What is Spectora Academy?
Spectora Academy is your one-stop place to learn how to use your Spectora account. From easy, efficient videos to full-platform walkthroughs, learn everything you need to know about the industry's leading inspection platform.
Spectora Academy is broken down into 5 easy-to-follow modules. Each module will cover important settings and tools that will help you navigate Spectora, build your business, and improve your inspection process.
How to Access & Navigate Spectora Academy
How to Access & Navigate Spectora Academy
Spectora Academy is an invaluable resource for inspectors and business owners looking to get the most out of Spectora’s tools and features. With training videos, guides, and tips, Spectora Academy helps you sharpen your skills, improve your processes, and grow your business. Accessing Spectora Academy is quick and easy through your Spectora HQ dashboard. Here's how to find and use this feature.
Why Use Spectora Academy?
Boost Efficiency: Learn how to optimize your workflows and save time.
Increase Revenue: Discover advanced tools and techniques that can help grow your business.
Stay Updated: Keep up with new Spectora features and updates.
Train Your Team: Use Spectora Academy as a training tool for your team to ensure consistency and proficiency.
For a full walkthrough of Spectora HQ, check out our video below!
Accessing Spectora Academy
To access Spectora Academy, click here to log into HQ. You will use the same login email and password as your Spectora account.
You can also access the Academy by clicking the 'Spectora Academy' link in the support box on your Spectora account dashboard.
How to Navigate through Spectora Academy
Once you're logged into Spectora HQ, you're ready to start using Spectora Academy! Follow the steps below to learn how to navigate the Academy.
 💡 Quick tip: Click on the video above to expand it in another window. |
Click "Start Here" in the top left corner
Click "Step #1 Spectora Training Videos"
There are 5 modules for Spectora Academy
Each one will cover an important piece of our software
To start, click "start course" in the top right corner or click on a lesson below a module
Once you've finished watching the video and reading the content of the lesson, click "Complete lesson" at the bottom of the page
You'll then be directed to the next lesson in the module
Once you've completed the modules for Step 1, click "Step #2" to view resources to grow your business
Step 2 is our Growth Hub where you can view 8 different courses all about the inspection business
Click "Step #3" to connect with other inspectors in the community
Post questions to other inspectors or view & comment on existing posts
To navigate back to Spectora Academy or the Growth Hub, click the corresponding button in the left sidebar under 'Learn & Grow'
Module 1: Getting Started
Module 1: Getting Started
Welcome to Module 1 of Spectora Academy. We'll jump right in and get started. In our first module, we cover:
Scheduling a Mock Inspection
Mobile App & Web Editor Quick Start
After watching these videos, you should feel confident to perform a mock inspection on your home, and we encourage you to do so before moving on to Module 2.
Scheduling a Mock Inspection
By the end of this video, you should feel ready to schedule a mock or practice inspection of your house (but watch our next video on the mobile app and web editor before you start inspecting.)
📹 Watch time: 5 minutes
How to Schedule a Mock Practice Inspection
A mock inspection offers a comprehensive view of the entire scheduling, inspecting, and reviewing process. You can utilize your own home address for this practice inspection and even designate yourself as the client to gain insight into how the report appears from that perspective. Follow these steps to schedule your first mock or practice inspection:
Click "Settings"
Click "Services & Fees"
Click "Residential Inspection"
Select your desired template from the "Templates" dropdown menu
Click "Dashboard"
Click the orange "+ New Inspection" button to schedule a new mock inspection
Set the date and time of your inspection
Enter an address - this can be your home address!
Select your Residential Services from the Services dropdown menu
You'll see your pricing, template, and agreement auto-populate
Click "Save Inspection" at the bottom
🌟 Pro-tip: if the Save button is grayed out, check the address to ensure that square footage and year built are filled out
You'll automatically be redirected to your new inspection
Now you're ready to start filling out your first inspection report! Keep reading to see how to fill out the report on both the mobile app and the web editor.
Mobile App & Web Editor
Now that you have scheduled a mock inspection, it's time to get to the fun part: inspecting! In this section, we'll cover how to start an inspection on the mobile app, report writing basics on the mobile app, and how you can make edits on the web editor.
