Writing Style

[Eric B]

"Poor flashing details allow for water entry. Unknown if damage has occurred. Repair is necessary"

I have pointed out the condition and raised a question for someone else to answer.

[kurt]

Well, sort of. And raised several more in the process.

The short incomplete sentences reflect the problem of writing by hand. I know you insist handwritten reports are fine, but they are not.

Henry Ford said "If I asked my customers what it is they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse".

Your customers don't know what they don't know. With a computer, you could give them more than a couple sentence fragments, and educate them about how it's done.

[Jerry Simon]

Originally posted by kurt

Well, sort of. And raised several more in the process.

The short incomplete sentences reflect the problem of writing by hand. I know you insist handwritten reports are fine, but they are not.

That's why he complains about contractors not understanding and/or agreeing with his concerns...

The client probably understands...heck, they're there, and I'm sure Eric talks & 'splains well. But writing to be understood...me thinks not, at least if what he wrote above is an example. That's why the extra time, albeit sometimes a lot, is worth typing reports. Heck, with computers, a couple keystrokes can produce a paragraph of well-written boilerplate.

[kurt]

Originally posted by Jerry Simon

That's why the extra time, albeit sometimes a lot, is worth typing reports. Heck, with computers, a couple keystrokes can produce a paragraph of well-written boilerplate.

So true.

And, you can give them a simple picture, have a big red arrow pointing at the problem, and another picture that illustrates how it's done. All in a few seconds.

Since I got my software together w/a good graphic and comment library, things have gotten a lot better and a lot easier.

[John Dirks Jr]

What software do you use Kurt?

[kurt]

I made my own w/ Filemaker Pro. It's a graphically oriented relational database.

I'm going to show it to a couple folks in here pretty soon. (remember, Fabry?)

We're still fiddling w/the interface, but so far, it works like no other package. It's a wholly different way to orient the information and deliver it. I think when folks see it, it's gonna be a sonic boom.

Honest.

[Chad Fabry]

I remember the tease but it's been so long I figured you were full of crap.

Now I'm all excited again...I hope you're not toying with my emotions.

[kurt]

I am full of crap. The trick is sifting through the offal and finding the the little turd gems.

I went active with in January, worked through bugs, and have been kicking out lots of reports this last 3 months. I've got about 150 jobs logged in it, and it works. It foooking works.

It's a number of interrelated files; Contacts, Inspection Report, Graphic Library, Comment Library, and Billing. Scheduling is run through the Inspection Report file.

I'll send you some report samples here shortly. You may not like it at first, but it's a new way to think about information delivery. A very new and different way.

[randynavarro]

Yea, Kurt. Sign me up for a sneak preview. I got something from you a while back but don't know if it's the same thing.

I'm pulling my hair out trying to figger out how to do it better.

[Mike Lamb]

Like Eric, I also hand write my reports. I’ve gotten pretty good at avoiding broken English but it can slip out. I have written things that were unintelligible but I suppose a lot of HI’s could do the same behind a keyboard. Recently, I threw away reports that were more than 7 years old and I cringed at a few as I browsed through them. Some belonged in the garbage.

I tried typed reports years ago with HI software on about 30-40 inspections and for various reasons, it just took me too long: about an extra 1.5 hours or more per inspection yet my time in the field had no significant drop. A fully typed report is better, no doubt, but I had to make a personal decision whether it was worth it for me and I decided it was not. My trade off is I now provide an addendum with photos along with my report covering only the items I deem very important. I can scan my written report, attach my addendum with photos and email to parties concerned in about 40 minutes or less.

Mike Lamb

“If I exorcise my devils, well, my angels may leave too. When they leave they are so hard to find.â€

[Mike Lamb]

Originally posted by SonOfSwamp

Just curious, a few questions for folks who hand-write HI reports:

Is handwriting faster than typing? That would be a real surprise to me. Back when I was just learning to hunt and peck with two fingers, I'm sure it was faster than putting pen to paper.

What is it about typing that eats time? I only ask because I can't imagine that it would take more time to write, say, the letter "a" than it would to have the left pinky type the letter "a".

Is it that the brain-pen link is faster than the brain-keyboard link? Or what?

ML: That would be the case for me.id="blue">

And how about corrections? I'd think that correcting a hand-written document would take much more time than correcting a document composed on a computer. Does White-Out still exist?

ML: White -Out still exists but I cross out my mistakes and move along.id="blue">

Not to mention archiving handwritten reports -- twice as much paper to file. Do you snail-mail paper reports?

ML: I use a 2 part carbonless and hand over the report at the end of the inspection.id="blue">

WJ