Home inspection software is one of the most important aspects to a home inspector's business. It generates the final product that homebuyers, sellers and real estate agents rely upon to make crucial decisions in the real estate transaction.
The choice of which home inspection software you use can either be a time suck or make you more efficient and help you grow your business.
It ranges from free up to thousands of dollars per year. Most of the top home inspection softwares either have upfront license purchase fees ($800+) with optional on-going fees for cloud storage, mobile apps, etc. or monthly fees of $50-$100/mo. Some programs offer a per-inspection charge of $5 and up.
Some things to keep in mind:
Free software might seem appealing in the beginning when you're trying to keep costs down while checking all the boxes. Many of these programs were built many years ago and aren't maintained or updated.
Think about your future growth. It might be hard to think about doing 2 jobs a day, everyday right now but it's a must. Efficiency is key in this business, so think about what can save you time. Test drive a couple to see how easy it is to learn and how quick do you can an inspection. This is also where pay-per-inspection programs can get expensive quickly.
The final product matters. The final report presentation is more important than ever to agents and homebuyers. Make sure it represents you and your brand.
Downloadable vs. Cloud-based software. Most modern services are cloud-based as we're seeing downloadable software become a thing of the past.
This all depends what is most important to you.
Downloadable software might be right for you if:
Cloud-based software might be right for you if:
Before the cloud, most home inspection software programs (and most programs in general) were on a CD-rom or downloadable. This is how most programs were made, like Microsoft Office. This was before cloud storage space was as cheap as it is today.
With the rise of cloud-based software, many modern consumers have grown to like and understand the need for on-going, SaaS-based (Software as a Service) programs. This means customers are always using the most up-to-date versions of the software each time they log in. This also means bug fixes and features can be added in real-time, as opposed to having to wait until the next version is packaged up for download every couple years.
Think Spotify, Pandora, MailChimp, Google Drive, etc.
Think about what kind of inspection business you want to be. Are you providing a quality, premium experience? Or do you want to be the cheapest and do more inspections per week?
Think about your business cards, your website, and what other technology you use in your life. Then find software that matches!