Getting Photos From a Tap Inspect Report

June 8, 2017 - 1 Comment

Tap Inspect is a great place to save, archive and build reports with photos but sometimes you need to get one or more photos out of the report so you can share them, save them, or even use them someplace else.

Here are 3 different ways to get photos out of a Tap Inspect report. Each method works really well depending on where you want to do with the photos or how many photos you want to extract.

Sharing your Photos

The first method is the quickest, easiest and works really well for one or two photos. We call this the ‘Share method’. When you are in a report just tap on a thumbnail of a photo to open it full screen. Down in the bottom right corner is the ‘share icon’, tap on that and an action sheet pops up letting you select how and where you would like to share this photo.

Depending on how you have set up your device you can save it to the camera roll, post to Facebook, tweet the photo, or email it.

Once you have shared this photo you can swipe to other photos and share them. This works great if you want to text, email, or even save a few photos to camera roll.

Extracting a Report’s Photos

The second method we call the ‘Extract method’. It allows you to extract some or all the photos of a report and copy them onto the camera roll on your device. Once a photo is in your Camera Roll you can do pretty much anything you want with it.

For this method you want to open the report again and go into the Report Options by tapping on Edit, or Edit Fields on iPad and then tapping of the Report Options button that shows up in when you are in Edit mode and then tapping on Extract Photos.

A grid pops up with every photo the report knows about. This grid will also include original photos before you added arrows and circles and sometimes even orphaned photos that were removed from the report from other devices.

Tap on the little circle at the top right corner of the thumbnail to add a checkmark to select it. If you need a better look, tap on the thumbnail to view it full screen, tap on the checkmark circle, and then swipe to the next photo or tap on the grid icon in the bottom left to go back to the grid.

When you are all done tap on Extract and all the photos will be copied from your report into the Camera Roll on your device. Open the Photos app and you will see them there.

Your Web Account

The last way to get photos out of a Tap Inspect report doesn’t even need the Tap Inspect app. This is the ‘Web method’. From any web browser go to tapinspect.com and log in with your email address and password you use with the app. Go to Inspections and then click on the report that has the photos you want. Then click on a photo to view it full size and you can right click to save the image just like you would save any image from the web.

So there you go, three different ways to get photos out of a Tap Inspect report. Each with its own advantages and limitations and each that fits certain situations.

Give them all try and see what works best for you. Let us know how it goes by leaving a comment here, connecting with us on Facebook or by email to info@tapinspect.com.

Deliver the Home Inspection Report Your Clients Really Want

May 11, 2017

Ask any home inspector and we almost always say the same thing: ‘My clients hire me because of my report’. After looking at hundreds of home inspection reports and talking with hundreds of home inspectors I just can not understand how this is the case. If clients love the 20 page, 3 part form checklist report just as much as the 175 page report with 5 photos of every room I must be missing something.

How do you deliver the home inspection report your clients really want? First thing to do is ask them. So that is what I did and this is what my clients told me.

Show Me What You are Talking About

A few sentences and a photo or two can explain way more than a page of text. Using photos makes much more sense and makes reports easier to read and to understand. Modern home inspection reports are all about the photos.

Don’t get tempted to just add a big block of Report Photos at the end of your reports though. Your clients will have to flip back and forth trying to understand where which photo goes with which statement. What a pain to read and to try to understand.

Give Me a Report I Can Actually Read

My times than not I have heard, “How do they expect me to read this thing! It’s over 100 pages long!’. If you have not heard this about your or one of your competitors reports you have not been listening.

Most of us became home inspectors to help teach people about their homes and to help them learn. That does not mean that our reports need to be a text book. Our clients want a report they can read and understand. If they want or need more information they will ask or more likely Google or You Tube the information.

Tell Me Why It’s Important and What to Do Next

After looking at homes every day and going to classes with other home inspectors it gets really easy to lose sight of what our clients know. We became home inspectors to help people and share our knowledge and experience. Is it fair to just tell our clients that something is wrong without going on to tell them why and where to go next.

I know we have been warned over and over about liability. You may not be comfortable telling your clients how soon something should be done or some ballpark of the costs. But we have a responsibility to help our clients. Take some time and ask them yourselves what they need from you.

Give Me a Summary I Can Understand

By far the biggest demand was for a summary of the home inspection. Not just a list of deficiencies, or several lists broken down by safety or maintenance. The clients I spoke with wanted a summary, an executive summary, of the home written in a way they could understand it.

This really makes sense. Most home inspection reports I’ve seen are written in a way that other home inspectors, most realtors, and even some home buyers can understand. But the average home buyer may not. After spending several hours with a home inspector looking at things they will not see again for years can get overwhelming. It was made pretty clear, they wanted a summary they they could understand.

How I Use Tap Inspect with HomeBinder

March 22, 2017 - 3 Comments

I have been using HomeBinder in my home inspection business. My clients have really liked the idea and seem to appreciate the free lifetime subscription I give them.

Since getting started, I have picked up a few best practices that I wanted to pass along. They should make it incredibly easy to use Tap Inspect along with HomeBinder. You can provide a little extra value to your clients without it taking any more time or effort.

