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matthew simon
05-02-2009, 04:05 PM
Hello i am new to the inspector scene and having some trouble finding a software where vista 64 bit is not a problem. I had hoped to get inspect-now 2.0 but now that i bought my computer i see that it is not compatible with 64 bit drivers. Is there a better software out there? do they work with vista?

Thanks for any help!

Matthew

Erby Crofutt
05-02-2009, 04:26 PM
I've been using HomeGauge for several years now.

Last September I upgraded to Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit. Haven't had any problems with it at all.

Home Inspection Software - HomeGauge (http://www.homegauge.com)





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Ted Menelly
05-02-2009, 04:46 PM
Whisper software

No nheadaches. Completely compatable. No bull, stand alone software that relies on nothing else such as windows or loging into the makers site to upload and constant future purchase etc etc

Trust me. I have studied all the softwares and for the simplest of ease, low cost, make your own master templates in a minute, no pay us every month for a bunch of bull crap.

Don't be sold by the "your client and everyone else can see it on line garbage. By the time you send everyone the code and upload it to the software website so everyone can then go online and view it is nuts. If you are going tht far the whisper software turns the report into a PDF in about a few seconds and then just email it to your client and realtor..

I repeat about the pay for reports or website upload service and paying multiple hundreds or a thousand to begin with is a crazy useless outlay of money.

Not picking on anyones service directly but just all around. All the hype and fluff and fifty different drop down screens and needing some other program just to operate it , well, just cannot see it.

matthew simon
05-02-2009, 08:46 PM
Thanks guys! I have downloaded the free home guage trial and i do like it so far need to explore it more. I did print the sample report to see how it looks in print but I have one question how long is the typical report that you guys do? The one that was given was 51 pages? Is that normal? I will also check out whisper. Does anyone use horizon?

thanks again for the info

matthew simon

Ted Menelly
05-03-2009, 10:15 AM
Thanks guys! I have downloaded the free home guage trial and i do like it so far need to explore it more. I did print the sample report to see how it looks in print but I have one question how long is the typical report that you guys do? The one that was given was 51 pages? Is that normal? I will also check out whisper. Does anyone use horizon?

thanks again for the info

matthew simon

Some folks will tell you that 51 pages is the norm.

Fifty one pages with all the disclaimers and contracts and how to change a filter on the HVAC system and all the helpful maintenance tips left out will leave you with maybe 20 pages. The rest is bloat and hype and fluff.

Remember one thing. As you or anyone does not want to be sued for an inspection you do, you are doing the inspection for creating a report to sell it to your client. You are not doing the inspection for your client or anyone else for that matter. If you think you are then you are wrong. You are not working for anyone when you are doing the inspection. What you are doing in fact is selling your findings from that inspection to your client. Do not let anyone lead you to believe you are working for anyone while inspecting. Once people think you are working for them they are closer to being able to influence you.

You don't need to put 2 paragraphs in you report about how a homes foundation will or will not move overtime to get to the concern,if there is any, about the foundation.

Your reports should be straight and to the point with recommendations as to who to follow up with when you find something of concern.

The reason why so many folks put a summary in their report is so the client and anyone else of concern do not have to filter thru all the crap. If you don't have all that crap in there then they will not have to filter thru it and they will actually read your entire report.

Most summaries I have seen in reports are added to the front for folks to review and the darn summary is almost as long as the report and then they get into the report only to read the exact same thing intermixed with all the unnecessary garbage.

Go to multiple home inspector websites and view their sample reports. The ones that say toolittle are worthless. The ones filled with all the unecessary garage are worthless. Find a happy medium in the mix and you will be safe and make your job a much more pleasant task. A half day to do a report on a typical home is way to long. 45 minutes on a report on a typical home is to short. It should be taking you maybe an hour and a half, give or take. If you do the report while inspecting and if no one is there at the inspection then it is not a long process because you are inputting as you go along and when you are done inspecting you are then done with the report. Forget the pull down boxes with fifty choices in each. To filter through all that garbage you could have typed your concerns out in less time. Make your own choices for your findings over time. You will learn what is the typical concern to add to those boxes or wording you yourself use all the time.

David Nice
05-04-2009, 08:50 PM
...Don't be sold by the "your client and everyone else can see it on line garbage. By the time you send everyone the code and upload it to the software website so everyone can then go online and view it is nuts. If you are going tht far the whisper software turns the report into a PDF in about a few seconds and then just email it to your client and realtor..

I repeat about the pay for reports or website upload service and paying multiple hundreds or a thousand to begin with is a crazy useless outlay of money.


With a typical report having 50+ pages and pictures, there is a good chance that it will be larger than some mail servers will allow. Also, when the emailed report is downloading, the client is stuck waiting for the attachment to download before they can read anyone else's email. Becuase of this, there is an apparent presumption that your email with the attached report is the most important email they will receive. WRONG!

Also, some clients have to access the report on a work computer, which may reject the report or not allow it to open. Sending reports via email just has too many chances of failing and making you look incompetent. If it causes you to miss an urgent deadline, you stand a chance of making plenty of enemies in no time flat.

If you are the least bit tech savvy, you can easily upload the report to a hidden and password protected folder on your own website and send the client the link and password to the report. Your web provider will be happy to walk you through creating this, or you can join InterNACHI and get the "Fetch Report" service for free as one of the many membership benefits, but I digress.

Save money YES! Be Internet Etiquette ignorant..NO!