📹 Watch time: 14 minutes
How to Navigate Your Spectora Mobile App
The Spectora Mobile App makes inspecting easy - your whole report is in the palm of your hand! With the mobile app, you can write your entire report, view past or future inspections, and even chat with our support team for help on the go. Follow along to learn how to use the mobile app.
After downloading the mobile app and logging in with your Spectora email and password, you'll see your mobile dashboard. This will show you inspections scheduled for today only, though you can scroll to specific dates to view past and future inspections.
The "+" button opens the scheduling form on the Spectora mobile web page, but as of version V1, booking a new inspection redirects users to complete the process on the web platform.
Use the Calendar icon button to scroll through dates and check your scheduled inspections.
The Search bar can be utilized to locate inspections by their addresses.
The "Help" button will open the chat bubble and connect you with our Support Team.
✨ You can also check out this article guide for a deeper look into the mobile app!
Mobile App Settings
The Spectora mobile app has several settings to make your inspection process easier and smoother. We offer different camera options, auto-saving, CYA cameras, annotation, and more - all within the app. We'll go over some of the app settings below, we recommend following along in your mobile app.
Tap the 3 horizontal lines in the top left corner
Tap "Settings"
Media:
"Save Media to Gallery"
By enabling this setting, you can automatically save pictures taken in the app to your device's album, conveniently labeled with the inspection address. This feature is perfect for capturing both CYA photos and non-report photos, which may prove useful in the future.
"Save Compressed Images to Gallery"
Reduce the amount of memory your inspection photos take up on your device by saving a compressed, lower-quality image to your gallery
"Save Annotated Images"
When enabled, this setting will save your annotated photos in your device's gallery. This would include photos with any shapes, such as arrows, circles, or squares. So you can easily access them whenever you need them.
"Auto-Annotate"
Immediately after taking a photo, you will be taken to the annotation options to add arrows, comments, and more to your photos! You can also choose to only turn on the auto-annotate feature for deficiencies or all comment photos.
Note: If you choose to turn this setting off, you'll need to manually tap on each photo to add annotations to it.
Report Settings:
"Automatic Syncing"
You can enable this setting to automatically sync your data with the server without having to manually trigger it. This will give you peace of mind knowing that your data is being synced to the web as you go!
"Search Comments On"
This feature allows you to customize your global search in the app. You can choose to search for Titles only, or choose Titles and Text to bring up more options when you search!
"Always Search Entire Report"
By toggling this option, the report will automatically search across all sections and items, giving you a more comprehensive search experience.
"Search Result Limiter"
This function allows you to restrict your search choices. You have the option to display the most popular 20, 50, or 100 comments. Alternatively, you have the option to display all comments.
Miscellaneous:
"Enable Chat Bubble"
By enabling this button, you will have access to the chat bubble for support through the app. This feature is designed to make getting help easier and more convenient for you while on-site.
"App Theme"
Did you know that you have the option to personalize the color and theme of your app? By accessing your settings, you can choose between system, light, or dark mode.
The system setting will match the default theme of your device. Selecting the light option will give the app a brighter look with a white background. For a darker aesthetic, you can opt for the dark mode with a black background.
"Text Size"
The text size feature gives you the ability to customize the size of text within the app, ensuring optimal readability for your device. By default, it will follow your device's OS settings under the "system" option. But don't worry, if you prefer a different text size, you can easily choose from a variety of options, such as smallest, small, default, large, and largest. This convenient feature applies to all text input areas, making it effortless to make any desired adjustments.
✨ You can also check out this article guide for a deeper look into the mobile app settings!
Inspection Details on the Mobile App
With each inspection you schedule, the mobile app will make an appointment with all of the inspection information. The inspection details will show the date, time, price, client & agent contacts, and the associated reports. Follow along in your app to see how the inspection details show for your mock inspection.
Navigate back to the Dashboard by tapping the 3 horizontal lines in the top left corner > tap "Your Schedule"
Tap into your inspection for today
Tap on the cover photo that is already there and take a new photo for your cover page
You'll see the date, the time, and the price of the inspection. You will see
your client or agent information as well. Simply tap into and contact them on-site if need be.
Below the contact information, we have two boxes. One for payment required and one for sign agreements. This indicates that the client has not taken care of either of those things yet, but you can click into both on-site to record payments and get the client to sign the agreement on the mobile app.
