Originally Posted By: bburdick
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Originally Posted By: gbeaumont
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Hi to all,
Bernie, welcome to NACHI, there has been tons written on this board about software check out the threads in this forum:
http://www.nachi.org/bbsystem/viewforum.php?f=22
Also you can use the search funtion on this board just type in software, and get ready for a very long read 
BTW a lot of the software that I have seen on ebay is complete garbage, I have several of the reports that are sold on there.
regards
Gerry
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Gerry Beaumont
NACHI Education Committee
e-mail : education@nachi.org
NACHI phone 484-429-5466
Inspection Depot Education
gbeaumont@inspectiondepot.com
"Education is a journey, not a destination"
Originally Posted By: rray
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If I were just starting out, and were not a franchise, I probably would use Porter Valley Software.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.
Originally Posted By: dfrend
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Check out www.reporthost.com. You can try it with up to 30 free reports.
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Daniel R Frend
www.nachifoundation.org
The Home Inspector Store
www.homeinspectorstore.com
Originally Posted By: mmason
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I like the ITA Matrix reporting software. Just go ITA and download a demo version and play arounf with it.
Michael
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Michael J. Mason
Mason Home Inspection
California Capitol NACHI Chapter President
Originally Posted By: kmcmahon
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I can only vote for reporthost as that’s all I use…but it works for me, it fit my minimal budget, and it’s paperless so no printing costs.
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Wisconsin Home Inspection, ABC Home Inspection LLC
Search the directory for a Wisconsin Home Inspector
Originally Posted By: rray
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Paperless?
Ooooooh, I don't have the confidence to go totally paperless. Do you print a copy for your files?
Paper is always paper, but magnetic media and electronic media can get messed up by stereo and television systems, sunspots, obsolescence, etc.
Since I have 4 year direct / 5? year discovery liability, I've got to have paper. Can you imagine what kind of technology would make things obsolete four years down the road, at which point I might not have acceess to my report, but the Client suing me was smart and printed out a few paper copies? Hate to even think about it. In fact, now I'm depressed. Of course, you know what depression means! Yea! Margarita time.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.
Originally Posted By: mpatton
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[url]http://www.homegauge.com[url]
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Michael Patton
AA Home Inspection
Serving Northern KY & Greater Cincinnati OH
AA@AAHomeInspection.net
www.AAHomeInspection.net
Originally Posted By: Scott Huston
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| rkirk wrote: |
| Paperless?
Ooooooh, I don't have the confidence to go totally paperless. Do you print a copy for your files? Paper is always paper, but magnetic media and electronic media can get messed up by stereo and television systems, sunspots, obsolescence, etc. Since I have 4 year direct / 5? year discovery liability, I've got to have paper. Can you imagine what kind of technology would make things obsolete four years down the road, at which point I might not have acceess to my report, but the Client suing me was smart and printed out a few paper copies? Hate to even think about it. In fact, now I'm depressed. Of course, you know what depression means! Yea! Margarita time. |
You could print out copies in which case you wouldn't be completely paperless, but you can also use your browser to save a copy in a format called "Web page, Complete." This puts a copy on your computer with all the pictures, icons, and logos. Burn these to CD occassionally and you could store thousands of complete reports in your safety deposit box (i.e. "off site" along with copies of those other documents that if you lost -- say in a house/office fire? -- might jeopardize your business.)
As far as being technologically obsolete, I doubt it. At ReportHost we work hard at not including fancy features in the HTML code. And even if 5 years from now web pages no longer exist, all the essential information is just ASCII text in a web page; no binary or proprietary formats.
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Scott Huston
Co-founder, ReportHost.com
http://nachi.reporthost.com
Originally Posted By: rray
This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
| Scott Huston wrote: |
| Burn these to CD occassionally and you could store thousands of complete reports in your safety deposit box. . . .
As far as being technologically obsolete, I doubt it. |
I already have many CDs that can't be read anymore. They've been damaged, have margarita juice on them, or have peanut butter on them. Both alcohol and peanuts (and most organic materials) have substances in them that can damage CDs. Showing up in court with peanut butter stains on a report copy might be a little embarrassing, but at least one can easily get the information.
I also have many older CDs from a decade ago that the newfangled CD players won't read. Yes, technology does make things obsolete. Videotapes, cassette tapes, and even eight-track tapes are other good examples of technological obsolesence. Can one still get the information off damaged CDs or obsolescent CDs and tapes? Sure. But at what expense? A paper copy still is the way to go; just ask the attorneys.
