5 Free Business Tools For Home Inspectors

* Accept cash and credit card payments in the field from your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad with Square. The app is free and doesn’t require a monthly contract or fee, but you’ll pay 2.75 percent of each sale from Visa, Mastercard, Discover or American Express to use it.

* Ever wondered if you could make more money by relocating? Payscale’s Salary Calculator can estimate what home inspectors in different regions of the country are bringing in.

* Making verbal notes is as easy as pressing play. With iTalk Recorder‘s free app, inspectors can record thoughts on a particular house and e-mail it to themselves for review later.

* Need to find that perfect spot to publish your Tap Inspect inspections? Wi-Fi Finder is here to help. This free app locates both free and paid wi-fi connections in more than 140 countries worldwide.

* Forget paying fancy hotel prices when you’re hitting up the conference circuit. Airbnb.com connects travelers with vacation rentals, private condos and even apartment shares for prices that are usually far lower than what hotels charge.

5 of Our Favorite Free Business Tools for Home Inspectors

* All of the good content in the world isn’t going to amount to diddly squat if nobody can find it. Hubspot.com is offering this free guide to search engine optimizing your web site.

 

* What do your home inspection clients really think of you? Check it out on Yelp. The site isn’t exactly the newest kid on the block, but it does provide an invaluable (and free!) way to read client reviews, address questions and create a good public image.

 

* Score with SCORE thanks to the organizaton’s free templates and tools. If you’re stuck on how to format the perfect business plan, revise your budget or get the legal mumbo jumbo down, SCORE is the place to start.

 

* Ken Compton is here to help you market yourself. Producing a series of free marketing videos aimed specifically at home inspectors, Compton’s Youtube page is a one-stop shop of useful goodies.

 

* Facebook and Twitter may go the way of the dodo thanks to Google Plus. The new social networking site is available by invite only for now, but could prove to be invaluable once it goes public. Be one of the  first to establish an online presence.


5 Free Tools to Boost Your Home Inspection Business

* You need marketing materials, InterNACHI has your hook-up. Offering a full range of inspection-related clip art, concepts and design ideas (all at no cost to members), the nonprofit is a one-stop shop for creating low-cost promo materials. Check out the range of offerings right over here.

 

* Need to explain something to a buyer or agent who isn’t there? Or perhaps just make a mental note for later? Dragon Dictation for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad allows you to speak messages into your phone which the app will transcribe and send out as a text, e-mail, Tweet or Facebook status update.

 

* Company blogs are easy to create and hard to turn into a successful business tool. Erika Douglass has created what many regard as the definitive manifesto for turning your blog into an invaluable tool for reeling in new customers. It’s available for download here.

 

* Whether you’re looking to get a new home inspection off the ground or streamline a company you’ve run for 30 years, SCORE is here to help. Offering free business mentoring workshops across the globe, this small business nonprofit offers classes in everything from writing a business plan to uncovering the intricacies of sales tax. Connect with a business mentor online or in person here.

 

* Tap Inspect will keep back up copies of your inspection reports on our server, but keeping your invoices and notes saved on your home hard drive is risky. Adrive allows you to store up to 50GB of data on their servers for free.

 

This article originally ran in our company newsletter sent out earlier in May. To be the first to get Tap Inspect’s tips and interviews, sign up for our newsletter by clicking the “Join Our Mailing List” button on the right hand side.