Just below these boxes you can view the invoice.
Next, you'll see any additional information. These are our custom scheduling fields and additional inspector notes. These can be used for anything you want to log during the scheduling process, which is then sent to your mobile app to have handy on-site.
Using the Mobile App to Inspect
📹 Watch time: 7 minutes
Now you're ready to start the inspection. Our mobile app makes it easy to navigate through the entire report, start to finish. You can note satisfactory parts of the home, as well as defects that need repair. Each comment allows you to add a photo or video, plus extra text information. The mobile app is designed to help you complete your inspection report quickly and efficiently. Follow along with the steps below to see how to use the mobile app to complete an inspection.
At the bottom, you'll see the "Reports" bar. Slide up on the reports bar and tap "Start" to begin filling out the report.
You'll see a list of sections on the left. This will mimic everything in your template.
There are a few things you can do regarding the organization.
You can move the sections around to reorder them.
You can also slide your finger left on a section to duplicate or delete.
Towards the bottom there is also a + section button - this is where you can add any optional sections or add in another copy of any default section.
Tap into a section to begin filling out your report.
You'll see a list of items.
Tap into an item to see the comments associated.
Below the green informational comments, you'll see orange limitations and red defects.
Simply tap on the checkbox of the comment to log the proper information.
Comments are completely customizable in your
template.
You will see some icons below each
comment.
The flag allows you to flag a comment for later.
Adding locations allows you to specify where in the home the comment/defect was found.
You can take a single photo with the +Photo button or take multiple photos with the +Photos button.
You can take videos with the +Video button or upload a photo/video from your device with the Gallery button.
Once you've completed all sections/items/comments in your report, navigate back to the main inspection details page of the mobile app.
The cloud icon on the reports bar is the "Sync" button, click into this to view your sync queue/status, and click the blue "Sync All Changes" button to sync your data from the app to the web.
The blue Summary button will show you a brief summary of your defects. This is great to give your clients an overview on-site of what you've found in the home.
Using the Web Editor
Now that you've completed the inspection report in your app, you're ready to review it on the web. The web editor is designed to help you review your report to ensure all information is accurate and easy to read for your clients. You can easily edit the report online with the web editor to change defect ratings, add new comments, or upload additional media files like photos or videos. Follow along with the steps below to see how to navigate and use the web editor.
Open up Spectora.com on your computer and log into your account.
Locate the inspection on your dashboard and click on it to open the inspection details.
Click on the report name in the Reports box to open your completed report
Just like the mobile app, your sections will be laid out on the left.
Click into a section > item to see your completed comments.
You'll be able to see any comments and defects you've selected, as well as photos and videos you added through the app.
You can easily check or uncheck any comments on the web editor to ensure you have the most accurate information in your report.
Within each comment, you'll see a +Photo/+Video button. This allows you to upload a media file from your computer.
You can also add or edit the location.
Easily add new comments by clicking on the green +Info button, the +Limitation button, or the +Defect button.
To see the full overview of your completed report, click "Preview/Publish." This will redirect you to the web report.
You can also see a PDF version of the report by clicking the "PDF" button on the right side.
Module 2: Client & Agent Tools
Module 2: Client & Agent Tools
Welcome to Module 2 of Spectora Academy. By the end of this module, you should feel confident in your Spectora profile, and ready for clients to book through your online scheduler. We'll cover:
Automation
The Client Portal
Agent Benefits
Let's get started!
Automation
This section will cover how you can set up and use automation within Spectora.
📹 Watch time: 4 minutes
How to Set up Automations
You can use Spectora to send automated emails and text messages to your clients and agents. This makes communication smooth and easy for all of your inspection appointments. Clients and agents can be automatically notified when their inspection is scheduled, reminders for upcoming inspections, and when their report is ready to view. Automations can be customized to fit your business needs. Follow along with the steps below to set up your automations.
Go to the Automation tab near the top of your screen
Choose the type of emails/texts you would like to edit.
For example: Scheduling
These emails/texts will be sent immediately after a confirmed inspection is scheduled
Check the box next to the emails and text messages you want to send to clients, client's agents, and listing agents
Click the "Edit Template" button next to each email you have turned on. You will be able to edit what the emails say.
