HomeGauge Reviews

Summary: I would not consider changing vendors, they cover all my needs, save me time in the process and provide an exceptional product that the customer and realtor can understand, from scheduling an appointment thru inspection thru payment thru final report it is seamless. The webdesign they provide was cost effective and such a high quality and I can update numerous times each year and from a marketing perspective that is critical. This business is highly competitive, so adding services to your business can be added to your website, if it isn't listed customers won't know.

Positive: I have used HomeGauge software for not only my reports, but I utilize their credit card processing as well. They developed my website and it's a breeze to update the website thru them. It's a seamless system, I use a tablet for the inspections and transfer to my desktop to write the report... the process is so simple. The software on my tablet guides me onsite placing pictures and videos exactly where they will be in the report, so I don't forget anything. The desktop software I can add/edit verbiage and edit pictures and videos. The realtors love the ability to just print repair requirements saving them time. There have been times outside normal business hours when writing the report, I have run into a glitch and in this business, there isn't downtime when a report needs to get out... I of course panic with the issue but just called support and the solve whatever issue you had and while I might be anxious the techs always have a solution and stay calm and professional... and while I would like to blame them for the issue it is always operator error:) I have never had so much interaction with a support line of any kind than with HomeGauge and never has the support person been other than calm, kind, understanding and always solves my issues. At times they could legitimately laugh at me but the never have, they just seem to understand and most importantly THEY KNOW THE INSPECTION BUSINESS! It's like talking to a fellow inspector who is also a computer geek.

Negative: The only issue that I am not crazy about is changing an email address of a customer or realtor when I had entered and incorrect email address...(some emails are so complex it is easy to mess up) the process at least challenging to me, but then I call customer support and they walk me thru the process... if that one thing would become simple, they would be perfect.

Summary: I am also an instructor for the ASHI school and introduce the students to the software in class. On our field training I also show them the Companion and how to integrate the information. This is a wonderful system.

Positive: The system offers ease of entry and completion with ease of organization. I like others changed to the system from another. It is very easy to organize and set up. The in house training was invaluable allowing us to switch over and be up and running in only three days. Our contract was entered and we had a web site created. All was seamless and highly integrated. The folks at HomeGauge are wonderful and very helpful.

Negative: The only negative is the inability to correct e-mails or names. However, I understand the reasoning and except this.

Summary: I have to say after doing my research of what software to use I'm glad I settled with HomeGauge! The price is great the software is easy to use and if you ever have an issue the support team is there to help you out. There is never down time for updates because it's always done in the early morning. I did have one hiccup. I was doing a late inspection on the 18 ( the day my monthly payment expires and the new month starts) there was a time frame where I couldn't login because they never took my payment out so I had to wait till the next morning to send the report. Still not bad unless to have one issue in three years. I would 100% recommend HomeGauge to anyone.

Positive: -Great Price
-Easy to use software
-Easy to use scheduler
-Excellent customer support
-Software is always up to date

Negative: -overlap between payments
-I have to write something else to fill up space but can't think of any other cons

Summary: Everyone I work with at HomeGauge is extremely helpful. I have not had to wait for answers or fixes (things I’ve messed up!). Overall, an absolutely great experience working with the team!

Positive: Being a one man company, the Companion makes writing the complete report on-site very simple. This dramatically reduces my office time. HomeGauge overall, takes care of even more “office work” for me by allowing my clients to schedule, sign agreements and handle payments all online!

Negative: The only downside is the spell check. I would love to see one button that checks the entire report!

Summary: Nothing is perfect and I figure any reporting platform is going to have its pros and cons. Of course, changing reporting platforms would be painful, but the integrated invoicing, scheduling and other report features is why I stay.

Positive: Many more features than I use on a daily basis. They maintain a desktop version.......for now. Improved access to customer service. Access to other resources, such as SEO and web site creation and hosting.

Negative: Wish you would make more template formats available. Don't like Payrix, its a rip off. My clients money was deposited same day with prior CC processors, but they keep my money for days before its deposited in my bank account (and no its not MY bank that sits on it). Too much of a push to drive people to the mobile Web Writer and not enough enhancements on the desktop version. Also wish they would adjust their monthly license fee based on the number of features we want access to. I don't use many, so why do I have to pay $59/month?

Summary: Very good software, excellent customer support, just wish it was like in the beginning before it was acquired by AFI.

Positive: I chose this home inspection report writing software over 13 years ago because it simply would not let you miss something that should have been included in your inspection. It also provides the user to be as detailed as you want, and produces easy to use reports for my clients. Some of my reports go well past 70-80 pages... when needed. Lets you add video and even 360 deg. The Create Request List feature is something that my clients really like when it comes to negotiating with sellers. Their Customer Service and Support has always been excellent!

Negative: The only negative I have is that HomeGauge since November 15, 2017, became a subsidiary of American Family Insurance Mutual Holding Company (AFI Holdings) and require us to make available "Our" Client's information and our Clients actually have to (click a box) to Opt Out of being hounded by The Parent Company trying to sell them Home Owner's Insurance Before they can View "Their" Report They Paid for and I Produced. This is not right and if I was not so close to retirement, I would be switching report writing software. I have had several Clients really upset over this. for This reason I would not recommend HG.

