For those of you who have been doing infrared for some time or have been successful at it would you mind answering some questions for someone looking to get started? I am going to take the Level 1 Thermography course at ITC and will likely lease the best cam I can afford.
What type of training did you do and with who did you do it?
How did you acquire your first camera - financing, direct purchase, leasing?
What do you feel are three most important minimal specifications a camera should have?
How did you start advertising and who did you advertise to?
What type of print media do you use for advertising?
What has been the most effective form of advertising?
What type(s) of inspection(s) do you get the most demand for?
Answers to one or as many of these questions as you care to answer would be greatly appreciated.
I also took Level one training with ITC with the reason being because of my background with commercial buildings wanted to learn the camera as my intent is to continue on to Level two.
I purchased the B-cam outright and I feel it is just fine for moisture intrusion and energy type scans but is really not what I want 120X120 resolution is not the level I prefer. The B-cam does not have the capability of Freezing the image which I also prefer and only allows 50 images in storage before download.
Advertising AHHHH
How deep are your pockets. I have been slow in this area and probably am not the person you need to talk to as I am very un-conventional just now got a web page up after 10 years???
Most of my IR type of inspections have been related to water intrustion. I connected up with a mold/water restoration company and most of my business has been provided on a referal basis through that company.
I purchased the the BCAM for $4800 from professionalequipment.com.
I took the building science course (FLIR-ITC course by Scott Wood - the best
course out there for an inspector).
Thermal images allow you to charge more and appeal to high end clients.
The BCAM works well for regular home inspection needs. It holds
50 pics and is more than enough to do 4 insections a day. I only
do one a day, for the most part.
BTW… if you need more space on your BCAM, you can simply upload your thermal pictures to your computer. 2 Clicks and your done. The BCAMs 50 picture capacity works fine for doing several inspections in a single day. More than you will ever really need, for the most part.
What program do most use for their IR reports .
I am using Quick report 1.1 and wonder is there a simpler program to use . I care less about having my reports .
I care less about having my reports PDF protected .
Cookie, I simply load my thermal image pictures to my computer. They are already in a common jpeg format and ready to use. Use can place them in your report without going through any software. The BCAM connects to your computer… and your computer looks at it as just another storage device with data ready to upload. Simple.
Simply upload the the pictures into your computer and print them, just like any other picture. Contact me with a PM or email and I will send you my phone number. My toll free number does not work from Canada.
The SD holds more pictures (not that I would ever use 100o in one day!) and has better display screen resolution, but NOT better final picture resolution.
I like the ability of the SD to highlight the dew point and set relectivity and such. There are, usually, over looked features that can come in REAL HANDY if you know how to use them.
