What Home Inspection Software is Best?
We had a team test every home inspection software on the market that we could get a hold of. While we tested dozens – these are the 5 that stood out. Below are the winners in order – and you can click on the link to each review with the buttons below. Or you can read the entire into, which has great information as well.
You can skip this intro and go right to our extensive review section by clicking on the numbered links below.
Note – I am a home inspector, and many of our testers were as well – so this was no “casual test”. We tested every software we could find and access and put them all through the wringer. We also used “the average consumer” to test the finished report that each software/app produced.
While we tested dozens – these are the 5 that stood out. Below are the winners in order – and you can click on the link to each review with the buttons below. Or you can read the entire intro, which has great information as well.
1
INSPECTOR TOOLBELT
2
HIP
3
SPECTORA
4
SCRIBEWARE
5
INSPECTOR NEXUS
When it comes to being a home inspector, one of the biggest decisions you will make is which home inspection software to use. Why is it such a big decision? Statistics show that the vast majority of home inspectors use the same home inspection software that they used when they first started. And if they do switch, it usually takes a long time – usually years – before they do. This was the case with me as a home inspector as well. It is just a large job to take on new home inspection software, to add all my comments and disclaimers, and to adapt it to my style. It is like starting a relationship – it takes time and effort, and ending that relationship is tough.
That being said, we want to help you choose your new home inspection software and get off on the right foot. Please keep in mind that this blog only lists 5 software that we thought were the best – but we tested every one we could find for many months. For a more detailed list of inspection software out there, see What Software do Home Inspectors Use, and for detailed pricing on each software there, check out How Much Does Home Inspection Software Cost. Please note (as a disclaimer) that we have contributed to the first app, Inspector Toolbelt.
Home Inspection Software Reviews
Let me state ahead of time – these are my personal views and experiences, and the views and experiences of others who have helped me try out these different home inspection apps. If you disagree with me/us, please feel free to leave a comment :). As you will see in the comments, not everyone has agreed with us over the years – which is great, and we want to hear your opinion.
Either myself, other inspectors who have worked for me, or other experienced inspectors have helped me gather info on each of these programs.
Inspector Toolbelt Home Inspection Software
Inspector Toolbelt was the highest-rated software our testers. They have been around for several years now, and launched their home inspection reporting app that has done really well.
What We Liked
- They have an amazing user interface – which is probably their best feature. Instead of clicking buttons relentlessly to get to one item (click on the menu, then exteriors, then garage, then electrical in the garage, etc), they came up with a way to have everything right there in front of you. It literally shaved how many times we clicked to take a picture and make a note from 16 times on average to about 4 – which is awesome.
- Their support is great – they are always there to help and even offer one-on-one training if you want it.
- The reports are beautiful, and more importantly, the agents and clients appear to like them.
- The pricing for this software was among the most reasonable out there at $69 per month with all the scheduling, administrative, and every other feature that comes with it.
The Biggest “Plus”
What the testers liked most about this home inspection app was the interface and how easy it is to use. One tester said the first time he used it, it saved him 30 minutes on his inspection and he hadn’t even fully learned it yet.
Home Inspector Pro
Home Inspector Pro is software that has been around for years for a reason. They are tried and true, produce great reports, and every user is pretty much a raving fan.
What We Liked
- They have been doing this for a long time – so pretty much every feature you want is right in there already.
- Straightforward interface makes entering inspection info pretty easy to do.
- They have additional software you can purchase to schedule your inspections and help with the administrative stuff.
The Biggest “Plus”
They know home inspections – and they know how we inspect. So the biggest plus of this software was that all of our less tech-savvy users felt comfortable with it – which is a good thing because we are not all programmers. They are one of the largest (if not the largest) software providers for home inspectors out there for a reason.
Spectora
Many would call Spectora the “reigning champion” for home inspection apps at the moment. They have an amazing app. The only reason we didn’t add them higher was that some of the testers found their interface a bit more difficult to use.
What We Liked
- They really produce a beautiful report. The reports are easy to read and just look nice. They also have features that convert them to PDF if desired, copy text, and more.
- The testers all commented that they really liked the product tour when you first sign up. They have all these little popups that guide you around and make it nice to learn the app.
- They have a ton of features – maybe the most of any software. Makes it a bit more complicated, but they are great once you learn them.
- Their mobile app is great to use – and as of the writing of this, they are soon to come out with a newer version.