Summary: My experience with HomeGauge started off rough and got worse. When I received my inspector training, I was trained on HomeGauge. Before I received my certification, I was already looking for a replacement for what was obviously an inferior product. Even so, it took me months of searching. There was even a short period, before I settled on SafetyCulture, that I wrote my reports entirely in MSWord, rather than deal with the headaches of HomeGauge.

Of the several inspection report writing apps that I examined, HomeGauge was the clear loser. There are many more full-featured inspection apps available. There are many inspection apps that are much more stable. There are many inspection apps that offer far better customer service.

I chose SafetyCulture. But that's because I wanted logic flow, which was not largely available at the time. However, that is a feature that is beginning to show up in other apps. If I had only wanted a list formatting app, like HomeGauge, I would have gone with Spectacular. But those are just my choices, based on my needs. But base your purchase on your own needs. For that reason, I won't recommend any other app. But I will recommend that you avoid HomeGauge. It is an app that is mired in 20th century technology and saddled with lousy customer service.

Positive: The best that I can say about HomeGauge is that, if you can deal with the kludgy interface and jumbled, hard to read reports, it's better than using a word processing app to write the report from scratch. Actually, that's wrong. I did ultimately generate a number of reports in MSWord, just to avoid the headaches of using HomeGauge. So let's just say that HomeGauge is better than writing the report in long-hand.

Negative: Where do I begin? This app was first created in the early to mid 2000's and based on the interface and lack of up-to-date features, it appears that it has matured very little since then.

1) Every other modern inspection report writer app of note runs on all popular operating systems. HomeGauge requires Windows (no Mac, no UNIX) and offers an Android companion app. They claim to offer an iOS companion app. But it is even more kludgy than their desktop app and is likely to crash several times, during a long inspection. More on the buggy companion app, below.

2) It's not so much a report writer app, as it is a list app that formats the output. Even that would not be bad, if the output format made sense. But my clients found the output confusing and hard to understand. For the record, there are several other good and modern inspection report writing apps that perform the same function (i.e. formatting a list into a report) and every one I tried did a better job of formatting the output and every one was easier to learn and use. If a list reporter is all you are looking for, then Spectacular may be all you need.

3) NO Logic Branches: HomeGauge offers no logic branches and no possibility of including logic branches in your templates. This is not unusual. However, that is not to suggest that other apps don't exist that include this modern feature. In fact, SafetyCulture offers a report writer that is a true inspection helper app, that offers the ability to build your template so that an entirely different set of questions can be presented to the inspector, based on the inspector's answers to the last question. So, for example, with HomeGauge, if there is a possibility of 6 air conditioners, but there are only 2 air conditioners present, the inspector will have to repeatedly answer N/A to questions about the last four air conditioners. With logic branches, the inspector would identify only 2 air conditioners and then be asked questions about only 2 air conditioners. This may not sound like much. But over the course of a large and complex inspection, it can amount to a significant amount of the inspector's time. In the app that I use, my templates are all set up to ask me only questions that are relevant, based on my answers to previous questions. That is not possible in HomeGauge.

4) Lousy customer service. Their customer service is only available during weekday working hours on the East Coast. Moreover, it often takes a long time to get through to the person who can help you, even during working hours. I spent many years in customer service and what HomeGauge calls customer service barely deserves that name. It's as though they think of customer service as the ugly step-child that they don't really care about, but feel that they have to acknowledge, for appearances sake. Of the many inspection writer apps that I considered, I feel that HomeGauge had the poorest excuse for customer service.

5) If you use an iOS device, stay FAR from this app. EVERY TIME (not exaggerating) that I tried to use the HomeGauge Companion app for iOS, the app crashed at least three times, during an inspection and in most cases, I lost data that I had to go back and re-create, costing me valuable time. Note: From what I hear from others, the Android version does not have those issues. But I cannot verify that personally. On the other hand, I have heard numerous reports from iOS user inspectors, who have had the same companion app crashes that I have experienced. So I repeat, if you use an iOS device during your inspections, stay as far from HomeGauge as possible. It will only cause you headaches. Most other inspection report writing apps run equally well on all major platforms. Try one of them.

6) There is no automatic insertion of text, based on responses. In HomeGauge, you can have blocks of text saved, that you can later select for insertion into the report. But the inspector has to remember to select that text. If the inspector uses an app that includes logic branches, then the template logic can be written to, for example, automatically include a "mold disclaimer", if a certain answer is given. Forgetting to insert a mold disclaimer or 3rd-party disclaimer could end up creating a liability for the inspector. But an app with logic flow can make that happen automatically. But with HomeGauge, the inspector has to not only know where to insert such comments, be actually remember to include them.

7) There is no way to include color coding of answers (i.e. red=critical, orange= poor, yellow=fair, green=acceptable). Color coding just makes it easier for the client to read and understand the report. It wasn't till I discovered that I could include automatic color coding into my SafetyCulture templates that I realized how valuable that feature could be.

8) Price is exorbitant for what little they offer. They are charging Lexus prices for their subscriptions, while offering Yugo quality. My SafetyCulture subscription is much less and they offer a product with logic branches and it functions equally well on all platforms.