Home Inspection Software

One glance at a comprehensive home inspection report shows many pages of items checked or unchecked. Preparing such a report used to involve preprinted forms that may or may not apply to that particular home, and thus constant flipping of pages. Next, it likely required tedious hours of typing or keyboarding from scratch after the inspector got back to the office.

Then, in the late 1990s, came home inspection software that can be used on-site to create an inspection report. A laptop computer running Windows 95 and up is usually required. Upgraded versions are available for those inspectors using Windows 2000 or XP. However, the more savvy software companies still sell software geared toward earlier versions of Windows.

Some software has additional modules, such as accounting or invoicing, or mailing/advertising features. Therefore, the potential user of the software will need to decide what features he or she will actually use. The less expensive software may do the job without wasting the inspector's funds.

Writing Up Additional Reports

The basic on-site inspection will indicate which of hundreds of areas apply to the building being inspected. Sometimes, it seems that almost all of them do. Depending on the specific software, templates can usually be modified on a one-time-only or on a permanent basis, so that the inspection includes everything applicable at that time. Additional reports can also be generated, back at the office or elsewhere. These may include the narrative, concise, and summary reports, as well as the overall evaluation. In addition, any problems or concerns can be described separately. Whichever reports are required by law and/or requested by the client can be generated from the data that has been inputted.