The Biggest “Plus”
The features – Spectora has had rapid growth and a huge following, so in the process, they have added tons of features. This has lead them to have a feature for almost anything a home inspector would want to do with their software.
Scribeware
This one caught us by surprise. We had tested it a long time ago and it seemed a bit dated – but when we went back for this testing, our testers really liked their newest version. It looks like they rebuilt it.
What We Liked
- Their reports are really nice – and even their PDF version looks really great, which is a nice bonus.
- They have this feature where you put in a defect, and then it will link to an article about that defect in the report. A lot of our testers really liked this feature.
- Their support was great to work with too (we rank support as a very important factor in all of our reviews).
The Biggest “Plus”
Their PDF reports. I know… I know – web reports are where it’s at. But for some reason, the consumer testers all mentioned their PDF version of the reports. Their web reports are nice too, but for some reason, the PDF version stood out.
Inspector Nexus
Inspector Nexus is another relatively newer app on the market (although they have been around a couple of years now). Their software is being used more and more widely, and has drawn quite the following.
What We Liked
- Like 3 of the 4 other software above, Inspector Nexus has web-based reports, and they look really nice. All of our testers for the reports (we used average consumers for that part) preferred web-based reports too.
- Their interface is pretty easy to use as well. That’s a big one – because no one wants to sit around learning software – they want to USE the software.
- They have the most affordable pricing it seems as well. They have a pay-per-report program, or you can pay their monthly fee of $59.
The Biggest “Plus”
Their pricing was their biggest plus. Don’t get me wrong, their software is awesome, but the testers all brought up the fact that they can get most of what they want in a home inspection app while having a better price than most.
Home Inspection Software App Reviews – Conclusion
There is a lot of different software out there for home inspectors. These 5 are just the ones we happened to pick. I personally liked all 5 of them and have tested them with my own two hands.
Here they are again in order of where we mentioned them:
Either way, you have some amazing home inspector software to choose from. Do you disagree/agree? leave your comments below :). Happy inspecting!
Also, see some of our suggestions on home inspector websites, and how to market to agents.
Previous Winners & Old Reviews
We have done this extensive testing in the past. So for informational sake, we put some of the winners from the last time we posted this below. The information is exactly the way it was from the last time we did the review, so it is likely different from the current versions of these apps.
Home Inspector Pro Inspection Software
Overview: Home Inspector Pro (HIP) is one of the big names in the home inspection software industry. I will say on a personal note that while I personally use Palm-Tech, all of my other inspectors use HIP – even after trying Palm-Tech. They have thousands of home inspectors across the US and Canada that use their program.
HIP is also a great multi-platform inspection software that can be used on most devices. The on-site interface is very intuitive and easy to use. They consistently use well-known home inspectors to test their program and make sure it works for home inspectors. They are very active on the InterNACHI Forum and seem to stay in tune with home inspectors and what is happening.
As of the writing of this blog, they have just rolled out their latest version – V5
Pros
- The software has one of the fastest and most intuitive interfaces on mobile devices. They have great features for adding multiple pictures and annotations. Most of the inspectors who use it are thrilled with the fact that most of their report is written with less effort after an inspection.
- They work well with many home inspection scheduling software, like Inspector Toolbelt. This saves time setting up and uploading the inspection report.
- Their reports look great. They have a pretty malleable interface to make a great looking report.
- Their customer support is awesome. If you need anything, they are right there with you. To be honest, in my opinion, they have the best customer support in the industry.
Cons
- It takes quite a bit of time to set up. I never made the switch because it took so long to setup all the presets and comments.
- It is only malleable to a point. In V4, you were only able to have a certain number of ratings. I like to have one or two more than they allowed, so it made certain things in the field difficult. They may have changed that in V5, but we just downloaded it and are still testing it.
- Many reports don’t look that nice. Like I said above, I have seen some amazing looking reports from HIP, but many of them look not-so-great. I think it has less to do with the home inspection software and more to do with the home inspector not wanting to put forth the effort to really design their report (which goes back to the first “con” mentioned about HIP).
- It takes a while to get it up and running the way you want. When my first inspector made the switch, he worked on HIP for weeks while still using another program before he could use it on his first inspection. The nice part was that their customer support was there to help him.