Make sure you check the Subject and Placeholders for every email and text template. Placeholders will auto-populate information from each of your inspections
Don't forget to SAVE!
Repeat this process for every email type, and every client type (client, client's agent, listing agent)
🔴 Note: If you'd like to edit text message content, you can purchase a custom text number. Here is more information about how to purchase a number and why this is required by law.
Client Portal & How to Read a Home Inspection Report
This one's to share with your clients. Pass this video along so your clients can get to know your Client Portal in Spectora and understand how to read their home inspection reports.
📹 Watch time: 3 minutes
Agent Benefits
And this one is to share with your agents! We've found that being a Spectora inspector can be a unique value proposition (UVP), so please feel free to share this video with any realtors you work with to let them know why Spectora is great for them.
📹 Watch time: 4 minutes
Module 3: Spectora Settings
Module 3: Spectora Settings
Welcome to Module 3 of Spectora Academy. By the end of this module, you should feel confident in your Spectora profile, and ready for clients to book through your online scheduler. We'll cover:
User Settings
Setting Up Your Profile
Services & Fees
Availability
Inspection Agreements
Spectora Payments
User Settings
In this video, we'll walk through your user settings page and give a brief overview of admin tools, including partnerships, emails, text messaging, company settings, and more. By the end of this video, you should feel confident in what each category on the settings page means, and what admin tools are used for.
📹 Watch time: 9 minutes
Click on "Settings" at the top of your dashboard
First, you'll find "Profile."
This is where you'll fill out your company information and contact info.
This is super important to fill out correctly from the start as this information will be visible in one way or another to your clients and your agent.
Next, click on "Services & Fees"
This is where you will create your primary services and add-ons, and set up your pricing structure.
Following that, you'll see "Availability."
This is where you'll configure the available times you will give to your clients and agents when they're looking to book you on your online scheduler.
Next up, you'll click on "Teams."
This is where you can add additional inspectors as well as support staff.
Support staff accounts are free, however they can only help with scheduling and some admin tools. They are not able to access the mobile app or be assigned to inspectors or events.
After "Teams," you can click on "Sample Reports."
In this tab, you will have any sample reports you have made from real inspection reports.
These are great to put on your website to showcase your customized reports!
Following that, you'll be able to navigate to "Discount Codes."
This is where you can set up discount or coupon codes that apply to primary services and/or add-on services.
Next, let's look at "Partnerships."
This is a totally optional feature!
This allows your clients to see partners for services they may need or want in their client portal.
We've vetted a ton of very highly qualified partners, most with some of the best referral payouts in the industry!
You're in complete control of which partner you show in the portal.
Partnerships include moving services, home security, insurance warranties, and so on.
Let's move to "Business Tools."
First, we have Agreements.
You can create as many agreements as you
want.
Basically, copy and paste your agreements in and make some adjustments as you need to!
Next up is "Payments."
This is where you can set up Spectora Payments (powered by Stripe).
Payments allow your clients to pay online with their debit/credit card.
Let's look at "Review Options" next.
This is where you can allow the client to leave you a review or allow the agent to leave a review when they are viewing your report.
These reviews are seen only on our directory pages.
Next, you'll see "Internal Communications."
This allows you to select your preferred method of
communication - for example, if an email bounces or a
text message fails to send, we will let you know via in-app messaging or email.
After that, you can navigate to "Email Settings."
This is where you can control the point of contact for your emails.
What this means is who the email will be coming from; if it's the inspector, their email address and phone number will show, or if it's from the company, the company's email address will show.
Below this, you also have a place where you can customize your header and footer on your emails.
We do have default headers and footers available so you do not have to customize your own if you'd prefer not to!
Let's review "Text Settings" next.
This is where you can purchase a custom phone number.
Now some pros and cons of having a custom phone
number versus not ~
It is $20 per month to have a custom phone number.
If you do not purchase one, it's totally okay!
Your text messages will come from a standard
720 phone number.
With a custom phone number, you can then customize all of your text messages to say whatever you would like.
Finally, you will be able to have a forwarding number assigned so if a client or agent responds to a text, you can get their response
forwarded to say a cell phone of someone working in your
office.
You also will have a list of text templates you can choose from if you decide not to purchase a custom phone number.
