How long to write reports?

[kurt]

Simple harsh reality......if you're spending 4-5 hours preparing a report, there are a lot of things wrong, the main one being you're not making a dime and you're slowly going out of business.

Another harsh reality. Adding lots of pictures to MSWord based reports is a time consuming process. The "picture drop" feature in InspectExpress is pretty slick, and about as smooth as it gets, but it's still a time intensive process.

[kurt]

Today: a 13,500 square foot elementary school built in 1917.

My time spent during inspection preparing the report = 0 minutes.

My time spent dictating the report after the inspection = 35 minutes.

My time reviewing after a professional typist prepared the report = maybe 20 minutes.

Final result: a custom narrative report with perfect spelling, proper grammar and no canned BS comments.

Well, you know that's not right. Of course you spent time preparing the report during the inspection. Even if you didn't take handwritten notes and kept it all in your head, you still had to "prepare" the report in your head. There's no way anybody is going to extemporize a tight document without some forethought and planning.

Your dictation is preparing the report. Your proof of the finished product is "preparing the report". By my math, you got about an hour into preparing the report, and that doesn't include the thought process and taking notes or pictures.

How do pictures get placed in your dictated/professionally typed report? Or, do they come in a separate document? Or, are there pictures?

I think HI's do the same thing most builders and remodelers do, to whit, they don't take into account all the time they spend on a project.

[Darren]

I'm with Neal on the picture taking.

Most appliances are easy to photograph; some of the older ones you may have to take on a slight angle to get the numbers.

I take a photo and keep it in my files.

I have found the longer you do inspections, the longer it takes to do the reports. I would average about 2 hours of office time after each inspection. I do the reports at night then 'proof-read' first thing in the am after coffee.

Click to Enlarge

32.44 KB

[rbaake]

Kurt, no...business is good, hence the dilemma. As for Word, 2 monitors drag and drop.

I think I may need a girl to answer the phone, Extremely hot, great voice and never ask where I've been all day...

Funny, I remember when the phone never rang....

[rbaake]

Also, from experience, I think it's more difficult taking a picture of a reflective data plate then just writing down the numbers. Turn off the flash, put the camera in macro mode...I take one every-time but their never legible.

...yeah, I need a a girl, 20-25yrs with photo skills...tattoos and a passion for the written word...

[mgbinspect]

I do the reports at night then 'proof-read' first thing in the am after coffee. Click to Enlarge

32.44 KB

Uh huh... [:-thumbu] [:-graduat

[Darren]

Also, carry a decent sized mirror.

Click to Enlarge

48.38 KB

[Scottpat]

About the only thing we really have control over in our profession is time! Time management is the key to a productive and profitable home inspection business.

[mgbinspect]

About the only thing we really have control over in our profession is time! Time management is the key to a productive and profitable home inspection business.

True of life in general as well. [:-thumbu]

[resqman]

Jerry, if I didn't have the serial number from the furnace at the time of the original inspection I wouldn't have been able cross reference the numbers. When the client an I looked at the numbers from my report, we both immediately realized what most likely happened.

I think you may be missing the point. Most are saying "Record the numbers with a photo". Keep the photo in your records. Don't waste time including the information in your report. Don't waste time including links to all the recalls and user manuals.

[mgbinspect]

Jerry, if I didn't have the serial number from the furnace at the time of the original inspection I wouldn't have been able cross reference the numbers. When the client an I looked at the numbers from my report, we both immediately realized what most likely happened.

I think you may be missing the point. Most are saying "Record the numbers with a photo". Keep the photo in your records. Don't waste time including the information in your report. Don't waste time including links to all the recalls and user manuals.

For what it's worth, having done so many inspections over 17 years, I've inspected a lot of homes twice or behind a previous partner. We used to use the HomeBook - a humongous binder filled with everything one ever needed to know about a house and forgot to ask. Each time I saw one on the shelf, I'd pull it and look at it. The sad truth, through observation and by the admission of HomeBook owners was that they NEVER referred to it.

We're lucky if clients read our report in total one time. Considering it a reference, is not likely. Links to manuals sounds like a nice gesture, but I feel you're probably wasting your time, with the very best of intentions. It's a noble effort, but I'd concentrate on things that clients are more likely to actually notice, utilize and appreciate.

[kurt]

Kurt, no...business is good, hence the dilemma........

No, business is bad. You may be running money through your account and paying your bills but........

Break down the word.......busy-ness.

This is exactly like the conversations I used to have when I taught classes on how to make money in construction and remodeling.

I'd spend days explaining profit, margins, capitalization, amortizations, etc., etc., and at the end of the class, everyone would say "yeah, that's great, but how do we make more money?"

You're very busy spending 4-5 hours on a report. There's no way to pay yourself for those hours on a basic inspection fee.

You're busy, but you're not paying yourself for your time. Couldn't be.

Understand, I find myself in the same position on occasion, but please, please, please, don't make the mistake of thinking because your "busy", that business is good.

[rbaake]

Great advice all, thanks for your comments...

[John Kogel]

If you add a lot of pics in your reports, check out Home Inspector Pro.

You can load them all up in bulk, auto-resized 4 per page. Then you flip thru them, rotate if need be and click destinations for the ones you want. I can do up a folder of 130 pics and have 30 or 40 in my report in about 20 mins.

You can type in comments with a pic or just let them speak for themselves, like 6 roof pics, no concerns.

