Thread: Home Inspections On The Fly

Some of my home inspector friends do their home inspections on the fly. I voice record all my notes, go through the home, then sit down and do my report. Voice recordings are meant to double check my report. Do you inspectors go for on the fly or after the house is fully inspected? Why?

What are you talking about?

Do you do your inspection report as you go through the home, or do you do the report after you have finished inspecting the whole house?

If you have to sit down and listen to your voice notes, that must add considerable amounts of time. Have you tried using photos as a memory aid instead? It's faster to review a bunch of photos to refresh your memory.

As to you original question, there is no right or wrong answer, only what works for your business. If you do complete reports onsite, your total onsite time is longer, but your off site time is shorter. The reverse is true also. In the end, you may be shifting time more than saving time. You may not want the distracting of entering data during the inspection, or you may not mind it at all. Try it and decide which you prefer.

Dom.

I trust my memory and use photos to insure I get everything, but I also input most if not all of my findings into my software with an iPad that I sit on the kitchen counter or table. By the time I leave the house I have about 90% of the report done. All I have to do back at the office is merge & review photos, clean up the verbiage and proof the report prior to sending to my client. I use HIP mobile to collect the data onsite which then merges it into my report template.

I stopped taking notes 12+years ago.... You would be surprised how much quicker it is to trust your memory and photos to cover what you find.

I also work from memory with lots of photos as reminders.
My written notes are pretty much limited to serial/model numbers, service sizes, etc. Although when doing moisture content, I sketch the elevations, add my findings to the sketches, and then transpose them into the report (at the office). I am waiting for the new Surface to come out (11/22) and plan on using it in the field... how much is yet to be determined.

I carry a note pad and camera. Report is compiled off site.
Thinking of updating and getting a mini iPad since I use Horizion report software and entering data in field in order to save time later.

I write notes only if there are people in the house and I want to blast thru quick. Lots of pics, and I enter important data straight in to a laptop which is set up somewhere handy. If stuck outside because of people, disease or filth inside, I set up my step ladder with a desk attachment. I never sit unless I'm in my truck. My report is 30 pages, pictures on most pages, done before I leave.

I do my reports on site. 12" laptop with a digital camera connected via wifi directly to my laptop. I take handwritten notes on the exterior; locations of gas meter, electrical service, and a/c unit. My short term memory is pretty bad, so I'll write those down. Everything else gets a picture taken. My reports typically contain between 30 and 75 pictures and range from 40 to 100 pages in length. Number of pictures and report length vary depending on the number of issues with the home. A single family home from 900 to 2500 square feet will take me about 3 hours to complete.

I do them on site because that's the way I was taught to do them, I can type 80 words per minute, and I don't want to sit at home typing reports.

I use a laptop on site. Take lots of photos, input data as I inspect. Transfer rough draft report to the cloud, then pull it down to my desk top at home. I finish the report at home, insert photos, proof read, upload report to HomeGauge services.

I am looking at trying out an i-Pad in the field soon. Waiting for HomeGauge to get iOS compatible with their "HG Companion" software.

I set my laptop on the kitchen counter, and return to it to enter data from time to time. I carry a small notepad in my pocket and make notes of things like loose toilets, leaks etc in the bathrooms, or other things. I take photos of data plates (it takes less time than writing them down).
I will take about 75 photos on the average, but don't use all of them in the report. I use many as a trigger to remember what to put in the report.

I never set my laptop on furniture, and never sit down during the inspection. I like the idea of an attachment to a ladder.

I take lots and lots of photos and almost no notes. Data plates and photos of my equipment (with my hand in the photo) in action. I do all my reports later the same day and them clean them up when the chickens and ducks are awake (next morning) and send them to my client. I take lots of redundant photos as well as overviews and details.

Originally Posted by Scott Patterson

I trust my memory and use photos to insure I get everything, but I also input most if not all of my findings into my software with an iPad that I sit on the kitchen counter or table. By the time I leave the house I have about 90% of the report done. All I have to do back at the office is merge & review photos, clean up the verbiage and proof the report prior to sending to my client. I use HIP mobile to collect the data onsite which then merges it into my report template.

I stopped taking notes 12+years ago.... You would be surprised how much quicker it is to trust your memory and photos to cover what you find.

This is pretty much my exact way, too. I used a voice recorder for years (and it really doesn't take too much time to listen to) but now with the invent of digital pics I just rely on the pictures and my memory. At a minimum I get all the house "specs" into the report before I go. If it's a nice place and I have a comfortable place to sit I'll do most of the report. If it smells like dirty feet and the seller is breathing down my neck I get out of there an do the report in my truck or back at home.

No right or wrong way.... play around with it and see what works best.

I'm too ADD to do reports or notes on the fly. Like others have stated, I take a lot of pictures. Most for the record and some for deficiencies. I tried written notes and recorded notes. I just don't have the concentration ability to inspect and notate.

My first suggestion is that anyone that wants to do their inspections on the fly is to make sure the software they are using is meant for that purpose and is not Reporting Software which in essence is a glorified word processor. The software should be geared towards helping you gather data as quickly and accurately as possible instead of trying to help you create a report. The report should be created AFTER based on the data gathered.

Good inspection software should be able to assist in gathering data and be able to make the report at the same time with one click of a button is the inspector wanted to make the report when the inspection (gathering data) was completed.

Adding photos would simply be an additional step after making the report from the data - insert the photos at each section or insert the photos at the end, or, with software set to accomplish it one could add the photos at each item where wanted and the software would address the photos with that section while making the report.

One could also have the software insert all the photos at any given point in the report with one click instead of having to add each photo one at a time. My software do that 10-15 years ago.

I do my inspection with a GoPro3 mounted to my Ipad mounted to my clipboard..... in my running shoes

I'm an inspector in Texas and have been using Interspect Software since 2006. It is a "Hands Free" voice controlled, not dictation, software that allows you to inspect in room by room mode or in a system mode, create rooms, select items in the rooms, add comments by using a voice tag and add photo tags to the comments allowing them to auto insert after you connect the camera to your computer. The report is built as you walk through the home using a wireless headset. The report is 95-100 percent completed by the time you leave the inspection. This reduced my report writing time from 3-5 hours at night from the way I used to do inspections. Could never imagine going back.