Conclusion
HIP’s pros seem to outweigh their cons. Their downsides aren’t really that bad, which make their upsides shine through. It is one of those home inspector software that home inspectors seem to stick with and not complain about. In my opinion, even if they didn’t have a great program (which they do) their customer support more than makes up for it. It is reassuring to have someone listen and help when you need it. All my inspectors love it, so that says something.
Tap Inspect Home Inspection Software
Overview: Tap Inspect is one of the newer players in the home inspection software industry, but they have made quite the splash. Tap inspect was developed by a home inspector who said that he desired to get their reports done
It is an Apple device software that is almost completely mobile based. They have gone from just starting a few years back, to
After reading the comments below, see updated info on the bottom.
Pros
- The start-up is super fast. I downloaded their software and was writing reports in a matter of minutes. I think this was the easiest software to use by far.
- They can be used with Inspector Toolbelt, but you don’t have to use it because they have a delivery and email service that does some of what ISN does – although ISN itself has a lot more features, it is a good start for new inspectors.
- Their app downloads easy and you are up and running immediately.
- Their customer service is pretty great. Because the owner is a home inspector, he gets how we think. I contacted him and within minutes had answers to me and made things clear in real-world terms that I think any home inspector would appreciate.
- It is pay-as-you-go. As of the writing of this blog, it is $5 per inspection. But that includes all their delivery and setup features. It is a great value for a new inspector and one of the best start-up software out there.
Cons
- You can only use the software on an Apple device. This was not so
great, since I like to be able to use different devices. Also, if you are just starting out and don’t have an iPhone or iPad, you won’t be able to use it. - You are limited. They have some great templates to start with, but if you don’t like that style, you really can’t change it as much as the other programs.
- Multi-inspector does not seem to be a feature right now. One of our testers hired another home inspector and had to switch programs because Tap inspect does not have a feature where two inspectors can work on the same report (most of the other inspector software did).
- Preset comments (canned comments) don’t really work well in this program. You can have certain things set ahead of time, but you end up typing a lot more on this program than others.
- If you start doing 500 inspections a year, that $5 per inspection starts to add up.
Conclusion
If you are a new inspector, Tap Inspect might be the software for you. It was by far the easiest and fastest to start with – like, start within minutes kind of fast. Their reports look great, delivery is easy, and the owner and customer support were great. You may end up outgrowing the software down the road as your business grows, but it is a great starting point for most inspectors and had one of the most intuitive interfaces out there.
UPDATE 08/31/2017:
After writing this article, one of the owners of Tap Inspect was kind enough to contact me and clarify a few points. I have left the original “cons” up on this blog so that if you end up having the same concerns, you can use that as a point of reference.
First: We stated that the $5 per month plan adds up quickly if you start doing several hundred inspections per year. Here is the statement from the owner and a link to their pricing page: “The Pay As You Go plan works great for new inspectors but we also have an Unlimited plan for $60 per month for full-timers. https://www.
Second: We stated they don’t have a multi-inspector feature, but apparently they do. Here is the statement from the owner: “Tap Inspect also does support multiple people (or just one person with multiple devices) working on the same report at the same time. https://tapinspect.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/214424063-Can-we-use-more-than-one-device-on-our-account-“. For some reason me, and all the testers we used, did not see this feature – Although, from the time stamp on that link, it looks like it was added some months ago after some of our testers already tried the software. In fact, as was mentioned above, one of our testers even ended up using the program for his company but left them when he hired another inspector because he didn’t know they could support multiple inspectors or had a merge feature. He even looked (because he didn’t want to switch) but apparently did not see this (like all the other testers). I would be interested to test this part of their program. Hopefully, they will make this part of their software more apparent because it is an awesome feature to know about.
Third: He wanted to make known that they do have preset comments. We stated above that there are preset comments, but that you end up typing more than in other software we tested – it is just what ended up happening. While this was true for the inspectors who tested the software, it may not be an issue for you. Here is a link to a video showing you how to
So in conclusion, we considered (and still do consider) this software to be one the top 5 inspection software out there. There is a lot of home inspection software to choose from, and we feel that they deserve their place in the top 5. The fact that one of the owners of the company read this blog, contacted us (very politely by the way) and sent us additional information is really just another testament to their already highly rated customer service. Two thumbs up Tap Inspect!
