Home inspection software

Purchasing home inspection software

Purchasing home inspection report software [1] for your home inspection company is not as easy a task as it once was. Long dominated by 3-4 vendors, there are now dozens of different home inspection programs to choose from. It's easy to flip through a trade magazine and be swayed into using what the competition is using, but to do so may be the wrong move for you. So what should you do?

Firstly, it is important for you to realize that there is no longer any correlation between price and quality of software. Good software doesn't always mean expensive software. Expensive software may or may not have all the features that are available in less expensive software, and vice-versa. Don't let unnecessary bells and whistles sway you into making the wrong purchase. Home inspection software is a tool that should make your job inspecting houses and producing inspection reports easier and less time-consuming. So, before making a software purchase for your inspection company, carefully consider the following:

What will the software be used for?

What is the main reason behind your decision to purchase home inspection software? Are you buying it primarily for creating home inspection reports [2], or will you need additional features such as time management, appointment scheduling, mileage managers, road maps, etc? What features must the software have? What optional features are available that could be useful to you? Are they worth the additional price? Is your budget a tight one, or is money no object? Will you need to purchase additional licenses? If so, how much are they? And what about upgrades? Are they free or will you need to pay a yearly subscription? Does the home inspection software require you to download blank inspection reports and pay for each one you use?

What type of inspection report do you want to create?

Essentially there are three different types of home inspection reports: Checklist, narrative, and a narrative/checklist hybrid. Checklist-type software certainly makes the job of creating a report much easier for the inspector, but usually limits the amount of information they can provide to their clients. This in turn increases their liability and exposure to litigation. The narrative/checklist hydbrid is more flexible than the checklist in that it usually provides extra space for additional comments or narratives, but still has limitations that could get you into trouble. Narrative reporting software produces reports that are all narrative (devoid of check boxes), and typically gives you free reign to write as much - or as little - as is necessary. For a number of reasons, most established and experienced inspectors (and the real estate agents that use them) prefer a narrative style inspection report over all others.

Inserting pictures

Do you want to include pictures in your home inspection reports? This can be a good way to document problems, but pictures can be used against you if you miss something obvious that is visible in a picture. However, the majority of home inspectors use pictures in their reports. If you decide you want to include pictures, how easy is it to include them in the report? Is there a limit to how many you can insert for any given problem or defect? Can you import all the images from an inspection into the program at once so that you can instantly select the ones you need, or do you have to hunt them down, one by one?

Compatibility

What operating systems will the software run on? If you have an Apple Mac in the office and use a Windows PC in the field, or vice versa, will the software run on both computers? If so, does it allow you to easily transfer the inspection file from one to the other? Will you need to upgrade your computers or purchase more memory? Be sure to try a demo of the home inspection software you want before you purchase it. Most software companies allow you to download a fully-functional demo from their websites. Ultimately, only you will know if you can run the software on any given computer and if it will do all that you want it to.

Is technical support provided?

Is help available by phone, fax, email or regular mail? Is help available around the clock? Is there a charge for technical support and, if so, how quick (or slow) is the response time?

Ease of use

Perhaps the single most important factor to consider when evaluating home inspection software is ease of use. That is, how easy is the software to use when you are on the job and trying to perform a thorough inspection while also creating an inspection report that will be well received by your clients and their agents? Do you have to jump around the screen, opening and closing windows all the time? Does the program allow you to use the entire screen? How easy is the software to use on a laptop or a Tablet PC?

Another important consideration is the learning curve and set up time. How long will it take for you to get to know the software so that you are confident enough to use it? That is, how much time will you need before the software is ready to go out in the field with you during a home inspection? Is the software so complicated that you'll need to take the manual with you?

Ultimately, poorly designed software that does not meet your needs will result in a waste of the precious, and often very limited, time that you have to spend in the field. If the software is overpriced as well, then that is simply a waste of good money.