how do you save your reports and photos for the legal issues - InspectionNews

CHARLIE VAN FLEET · #1 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 01:35 PM

hey all
just wondering what you all do to save your reports and photos for the money hungry lawyers and vultures out there ---i had one legal issue so far in 430 inspections where the client said he never recieved report and wanted to sue me -you and the kitchen sink that leaked--{ internet doesn't lie on recieved messages}-i save all my reports and photos on a cd--at the end of the month--or when i get a day off----lately not to many of those--business is hopping here in sunny colorado--where the skiing is also great not to mention the golf---i can always SH#@ CAN the cd's after the seven year tax time table--let me know

charlie

Scott Patterson · #2 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHARLIE VAN FLEET

hey all
just wondering what you all do to save your reports and photos for the money hungry lawyers and vultures out there ---i had one legal issue so far in 430 inspections where the client said he never recieved report and wanted to sue me -you and the kitchen sink that leaked--{ internet doesn't lie on recieved messages}-i save all my reports and photos on a cd--at the end of the month--or when i get a day off----lately not to many of those--business is hopping here in sunny colorado--where the skiing is also great not to mention the golf---i can always SH#@ CAN the cd's after the seven year tax time table--let me know

charlie

If your state has a retention requirement you need to follow it.

Otherwise I would think that you should keep files for 3-5 years. Personally I keep everything in an electronic format pretty much forever or until that electric format becomes damaged. Some keep multiple storage systems and files in a couple locations so if one is damaged they still have everything. Personally, I keep everything in one location on a backup hard drive.

Lately I have been giving serious consideration to using an online type storage company for my files. Most that I have seen run about $50 to $100 a year depending on your needs.

My files are nothing more than the report. I do not keep extra photos or notes. If you are sued all of those extra notes and photos could come back to haunt you, if you did screw-up.

mathew stouffer · #3 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 02:00 PM

Charlie,
This is totally off your subject but maybe you can help me out. I am having trouble posting messages, how in the hell do you do it.

Mat

Scott Patterson · #4 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mathew stouffer

Charlie,
This is totally off your subject but maybe you can help me out. I am having trouble posting messages, how in the hell do you do it.

Mat

I think you have figured it out!

Jerry McCarthy · #5 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 02:24 PM

I made it a practice to take a number of photos during my inspections (pre-digital age) and yet never used any within my reports. After I got them back from Walgreens or Longs I kept what I considered the significant ones including all the negatives. I also kept all my field notes; who was there, what was said, odd occurrences, etc. Scanned as many as possible and like Scott burned them on CDs. Couple of times they shut down a legal action such as when a client claimed the home was vacant and my photos showed mucho furniture and stored personal items. Many times a pack-rat seller has loaded their foundation crawl space, attic and/or garage so that one can’t visually see much of anything... Visual evidence is very strong in a court of law and usually when the claimant’s attorneys see such evidence their case goes away. California has a 4 year statue of limitations beginning from the date of inspection. Every 4 years is shredding day for CA inspectors and 4 years after retiring from the trenches is truly a day of celebration. For those that quit business or retire don’t forget to get “tail” coverage for your E&O insurance if you didn’t have an “Occurrence” type policy.

Claims Made vs Occurrence

Eric Van De Ven · #6 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 02:24 PM

I have every inspection I have done since 99 in a folder on my desktop. It automatically gets backed up every day, so it is also on my back up drive.

I have a CD that I add the inspections to each month, including pictures. I keep all of the CDs and they are also copied. My reports are done in Publisher and then converted to PDF.

I all, I have 8 copies of every report. Since I e mail all of my reports, I save the sent e mails on my AOL account, and those too can be downloaded and automatically backed up. That would be 2 more copies!

John Goad · #7 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 03:29 PM

I upload them to the homgauge site where they are kept for 5 years.

Gunnar Alquist · #8 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 04:39 PM

Charlie,

I backup everything on an additional hard drive. Each inspection gets it's own folder with the report and all the pics. You can get a 500GB external drive for about $150 and a 1TB external drive for about $250. Cheap insurance.

Rick Hurst · #9 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 04:49 PM

I save everything on my hard drive and then to an additional portable hard drive once a week.

Another thing that I do that you might want to try is I opened up a G Mail account (Google) that you get a unbelievable amount of space on.

Everytime I email a inspection report, I'll also BCC a copy to my G mail account. That way if I'm out and need to access my reports I can go easily to that account and resend something or make a change if need be. I also put each inspection report along with the pictures in a zip folder with the buyers name, the address so it can be easily found and put in the email to myself. I'm using their space at Google for a back-up you might say.

Its free, take advantage of it.

rick

Jack Feldmann · #10 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 04:59 PM

I have every inspection I have ever done (since 1989). Up until a few years ago, they were in paper format, so there are several file boxes per year.
Since I moved to electronic reporting, I save reports on hard drive, back up to monthly c/d's, then back up quarterly, then again at the end of the year. I also back up to an external hard drive.

I have not taken the time or trouble to also put a back up off site, so if my house burns down - it's all gone. But then, that's the story of just about anything for a business that was involved with Katrina, or the World Trade Center. Sorry, it's just gone. I think that even if I had back ups at the bank safe deposit box during Katrina, they still would have been lost (if I was there).

I just can't bring myself to destroy the old stuff. I probably will this spring when I get down to the basement and start changing stuff around. I have way too many file boxes stacked up.

As far as legal work goes - I keep everything involved with my work in a separate folder with everything I used to prepare my report. For example, if I refer to the Simpson catalog, I keep a copy of the pages used. I keep a c/d of the photos used, etc. I also keep a record of telephone data, etc. A lot of it is NOT electronic with the EW work.

JF

Jim Robinson · #11 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 05:24 PM

External hard drive, and separate internal hard drive. I haven't burned to a CD in three years now. I just bought a scanner/printer today. I'm going to try scanning my agreement forms into the hard drive so I don't have to save the paper files as well. One of these days I'm going to buy a second external hard drive to store at my friends house, and rotate back and forth.

CHARLIE VAN FLEET · #12 (**permalink**) 03-05-2008, 05:38 PM

gunnar

i like that side hard drive thing--will save the cd cost---thanks to everyone
charlie

Scott Patterson · #13 (**permalink**) 03-06-2008, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

I have every inspection I have ever done (since 1989). Up until a few years ago, they were in paper format, so there are several file boxes per year.
Since I moved to electronic reporting, I save reports on hard drive, back up to monthly c/d's, then back up quarterly, then again at the end of the year. I also back up to an external hard drive.

I have not taken the time or trouble to also put a back up off site, so if my house burns down - it's all gone. But then, that's the story of just about anything for a business that was involved with Katrina, or the World Trade Center. Sorry, it's just gone. I think that even if I had back ups at the bank safe deposit box during Katrina, they still would have been lost (if I was there).

I just can't bring myself to destroy the old stuff. I probably will this spring when I get down to the basement and start changing stuff around. I have way too many file boxes stacked up.

As far as legal work goes - I keep everything involved with my work in a separate folder with everything I used to prepare my report. For example, if I refer to the Simpson catalog, I keep a copy of the pages used. I keep a c/d of the photos used, etc. I also keep a record of telephone data, etc. A lot of it is NOT electronic with the EW work.

JF

Yep, I lost many files and items when Katrina took part of our roof off when I lived in Jackson, MS. Not much you can do, and in some ways it could even be a blessing!