Spectacular Home Inspection Software
Overview: Spectacular Home inspection Software is quickly becoming more and more popular. Their software and capabilities seem to compare well with most of the big
They have very desirable features to their program, including mobile generated PDF’s, multi-inspector capabilities, malleable templates and more. I have to admit, I tried this home inspection software twice. The first time it didn’t seem to appeal to me, but the second time it did. Their customer service also appeared to be responsive and involved in the home inspector community.
Pros
- If you are a multi-inspector firm, then their real-time multi-inspector feature is for you. It appears to work well with most of our testers, but I have not tried it personally. Instead of merging reports like other programs, it does it as you inspect – which is pretty cool.
- Their mobile interface is easy to use and intuitive. I downloaded their program and was up and running pretty quickly.
- Their picture and inspection flow work very quickly. You seem to be able to take a picture, make a note, and move on faster than some other inspection software.
- Their software seems to play well with Inspector Toolbelt, most
devices, and seems well built. The pre-set comments are also easy to add and change. - The inspectors testing it all were very happy with the customer service – I did not personally contact them on this program, but they got good reviews.
Cons
- The pricing seems high. At $12.99 per
report , $59.99 per month, or $599.00 for the first year – it appeared to be the most expensive of the software that we tested. - Its reports and finished product were nice, but not as nice as some of the other software we tested – that is just an opinion though, many inspectors seemed to like the end product more than I did.
- While our testers had a good experience with customer service, we did find some bad reviews about them online. Again, you can’t make everyone happy – so try calling them during your trial period and see what you get.
- The system is good, but you don’t own the software. So if the prices go up or you hit hard times and can’t pay the fees, you lose a lot of work.
Conclusion
Spectacular seems to live up to its name in certain ways. It was an easy-to-use program that seems like it would be a really great inspection software for team inspecting.
Home Gauge
Overview: Home Gauge has been a leader in the inspection software industry for quite some time now. I remember trying them out years ago when I was making the switch from a clipboard. They really know the industry, and have their heads wrapped around how we as home inspectors work.
Their branding is pretty amazing. Whether or not you use Home Gauge, you would likely recognize their brand. They are known for having a great finished product, and they like to stay on the leading edge of things – like having video in their reports and things like that.
As of the writing of this blog, they have just rolled out their latest version – V5.2
Pros
- The reports are beautiful. If you want to talk about finished product – Home Gauge has it down. Some of the reports I have seen are just awesome looking and easy to read.
- They can be used with scheduling software like Inspector Toolbelt.
- They are mobile ready on multiple platforms and you can write most of your report in their mobile app.
- Their video feature is probably the most seamless of the programs that have a video feature (HIP does too). You can deliver your report in HTML format and your clients can see videos of defects and issues. A lot of the home inspection software on this blog have this feature, but Home Gauge’s seemed to be the most intuitive and seamless.
Cons
- You basically have to have two pieces of software – the desktop version and the mobile version. But you have to pay for the mobile version? That never made much sense to me. Even how they present their packages online make that part hard to immediately pick out.
- Their mobile app was hard to use. Me and one of my other inspectors both tried it, gave it a good amount of time, and tried to do a report with it – but it was not intuitive at all and probably took the longest of all the inspection software to figure out.
- Their desktop software was not that much better than the mobile version. They have a lot of features in their program – which can make it hard to learn and use. Installation was strange too. In fact, it installed and erased immediately after. My Avast Internet Security also flagged it as a risk – not sure why though – none of the other programs created that issue or wanted to access secure parts of my system like Home Gauge did.
- Customer service was not superb. I will disclaim this part though – I have not contacted customer service. One of my testers actually bought the program, and even though he just spent all that money, switched to another program because he said he couldn’t take their customer service.
Conclusion
Home Gauge is an obvious competitor in the home inspection software field. They produce amazing reports, and they have a large following. If you can get used to their program, their software would allow you to do a lot. Their customer service issues may be isolated incidents, but maybe call during your trial period to see how they do. They have a lot of additional features to their program that you may be looking for, but it may not be for you if you are looking for an easy-start software. Either way, it is awesome and deserves a spot in the top 5.
Palm-Tech Home Inspection Software
Overview: Palm-Tech has been around for a long time. In fact, they were around well before smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. They actually used to have their primary platform on some of the first mobile computers. They have definitely been moving forward over the years. They integrate with all the major platforms now: Apple, Android, and more.
