How to Create a Property Inspection Report
A BrightChecker template comes with a report layout ready to use. You can use it as supplied, or change it to suit the way you work.
The report is worth treating as part of the template, not something to worry about after you’ve finished building the inspection.
If you’re building a report from scratch, have your company brand guide to hand. If you’re recreating a report your business already uses, have a copy of that report beside you.
Start with the layout you already have
BrightChecker templates come with a report layout, so there is no need to start from a blank page.
If the supplied layout works for you, use it.
If it needs changing, open the report designer and adapt it.
The designer is a visual environment. You can click and drag cards into the report, move them around, configure them and reuse cards you’ve created before.
There is a card library, so once you’ve built something useful you don’t have to build it again every time you create another report.
Three types of cards
There are three main types of cards in the report designer, each with a different job.
Table of Contents cards
Table of Contents cards create the contents and navigation for the report.
For a longer report, this gives the reader a clear way to see how it is organised and move to the section they need.
Design cards
Design cards are used for the presentation and structure of the report.
They can be used for things such as:
- Cover pages
- Back pages
- Chapters
- Technical diagrams
- Other designed report elements
They let you create the document around the inspection information rather than simply producing a continuous list of answers.
Content cards
Content cards are used to present the information collected during the inspection.
They can show inspection responses and evidence, and can also be used for things such as category summaries and content filters.
That gives you control over which information appears and how it is presented to the person reading the report.
Format text as you build
The report designer includes WYSIWYG text editing.
You can write and format text in the report and see how it is being presented as you work.
That is useful for headings, explanations and other text where you want to see the finished presentation rather than writing it somewhere else and hoping it fits.
Use categories and content filters
Categories can be used to classify findings during the inspection.
For example:
- Priority 1
- Priority 2
- Priority 3
- Information
Content cards can use those categories in the report.
You can use category summaries to bring related information together and content filters to control what is included.
If you change section names in an established template, check the content filters that use those names. It’s a small change, but it is worth checking before the template goes back into use.
Explain what responses mean
Don’t leave the report reader guessing what a response means.
If a question uses a scale, make the scale clear.
For example:
1 = Very Poor
10 = Very Good
The same applies to options, categories and other response types.
The question and response wording you put into the inspection template can therefore become part of the finished report. A surveyor may know exactly what an answer means, but the person reading the report may not.
Add the evidence
Photographs, notes and video collected during the inspection can be included in the report with the information they relate to.
Video can be useful when a photograph doesn’t tell the whole story.
If the report is produced as a PDF and printed, QR codes can give the reader a way to access video from the printed report.
So a printed report can still provide access to video evidence.
We’ve produced reports with more than 50 cards and 550 photographs without issues.
See the finished report before you commit to it
One of the useful parts of the report designer is that you can attach a completed survey and populate the design with the actual inspection data.
You can see the report with real answers, photographs, categories and other information in it.
This is worth doing before you put a new template into regular use.
A layout can look fine while you’re building it and then look very different when it is filled with real content.
Run a realistic survey through it.
Look at the finished report.
Change anything that needs changing and look at it again.
Then get somebody else to check it. A second pair of eyes can spot something that the person who built the report has stopped noticing.
Attach the layout to one or more templates
Once you’re happy with the report layout, you can associate it with an inspection template.
That relationship isn’t fixed.
You can change the layout a template uses later, or use one report layout with several templates if they need to produce the same type of report.
You can therefore maintain one report design for several related templates instead of creating and maintaining several copies.
If a particular template later needs its own report, you can change the relationship and give it a different layout.
Future surveys use the layout associated with the template at the time.
Change the report without losing the inspection
Your reports may need to change over time.
You might add a card, change the order of information, alter the styling, change a filter or present a finding differently.
Changing the report layout does not mean losing the surveys you’ve already completed.
You can still report an earlier survey using the information that was collected at the time.
The report design can change without changing the inspection history.
That is useful when your business changes, your customers want different information, or you improve the way you present your reports.
If you’re recreating an existing report
If the report belongs to your own organisation, keep a copy beside you while you build it. It gives you something concrete to work from.
If it belongs to somebody else, make sure you have the right to use it.
Copyrighted or licensed material should not simply be copied into BrightChecker without the appropriate permission or licence.
For example, RICS reports and condition report formats are subject to RICS licensing requirements. If you are producing one of those reports, make sure your organisation has the appropriate licence and rights to use the relevant material.
A report doesn’t have to be built from scratch
There are a few sensible ways to approach a new report.
Start with the layout that comes with the BrightChecker template and use it as supplied.
Adapt that layout to your own requirements.
Or, if you have a report of your own that you want to reproduce, use it as the reference while you build the new layout.
Keep your brand guide nearby if you’re creating something new.
Use the card library to reuse things you’ve already built.
Use Table of Contents cards for navigation, Design cards for the structure and presentation, and Content cards for the inspection information, summaries and filters.
Put a completed survey through the designer so you can see what the finished report actually looks like.
Get somebody else to check it.
Then attach the layout to the template — or to several templates if they use the same report.
Once it is set up, the report is there for the next inspection. And if you decide to change it later, you can.
Build it once. Use it repeatedly. Change it when you need to.
Flexibility by Design.
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