Ted Menelly
05-04-2009, 10:20 PM
With a typical report having 50+ pages and pictures, there is a good chance that it will be larger than some mail servers will allow. Also, when the emailed report is downloading, the client is stuck waiting for the attachment to download before they can read anyone else's email. Becuase of this, there is an apparent presumption that your email with the attached report is the most important email they will receive. WRONG!

Also, some clients have to access the report on a work computer, which may reject the report or not allow it to open. Sending reports via email just has too many chances of failing and making you look incompetent. If it causes you to miss an urgent deadline, you stand a chance of making plenty of enemies in no time flat.

If you are the least bit tech savvy, you can easily upload the report to a hidden and password protected folder on your own website and send the client the link and password to the report. Your web provider will be happy to walk you through creating this, or you can join InterNACHI and get the "Fetch Report" service for free as one of the many membership benefits, but I digress.

Save money YES! Be Internet Etiquette ignorant..NO!

Please....Man have you been sold a bill of goods. As long as there has been email I have nevr had a problem with emailing direct to the client or any other party for that matter.

Internet who...what eat at chets. What is that.

Come on now..you cannot be serious. Upload here...email out there...have you client get a password that you email to them.. Come on you cannot be serious that that is more and better and more internet savy and and and and and. What in the world would I want to go thru all that for. I finish my report with plenty of pictures hity print as PDF and 2 seconds later that is done. Email it to my client ...it sends in about 10 seconds....The client checks their email no matter where they are and it opens in seconds...............done. Fifty pages being the norm??????? Seriously...fifty pages of what....Filler... disclaimers... how to screw in a light bulb or change their air filter...22 pictures of one concern in every angle imaginable to show them a mmissing nail in the top of a rafter and then a three day explanation for why that is such a bad thing.....Filler....hype......fluff

As far as internet ignorant I can tell you this. No one taught me the internet and I know more than most that think they know it all.

The internet is simply a tool to make your life easier. To use it to make your life more complicated is insane.

Click....send.. done...Client clicks to open...reads....done. How much more freaking sinple and for you and convenient for your client could you possibly get. If you file is to big for them then you are doing somthing seriously wrong and you have no idea how to send files over the internet in an email and you need to learn.

Bring your life back into reality and stop being sold that the internet is Disney Land and the most amazing thing there has ever been and the more time you spend on it with fifty differnet programs the better off you are.

Again, as long as there has been an internet I have been sending files in emails. If a bloated program caused problems I stopped using it

Click send Done Never a problem Always happy clients

There has been so much hype and fluff sold out there that people have actually begun to believe that going thru all that crap with accounts here or there and paying a grand for software and then paying extra to get more reports and being tied to that company forever paying them forever when there is absolutely zero reason for all that crap.


Oh yeah, the people at work from the tiniest company to the biggest corporations in the US. No one has ever had a problem.

Chances of failing Zero

Mike Schulz
05-05-2009, 04:10 PM
I like Home Gauge, Nothing for the buyer to download. Just give them a username and password and they can view it, print or forward there hearts out. Be there for 5 years. Nothing to download. Nothing worse then downloading a 5 to 10 meg file. I sent Pdf's for years and it was a pain for both ends to do. On-line access is the best in my *OPINION*:p Ted:D

Try all the software and see what suits you.

Erby Crofutt
05-05-2009, 06:59 PM
HomeGauge allows choice.

You want a one time expense with no upgrades or uploads. They'll do it.

You want to store reports on their server you can for a monthly fee.

You want to store reports on your server. HomeGauge lets you do it at no fee to them.

You want to print and send PDFs. HomeGauge let's you do it.

By the way, I've had several clients (when I was doing PDF's (less than 1 MB) that couldn't get the attachements because of THEIR company e-mail policy.

But then I still also carry paper contracts for those grumpy old farts that don't want to sign it on my computer.

You gotta choose what works for YOU!

Ted Menelly
05-05-2009, 08:37 PM
Hey guys

Home gauge is a good product. Not picking on your software.Did not mean to sound so harsh. I just looked for a long time and have been meaning to get new software for a couple years and the new TREC standards forced me to do it and I just happened across Whisper and it fit my needs to a T.

Besides. Don't take what I jave to say to hart. I just had 2 Realtors on Monday (Listing agent and buyers agent)(Actually took place in a three day time period) that thought they were my employer and they ticked me off just a little teeny bit and I was venting. I guess I have to watch the nerve endings a bit and keep them in check.

Go Home Gauge :D I do like the way the report looks as well. I almost bought it several months ago.

matthew simon
05-05-2009, 09:11 PM
Thanks again for all the responces. I think I am going to go with home guage and i am going to order it this week. I hope that i can figure it out and customize it to my needs.

matthew simon

Erby Crofutt
05-06-2009, 08:20 PM
Sign up on the HomeGauge forum and talk to all the guys that use it. They'll help you thru the learning curve.

Aw, come on Ted. Show em what kind of an employee you are. :D :D

Jeff Knight
05-07-2009, 01:12 PM
Matthew,
Are you looking for software that will run on a PC or a PocketPC ? Are you looking for software you can print right in the field if you want ? including pictures ? right from a handheld also ?

Dominic Maricic
05-08-2009, 02:09 PM
Our software, Home Inspector Pro will run on Mac, Linux, Windows 32 or 64 bit, as well as Windows 7 which is due out in a few months. I know that HomeGauge works well on 64 bit as well. I'm assuming Jeff's software works on it as well (which is a cool program, he showed it off to me a few months ago). Some of the other programs have had problems. At the last few conferences I've been to the 64 bit question has been asked more and more as guys using older programs are being forced to switch when buying new computers. Once Windows 7 comes out, everything has to be 64 bit compatible.