You never have to wonder if it will work on your device, as I have never seen a device it won’t work on. Their “claim to fame” is that they have some of the most malleable home inspector software on the market. Because of this, they have literally thousands of inspectors who use their program in multiple industries.
As of the writing of this blog, they have just rolled out their latest version – P8
Pros
- The software is easy to learn and use in the field. The last time I trained an inspector on it, he was up and running the same day (albeit tweaking the program for the next week though).
- It is very easy to change and add items in the field. If your client wants to add a pool inspection, you can easily add anything in the field during the inspection. If you have an extra garage you didn’t know about, within a click or two it is added. Need to rename something? Again, only a quick click and you are done.
- Their reports look great. They are (in my humble opinion) some of the best looking home inspection reports out there.
- You can do pretty much everything from our phone. Adding pictures, arrows, converting to a PDF, finishing the report, adding preset comments, and more can be done all from your phone. If you really wanted to, you can be just about free of your desktop computer (although I still use mine to check the finished report and make minor corrections)
Cons
- Unfortunately, It has been some of the worst customer service I have experienced. I still have unanswered questions from years ago in my inbox. It has always been difficult for me to get a hold of them, get answers, and get things fixed. For a year or so, the program never worked right and they said it was my device and said they couldn’t help me. That unfortunately happened more often than not – even though I tried it on 4 different devices. That is just one example of my not-so-good experience with their customer service.
- It is kind of clunky. The interface is not very intuitive in certain ways, and adding pictures slows you down. The program seems to almost stall sometimes. And this is after trying it on an iPad mini, iPhone,Nexus 6P, iPad 2, and more – so it doesn’t seem to be a device issue.
- Updates happen suddenly and seemingly without warning. So my phone updates automatically, and one day the software updated to version P8 without warning. So then my program didn’t work properly. When I emailed them, they said I can still use P7… but my program is P8 now and they have no way for me to go back. This has happened a couple of times now, and I feel forced into upgrading.
- It’s buggy sometimes. I feel like I am always the one to find the bugs too. For about 8 months to a year, I couldn’t use the zoom on my camera without the whole program shutting down. On many occasions it has erased an ENTIRE report after it was completed. The cloud drive doesn’t always work either.
Conclusion
Palm-Tech is a great program, but not perfect by any means. They seem (in my opinion) to be more focused on other inspection industries lately, and when I contact them I feel like I am bothering them. I could be completely wrong – but I feel left on my own when I use their software. If you are relatively tech savvy, but want a very malleable software that has nice reports, then Palm-Tech may be for you.
35 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- What Home Inspection Association Should You Join - Full View Marketing - […] read Home Inspection Software Review, How to Market to Agents, and Home Inspection Script – Close More Phone […]
- Spectora Home Inspection Software Review - Home Inspector Websites - […] back, we posted our review of all the home inspection software that we tested and we listed the top…
- Home Inspection Insurance - Home Inspector Websites - […] Also read: What Home Inspection Association Should You Join? and Home Inspection Software Review […]
- Home Inspection Software - Inspector Toolbelt - Corpus Christi Home Inspections - […] compared with other home inspection software, Inspector Toolbelt really stands out. It helps the home inspector to spend more…
- Home Inspection Website - Palm Springs Home Inspections - […] For instance, do they use the latest home inspection app? Then tye should showcase how their home inspection software…
- Home Inspections - Software & Websites - Vulcan Inspections - […] it really is. A home inspector with a clipboard can inspect the same stuff as a home inspector with…
- Home Inspection Websites - Heartland Home Inspections - […] the more options will be available for you. There are several different options out there, so a comparison can…
Hey Ian,
Thanks for writing such an extensive review of home inspection software. I am the owner and creator of Spectacular and we’re honored to even be on the list. We hope the list is not in order from best to least because we certainly don’t agree 5th is the right place. Maybe 5th is the order you tested these? We do believe we are the best home inspection program available, but the owners of all these programs probably agree their respective app is the best, so please take my opinion for what it is.
You say there’s no clear winner, but you still number the list. You list Palm-Tech first as if it is the best but mention how buggy, clunky and unintuitive it is. You say that many times you’ve lost the whole report. Wow, that’s a deal-breaker for many and certainly shows that Palm-Tech is not number 1.
