TOPIC: Report Writing, Help Please

Here's a post about HIP reporting time I made on Linked in. How many did you guys not know about or do now?

As a few others have pointed out your reporting time is going to depend on MANY things. I've looked over thousands of reports over the past 8 years and every inspector does things differently. Some of the big differences:

1) Inputting data on site vs at home (at home can also be quiet or tons of distractions)
2) Number of photos taken (anywhere from 10 to 1500, yes I said 1500!)
3) Number of photos included in the report (from 3 to 1500, okay so that's a fringe case of a company in Brazil, high end for US inspectors is 300).
4) Are you doing extra services like recall check, well & septic testing, pool, etc?
5) Are are you in an area with basements and crawls spaces or are all the homes on a slab?
6) Do the homes in your area average 20 years old or 80+ years old?
7) How much does it rain in your area (more moisture = more problems)
How good of a typist are you? Guys can take from 10 words a minute to 100 words a minute. There's a HUGE difference here. Inspectors on the low side should spend an hour a week with a typing program. You'd be AMAZED at what it does to your report time (it'll pay off for the rest of your life).
9) How good is your spelling? Grammar?
10) Experience. This one is interesting. New inspectors spend a ton of time on their reports. As guys get better they know what to write so report time increases. But, then this eventually turns into a more experienced inspector who finds a lot more problems and writes more.
11) As has been mentioned, for many Home Inspector Pro users the report has become a marketing piece so extra time is put into it.

Some items directly related to HIP
1) Make sure you Save Template every inspection so that your library gets better with time
2) Make sure you move comments to the right of black/red and edit on the right side if they're a one time use comment. This ensures that the narrative only saves with the specific inspection file, not the template. You don't want one time use narratives clogging up your template.
3) MAKE SURE YOU BATCH ADD PHOTOS. I come across a few guys a month that have been using HIP for more than a year but are still adding picture one by one. This is painful to me! One of the best features in HIP is batch add, use it.
4) Use the move up/down buttons to move your most used comments to the top to make them easier to find.
5) Use drop down lists where needed. These can be over done and under used.
6) Use the Note feature if you have a hard time keeping track of narratives
7) Turn on the relatively new photo slideshow feature so you can see photos as you enter data into the report (assuming you enter data at home).
If you write info down on site make sure that the form you use matches the template you're using.
9) Use a room by room or hybrid system. Inspectors tend to take longer on site with system templates as more jumping around in involved.
10) Don't over do photo annotations. This is a huge one. Guys switch to HIP, save a ton of time, then 6 months later I find them drawing boxes around photos of electrical receptacles because it's "so easy." Yes, it's easy. But when you annotate 100 pictures you're time is going to add up!

These are just a few things off of the top of my head. I'm teaching a 4 hour class on Home Inspector Pro coming up in San Diego and Atlantic City (inspectionconference.com). Attend if you can! Share you other reporting secrets here

Great information. Dominic your information has good detail. I spend about and hour on pictures, and the report about min. 5 hrs and max 10 hours. Drop down lists and slideshow I am not aware of and have never used.
I do not input information into a computer in the field. For me that would be impossible with interacting with the client. Not to mention, Docks, Crawlspaces and Attics.
I use a legal pad and make notes as I go. I use a routine each and every time. I go back to the office and complete the report, review all my notes to make sure I didn't miss anything from memory. No it has not gotten any faster and this is my fourth year of more than just part time.

I input most of my info onsite with the laptop and minimize client interaction to the begining of the inspection, key moments within the inspection, and after the computer is turned off.  In realilty, the client does not need to be with you the entire time as that inevitably slows the entire process down and can actually deter you from doing your job.  I offer them the opportunity to follow me but I also suggest they take my tape measure and do room measurements.  99 out of 100 times the clients get wrapped up in something else which allows me to think clearer about certain situations.  Based on what you have said it seems you are doing double duty in regards to information gathering and input.  You can change this and by doing so will increase client and agent referalls, increase your income level, and actually enjoy yourself a little bit.

I would like to ask this question also. Dominic and alot of inspectors are talking about the New Tablets. If it would help me with speed, I would not hesitate to purchase one. But here is my Question,
If I could take the Open Template that comes with HIP, and just enter areas and subgroups without any narratives already listed, and use the handwriting tool to enter information just like my note taking that would cut my time in half. But, you have to edit comments, enter the information for each line. No quicker time there, unless I'm missing something.

Gary, "You can change this and by doing so will increase client and agent referalls, increase your income level, and actually enjoy yourself a little bit." Thats why I am asking all these questions. I tried one time on a vacant home to use the computer onsite. Pecking and moving around within the program was so slow, I went back to my legal pad. What is the trick to the onsite entry of information into HIP?

Steven, most inspectors will be reusing 80% of their narratives on each report. Some more, some less, just depends on the area you're in but that's the average I've seen. This means 80% of your comments are there and just 2 clicks away from being in your report while walking around the site. Make sure you add one time narratives to the right side of the report (black/red) rather than the left so they don't crowd up your narratives and make it take longer to search for what you're looking for.

When you have something new to add you'll click Add and hand write the narrative in directly like you do now.