Friday, February 11, 2011

Why delivering your inspection report on-site is so important

Many inspectors underestimate the importance of on-site reporting.    The home inspection industry is more and more competitive every year and staying one step ahead of your competitors becomes more and more challenging.  

The real estate game is fast paced!  Inspectors realize this knowing appointments are often scheduled within 48 hours of the taking the booking call.    Home buyers often leave the home inspection call until the last minute after all other important details fall into place, like their financing for example.   Clients don't want to spend money on a home inspection only to find out that their financing fell though so, as a result, usually wait until they can waive the financing clause to book an inspection.   This means there is now little time left to get that inspection done and make a final decision on the purchase of the home.   Any time wasted in getting the client their report is often stressful for all parties.

If you, as an inspector, can deliver your finished report in full at the end of the actual inspection and have your clients leave with report in hand you, your client, the vendors and realtors are put in a much better situation.

First you, when you deliver a report on-site you are done with the inspection at the inspection.   You don't have to worry about when you will be able to get home to finish and upload the report or email the report to the client.   You won't have to stress over the clients' deadline which is fast approaching and ensuring they have all the information they need prior to that deadline.    With on-site reporting, when you are finished your inspections, you are finished.  When you arrive home, your time is your own.  

I can tell you from first hand experience that waiting for an inspector to get home and deliver the report to me, the client, is stressful.    When my husband and I purchased an investment property, we felt it prudent to hire an inspector even though my husband was fully qualified to do the inspection himself.   We felt any problems uncovered by the inspector would be better negotiated if we were not the ones who actually did the report.   The inspection was over at 4:00pm and we had till midnight to make a purchase decision and sign off on the waivers.   At 9:30pm we still had not received our report, we were getting stressed and needed that report to finalize a decision!   At 10:00pm, we called the inspectors office and asked them to please get the report to us.   It finally arrived by email at 10:35pm.  It was forty something pages all in the same type set, no clear headings or big picture page.  It really was near impossible for us to read through it and feel like we were able to make a well educated decision prior to our midnight deadline.   Had we had the report since 4:00pm when the actual home inspection ended, we would have had ample time to properly review the report and even have had time to call the inspector for clarification, if needed.   With the delayed report delivery, neither was possible.    A horrible experience for us, and we know inspections!

The inspector we used was well known, very knowledgable, well respected with years of experience yet given the chance we would never recommend him for the sole reason of his lack of an onsite report.

With a delayed report, there is often not ample time for needed negotiations between the buyer and vendor, making both parties and their agents scramble to get the deal done.  Talk about pressure!

Delivering an on-site inspection report results in happier clients and more referrals from everyone involved.   When you make the decision to always deliver your inspection reports on-site, you set yourself apart from your competitors who underestimate this important service!

Happy Inspecting, Sharon Purtill, Canspec Home Publishing

12 comments:

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  5. I have decided to do OnSite reports because I see my Grandpa doing reports the same way he has since 2000 when he started his business. First, he fills out a bunch of forms by hand, then he goes home and after a day of 3-4 inspections he has a stack of papers with chicken scratch on them. He has to then transfer them over to the software and then email them. In the time I have shadowed him, I have heard him receive many calls from Agents and Buyers asking where the report is. I have named my business OnSite Home Inspections so that I can be set apart from other Utah Home Inspection companies. I appreciate the article!

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    Replies
    1. Im a FL home inspector I've been using jail reports but have run into slot of clitches, would you mind sharing what insure program your using and the pro and cons ofit. Thank you so much for your help

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  6. Im a home inspector in FL and im looking for a program that allows me to perform the inspection include photos and deliver completed report from site. Does anyone have a good user friendly app or program there using and could share that info please

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