We do mention on our website that Spectacular is the only program that can create a PDF from a mobile or desktop computer. Yes, we tested Palm-Tech in trial mode and was not able to generate a report. There is a cloud button that seems like we can get the report, but it takes us to an order screen. I assume that’s how you get your report, but Spectacular shows you your sample report in trial mode as a ‘what you see is what you get’ PDF generated directly from the mobile device without the internet. Therefore if you’re at a property with Palm-Tech and there’s no internet access, there’s no way to show the client the report? Yes, Spectacular generates the PDF from the mobile device’s processor, Palm-Tech does not.
Also, inspectors trying out Palm-Tech would first need to pay $800 just to see what their report will look like? That seems very expensive. If I’m not mistaken, that is the highest priced home inspection software on your list. You mention our price, but not theirs. Newer inspectors would definitely find it difficult to pay that. Especially since they can’t see their sample report. Spectacular gives you pricing options. Whether you’re a brand new inspector getting 3 jobs a month or an experienced inspector getting 500 jobs a year, we have a plan that fits your volume. Inspectors are smart and see that they should not stay on the per-report plan and go to the monthly or yearly instead when their volume increases. Inspectors don’t stay on our per-report plan permanently. We literally received an order today (Labor Day) from an inspector who needed to do one job and chose us because of our per-report plan. It makes sense. Also, if an inspector stops paying us, their work is not lost. We don’t keep inspector’s data on our servers. We use the inspector’s Dropbox as the cloud service and they can always access their reports. It’s also still on their device, so they can go back and review it anytime they want.
Ian, I want to thank you for highlighting our real-time team inspection system. I has been a big hit, has gotten better with time, and we believe it is the future of home inspections. Thanks for saying that Spectacular is intuitive. We believe that’s how it is supposed to be. It’s supposed to make sense to the layman user whether s/he’s an Apple, Android or Windows person.
Hi Aaron,
This is Ian from Full View. Thanks for taking the time to read our article and to leave your feedback. To address some of your points, see below:
First, the software was not put in order from “best to worst”, which is why we started out saying “So to start out, let’s review the home inspector software that I know the most about” and concluded by saying “There was no clear winner”. We just put them in order of testing and how much we knew about them. You were relatively newer (to us at least) than the other ones and so you guys were farther down the list. There is a lot of home inspection software out there, so it was meant as a compliment to have you on the list of the top 5.
Thank you for your comment about producing the PDF from your phone. You are correct, as far as I know your program is the only one that can create a PDF from your phone’s own processor, but that is not what your site said. It just said “Spectacular is the only home inspection system that allows you to generate the PDF inspection report from a mobile device”, which it is not. So I appreciate the clarification, as I put that in the review as more of a question I had, so now it is clear for users. I think that is a great feature.
I don’t want to talk about Palm-Tech too much in my reply to your post, but you had mentioned them quite a bit and even stated they are the most expensive. Palm-Tech has a free trial like everyone else, so you don’t need to pay $800 to see a report. Most of the software was around the same price range – Home Gauge was $845 with the mobile companion and HIP was $799. Palm-Tech also does create a PDF right from the phone, but it requires internet – as does Tap Inspect.
At either rate, I believe you were more addressing the price comments. We said that it appeared your program was the most expensive because 1: your per inspection cost is $12.99 compared to $5.00 for Tap Inspect. Your software cost on your middle plan was $59.99 per month ($719.88 per year every year instead of paid once) and on the Elite plan you have on your site it is $599.00 per year and then $299 per year after that. So that is where our math came from. Over the course of 2 or more years, yours appeared to be the most expensive because of the annual subscription. We are not saying it isn’t worth it – in fact it appears very much to be worth it otherwise we wouldn’t have considered you in the top 5. That is just the math.
As for their work being lost on your program, I guess that is probably a miscommunication on my end. I meant that they would lose their templates and all their preset comments and such because it is subscription based. You have a loyal following, so I never thought that the report itself was lost – which wouldn’t make sense because anyone can back it up and put the report in DropBox.
You have a great product Aaron, and you have a lot of happy clients. I felt (and still do) that your software belongs on the top 5 list here. I still think you are one of the best options for a multi-inspector firm too (as stated in the blog). Keep up the great work!
It should be noted that the real-time inspection service is only available on iPhone, despite what Spectacular says. When asked when Android would be available, Aaron responded with “It’s only available for iPhone” and implied that Android wasn’t in the works. Just a heads up. Always read the fine print.
Jake,
Thank you very much for mentioning that. I will be sure to verify this and test it. Do you have any other feedback about Spectacular?
