User Tips and Tricks

We asked users what tricks and tips they had for those first coming to Spectora.  Here are a few:

Templates

Most people have abandoned room by room as Spectora has a location button that lets you just use 1 item and denote where it's at by the location.

Glenn Fricke

Lastly, I really like how easy it is to share templates between Spectora users. Anyone can send any template to one another by entering clicking share template and entering their email address of the recipient. Boom, the template is sent and installed into the recipient’s template list.

Ryan Howell

On-site

Get as many photos in their proper location on site, then flag the note of you don't have time to type it. When you finish the Inspection, it will be easy to go back and edit the note appropriately.

Dusty Jameson

I'm always evolving in the inspection process and report writing. 12+ years. I try to get as much report writing done on sight as possible. Unless there is a bratty snotty kid screaming in the house. Everyone will have a little different way to do things, so do what works best for you. I usually take one, sometimes two pics of a deficiency. You don't need 8 or 9 pics to show that a roof needs to be further evaluated. People like bullet points for the most part. Be concise, detailed, and descriptive.

Steve Coats

The location option has helped me make much more auto comments than previous software cuz now I can make a generic statement like the toilet is loose and then out guest bathroom, etc in the location. Also, if I don't have time to write out a comment, I make the title, take the pics and flag it to out the comment in later.

Devon Morante

During your first few inspections you'll hit a rough patch in each and say to yourself "I gotta move and get this done!" It's at that moment you have the choice... Trust your research and planning and stick to it or give in to an ounce of panic and abandon your software for random picture taking and tons of work later.

Don't panic, take a breath and stick to your plan. Lots of us complete good reports on site and in a reasonable time. Stick with it, the reward is more time with your kids, it's worth it.

Hyde Anderson

Flags are my favorite (and the one I lobbied for most, I’d say). As others have said, you can snap a pic, enter a basic title and flag for later. It’s super easy to see where those flags are at in the report before publishing.

Another tip is to caption photos with locations. There is a really easy to use location selector within the captions that makes this simple. This saves time having to build out room by room parts of the template.

I use the camera button (enabled in app settings on mobile device) to quickly bring up the camera and take CYA photos. These get thrown into their own folder on my phone with the house address. Nice and tidy.

Ryan Howell