Originally Posted By: tgardner
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John,
I have been using Nspector for 3 months now - coupled with a toshiba e740 and an Emachines laptop.
It is a relational database but there is no utility to change the basic design. The developer does leave some spaces to input your own sections, but does not allow for changing the layouts etc. If one is a wiz at MS access, one could make changes and quickly add or subtract disclaimers, create additional observations and generally customize the program, but that is not for the faint of heart.
There are some drawbacks to the report generation software. One is limited to the developers idea of what a report should be. The nice thing is you can add photos, edit and change the report at will.
For those that want a PDF format - buy acrobat and install it. Then you can print the report to the Acrobat Print utility and create your own pdf of your report to e-mail, upload etc. However, all PDF files can be altered/ recreated, cut and pasted etc.
For security, I burn CDs of the reportand all photos taken during the inspection and include a copy with the report to the client. And one for my records as well. The CD cannot be altered by the realtor (oops, did I say That?)
I would STRONGLY recommend that you print and use the checklist or a checklist untill you have many months ( years?) of experience before relying solely on a PDA at an inspection. I even carry a voice activated recorder to record my observations. ( my laptop uses voice recognition software to transcribe these notes.)
Lastly, I would STROOOONGLY advise against doing onsite reports. As one new to the HI industry, that is a sure way to jump into the fire from the hot water.
All that said, I use this software, have altered it for my own use, and am a satisfied customer.
Regards, TG
For