“…only available for iPhone.”
OMG… this is NOT TRUE! It’s also available for iPad… haha j/k, I’m being facetious… We do plan on building the real-time team system for Android systems, it’s just not ready yet. Android users currently merge after the inspection.
Thanks for clarifying, Aaron.
I am a single person home inspector in central Florida, I have been using Spectacular Inspection program for 3 years and I must say the ease of use, the ability to easily adapt comments and organize report components is outstanding. Including and loading multiple pictures is a snap. As an app based program there are no delays in producing the report. The customer service is second to none. Realtors and customers love the reports for their ease of reading and detail. I highly recommend Spectacular to any inspector who wants a clean professional report that can be completed on site and quickly emailed to the client. Our reports are always sent the same day as the inspection and my evenings are spent with my family in spite of performing over 300 inspections per year.
[* Shield plugin marked this comment as “trash”. Reason: Failed GASP Bot Filter Test (comment token failure) *]
I am a new home inspector and I have been searching the various forums and websites to gain an unbiased review of inspection software. The review on this blog is the most clear and objective that I have found. Many thanks!
I have also tried HIP and palm tech. I have to be honest and say that I have found InspectIt extremely user friendly, customisable, and from the sounds if it a lot better priced that anything in the market. I continue to look at other platforms because I want to use the best availible and incorporate as much functionality for my clients as possible, and I keep coming back to IspectIt. I love how easyy you can make it your own and in upstate New York I am know as having the best finished product, which is really the platform, not me. I do with they had the video feature but everything else is spot on and seamless.
Thank you Matt. I am glad you like Inspectit, but unfortunately it didn’t make the top 5, as it did not work as well for other inspectors and myself. But thank you for your info!
Matt What’s the pricing for IspectIt?
I checked their website and they want info about me and don’t provide any pricing info
Thank u buddy
Have you tried Spectora? I’ve seen some good reviews but not enough yet to convince me.
We have actually. It seemed like a decent software, but had some aspects to it that made it so that it didn’t end up in the top 5 (at least not this time).
Thanks for the great reviews Ian.
A few things to add for Home Inspector Pro:
We’ve been around for 14 years and aren’t going anywhere. Many programs come and go only lasting 2-3 years.
It is the only software that can directly integrate video into a PDF and HTML reports. It does not link the video to another website.
Reports can be merged from as many inspectors as you want on a job whether they’re using Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad or Android devices. We’re even testing Chromebooks right now with a few users.
There’s a dozen templates in the software all included for the one price (residential, commercial, mold, radon, etc) and several dozen more that our users have shared that you can download and test out.
Home Inspector Pro is not owned by a 3rd party insurance or other company which is starting to become a concern with other software.
Unfortunately with tons of flexibility comes the ability for inspectors to make reports look ugly. I can’t control their sense of style, hah. There are many inspectors and franchises that create awesome looking reports
Home Inspector Pro is truly global with users in 21 countries and 9 different languages.
Thanks Dom! We definitely are glad you have such a great product, and my own inspectors all use your software – so you have a fan with us! With all that is going on in the inspection industry lately, we are also glad that you are still independent and haven’t sold to one of the big companies 😀. Keep up the great work!
What is ISN and how does it work with home inspection software? I think it is the scheduling part and it looks like we have to purchase extra $ per inspection. I’m using Report Plus for my report software (which I like but they no longer support this program) and have not had good luck with their new online program InspectIt as it is super slow in all aspects and it locked me out on a daily basis when I tried to transfer to that program. Now, I’m using Horizon and I like their scheduling features but can’t seem to get a grip on their reporting software – just seems like a lot of hiccups.
Hi Jack,
Thanks for your questions. You are correct, ISN is a scheduling software. You can find out more here: https://fullviewdigital.com/home-inspection-scheduling-software/. You can use any one of the software mentioned here in our blog with ISN. Also, Tap Inspect has a built-in scheduling feature, and Home Gauge has a separate ISN-like product as well.
I forgot my original question 🙂 I wanted to know if any of these programs supply their own scheduling, invoicing, contract delivery, etc. Or do they all use ISN that we have to pay extra for?
The only one that has a built-in scheduling feature is Tap Inspect. The other ones either use ISN or the HomeGauge platform for scheduling.
