Thanks but no thanks; I’m an inspector not a reporting software developer/vendor.
If ever you feel the need for a good English/French translator though, please let me know.
Hi Marcel,
I understand. Creating a template within the software is as simple as translating it to what you want, that’s how we have people using it in 5 languauges right now. I’ll let you know though if we come up with one we can give out publicly.
Thanks Dominic but I’m not looking for charity!
I am simply looking for an inspection software program for my needs…
Cheers,
I started with 3-D and was very happy with it. I am no computer whiz but I found the learning curve to be very forgiving.
After a few years I got restless and tried another brand ( I won’t name it, but several have referred to it ) I was less than impressed and eventually, after losing reports, freeze-ups of my lap top ( there is nothing more terrifying than having your report disappear or your lap top freeze up while the client is waiting for his report :shock: ) and a lot of silly weak cursing went back to 3-D.
I use 3-D with P.D.A. and find it fast and accurate. I have written most of my own comments over the years and ( fortunately) was able to transfer the comments I had written for my first 3-D programme to my new one. As others have stated, the remarks continue to change with the times and my acquisition of knowledge and that feature is most important. Changing the content of the report remarks is easy. Inclusion of pictures, site diagrams etc is another great feature of 3-D.
I cannot comment on the technical support as I only had to call them once to resolve an operator created problem :roll: but at that time found the guys in Florida to be capable and eager to help.
Anyway, if you want a fast, stable, easily modified quick to learn inspection programme, then 3-D is it. I am sure the others are nice little programmes but 3-D gets the job done.
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Home Gauge I looked at most of the software out there and settled on Home Gauge and am glad I did. The software is very easy to use and customize to your particular needs and likes. The tech support is top notch, and they speak English to.
As a trainer and inspector I have had, tried and used most major software and book systems. Such as: Inspect Vue, 3-D, Inspect-It, Report Plus, Home Inspector Pro, Bouralis, einspection, ITA’s checklist AND software, etc, etc.
Lotta great things about all BUT over the years most of our trainees have gravitated toward HG. Great software, easy to get up and running, great options for how you want the report to look, photo integration easy, the phone support from OLD Sean #1 is great most of the time. AND if you do get Russell on the phone, its a real hoot - he talks with a funny accent.
The only complaint I hear is guys wish there was more in depth 2/3 training available to go to to get more out of the software. They got a 1 day. but it seems to lean more toward brand new users (heres the on/off key, etc).
HG is our software of choice. An attorney called last week and was suing a home inspector and wanted me to review the guys report. It was one of the other report software mentioned above. He forwarded me the web link to the guys report.
I went to download it to print and read. It was in PDF format and took almost 5 minutes to download. I was overwhelmed. I don’t have that kinda time. I can’t imagine realtors, lenders or clients going through that.
Hurray for HG.
Agreed. Nothing else would do…
This is a Chevy vs. Ford argument. Everyone has an opinion. Home Gauge is a nice program but I didn’t want to pay as you go. I looked at a number of products and settled on 3D. Its database driven, PDA support and has an office manager module that talks to QuickBooks. Total package.
What they don’t tell you is support is mediocre, the comment base is next to useless (motivation to change it) and the program can be slow. On the plus side, it can be modified to the nth degree, comes with a PDF driver, has a picture editor and can automatically create a color coded summary. I had several competitors using 3D and I could customize my reports so they look so much better than theirs. With the latest version I can update the comment database on the fly even in the pda version.
Jeff
I’m not going to start a fanboy argument but just to be fair: You don’t have to pay as you go for HomeGauge, it has PDA support, it has an office manager that talks to Outlook, and anything can output PDF with freeware (cutepdf). Oh yeah, and the support rocks!
Without all the Bells and Whistles…
HOMEGAUGE
Reports Generated & Printed On-Site.
What is the Question…?
