A property inspection report has one job: to make the reader do the right thing next. Approve the handover, release the retention, instruct the repair, chase the contractor. If the person reading it can't find the findings, can't tell which ones matter, or can't trust that this is the version they were sent, the report has failed, however thorough the inspection was.
Here is what a report that works contains, the habits that stop reports being read, and how to produce one from the inspection rather than typing it up afterwards.
What a good inspection report contains
- What was inspected, exactly. The address, the units or areas covered, the date, and who did it. On a block inspection, a table of the units covered is worth more than a paragraph.
- The findings, each one standing on its own. Where, what, how serious, with the photo that shows it. A finding should still make sense when someone copies it into an email.
- A severity for every finding. The reader should be able to separate the safety items from the cosmetic ones in seconds. Use your firm's written standard so two surveyors grade the same crack the same way.
- What's not a problem. "Inspected, no issues" for the sections that passed. Silence reads as "not looked at".
- A recommendation per finding. Repoint, replace, monitor, refer to a specialist. A finding without a next action is a photo caption.
- Signature and date. Captured when the report is issued, not pasted in from a file.
- A version number. If the report is ever amended, the reader needs to know which one they are holding.
The mistakes that get reports ignored
- Writing it up later. Notes from site, photos from the camera roll, a Word template on Monday. Every transcription is a chance to lose a photo or attach it to the wrong finding, and the report arrives days after the visit.
- Walls of text. A long narrative hides the three findings that matter. Structure beats prose: section, finding, severity, photo, action.
- Photos without context. A close-up of a crack with no indication of which wall, which floor, which unit.
- Overwriting. Editing the PDF after a client query, so nobody can prove what was originally sent.
- Inconsistent severity. One surveyor's "medium" is another's "high". Clients notice, and so do contractors arguing about scope.
Produce the report from the inspection, not after it
The fastest way to a clean report is to never write it. Capture the inspection against a structured template, with each answer carrying its photos and severity, and generate the report from that record the moment you submit.
That is how Saundy Inspect works:
- Templates define the sections and questions, so every surveyor captures the same inspection the same way. Start from the standard library (roof and exterior survey, new-build snagging, rental check-out) or build your own.
- Answers carry evidence. Photos attach to the answer they support, and flagging a severity raises a defect automatically.
- Submit produces the PDF. Your firm's logo and layout, the table of units covered, the answers, the photos, and the surveyor's drawn signature captured at the moment of submission.
- Every submit is a version. Amend the inspection after a client call, submit again, and version 2 is issued alongside version 1. What you sent in March is still exactly what you sent in March, and re-issues are free on every plan.
- It works with no signal. Capture and submit on the mobile app in a basement; the report is issued when the phone syncs.
A quick checklist before you send
- Can the reader tell, in ten seconds, how many findings there are and which are serious?
- Does every finding have a location, a photo, a severity and a next action?
- Are the sections that passed marked as inspected?
- Is it signed, dated and versioned?
- Will you be able to prove, in a year, that this is what you sent?
If any of those is a no, fix it before the report goes out. If all of them need fixing every time, the problem is the process, not the surveyor.
Start a free 14-day trial of Saundy Inspect and issue your next report from the site visit itself, no card required.