I don't do narrative, just blurt comments - Stone steps have settled, trip hazard - Repair*

Average report - < 1 hr.

[kurt]

If you add a lot of pics in your reports, check out Home Inspector Pro.

You can load them all up in bulk, auto-resized 4 per page. Then you flip thru them, rotate if need be and click destinations for the ones you want. I can do up a folder of 130 pics and have 30 or 40 in my report in about 20 mins.

You can type in comments with a pic or just let them speak for themselves, like 6 roof pics, no concerns.

I don't do narrative, just blurt comments - Stone steps have settled, trip hazard - Repair*

Average report - < 1 hr.

I've found that to be a very effective and time efficient method for reports myself. I write complete sentences, but relatively few. The picture with an arrow does most of the talking.

[Bain]

If you add a lot of pics in your reports, check out Home Inspector Pro.

You can load them all up in bulk, auto-resized 4 per page. Then you flip thru them, rotate if need be and click destinations for the ones you want. I can do up a folder of 130 pics and have 30 or 40 in my report in about 20 mins.

You can type in comments with a pic or just let them speak for themselves, like 6 roof pics, no concerns.

I don't do narrative, just blurt comments - Stone steps have settled, trip hazard - Repair*

Average report - < 1 hr.

I've found that to be a very effective and time efficient method for reports myself. I write complete sentences, but relatively few. The picture with an arrow does most of the talking.

If this were Facebook, I would click "Like."

[Chad Fabry]

How long to write reports?

As long as is necessary to effectively convey the deficiency and its cause and cure. For me, it usually takes between 3 and 5 hours.

[kurt]

Yeah, it's a "like".

I don't use HI Pro. I built my own out of Filemaker Pro.

The whole dense narrative method approach is vastly overrated.

[mgbinspect]

The whole dense narrative method approach is vastly overrated.

[:-thumbu]

[Tim Maxwell]

I've actually had several buyers that have bought numerous homes tell me when scheduling "you don't have to do the 30 page report, just tell me what's wrong."

Of course I still do the full report but remind them that there is a summary at the end of the report.

Not using a template for common findings (3pung recept, revpol recept, open grd, missing shingles, leaks, moisture damage.....) don't make sense to me. How many ways can you say it to type it in every day or every other day. I use the template comments and modify as needed as to location and any variances from the norm.

If getting a report finished on an average home took me 3 - 4 hours I'd have to do something else where I hopefully could make more than an hourly wage...

[Marc]

How long to write reports?

As long as is necessary to effectively convey the deficiency and its cause and cure. For me, it usually takes between 3 and 5 hours.

Agree. "Take care of the customer and the customer will take care of you."

Marc

[mgbinspect]

How long to write reports?

As long as is necessary to effectively convey the deficiency and its cause and cure. For me, it usually takes between 3 and 5 hours.

Agree. "Take care of the customer and the customer will take care of you."

Marc

It's funny, over time our understanding of what a customer wants and will appreciate, becomes clear. We have a tendency to give them what we feel they'd want instead of what they actually want.

During the years I spent vending to other HIs around the country on weekends, it became clear that sometimes we are more in touch with other HIs than the public, and get bogged down in the time consuming development and delivery of stuff home buyers didn't ask for, expect or really appreciate. Such concentrations seem to become an obsession.

There's been a lot of truth shared here that will prevent us from casting pearls before... well you know. Time is precious and we DO owe our customers a Cadillac job - their idea of a Cadillac, not ours. Learning what other home inspectors believe and do is helpful, but learning what our clients are looking for is paramount.

I believe Zig Ziglar said it best: "We get what we want, as we help others get what they want."

[randynavarro]

I don't really know what my customers' expecations are. Fact is, they're total strangers.

That's why I take the time to include more details to cover more bases than the minimum standards. I walk that fine line of not trying to please and accommodate everyone while not going crazy and taking forever to write a report.

Regarding report writing software: in my experience, it increases the time to write a report. It does, however, allow an inspecting mammal to barf out more on the page than not having software, all for the same amount of time.

[mgbinspect]

I don't really know what my customers' expecations are. Fact is, they're total strangers.

Sure you do, Randy. Over the years, especially in the beginning, those ocassional calls from disatisfied clients helped increase our understanding. And, as we get older and more experienced, we don't get those calls anymore, because we actually DO know what they want.

There definitely is such a thing as too much information. "WOW!". Then, they'd take it home and never use it again - funny...

Regarding report writing software: in my experience, it increases the time to write a report. It does, however, allow an inspecting mammal to barf out more on the page than not having software, all for the same amount of time.

You can say that again. Software is a love/hate relationship.

[Firm Foundation]

Roy's description pretty much describes my own process except for different software (3d), no home warranty and Adobe Acrobat allows me to include 20-60 photos without exceeding a 1 MB size for the report. That allows the report to be Emailed. Adobe also preserves hyperlinks in pdf formats.

Mark,

How do you get 3d to convert to a PDF and keep your size to 1MB ? I use 3d, usually have 30 to 40 photos in my reports and even though I reduce the size of my photos before I put them in the report, my finished product in PDF is always 5 to 7 MB's.

Also which home form do you use? I use Deluxe Residential and it usually takes me 1 to 1.5 hr to put in a report. I need to take the time to save more canned comments for simple items as I'll probably save 20 mins not having to type everytime, but I just haven't done it yet. I'm also debating upgrading to the new version or switching to Homegauge. Anyone used both and have any pro's or con's on homegauge as compared to 3d?

thanks.