Kevin,
I don’t know how 3D or HG work. But there is a big difference between using a print driver like cutepdf or primopdf to ‘print’ to pdf and actually creating a report directly to a pdf document.
OK Dominic…I’ll bite. What are the differences between the two…and of those difference what are the ones that home inspectors really need ?
Jeff Knight
Knight Software Solutions, Inc.
www.knightssoftware.com
Mr. Bowers…FYI… it is Borealis not Bouralis.
Also…we have a French version that has French Comment in it if anyone is interested. We developed it for some inspectors in Quebec Canada many, many years ago.
Bill,
Yes…you should be able to modify your information on the fly (and our system does it nicley) but I am talking about an inspector feeling out the software and how long it will take to actually do the inspection with the software and the template being set up the way they do an inspection. If you are constantly adding new comments on the fly and adding rooms and materials and the order is completely different then what you are used to etc. it will take you forever to do the inspection.
Jeff Knight
Knights Software
www.knightssoftware.com
Do they NEED it? No, it’s not life or death. Many people won’t even notice the difference. Maybe just geeks like me. One difference is you don’t need to mess with a print driver or exterior software.
When you take a word doc or html page and use a print driver, the driver is doing it’s best to interpret the page and convert it to a pdf. If the original has page breaks in bad places, like images split across pages, that will occur in the pdf as well. It’s also not very efficient at reducing photo sizes (some programs do better jobs than others). But writing directly to pdf format allows for a lot smaller pdf file sizes. For example a 30-40 page report with 40 good size pics averages < 1 meg. Ben Kelly did a 99 page , 400 picture report that was less than 8 megs (it was a 1900 house in really bad shape, longest report I’ve seen).
Also, writing directly to pdf opens up all sorts of cool features, such as file security and other features that I don’t want to go in to as it would divulge too many secrets 
If other guys want to keep converting docs and html to pdf that’s fine. I’ll stick with writing directly to pdf format. I know we’re not the only ones. I thought you write directly to pdf too?
Dom,
We write to an RTF file format…that way the inspector can open the inspection report in any word processor that supports RTF and they can then edit the report as much as they want. That way our clients are not limited to whatever text editing features the inspection software has. They can use our software to collect the inspection data as they do their inspection in the field and then e-mail the back office the RTF file where someone can bring it up in Word and do anything to the report that Word can do. It eliminates us having to reinvent the word processing wheel and helps us concentrate on the data collection side.
Jeff Knight
Knights Software
www.knightssoftware.com
That works too :mrgreen: There’s definitely advantages to each system. html is easily accessible online, you’re saving in rtf which is editable in word (I understand the reinventing the processor bit, I’m always trying to improve ours), pdf can control the layout and size. It’s actually good that programs do things differently as it gives guys the option to find what they want. It also keeps us inventing to keep up with each other 
Great points Dominic. When your software outputs a report in pdf, can you re-open it and edit it within the HIP software?
No, the PDF is 128 bit encrypted so no one can edit it (actually becomes illegal as you’d have to crack the encryption). But you can reopen the inspection file in HIP (.hzf file) when you clicked Save Inspection, make the changes and regenerate the pdf.
I’ve been checking out homes in Olympia and the surrounding areas. I need to get out of SoCal. Have any suggestions?
Really? Any reason for Olympia? That’s really a personal preference. I’m a big water guy so if I were to move it would probably be up to Lake Tapps (about 30 miles east of Tacoma) or on Lake Washington (a few miles East of Seattle). Of course they are expensive houses. Olympia is nice though. Peter Doane would probably have more info on the area down there. I don’t get down there too often.
I’ve honestly only been up to Washington 3 times. Last time I visited a business I was working with in Olympia. I drove all around up through Redmond, Seattle and around as well. I’m not stuck on Olympia by any means, just using it as a starting point I guess. I would like to be close to the water. But I’m also trying to stay out of those rain forest paths! I need a map to show where those are. I know there’s parts of Washington that gets 100x the rain of other parts.