Recording Inspection Observations

Every Job in Tap Inspect can have one or more reports where you record your inspection observations. Each new report is created from one of your account templates.

There's a couple of very powerful tools available in Tap Inspect to help record your inspection observations in a Tap Inspect report.

• The report checklist helps you stay on track and record the same information on every inspection you do. This  helps you identify and describe all the things required by most Standards of Practice.
• Comments help you describe what is unusual about this specific property and help guide your client what you recommend to do next. Comments go deeper and are more specific than your checklist.
• Photos clarify your comments and can often show much more information about something than text can describe.

Tap Inspect guides you when using all three of these tools while recording your observations and helps write your reports while you are doing the inspection.

Stay on Track with the Report Checklist

When you create a new report from a template you are given a new blank report checklist. The checklist is organized in a hierarchy to make navigation and reading easier for you and your client.

You can expand and collapse the report checklist by tapping the report name.

Report Sections

At the top level of the report checklist are your Sections. These are broad areas, or categories of your inspection. For example Exterior, Roofing, Electrical, and Plumbing are all Sections in the default Home Inspection template.

Report Items

When you go into a Section of your checklist you see a list of Items. These are the specific Items that you would observe or report during the course of an inspection. For example if you are in the roofing section you would see items such as Inspection Method, Roof Design, and Roof Covering.

Recording your observations is as simple as going into each item and recording what best describes that item.

Report Indicators

The number in the red circle next to each Section indicates how many items still need to be completed. It will decrease as you complete recording information in each item until the red circle goes away  This lets you know you have recorded observations into each item of the Section.

You can always tell which items still need information recorded by going into the Section and looking for the red text describing what is missing.

Show and Hide Sections and Items to Fit the Property

Tap Inspect gives you the ability to show hidden sections and items and also to hide unneeded sections in items so they are not displayed in a specific report for a specific property.

When you are in a Report, tap Edit in the top right corner of the screen to enter Edit Mode of your report and you will see the report checklist change. There are now red circles with a minus and green circles with a plus displayed next to each section and item of your report checklist.

Tapping a red minus next to any Section or Item lets you hide that element in this report. This can be very handy if you do not have that element present at this property. For example, if this property does not have a Garage you can hide the entire Garage section so it is not displayed to the reader.

You can also tap the green circle to show a Hidden Section or Item for a specific property. For example, if you have more than three bathrooms you can tap the green plus sign next to bathroom number four and it will be visible in this report.

If you need another section for this property like a bathroom or an HVAC system, you can also duplicate an existing report element and then rearrange the order of the elements if needed.

A word of caution. When you are in edit mode of your report you will also see a Delete button in several places. Deleting a section or item is NOT the same as hiding it. You can not un-delete sections, items, or options. When a checklist element is deleted it is gone forever and can not be recovered.

As a best practice, you only want to hide things you do not immediately need. That way they can alway be added back if you need it later.

Use Comments to Tell the Story

The report checklist is great to keep you on track making sure that you meet all the obligations of your standards of practice but comments or where you really communicate with a reader of your reports. The checklist is great to record specific bits of information but Thomas let you put your observation into contacts.

A comment is added to your report by tapping Add Comment in the area you want the comment recorded and displayed in your final report this can be in a section like exterior or in an item like exterior covering.

 As a best practice each comment should include the following parts.

•  What you observed
•  Why it is important
•  What you recommend to do next
•  A photo or two to help clarify your statements

Following this best practice will make sure each comment can stand on its own and tell a full story to the reader.

Comments can not be hidden like Sections and Items but they can be deleted if they are not needed. Tap Edit to go into Edit Mode and tap the red circle next to the comment. You are able to delete the comment.

Keep in mind that deleting a comment deletes the text and the photos in the comment. Just like when deleting a section or items, a deleted comment can not be un-deleted. It is gone forever so be careful.

Add Photos to Document What You See

Photos are a fundamental part of any modern home inspection report.  Photos can be added in the number of different places in your Tap Inspect report to help document describe and communicate your observations.

Photos can be added to a report in two ways.

• Take Photo from inside the tap inspect app.
• Add Photo by selecting one or more from the Photos app on your device.

There are a few photo items in the home inspection report that require you to add a photo before the item has been considered completed.  photos can also be added to multiple choice items to help describe the item visually rather than just with the multiple-choice options. And finally photos are used in comments to help clarify what the text of the comment is saying.

Photos in comments are displayed with the text of the comment in the body of the report and also on the report summary.

Any photo in your report can be tapped and opened full screen. When a photo is full screen you can do several things.

• Delete the photo from your report
• Edit the photo with mark ups like arrows, circles , or text
• Share the photo by saving to your device, texting, or emailing