I’m not yet at the onsite writing because the TX template is just not made for a room by room inspection. It’s a system by system. So anytime you enter a room, you have to go through each system independently, which requires a lot of going back and forth on the software (Using HIP or InspectIt, the 2 programs I use/d)
I’ve seen a couple of Jeff P’s reports and they were quite full in content. The thing that made me realize why or how he was able to write as he inspected was because his reports were written room by room. (Which I had never seen before since we cannot do that with TREC)
I’m thinking (and it’s just an assumption) that the software he uses enabled him to have a structura/electrical/plumbing/HVAC (or a good part of the systems) in each room, therefore his inspection method always stays the same in each room and he clicks through his comments in the same pattern.
As you said, it’s your opinion, but common guys, without having tried it or made a real life, side by side comparison (2 guys inspecting the same house at the same time, with their clients present) one cannot say the quality if lesser than spending 2-3 hours after the fact.
The TX SOP is fine but the report form was not written in a way that makes it easy for the home inspector to write in a room by room fashion.
For example the structural system has 12 subcategories, Foundation, Grading, Roof covering, Roof structure, Walls (int and ext), Ceilings and floors, Doors, Windows, Stairways, Fireplace, Porches/decks/carports and others.
While this makes it easy for the reader to just go to the “doors” section to find out where all the deficient doors are, it is less efficient for the home inspector to write the report.
One method I used was inspecting the house the same way the report form was written. This meant I walked back and forth in the house. Although the workout was nice, it made for painfully slow inspection, especially on large homes.
Now, I do a room by room inspection, cut down my walking time by a good 30-45 mins on an average size house.
I have a foreclosed inspection tomorrow with nobody present, it will be a great time to practice onsite reporting.
On some houses I will go through my voice recorder onsite and type up the issues but the laptop stays in the car until I have finished the inspection. Its common to find several problems in an attic so standing up there typing does not work for me. I also inspect in rain or whatever so the only way to get all of the data is with a voice recorder. I have recorded over 60 messages before in the first 40 minutes on some houses. Who can or would want to run back and forth to their tablet with that much info that quick? No way. Carrying that tablet around? You are doing inspections handicapped.
Pictures do not show many of the issues either, I find tons of problems with houses that are not detectable visually so a voice recorder is the only way to obtain the level of detail that I provide. I average 5 canned writeups per house, the other 20 or 30 or more are custom typed to fit the exact issue. Its not unusual to have a 12 year old house with 50 plus problems. That’s more typing than I want to do anywhere except in my comfy office.
Most of the time, I do the inspection, usually with 50-100 (200 on some) voice messages and get down the road to the next one. If I did onsite reports I would have to drive in rush hour traffic to get home. I get home many days at 4pm and have time to mow the yard and wash the car before I do the reports. The best part is the agents that have found me because they say I provide the most detailed information that everyone actually understands. This all comes from concise voice messages and taking the time to explain the issues in detail and in plain english.
We have inspectors around here that have told me that they stop inspecting a system after they find 3 problems and just recommend someone else do it. I am getting more and more business because of that and love it.
Sounds like a great system Bruce. Happy you have create a system that works for you.
I use Dragon naturally speaking voice dictation software, or should say I am reinvesting my time to use the software properly. I also have dragon dictation. It for voice recorded machinery. Works on the same principle. maybe you should look into it.
PS: The last thing I will ever reach for is to become a referral inspector. It takes away from the substance of our practice, to get better at describing the defect.
mauger
(Mike Auger, CMI - RI 43685, RMC-142, RMB-096)
47
My report can be either way (room by room or system by system). My report is a hybrid. I will separate defects into systems though. I go room by room, but if I find an electrical defect it goes in the electrical section, not interior room. Same thing with kitchen, if there’s a plumbing problem, its in the plumbing section, referencing the kitchen or bathroom #1, etc…All my defects have a photo, even if the photo will not show the defect (slow drain, open ground on receptacle) for navigation/informational purposes.
I also consolidate defects where possible, if there are 12 outlets with open ground, I don’t put 12 separate defect entries in all these rooms, its one entry with a picture of each one.
The reason I went to this, is simple. Many times a client will get an estimate for repair etc…I know it, so I format the report so its easy to group electrical and plumbing items together, rather than picking a defect out of several rooms. Also one issue (especially electrical) can be one problem causing symptoms in several rooms.
For anyone interested, the report at the link below took me 37 minutes to publish from the time I started working on it after arriving home from my inspection today. Inspection time on-site was from 9:50 AM to 12:35 PM using our 3rd generation of ReportHost for tablets software on a cheap, used iPad from Craigslist. The order of things done after returning to the office was:
Upload the report.
Resize and upload pictures (59 seconds for 91 pictures) using our free Image Manger software for Windows.
Write captions for pictures and select unwanted pictures for deletion (a single step).
Add arrows/circles to pics.
Finalize title info (client name, address, etc.), select title picture.
Do final edits, spell check, and choose pictures for each item (a single step).
Your area and clients are different that allows that.
Did a $750,000 condo for a client in China Saturday and what you call fluff or unneeded(assuming you would think that) are actually needed for the out of country and non English client to understand.
I actually get hired very heavily for this reason .
Great you can be minimal but not everyone can get away with that.
My report must be a walkthrough and use arrows to point as a photo essay while also using the text comments for liability .
For anyone interested, the report at the link below took me 37 minutes to publish from the time I started working on it after arriving home from my inspection today. Inspection time on-site was from 9:50 AM to 12:35 PM using our 3rd generation of ReportHost for tablets software on a cheap, used iPad from Craigslist. The order of things done after returning to the office was:
Upload the report.
Resize and upload pictures (59 seconds for 91 pictures) using our free Image Manger software for Windows.
Write captions for pictures and select unwanted pictures for deletion (a single step).
Add arrows/circles to pics.
Finalize title info (client name, address, etc.), select title picture.
Do final edits, spell check, and choose pictures for each item (a single step).
Jim where is the summary ? and I notice all text is black except the links which you use a lot.Might not be a good idea to rely on them if sites go down later.
To use the table of contents do you always need to go back to the top of the report and click ?
I accidentally had the summary option turned off when I published that report. I just reloaded the report and republished it with the summary option on (took me one minute literally). The revised report with summary is here:
With ReportHost, you choose what items go into your summary based on the concern types (i.e. “Safety”, “Maintain”) assigned to them. In this case, I included all types in my summary.
Regarding the table of contents, yes you need to go back to the top. That’s why there are “Return to table of contents” links by each report section name.
Regarding the links, we do make liberal use of links in our default report templates. ReportHost users can of course change their templates to not include links, or to include links of their choosing. Yes, sites do go down, but our links are special. They navigate to a ReportHost page that looks up the actual target site’s URL in a database, and then redirect the viewer to that URL. We check to see if all the URLs in our links database are valid on a daily basis, and if they go bad as all URLs eventually do, we fix them. That way the links in your reports never go bad. We often add new links to our database based on suggestions from our users.
Reports print fine as PDFs. We have limited ability to allow you to force page breaks if desired; after the report title and at each new report section.
As I mentioned, I use an iPad with ReportHost for tablets on site, plus a digital camera. It is my personal style to discourage clients from accompanying me while inspecting, so I can focus on my work. My sit-down, verbal review with them at the end of the inspection typically takes 20 to 30 minutes.