TOPIC: How do you do your summary with the client?

Steve, I don't think there is any harm done.

I am intently watching this discussion. I have had the same questions. There is a lot about the program that I am not using (am tempted to go to LA). Like drop downs. I can type just as fast as it takes me to select the comment so it goes into the damage pan, re-open it, click the drop down, search for my wording, and select it. I can just type "half bath" just as fast or faster. I do my report at home on a laptop.

Have a blessed day!

Steve, Mike's right, no harm done at all. This is all good discussions aside from a little light jabbing. Guys got back to the point quickly though.

Steve, 55% new comments is extremely high. Can you also post here a dozen comments from the report you posted that you wrote manually on site?

Okay, so here's what I noticed from a purely analytical review of your report on the house. When you get right down to it, assuming that all outside distractions have been neutralized, speeding up reports or understanding what takes up the majority of your time is really only one of three things: clicking, scrolling/searching or typing.

Keeping in mind that you are questioning your inclusion of material description I looked at the entire report from the standpoint of how many "clicks" of the mouse are actually used to produce the report. Here's the clicks needed for your report separated out by each section.(roughly)

A - B - C(D)

A - individual tabs in the template
B - Descriptive, location, limitation or material comments and mouse clicks
C - Damage panel/defect/comments and mouse clicks
(D) - Comments from "C" that state "This item was functional at the time of the inspection" or similar comment

General Information - 9-17-0
Property Exterior - 39-54-22(15)
Roof - 17-18-11(4)
Chimney - 8-3-6(3)
Garage - 33-43-8(7)
Attic - 13-10-2(1)
Crawlspace - 19-22-15(3)
Fireplace - 5-6-3(1)
Air Conditioning - 5-9-4(2)
Heating - 12-20-4(2)
Electrical - 9-17-8(2)
Plumbing - 9-17-5(1)
Water Heater - 6-12-4(3)
Kitchen - 20-37-16(14)
Laundry Area - 16-24-5(3)
Bedrooms - 8-11-11(5)
Bathrooms - 23-42-17(13)
Wetbar - 1-1-3(2)
Stairs - 1-3-2(1)
Entertainment Area - 9-15-4(4)
Living Room - 9-16-5(5)
Office/Common Area - 9-14-7(6)
Hallways - 9-16-5(5)
Three Seasons Room - 11-20-5(5)

Totals
300-447-158(107)


So a couple things stand out. First, you have a really large number of tabs(300 for this property) in your template which simply means you have each of those additional clicks to make as you report. This also equals a lot of decision making as you write the report about where to slot photos and where to report specific issues. It may also equal more searching and scanning of tabs to locate and go to each tab. Clicks and searching take time.

Second, you have three times as many material descriptions as you do defect comments(447 and 158-but actually 51). I say 51 defect comments because 107 of the 158 damage panel comments in your report are actually just statements that the item in question is functional(Some of those could also be eliminated from the report since they were repetitive every once in a while).

So take those 51 defects and even if it takes 6-7 clicks to insert them into the report, you would still only be making 357 clicks for defects compared to 447 material description clicks. It does give you an idea of the balance of work you do to produce your report and the balance of information in your report. Consider this: Your client will need to read through 447 descriptive material comments to find the 51 defect comments he is actually concerned about. I think you are correct that reducing or consolidating some of the material descriptions would help your reporting time. (Just a side note here, I realize there are plenty of inspectors who include many material descriptions in their reports. I am not wanting to get into a debate about that. I have my opinions but am only trying to address Steve's specific inquiry on the subject. I am not trying to degrade one method of reporting over another. )

One last thought based on the numbers above. Let's assume every tab in your template will be clicked at least once, every material description will take 3 clicks to select and each damage panel comment will take an average of 5 clicks to insert and modify. Based on the numbers from the list above, the total minimum clicks to write your report is somewhere around 2,431. Now assume you are clicking nonstop once every 3 seconds as you produce the report. That comes to 7,293 seconds or 2 hours of report time at a minimum. That doesn't include any typing or photo insertion or captioning or proof-reading or searching for comments, etc., etc. You can see that each click matters and finding ways to produce a similar report in a more streamlined fashion with fewer clicks, less scrolling/searching and typing will significantly reduce the report time.

I have some more ideas to share with you, but I need to stop for now. I will post some more later. I hope all this data helps, it's a lot to digest but I will try to give some specific and practical ways to apply it all.

Cameron, Yes that is alot of information to digest. I understand most of your details and will need to almost start from scratch on my templates. Change will be hard, but providing a good quality report but getting my life back will be a good balance if I can achieve that goal.

Dominic, I have back to back condo inspections today and two mold inspections tomorrow but will post as soon as possible. Thanks to all that are helping me.

Great job Cameron.
Can see you spent some time on your analysis.

The conflict is with less tabs you have less categories to slot pictures.
I suppose one solution would be to slot pictures with the appropriate tabs them add text under a broader category.(thinking out loud here)
Many times I have thought of just doing a total section narrative but there is no way to pin point photos or illustrations within a section.

>>>>>>Clicking to a new tab is the only real way to segregate systems and components.<<<<<<<

Still feel adding tips is good practice however especially since yesterday while all this was going on my client sent a testimonial
thanking me for the great detailed report and ending with he will always refer me.

There must be a balance between efficiency and quality.

Bob - so thoughtful of you to respect Dominic's forum-
If you wanted to do that -don't throw out your opinion when it's not asked for. You remind me of the old man next door who has an opinion on everything that know one asked for - glad youre so concerned about my business, which you know nothing about.

Did I miss spell a word somewhere? My deepest apologies.
Im glad you can GUESS at my business! Is that how you do your inspection's?! - Guessing and assuming!? Personaly, I've owned 3 homes built in the 1800's.

Remember Bob...I never asked YOUR opinion! Keep your guessing games for those who hire you.

I'm sure your learned to be detailed with 20 years in engineering, flying planes, working in "facilities design" on 500,000 sq-ft building's, working for high tech design companies, conducting training in South America, North America & Germany...Oh God Bob...that's me! ...I would never assume to know where you aquired your skill set. "My name is not Bob Elliot...and I dont guess"!

Im sure you would love Jiffy-lube to take 2 hrs to do a simple oil change - some people would assume you don't know what your doing when you can't get your job done in a timely manner. If ever never my help - maybe I can show you the ropes!