Originally Posted By: GaleInnes This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I am new to the business, I need to know where any good inspection sheets could be obtained, and if possible, are there any free ones? I also need a client agreement form.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you. 
Originally Posted By: dfrend This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Join NACHI if you have not already and You can download a free contract. As for reports, not sure of any free ones. Look under http://www.nachi.org/bbsystem/viewtopic.php?t=53 for some suggestions. I use report host www.reporthost.com. They give NACHI members frst 30 reports free and it is $5 per report after that.
Originally Posted By: GaleInnes This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Can you use Written Home Inspection Forms? Do you have to take Pictures as you go with a digital Camera, or is there an easier way than using software?
Please Help.
Gale Innes ~ Inspector Gadget 
Originally Posted By: jburkeson This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
GaleInnes wrote:
Can you use Written Home Inspection Forms? Do you have to take Pictures as you go with a digital Camera, or is there an easier way than using software?
Please Help.
Gale Innes ~ Inspector Gadget 
Gale, the easier way is to use software, that why it was created and so damn expensive.
Joe semi-geek Burkeson
-- Joseph Burkeson, RPI (Hooperette)
?Anyone who has proclaimed violence his method inexorably must choose lying as his principle.?
~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Originally Posted By: dfrend This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
With reporthost, I print out the checklist, take pictures as I go, upload them back at office, write report and email it. There is no software, it is all webbased. Nothing to buy. Just need an internet connection.
Originally Posted By: Blaine Wiley This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Quote:
Do you have to take Pictures as you go with a digital Camera, or is there an easier way than using software?
Don't take this the wrong way, but there is no easy way to this business. If you want to move to the top of the call list in your area, you must perform thorough inspections using your knowledge and experience, and document your findings precisely in both oral communication and a written report. In my area, and the last area I inspected in, the guys with the three part NCR inspection report without pictures of defects simply were used only as a last resort.
Whether you complete your report on site is up to you and the market you work in. Personally, I do my report back at the office. It gives me time to formulate exactly what I want to say and how I want to say it. My report is done in Microsoft Word format in a program I had written for me. (that was easy as my cousin is an ace programmer)
The NACHI agreement is a good basic contract. I would highly suggest however that you sit down with your attorney and have him/her help you word a pre inspection agreement that explains to your client exactly what you do and don't do, that protects you and is acceptable by your E & O carrier.
Originally Posted By: phughes This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Much depends on the State you work in.
Texas requires you use the TREC form.
I don't know what the other states do.
I personally use microsoft word, and I normally do my reports on site. That is normal to this area. I take a portable PC and a printer with me. Take digital pictures, and include the relevant ones in the report.
When requested, I e-mail the report to the client or who they request me too. Often they want copies of the pictures, so I send those too.
Originally Posted By: jrooff This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Peter, do the printer and PC take the cold very well? Not that it stays cold for month’s on end like in Iowa. Or do you have to warm up the truck like we do for the wife’s .
Originally Posted By: Scott Patterson This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I am an outsider to NACHI, but I have been in the inspection business since 1995. Most on this forum know me, I lurk from time to time and only post when I might be able to help someone. I hope that my post might shed some light and help you and others.
I have seen many and I mean many try to start up an inspection business on a shoestring budget, only to fail. Our profession is not as easy as many think, it takes education, testing, education, testing, observation inspections, time, a supplemental income, good people skills and the most important the ability to communicate through the written word. Our profession has about a 50% or greater failure rate in the first year.
One of the first things you need to do is get some basic home inspection training, either through one of the good home inspector training schools like ITA or invest in a good at home training program (Carson Dunlop is about the only that is worth anything). Once you have gained the knowledge of the home inspection industry you can then invest in a reporting system. I do not suggest that you design your own to save money when you are starting out.
I would plan to spend between $500 and $800 for a good computer based reporting system, 3-D is one of the best if not the best IMO. I would fight the urge to use a "punch list or fill in the blank reporting systems, they look poor and are associated with the most lawsuits from what I have seen.
Originally Posted By: jgallant This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Gale,
If you have internet access at home, I'd encourage you to try ReportHost. Realtors (where much of your business comes from) love our report format, as do clients. You'll get return business on how much realtors like your reports alone. As Dan said, it's free to sign up, you get 25 free reports (30 if your a NACHI member). You can print out inspection sheets, we call them "field notes", using the default report information you get with ReportHost. All the information is customizable. The field notes give you a good procedure to follow when inspecting, and writing reports is fast.
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