What is HomeBinder?

HomeBinder gives homeowners a place to manage their home maintenance needs. They also provide a few other features like recall checks of appliances and equipment. HomeBinder will also send maintenance reminders that you can pre-setup.

Once you create a HomeBinder account as a home inspector, you can setup a template with all the reminders you want your clients to get. You can even add a list of contractors you trust and provide documents like a flyer or maintenance guide.

Create a HomeBinder from Tap Inspect

We tried to make getting set up as simple as possible. After you set up the HomeBinder integration, it shows up in the app just like the client or agents. When you publish your report, it gets published to HomeBinder too.

We put together a guide to help you get set up.

Update your Invitation Email

At the end of my inspections I have been telling my clients about HomeBinder. Then I say to keep an eye out for an email from them in a few days. It seemed a lot simpler to update my invitation email with the same info.

I think this has worked pretty well. It reminds my client what to expect and also lets them get a little more information before the binder arrives. I also like the idea that their agent sees the same invitation so they know about the gift.

Auto Transfer Your Binders

My goal is to get the HomeBinder into my client’s hands while they are still thinking about the home inspection. I think they are more likely to engage if they are still thinking about the inspection. HomeBinder has a setting to let you do it automatically.

There are two important things to keep in mind. First, once you transfer a binder you can not edit it again. Second, once you publish your Tap Inspect report to HomeBinder, you have to manually update HomeBinder with the new PDF if you re-publish the report.

The default HomeBinder Binder Transfer/Share Delay (in hours) setting is 5 hours. I changed it to 72 hours, or 3 days. That gives me plenty of time to update the report PDF if I needed to make any changes.

Remind Your Client to Enter Appliance Info

I am not a fan of typing or long checklists. That includes recording any serial or model numbers in my home inspection reports. Why not ask the client to enter them? In my HomeBinder template I have added a Maintenance Item to remind them 60 days after the binder gets created.

My thinking is that not everyone will find value in the recall checks and notifications. If my client does see the value they will not mind entering the information. By entering the information, they will use HomeBinder and hopefully explore a little more.

2 Ways of Doing a Multifamily Home Inspection Report on the Tap Inspect App

October 11, 2016 - 3 Comments

After you have been doing inspections for a while, everyone eventually gets called to do some kind of multi family property report. These kinds of reports a really similar to what we do every day but different enough that I get a lot of questions about how to use our system to make these a little easier to generate.

When you first look at a multi family property it can be a bit overwhelming trying to figure out how to build the report. I mean you have all these bathrooms, kitchens, electrical panels … At first glance it is a typical inspection multiplied by the the number of units the property has. But if you look a little closer … it is really much simpler.

The first key to doing a multifamily report is to understand it is really just one building. It has a single site, a single exterior, a single roof, and a single structure. It is really no different than a typical single family home.

I actually use the same sections that are in my Home Inspection template. You may need to add a few more comments but the sections, items and options should be fine help you describe and identify all the common elements of the property.

The second key is to understand that each unit is probably quite similar to all the other units in the property. I create a new section named Unit #1 and try to build a ‘prototype unit’.
What does than mean? Does each unit has it’s own HVAC? Ok. I add a Heating and Cooling subsection. It’s own water heater, electrical panel, laundry? I add those subsections.

Some multi family properties even have a common heating, cooling, laundry, or hot water system just like a single family home. In those cases you can just use the same sections again that are in your Home Inspection template.

Once you determine the basic makeup of a unit you can duplicate that unit over and over in the report as many times as you need.

It is really that simple

Treat the building like you would any typical single family home
Create a Unit section and duplicate it as many times as you need

Markup Home Inspection Photos In Tap Inspect

February 29, 2016 - 5 Comments

Our most requested feature has been, hands down, the ability to add circles or arrows to a home inspection photo inside of the Tap Inspect iPhone and iPad applications. I have to admit, up to a little while ago I just did not understand what all the fuss was about. Now, I have to say I am sold and one of the believers.

There is just no substitute to being able to add an arrow to show the crack your are talking about or drawing a circle to highlight a stain. I can finally see how handy a feature like this can be and how much it can help clarify what I am trying to explain.

Starting with version 5 of Tap Inspect an Edit button has been added to the Photo Viewer and you can markup your home inspection photos inside the app. No more using another 3rd party app like Skitch or dealing with the extra fuss.

Two of the coolest features about the new Photo Markups are that it works across all the devices you have Tap Inspect installed on and it also saves the original, unmarked, photo.

That means you can take and add a home inspection photo from your iPhone and when it syncs over to your iPad you can add an arrow or circle or two. Then when it syncs back to your iPhone and you are still not satisfied you can change or remove those markups and add more.

It also means that you can always get the original unmarked home inspection photo from the Extract Photos screen of the app or from your web account if you need to use it somewhere else.

As a home inspector that has never used markups like this before, it has made my job even easier.

Give it a spin, markup some home inspection photos and let us know how it works for you.

Category: Inspection Reports