Next, we'll move to "Scheduling Options."
To start, in your scheduling options, you can decide if you want us to automatically populate certain home data during the scheduling process; specifically square foot and age of home.
You can also create a list of custom referral fields if you want your client to choose from a set list of questions rather than typing in any
referral source that comes to mind.
You can also create custom scheduling fields.
As for the scheduling tools themselves, we have the Online Scheduler, the Get a Quote Widget, and the Inspection Request Form.
All three of these can be embedded straight into your website.
The Online Scheduler and the Get A Quote Widget will tie directly into your availability. The will also tie directly into your services & fees set up, so your clients and agents will see exactly when you are available and what services you offer.
The Inspection Request Form is a form that has open fields for your client or agent to fill out.
They can request any day, time, and service that they're looking for an inspector to perform.
They will not see your actual services or availability.
Let's look at "Report Options" next.
Under Report Options, we have Report Tools.
This is going to be where you can turn on a couple
settings - such as 360 photos and the ability to allow your company to assign certain inspectors to certain reports on the same inspection
You can also enable a setting where you're required to complete a report before publishing.
Next, you'll see Recommendation Types.
Here, you can create custom recommendations like "Chimney Repair Professional.
You can also recommend local contractors from your area.
Up next, we have "Location Tags."
You can customize three different groups of location tags
that you can use on any comment in your reports.
Moving on, we'll look at "Company Settings."
Most notably, we have System Integrations.
This is where you can integrate your Spectora account with other products such as
Repair Pricer
Home Binder
Blipp reviews
Google Drive
Quickbooks
Mailchimp
and a few call center options
Last but not least, we have "User Settings."
Under "Dashboard Settings," you can customize your dashboard calendar.
You can customize your "Navigation Bar" to decide which features you want to have easy shortcuts to.
"Integrations" is where you can set up a calendar integration with Gcal or iCal.
Under "User Options," you can change your email address and password for your Spectora account.
That was a quick run-through of the settings! Be sure to keep reading for more in-depth info on setting up your profile, services & fees, availability, inspection agreements, and Spectora Payments.
Setting Up Your Profile
Now that we've covered your settings, let's walk through setting up your profile. You'll want to complete this step before booking any inspection through Spectora because both agents and clients will see your Spectora profile.
📹 Watch time: 4 minutes
Click on "Settings" at the top of your dashboard
Click on "Profile"
On this page, you will fill out your Company Information
Be sure to include your Name, Address, Phone Number, Website, and Email
You can also add your Company Logo and Header logo by clicking on the photo box, and uploading one from your computer.
For the best presentation, we recommend the company logo to be a square-shaped image, around 500x500 pixels.
For the Header Logo, we recommend a short and wide image, around 500x50 pixels.
Fill out your Inspector information
Be sure to include your Name, Personal Phone, Credentials, Address, and Description to show on your Public Profile.
Add a profile picture
Put a face to your name! This helps your clients know who they're working with.
Add a Signature so you can automatically populate it to agreements, forms, and inspections.
Fill out your YouTube information, services you offer, your service area, and a description that will show on your Spectora public profile
Don't forget to click the SAVE button!
Frequently Asked Questions:
How do I get my signature to show on my report?
As long as you have a signature setup in your profile, it will automatically populate in your report!
Do I have to use my personal address if I don't have a company address?
The address you enter on your profile will need to match the address that your business is registered under. This will only show on your Spectora public profile if you choose to display it. You can opt out of having your address displayed publicly.
Why won't my picture upload to my profile?
Be sure to double-check the file format of your picture. Only JPG or PNG photos are accepted.
Why don't I see the option to add/change my profile picture?
If you're part of a multi-inspector company, your admins may have enabled certain permissions on your account to hide this option. You'll need to reach out to your profile picture.
Services & Fees
Before booking a real inspection, you'll have to set up your services and fees. In this video, we'll walk you through setting up services and fees, cover setting up pricing modifiers, and what to do if you have multiple primary services, upsells, and partnerships.
📹 Watch time: 8 minutes
Click on "Settings"
Click on "Services & Fees"
Fill out your Service Name, Base Cost, and Base Duration.
These will auto-populate when you choose this service while scheduling an inspection
Optional: add a description to your services and add-ons, these will populate on the Online Scheduler to describe your offerings to your clients and agents.