I just found out that my two-year-old color LaserJet is now obsolete; the manufacturer is not supporting it directly anymore, which means that Office Depot and Home Depot won't carry toner cartridges for it anymore. Buy.com, here I come.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.
Originally Posted By: ekartal
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Hey, Russel you forgot eight-track tapes!
Erol Kartal
Originally Posted By: rray
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No I didn’t!
Ah, the power of editing.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.
Originally Posted By: rmoewe
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Bernard,
Porter Valley is the only way to go. You can customize your report to look like you want it. You can add pictures and annotate them, this is important.
It will print a full version and a summary report, that way you don’t have to look through 25+ pages. it is also filled with CYA’s. I would not buy any other. Oh tech support is also great. You get to talk to Lorne Steiner he invented it. He is also very, very computer savvy. He was a software designer for major companies. Just about the time you get something out of your mouth, he has the answers that you are looking for.
NACHI has sample disks of the software. Give it try, you’ll like it.
Oh, you can also upload reports to the site and clients can view and print from there. It could be paperless, but I prefer to print the report and give it to the client. This is a marketing deal for me. You can view a sample on my website.
Rick
Originally Posted By: rmoewe
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Russel, I have an eight track player in my garage. You are welcome to it, if you want it. I knew that there was a reason that my wife would not let me throw it away. I thought that no one would need it.
Rick
Originally Posted By: rray
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Thanks for the offer, but I have not a single 8-track left. I also don’t have any vinyl records or any cassettes left, either. Everything now is on CD. I’m still searching for some old stuff to be released on CD, though, like a lot of George Harrison’s stuff. Amazing that he’s dead yet a lot of his stuff has not been re-issued on CD yet. I don’t know what they’re waiting for.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.
Originally Posted By: tallen
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You should have saved the vinyl.
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I have put the past behind me,
where , however, it now sits, making rude remarks.
www.whiteglovehomeinspections.net
30 Oct 2003-- 29 Nov2005
Originally Posted By: rray
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Naw. If I had saved the vinyl, I would be living in College Station TX instead of San Diego CA. I sold 5,663 vinyl records to an outfit in Austin, and that paid my expenses to move to San Diego. I had a complete collection of original Beatles 33 1/3 and 45 records, including all sleeves, books, photos, etc.
There are three original vinyl records that I wish I had kept for their covers if nothing else: Beatles "Butcher" cover, Rolling Stones "Lucy" Some Girls cover, and Lynyrd Skynyrd "Flames" cover.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.
Originally Posted By: rmoewe
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You listen to Lynrd Skynrd. oh that right you are from texas.
Might have that 8-track. Nope it got ate just like the rest.
Originally Posted By: rray
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Yeah, I didn’t have the opportunity to sell any 8-tracks or cassettes. They had all been eaten.
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Home inspections. . . .
One home at a time.
Originally Posted By: rmoewe
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,said that she would just get it off of the website and that was good enough. WEll I gave her a discount of $45, before I even knew that she didn’t need a paper copy. I figured that if she used a coupon at $25 off, I could give her another $20 off on top of it. Then I did not have to give her a paper copy. Wow that saved me another $10 for the binder, dividers, and the Mr. Fix-It book. I saved another $10 on printing the report. All and all it worked out to the same price as a regular inspection. Plus I saved 15 minutes putting the report together. Oh I don’t have to deliver the report another 30 minutes, this maybe the way to go. And she thinks that she got a real good deal. I did throw in the pool inspection, but I usually look at them even if they don’t pay. I may not put it in the report, but I will verbally tell the client what is wrong.
The one thing that I find funny is that, I have not done an inspection for that realtor for over a year, and she calls me to inspect the home that she is buying for herself. I think that is a little strange. When I asked her why I had not heard from her, she said that all she had done was listings.
So, I told her that I do pre-listing inspections as well.
I think maybe she called me because I sent her a mailing about a week before. That put me back in her mind, maybe she had forgotten about me??? Time will tell if she will call again. She did bring another agent in during the middle of the inspection and introduced me. Hopefully, she will use me also. She also said that she would send me a testimonial, that I can put on my website. I can see it now, The inspection company realtors call when they buy a house.