As a newer home inspector, I’ve been searching for a post like this, so thank you for that. In the beginning, I looked into Home Guage, but their services didn’t match. I’ve been looking for the right answer to. I’ve been torn between Palm-Tech and Hip. Do you have a preference between those two specifically?
Robert Simmons
Kalamazoo Home Inspection
kalamazoohomeinspection.com
Between those two, I would say HIP. Palm tech (since the writing of this article) has had some issues and support has been less than helpful again. Home Inspector Pro has much better support in my opinion.
We have used both Homgauge and HIP for many, many years but as we expanded into a multi-inspector firm, it has been a nightmare dealing with all the pitfalls, fragmented processes and time consumption. Found Spectora on a Friday, set it up over the weekend and rolled it out Monday. Resounding thumbs up by all inspectors. It imports templates and contacts from HG and HIP. It’s amazingly fast whether using 1 or 4 inspectors it constantly syncs the report live so it’s essentially done when you leave the property. Everything can be done 100% from the app and/or the web site. Another huge advantage was the online scheduling and client/agent management tools. Pricing is very low at $49 mo. per user for the full cahoona. In our experience HG and HIP are clunky, hungry dinosaurs. We needed something modern, streamline, cohesive and robust without compromising quality. So far, so good with Spectora.
Thank you for the information. We actually have 3 testers right now trying Spectora. We will be making a blog post with their findings shortly. We have not found what you said to be true with HIP. In fact, one of the testers is one of my own inspectors who uses HIP. He spent hours setting it up and then went back to HIP. We have had great reviews from Spectora users, but we have not had great experiences testing it. This will be our second time testing it since they made some upgrades though. We will post the results after we have thoroughly checked it.
Actually it is $99/mo + $69/mo for additional inspectors; that is absurd…..am I missing something?
https://www.spectora.com/pricing
Hey have you guys had a chance to review HomeStraw yet?
Keith, I have not heard of HomeStraw and I cannot find them in any searches, unfortunately.
Will someone out there please design Home Inspection software that works, looks good, can be used on the fly, add pictures as you go, etc. Just make it already and then sell it to us outright !!! I don’t want to have to pay for college tuition for you and everyone in your family for the rest of my Home Inspection career while I “use” your software. This is so infuriating.
HI, thanks for your comments. Several of the software providers we mentioned here fit your description and don’t require a subscription. Home Inspector Pro, Home Gauge, and Palm Tech allow you to buy their software outright and are great to use. Software companies who charge a subscription also provide a great service though. For instance, Tap Inspect delivers reports and keeps records for you (among other things) which makes it well worth the money. Either way, inspection software is a necessary cost of doing business that you will need to take on one way or another, and these providers have worked hard to produce a great product in my opinion.
Hands down, best software and the one I use is Horizon. The scheduling is great and I like that everything is just there. I don’t want 70 million addon services. That’s one of the reasons I left HIP and Palm Tech. The report writing takes some getting used to but once you get the hang of it, it works. Mobile app needs word but support is great and one of the reasons I left HIP who were rude and make you pay for everything.
Excellent content; thanks for providing us with concrete pros/cons as well as tester feedback! Given this post is two years old now, would you ever consider revisiting your initial look? I’m curious if you think there’s a real front-runner in the market now for a multi-inspector firm? Many thanks!
Hi Eleisia, thank you for your comments. Yes, we are actually retesting software as we speak. We don’t take our software testing lightly, and we test pretty much every home inspection software we can put our hands on (not every one of them makes this list though) so it takes many months to complete our testing. We did a pretty exhaustive test of Spectora a few months back as well. We will post our new reviews here, so check back soon :).
Awesome. Thanks, I’ll be anxiously awaiting your reviews!
We have been testing all of the home inspection software on the market that we can get our hands on and we will have our new, updated list of the 5 best home inspection software on the market coming soon. We do not take our testing lightly, and we have testers, inspectors, and volunteers from all over the country (and even a couple in other countries) testing software, giving feedback, and documenting every little thing that we can – so you don’t have to. Stay tuned, as this list will be changing here shortly.
It is finally here! After well over a year of testing by multiple inspectors, consumers (for the inspection report aspect), and others, we finally have our 2021 five best home inspection software. This was no small task – but well worth it!
I have been using Home Gauge since 2014 and love it! Once you get use to it and being able to change comments about items during the inspection on the fly is great and saving you new info .
I did at one time look into palm tech and it seemed to confusing!