You can add an entirely new service by clicking the "+Add Service" button
Choose which Template and Agreement you'd like to populate when you choose this service
Optional: add your pricing modifiers. You can choose to add modifiers for square feet or square meters, age of home, year built, zip/postal code, foundation, and miles/kilometers away from the company address.
Optional: choose your add-on services such as Radon or Sewer-scope
You can also add modifiers to your add-ons!
Optional: add taxes if you do business in a country that taxes services.
Availability
In this video, we'll walk you through setting up your availability settings within Spectora, including your internal scheduler, your online scheduler, open scheduler versus time slots, and how to set time off in your Spectora calendar.
📹 Watch time: 4 minutes
Click on "Settings"
Click on "Availability"
Choose either "Open Schedule" or "Time Slots"
Open Schedule: will allow customers to book an inspection anytime between your availability hours, making sure that your last inspection of the day will end at the same time your availability ends (for example: 9-5 availability, your last inspection will end at 5 pm)
Time Slots: This will allow customers to book an inspection only during a few pre-determined time slots throughout the day. (For example: you only do inspections starting at 9 am and 2 pm Monday-Friday)
These are both described to the left of the toggle switch
It is important to note that you can schedule inspections yourself at any time - these slots are only for customers to see your availability
Click +SLOT or +BLOCK to add available times to your scheduler
To block off time for personal events or time off, click on the calendar, and select Event. This will block your schedule for that time. Click here for more information regarding scheduling time off.
Inspection Agreements
In this video, we'll walk you through setting up your inspection agreements (our stock agreement is from InterNACHI, but you can edit and/or replace the stock inspection agreement with your own).
📹 Watch time: 4 minutes
Click "Settings"
Click "Inspection Agreements"
We pre-populate this "Inspection Agreement" that is based on the InterNACHI inspection agreement.
You can edit this agreement any way you'd like, or click the +Create a New Inspection Agreement button to start fresh
Check out the InterNACHI Document Library for more agreements that can be copied into Spectora
Decide if you want your agreement signed with an e-signature checkbox or a written signature.
Both checkbox signatures and written signatures are legally binding for agreements.
They both capture the date and time as well as the IP address that the signature originated from.
Certain regions have regulations around which signature is preferred. Look into your local laws when selecting.
Customize the text your client will see before they sign the agreement
To edit a specific Agreement, click on the agreement and make any desired edits to the text box.
Don't forget to press SAVE AGREEMENT when you're finished!
You will see a list of "Placeholders" on the right side of the screen.
Spectora has placeholders that are unique to the software and can easily auto-populate information such as date, the client's first name, inspection address, etc.
Use them to save yourself time and enhance your level of customization.
In the agreement text box, place your cursor where you would like to insert the placeholder, then click the corresponding orange button to add it to your agreement.
Placeholders will auto-fill with the information from each of your inspections
Note: At this time, you cannot import a PDF agreement into Spectora. If you want to use a PDF agreement, you'll need to copy the text from the PDF and paste it into the text box.
Spectora Payments
Finally, we'll walk you through setting up your Spectora payments. In this video, we cover credit card payments, bank transfer payments with ACH, taking manual payments, and how to customize your payment instructions.
📹 Watch time: 3 minutes
Click on "Settings"
Click "Payments"
Click "Set up Payments" to create your Payments account through Stripe
You will need either your Business EIN or your SSN to continue setting up payments
Once you have your Payments set up, you can decide which features you want to enable.
You can choose to offer Buy Now, Pay Later options for your clients
You can choose to pass credit card fees on to your clients
You can also offer ACH (bank transfer) payments to your clients
To legally pass on credit card fees to clients, you must offer a “fee-free” payment option to the client, such as a personal check.
In the text box, you can specify the payment options you offer like Zelle, CashApp, Venmo, etc.
You can also customize the payment instructions your clients will see in the portal.
These are the payment instructions to your clients, which appear alongside the button to 'Pay Now'. Use {{BALANCE}} to display the outstanding balance.
You can also decide how you want to be contacted for any payment-related notifications - either in-app communication or via email.
Lastly, you can customize the text that appears on your invoice for clients.
