Tap Inspect App for iPhone

[Chad Fabry]

Home inspectors aka "the herring ball"- Where all predators feed with ease.

[jimdietrich52]

[:-thumbu]I have been reading all the chatter about Tap Inspect software. I feel compelled to respond. I have been using this "app" since early April this year. I have used HIP, Report Host, and 3-D software off and on for 6 years. I have 30+ years as a Michigan licensed builder and hold two college degrees. I have been performing inspections for 6 years. I have been a successful expert witness on numerous litigation cases related to mold and construction defects. Possibly this experience is why I love using Tap Inspect! It is very evident that this software is not for the inexperienced or faint of heart. Tap Inspect has good basic template structure of an outline for a good report. To the seasoned and experienced inspector this gives you the freedom to narrate and/or choose comments as you go. Inserting the pictures at each comment is invaluable as a time saver. No more choosing pictures and inserting them later! Although you can take photos with the iphone or ipad and put them in an album for later. This system has cut my inspection and reporting time in half! Yes half. I now have a life again. No more sitting at the computer until midnight!

The beginning inspector would not be advised to use this "app". But for the seasoned inspector it is great. Michael Wirth and his team have the best and most timely tech support I have ever experienced!

[gtblum]

I have 30+ years as a Michigan licensed builder and hold two college degrees. I have been performing inspections for 6 years. I have been a successful expert witness on numerous litigation cases related to mold and construction defects.

Good for you! My girlfriend has two degrees, owns a redemption center, has a twin sister who is an attorney, and has never whored herself out as an expert witness. So, you like the app, huh?

[jimdietrich52]

Ya Gary, I definitely like the app better than you! FYI, I am "whoring" myself out right now defending a very reputable ethical fellow inspector. Thou should engage thy brain before putting one's mouth in motion! I thought this forum would be a good venue for honest and respectful interchange of ideas. Apparently I was mistaken.

[Scottpat]

Ya, I just hung up from my pimp attorney on a case trying to defend a home inspector as well. I need to find a new corner to hang out on seems all of the good ones get taken before I get a chance to hawk my goodies!

[gtblum]

Yeah, and next week if the money is there...... But then, that's another six of eighteen holes with a lawyer story. Sleep well.

Guess I just didn't see why all of that mattered.

Personally, I think as time passes and improvements are made, the app will probably be as good as anything we use now.

[Marc]

Yeah, and next week if the money is there...... But then, that's another six of eighteen holes with a lawyer story. Sleep well.

Guess I just didn't see why all of that mattered.

Personally, I think as time passes and improvments are made, the app will probably be as good as anything we use now.

I agree. When the clocks start running backwards and we find ourselves building out of timbers, mud and straw again, that's when that APP will be the rave.

Just kidding Jim D.

Marc

[Bain]

In the interest of fairness--which I typically detest--what happens Jim Dietrich when you come across something out of the norm for which there are no canned comments? A distressed foundation? A strangely framed roof? A family of lizards in a furnace (which happened to me) ?

What if you have to type--and proofread and edit--multiple paragraphs to explain to your client what's up with the house? I know that would take gobs MORE time on a iPhone than on a standard keyboard.

I checked out the website for the app. There are only two canned recommendations. What if one needs to explain the correct remedy in far greater detail?

[jimdietrich52]

Hey all, thanks for the spirited discussion. My point of all this is I have in-depth knowledge and experience as a builder and inspector, as I am sure most of you do as well. I can Google items on the fly. This app is not for the inexperienced inspector. I prefer the Ipad 2 to the Iphone, old eyes and big fingers and all. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have been texting with two thumbs since texting was started. I am able to hold the Ipad and text with two thumbs as fast as I could type.

We all have preferences for reporting and software, that discussion will never end! Before you condemn, download the app (if you have Iphone or Ipad), and work with it. I find with many of the other programs, I end up editing or doing custom narrative anyway, so the minimal format of Tap Inspect works for me. I have created numerous sections, well, septic, mold, radon, asbestos to mention a few.

As for narrative, most of my report is personal narrative mixed with minimal point and click. I customize for each condition at each inspection as needed.

So, there is another 2 cents worth!

[kurt]

I've built a couple mini-apps for inspection for my iPhone and iPad. Yeah, they work, but doing this gig with a phone or pad is silly.

They're delicate. Try working with an iPhone in a crawlspace or an attic. They're not as fast as any computer; it's slow.

It's another canned report system, using iStuff.

[jimdietrich52]

Again Kurt, you seem a little British.........................!

[Bain]

Hey all, thanks for the spirited discussion. My point of all this is I have in-depth knowledge and experience as a builder and inspector, as I am sure most of you do as well. I can Google items on the fly. This app is not for the inexperienced inspector. I prefer the Ipad 2 to the Iphone, old eyes and big fingers and all. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have been texting with two thumbs since texting was started. I am able to hold the Ipad and text with two thumbs as fast as I could type.

We all have preferences for reporting and software, that discussion will never end! Before you condemn, download the app (if you have Iphone or Ipad), and work with it. I find with many of the other programs, I end up editing or doing custom narrative anyway, so the minimal format of Tap Inspect works for me. I have created numerous sections, well, septic, mold, radon, asbestos to mention a few.

