Well, I am on a roll and I just have to do it.
This is a take-off from the "pay online" thread. I was introducing the thought that maybe the HIP software could allow online booking and payment of the inspection before the inspection. It could become our inspection calendar (HomeGauge has this feature). It also could be our pre-inspection portal to get paid for the inspection, online, before the inspection and this would be tied into whether the inspection was permanently booked or not. Well, here is another idea. We all have our own customized Inspection Agreements and we all probably have trouble getting the client to sign-off before the inspection. Most, if not all, of my inspections entail the client reading the agreement fast just before the inspection, at the site, and then signing. I am in doubt that this person really knows what they have signed and this is a liability to me. I have tried to email the agreement out to the client and have them bring a signed copy with them to the inspections and I hardly get the signed inspection agreement at the inspection. The client has either forgotten to bring it with them or they just had not gotten around to read and sign it...this is also a liability for me. Sooooo, how about the ability to incorporate our custom inspection agreements into HIP and then when the inspection is booked within the program, the agreement is made available to the booking client right from within the program. Then when the client actually pays for the inspection thru the HIP software "booking" feature, a red flag is brought to their attention asking them if they had read the agreement and signed it. If they have, they would simply click "yes" and an adobe PDF of the agreement, signed electronically, would be sent back to the inspector and the client via email. If they click "no", then they are not allowed to pay for the inspection until they click "yes". Now, if the client just clicks the "yes" box no matter if they read it or not, there would be an alert somewhere in the process before they selected a "yes" or "no" that stated that once they clicked "yes", then an electronically signed document would be generated and emailed to the inspector and themselves (the client) and that the process has considered that they HAVE read the agreement and agreed to it and that they are then bound to the contract. Legally, this is no different than if a client actually signs an agreement and then later says that they actually never read it but just signed it. I believe that an electronically signed adobe document is just as legal as a hand signed document. I know that this is all speculation and I am not a programmer by any means. I am just brainstorming and hope that others can add to this
I guess what I am proposing is to possibly make HIP our entire business from the time of booking and payment to the final report and online viewing and backup. I would not mind paying extra for this feature as well. Maybe all inspectors would not like this "plug-in", but those who would, could pay extra for it. We cannot expect Dominic to come up with all of this sophistication for free. In the end, Dominic will have produced the greatest Inspection Software out there and blow the competition away. Oh, didi I mention that it runs on MAC also??
I may not have made that note before.....
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