HomeGauge News Alert
August 2019
Make your reports come alive | Last chance | Training | Conferences
Make your reports come alive
Are you still emailing static pdf reports to your clients? Are you uploading reports, but not including cool features like videos or 360° images? Do you have CRL™ enabled so your clients can easily create their own request lists? Can your clients schedule appointments and login to get their reports at your website? If you're not taking full advantage of all the great HomeGauge features designed to bring life to your reports, then read on — we are here to help.
Wake up those tired reports
Please, please, please... no more pdf reports! At least 40% of your viewers are looking at their reports on mobile phones — and pdf's are hard to read on those devices! Make sure that you are uploading and delivering your reports online in html format. And if you aren't already, you should consider including videos and 360° images in every report. These features are easy to use and make your reports interactive. And besides just making a great impression, videos and 360° images can help reduce your liability.
Related video: Why upload reports?
Videos for the win
Videos can be added to your reports using the HomeGauge Companion just like regular photos. Short videos can be used to show problems that are difficult to describe with just a photo and text, such as a strange plumbing sound or an active leak. Videos can also be used to show off special features of properties and impress your agents. If a photo is worth a thousand words, a video is worth, um, thousandses of words.
Your buyers will thank you
360° images will impress your buyers and agents while saving you time from taking additional CYA storage photos. Often, buyers only get a quick run-through of the home they are buying — 360° images give them a chance to go back to their report and really explore the details of the home. To help out, a lot of inspectors have started to include a 360° image gallery of all the main rooms of the house in their reports. Agents and buyers love this and it only adds a few minutes to your inspection time. On top of impressing your customers, taking 360° images can also save you time. Instead of taking hundreds of just-in-case storage photos and trying to manage them, you can take a 360° image in each room and add it to the report! We have many inspectors who've used 360° images to show that leaks or other problems weren't happening at the time of the inspection.
FAQ: 360° images with a sample report
An interactive approach to Request Lists
HomeGauge was the first and original creator of CRL™, which makes it incredibly easy for home buyers and real estate agents to create a request list based on your uploaded report. With CRL™, home buyers and agents can go through each item from the report (or each summary item if they wish) and decide if they want to accept each item as is, or ask for the item to be repaired, replaced, or require monetary compensation. Your agents will thank you for the time you saved them when they attach the list to their repair addendum.
Your website keeps the experience alive
Don't forget that you should start your customer's experience by making it easy to book an appointment on your website (check out our custom website build special below if your site is in need of a redesign). More and more young home buyers expect to be able to schedule appointments online and may move on to the next inspector if your website can't help them. HomeGauge has a great online Appointment Manager that you can use on your website that makes it easy. You should also make sure to have your clients login to view their reports through a login form on your website. You can have some lively marketing content right where your users sign in (especially advantageous when a seller's agent comes to view a report). Check out our Support Center for instructions on adding a HomeGauge login form to your website and watch this video for modifying your customer notification emails to point them to your website.
And one last time let's yell it all together, "No More PDF Reports!"
Pssst: We're currently beta testing our next generation scheduler, called ScheduleNow! This is going to be a great upgrade for you to enjoy. Stay tuned... more details coming soon.
Another Pssst: Did you know HomeGauge now offers Per-Report E&O Insurance? It's an affordable way to jumpstart your inspection business! This program is currently available in California, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Colorado, Oregon, and Wisconsin. It will soon be available in all states. Read more about the program.
Last chance on our Summer Special — $200 off a custom website!
We plan on shutting down this offer at the end of August!
Get a professional, high-quality website built by HomeGauge for only $695 (or 3 payments of $248). You don't even need to be a HomeGauge user for us to build you a knockout website! Call 828-254-2030 (option 2) or order online to get started today. Check out examples below of what we've made for other inspectors to see what we can do for you:
HomeGauge 3-day training class
Our October training is sneaking up on us fast! This class will focus on organization and efficiency, but in a casual environment. It's time to start working smarter, not harder, and our training team can help!
This class is being held October 9-11, 2019 in Asheville, NC. Cost for the class is $300 for one inspector. Be sure to reserve your spot today — register online at the link below or email shancy@homegauge.com if you have any questions. We can't wait to see you there!
Get a $50 discount per ticket when buying 2 or more by using the promo code MULTI at checkout.
Holy smokes, the fall conference season is on fire. Be sure to drop by our booth at one of these shows to enter for a chance to win a great prize — and to see our smiling faces! Plus, if you have a HomeGauge shirt, we'd love to see you there in it so we can get some cool photos!
FABI Fall Conference (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
September 13-15, 2019
Conference details
ASHI Western Washington Chapter Fall Seminar (Seattle, WA)
September 13-14, 2019
Conference details
ASHI Great Lakes (Mt. Prospect, IL)
September 20-21, 2019
Conference details
TPREIA (Bryan, TX)
September 26-28, 2019
Conference details
KREIA (Frankfort, KY)
September 27-28, 2019
Conference details
HITA (Chattanooga, TN)
October 4-5, 2019
Conference details
ASHI Excellence in Education (Rosemont, IL)
October 18-19, 2019
Conference details
CAHPI National Home Inspectors' Conference (Ottawa, ON)
November 16-17, 2019
Conference details
FABI Winter Conference (Daytona Beach Shores, FL)
December 6-8, 2019
Conference details
Until next time,
Russell Buchanan
HomeGauge Software
russell@homegauge.com
(828) 254-2030