even like most of our competition. Most of them are great guys! When guys use other programs it means that there’s areas for us to improve on and people to give us feedback on what’s needed. That benefits everyone.
Dominic writes:
Let’s cut a deal. How about $5/software package for all inspection graphics and all new ones being added… forever? Deal?
Nick aren’t they already included free to membership?
Dom is a member.
Gosh those graphics are getting better however so I hope all remember to check them out.
Adding Nachi illustrations is already easy to do as a simple photo add.
To actually be of separate use they would need to be in an easy searchable file incorporated in at a sightly larger file size in the report graphics which would entail software redesigning with him already having a full plate.
I understand HIP 3.0 is going to be a big release.:mrgreen:
Bob, I think Nick means for non InterNACHI members that use Home Inspector Pro. Sounds like a possibility Nick. I’d add an official thank you within the program too. Do you know if they have them in a PSD for EPS file so I could resize them to the right size needed for Home Inspector Pro?
Right now they would need to be off PC files so are we adding a new feature Dom?
No need to have HIP import those files directly as they’re huge. I just need them to resize the images to a size that would work well inside of HIP.
I import my 4MB pics just fine thanks to your software doing all the re-sizing for me.
Just loaded a relatively small condo inspection with 147 pics in a snap 10 minutes ago.
Just downloaded a color graphic from the collection at 908 KB which is fast on HIP.
I think the graphics should be an integrated part of all HIP products.
Michael,
You listed HomInspect among the software publishers. HomInspect is NOT legitimate inspection report software. The publisher, Gary Rowden, derived his report from our software without our permission (and didn’t do a very good job of it), used our advertising copy to send thousands of spam e-mails and stole our pre-inspection agreement verbatim. He was doing business as IV Inspection Report. We shut him down once and he came back a few months later as HomInspect.
Inspectors were complaining that I was sending spam because he was using my ad copy. Within hours of the first e-mail being sent to thousands of inspectors, I was getting phone calls. Some of the calls were from friends and customers who had called to tell me that I had not included any contact information in the e-mail. We determined very quickly who sent the e-mail by looking at the full e-mail headers. Gary had purchased a copy of our XL Pro Titanium Edition a few months earlier. I called Gary. When he picked up the phone all I said was “Hi Gary, this is George Wells”. The first thing he said to me was “I expected to hear from you but not so soon”. “Really? Why is that?” I asked. When I confronted Gary with the spam, he admitted to me over the phone that he had come into possession of the InterNACHI membership list and had used it without InterNACHI’s permission. He claimed that he didn’t think there was anything wrong with what he did. If he didn’t think there was anything wrong with what he was doing why would he expect to hear from me of all people?
Also, I had attempted to buy a copy of his report from him through eBay before I called him. He had already blocked me from buying from him. What Gary didn’t know is that I also have my lawyer make a purchase directly whenever we suspect someone is stealing our intellectual property. There were a few other things Gary was unaware of. I hired an outside lawyer who specializes in real estate and construction law to help develop the pre-inspection agreement. We have detailed notes of every step of the process. We also have detailed notes on the development of our reports and other intellectual property spanning nearly 20 years. Some of it was developed while we jointly offering training programs over a span of several years during the 1990s in cooperation with Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
The inspection software business is fair game for new competitors just as any business is but those who outright steal from others and claim the work of others as being their own should exposed. It is not only the legitimate publishers who are being hurt. Inspectors who buy the illegitimate software are also being hurt.
I have had inspectors calling me to complain after buying from Gary because they thought they had bought one of my reports from an authorized distributor. They call me to tell me that the “distributor” cannot or will not provide technical support. When Gary was calling his software “IV”, a few inspectors refused to believe me that it was not my software. Some went to far as to post negative comments about my software on message boards in the believe that Gary Rowden was selling BestInspectors.Net software.
My experience was not the first nor am I the first legitimate publisher to have something like this happen. Not long before my problems with Gary Rowden began, Porter Valley was having similar problems with someone who had taken their narratives. As with all things, consumers need to be careful and do due diligence before making an important investment.
As a side note. When this originally happened, I posted a few messages on this and other message boards. I did not mention Gary’s name and some believed I was talking about Dominic from Home Inspector Pro. Of course I wasn’t. I’ve met Dominic several times. He is one of the good guys. I realized that it is better to just put it out there so there is no guessing or mistaking who or what I am talking about. Gary Rowden is a thief and a disgrace to this entire industry. HomInspect does not deserve to be included in any list of legitimate inspection software.
Perhaps you could get Dominic a re sized version to include in the future.
Remember the text must be read in a smaller format.
I can confirm what George is saying. This is another example of someone trying to make money off of someone else’s hard work. I hope you get him shut down George.
With our software you can include any graphic diagrams you want that have been purchased…whether they are InterNACHI ones, Mr. Fix It or Carson Dunlop diagrams. You link them once to a comment or material you want them associated with once and then from that point on it will bring them in automatically into your Word document and resize them. Just FYI.
This is becoming a very sad world when someone becomes competitive and gets slandered for it. Our software layout, design and coding is nothing like Georges (BestInspectors.net) except we both use a Microsoft Excel format. The problem George has is our software has so much more to offer than his software at a much much more affordable cost. Visit both websites and view sample reports and features for comparison see for yourself.
We’ve also had a competitor (no one on the NACHI forum) copy text off of our website and use it as their slogan verbatim. :roll:
Not too bright!
Has anyone used SnapInspect? http://www.snapinspect.com/
Or these products? http://wysys.com/ http://www.tobtech.com/index.php
There was one other one that I saw. I will post it when I find it again.
SnapInspect looks like it’s more for property management than inspections. Wysys looks like a scheduler? Never heard of the last before but it looks like a website based system.
Just as I did a thorough investigation as what organization to be educated by and associated with (InterNACHI winning obviously) I am doing a thorough investigation into every other possibility. If I do end up choosing HIP I am glad to see such great support and your presence in every thread on the message board. It seems pricing, compatibility, features and usability vary greatly among all the available options…
Luke,
Check out the competition then call me with your list of features that are important to you. I’ll do a one-on-one remote training session with you and show you how you can use our software to get the results you want. With our software, you are only limited by your imagination.
Glad to help. If you’d like a trial to use the software in the field on real inspections for a month just let me know.