As for narrative, most of my report is personal narrative mixed with minimal point and click. I customize for each condition at each inspection as needed.

So, there is another 2 cents worth!

I'm trying to keep an open mind, but you didn't answer any of my questions. How can one create an inspection report with "personal narrative with minimal point and click," on an iPhone?

One doesn't text with two thumbs on an iPhone. That occurs with a Blackberry.

[jimdietrich52]

Bain, if you have an Iphone 4 you can turn it on its side and the keyboard will be larger and it can easily be used with two thumbs. As I stated before, I prefer the Ipad, and yes if you purchase the durable cases available, both devices work fine in attics and crawls. You can use the phone in tight spaces and sync to server later.

As I stated, it works for me. I have added many of my narratives to the program.

[Bill Kibbel]

Again Kurt, you seem a little British.........................!

WTF is that supposed to mean?

[kurt]

Everyone likes what they use. I've used everything, and liked all of them when I used them.

Now, I don't like them because there's better ways.

Folks that have building experience and have been inspecting for 6 years always know the best way to do the job.

I know I did.

[kurt]

How can one create an inspection report with "personal narrative with minimal point and click," on an iPhone?

I put together an app with FM Pro relational database tied to my comment library. Mechanically, it works fine. It's kinda personal, if personal means generic commentary that has to be personalized after you point and click.

It works. Kind of. Clumsily. And not due to the program layout; I'm a FM maven. The phone is simply clumsy for this job.

It does everything the other systems do, only with an expensive handset that's not moisture or impact resistant, lacks a lanyard, has a lousy flash, has controls that are clumsy and not operable with one hand, can suddenly ring with a customer call when you're taking pictures, etc., etc.

I love my iPad and iPhone. Love them. My entire office is Mac and Apple, and Filemaker Pro is originally a Mac program so it runs wonderfully on the gear. I get it.

But, some of this iPhone and iPad stuff is just folks getting seduced by very, very cool technology, and going proselytizer.

It's real easy to do, but it's kind of like forming a religion around your wiener.

One doesn't text with two thumbs on an iPhone. That occurs with a Blackberry.

Sure you can. I trained myself. It took a few minutes, but typing on the Apple virtual keyboard is just as nice as a Blackberry (which is nice).

It's really not good for inspections. Not that it's impossible, it's just not good. Give me an Optio W90 and a computer any day. Waterproof, impact resistant, easy to one hand operate. Yes, you can one hand the iPhone (sort of), and the iPad (very sort of), but it's silly.

Folks that think it's a good idea really need to think about what they think.

If you're serious, you get the right tools for the job, not adapt phones and tablets to something better done with the right tool.

Where the iPad would really shine is for something like insurance adjuster work. No attics, no crawlspaces, limited inventory of data, it's fine. A few pictures, a few comments, all punched out of a relational database format. Any kind of "short order quick documentation of a few things", it's the miracle.

For writing a coherent building report wherein we all inventory hundreds of components, have to explain complex subject matter about stuff customers have never heard of, and keeping the translation accurate across the "multiple platforms" of customers we deal with on a daily basis, it's stretching. Really stretching.

[Jim Katen]

Again Kurt, you seem a little British.........................!

WTF is that supposed to mean?

He thinks that Kurt's avatar is a picture of Kurt.

And he thinks that the British are somehow beneath him.

[kurt]

I'm flattered that anyone would think I'm Peter Sellers.

[Erby]

It's real easy to do, but it's kind of like forming a religion around your wiener.

And the problem with that is?

[Marc]

I used a pocket computer to record data during the inspection for 7 years until I realized that a clipboard, paper, pen and typing lessons was much faster and better. I'll never go back to any type of handheld device again unless they come out with one that has a full size qwuerty.

Marc

[jimdietrich52]

I think I will go back to inspecting and quit wasting time on this time sink. I obviously don't know nearly enough to communicate with all the "experts"! I will simply continue my "neanderthal thumb dragging methods" and be content with that!

[kurt]

It's real easy to do, but it's kind of like forming a religion around your wiener.

And the problem with that is?

Well, now that I think about it, I guess there's really no problem, unless one is a politician.

In that case, we can see what the problem is by reading the news.

I guess we (me) upset the guy with all the building and inspecting experience who's so excited about his iPhone report system............

[jimdietrich52]

Ya think?

[Marc]

I guess we (me) upset the guy with all the building and inspecting experience who's so excited about his iPhone report system............

...and preserved what matters the most...speak your mind.

Marc

[kurt]

Why else would we come here?

Oh, he's back.......or lurking......

I think you've probably got a lot of experience in all sorts of things I don't know about, but you gotta understand, there's about a couple dozen folks in here that, if you added up all their combined experience in years, have building and inspecting time that measures in the several hundreds of years.

Honest.

So, we (I) tend to glaze over when folks talk about how experienced they are.

Most of us are so experienced, we wish we weren't.

In fact, I've got so much experience, I'm thinking of starting a travel business for people that want to experience China.

Anyone wanna talk about China?