Our PIM customers have a variety of inspections they must carry out as part of their jobs.
Some inspections require a high level of detail, some are specific to a Tenant, while others just need to be a general summary. Other inspections are completely unique to a business. That's ok. We have a solution for most things!
Inspection Types in PIM
When creating a new inspection in PIM, there are three general types to choose from. It is important that you make this selection before hitting Done as changes made later will not update in the inspection.
So let's look at the Inspection Types now.
Property Inspection Report
Otherwise known as a Routine or Periodical Inspection, this is the regular inspection usually repeated every three months during a residential lease period. The requirements may vary in different states or countries.
Routine Inspections are usually a simple report on the cleanliness and maintenance issues throughout the lease period. Most users tend to capture general notes at an Inspection Area level, while others go into more detail by using Sub Inspection Areas (Only available if the toggle is on in Settings > PIM Admin > Routine/Periodic Inspection Settings)
For PIM Premium users, the report itself can be customised any way you like. It could include specific text or callouts on the front cover. You can add heavy branding. You can even modify Quick Check Label columns. Visit our Report Gallery for ideas. And as always, with PIM you can customise your inspection areas and property layouts yourself in Settings > PIM Admin > Inspection Areas.
This report type can also be customised to suit other inspections such as Commercial, Building or Site Inspections.
Property Condition Report
A Property Condition Report or PCR is conducted at the beginning of a residential or commercial lease, usually before the tenant moves in. It is a detailed report of the condition of the entire property, broken down into Inspection Areas and Sub Inspection Areas. This enables you to capture detailed notes about the appearance and condition of specific elements such as floors, walls, windows, lights etc. This report is then used as a benchmark at end of the lease to assess the final condition of the property after the tenant has vacated. You would also use this report to determine what portion of the bond is returned to the tenant.
Depending on your region, you may also know this as an Inspection Sheet, Entry/Exit or Ingoing/Outgoing Inspection. Each Australian state or territory has its own mandated template, so it is important to select the correct template to remain compliant with your regional Tenancies Act. You can still customise your inspection areas and property layouts yourself in Settings > PIM Admin > Inspection Areas, but because of the regional restrictions, report template customisation usually only extends to include your business logo and details in the letterhead. For other regions (US, UK, Ireland, NZ etc), please refer to the Report Gallery for ideas.
There is no formal requirement to conduct a PCR for commercial properties, but the trend is definitely leaning in this direction. If you would like to set up commercial PCR templates, please contact us.
PIM's intelligent Prompt for Entry/Exit feature will ask if you are conducting an entry or exit inspection, so it knows which report template to populate. If you indicate that it is an exit, you will be prompted to select the original entry inspection, and depending on the state or territory you operate in, the final report will then display both the entry and exit notes side by side. To activate this feature turn the toggle on in Settings > PIM Admin > PCR/Ingoing/Outgoing Settings > Prompt for Entry/Exit.
PIM can also detect if you are importing an Entry or Exit from your Property Management System, and marks it accordingly. If you do need to change the inspection type you can just tap the Inspection type, then tap and hold your finger on Condition Report and select from the pop-up, as below.
This will then be reflected in the inspection type as shown below.
Bond Inspection Report
Some customers choose to use a Bond Inspection instead of a Property Condition Report. Whatever you need is fine with us. If you have a specific Bond Report you would like to use, please have a chat with us to discuss options.
Additional Reports & Custom Solutions
One of PIM's specialities is delivering custom solutions to our customers.
Cleaning/Maintenance Report
One of our more popular features is the ability to create an additional report from within a standard inspection. By default, any notes added to Additional Notes fields will populate this report which can be generated by selecting Submit Cleaning/Maintenance Report instead of the usual Submit Inspection option. You can also flag photos to appear in this report by selecting the Include in Maintenance option within the camera or photo screen.
Our customers use this for a variety of purposes and the report layout can be customised to suit. Some ideas include a Tenant Action Report, Work Order Report, but really the options are endless.
Check out our Report Gallery for ideas on Cleaning/Maintenance Reports or contact PIM Support if you would like us to integrate a Cleaning/Maintenance Report for your office.
Tenant Inspection Reports
Exclusive to Property Inspection Manager (PIM), a separate courtesy Tenant Inspection Report can be created after the inspection been conducted that can just be sent to the tenant. A Tenant Inspection Report can be a simple ‘thank you’ or can include any items that need to be addressed. You can include photos that won’t be seen by the Landlord as well! Using a Tenant Inspection Report is an ideal way to improve your communication to tenants in a simple efficient way. Tenant Inspection Reports are populated when a "Tenant Summary” Inspection Area is included for an Inspection and will also include any photos specifically taken against that area.
Contact PIM Support if you would like us to integrate a Tenant Inspection Report for your office.
Check out our Report Gallery for ideas on Tenant Inspection Reports.
Custom Solutions
Our customers are always thinking outside of the box and thanks to the flexibility of PIM we've worked with them to create some amazing custom inspections. Building Inspections and Site Audits are just a couple of non-standard inspection examples. We can even incorporate calculations into our reports where there is a requirement to score or grade inspection criteria. Check out our Report Gallery for ideas on Building and Site Inspection Reports.
We'd love to hear from you if you have a slightly different inspection on your wish list.