Include things like your mailing address if you take check payments.
Note: Your business website will need to be live, or your account verification will be denied. If your website is not live, and you want to set up payments, you can use the URL to your Spectora Public Profile.
Module 4: Templates
Module 4: Templates
In this short (but very important) module of Spectora Academy, we cover how to set up your template and navigate our template center. We'll also take a look at sample reports.
If you already have a template and need to import it from another software, reach out to our Chat Bubble or book a call with one of our Sales Specialists.*
Templates
Now that we've covered your settings, let's walk through setting up your template. You'll want to complete this step before booking any inspection through Spectora because this is the basis of your reports! Think of the template as the blueprint of a home, and the report as the home itself. You can customize your template to make it is set up in a way that works best for you.
📹 Watch time: 17 minutes
Template Center, Template List, and Template Settings
Click on "Templates" at the top of your dashboard
This is where the Templates that your reports are built off of will be stored.
This step is important to ensure your report is prepared to meet your needs.
Next, click on "My Templates"
The first thing we will see when we're starting is under "My Templates" is two template options to start you off with:
The first one will be a standard Residential Template
You can see this is mainly organized by system of the home on the left-hand side under sections
The second one is Room-by-Room Residential
This is organized mainly by the areas of the home
Next up, you'll see "Template Center"
In this template center, you can download any other form you see there, free of charge.
These are things like the NPMA-33, Commercial Inspection, pre-drywall, swimming pool, mold template, etc.
You can also find templates shared by other inspectors!
Once saved from the template center, you can then customize the templates to fit your needs.
We also have our special forms for our inspectors in Florida as well as Texas
These forms are not as customizable due to their specialized output.
After "Template Center" you can click on the 3 dots in the top right.
The most important setting here is going to be the "Add Template" button.
This is going to be where you can build a template from scratch, or clone a template, and start using that copy template to make additional edits to it.
You can also import a template from another software or from a spreadsheet.
Next up, we're going to look into the structure of our template.
Sections
To start, you're going to see your list of sections on the left.
You can customize these to fit your needs by renaming them.
You can reorganize them by clicking and dragging the section.
You'll also see additional icons to the right of the section name. These icons allow you to customize the section.
The pencil icon ( ✏️ ) will allow you to customize that specific section.
You can change the name of your section.
You can change the standards of practice.
You can also set up reminders for you or other inspectors on your team to see when they are working through their reports on the app.
You can also make the section optional or included in every report.
If it's optional it won't show up on your app right away - it will need to be manually added.
Included in every report means the section will show up on your app right off the bat.
The middle icon duplicates any section.
You'll see this icon on items and comments as well, so if you do want to duplicate a section you can choose the section you want, and then you can choose the template you want.
Below your section list, you will see a "+ Section" button.
This is where you can add a blank section
You can also undelete a section if you accidentally delete the wrong one.
At the bottom, you'll see an attachments option.
This is a general template setting.
For example, if you attach a PDF to this particular template, then anytime it is used on an inspection, the PDF will accompany it, and be shown to the client on the client portal.
Items
Let's take one step further and look at our items!
Any section you click on, you'll see the list of items in the middle of the page.
You can customize these just like your sections.
You can click and drag to rearrange the order.
Click the pencil icon ( ✏️ ) to edit the name or make it an optional item.
You can also duplicate this item, move it to another template, or copy it to a different section. i
You can also use the trash can icon to delete anything you need.
You can also add items just like you can in sections by clicking the "+ Item" button.
If you accidentally delete the wrong item you can undelete it as well.
Comments
Every item is going to have its comments. That's going to be the third layer of our template.
You can see the comments on the right side.
There are 3 different types of comments:
Informational
These comments will have a green icon.
You can add comments anywhere in your template, but certain comments have different options as far as answer formats.
Check box: one of the most common comment types used.
To use a check box, you will check the comment if it is applicable to the home, and it will activate the comment.
That comment will appear on your report.
If you leave it unchecked on your mobile app, it won't appear on the report
Think of it as a "present vs. not present" or a "yes vs. no" question. a yes or no answer basically you also have
Multiple-choice: most often used for material, brand, occupancy, etc.
You can add different choices to the comment to fit your needs.
You can have a comma-separated list of answers which will show as options on your mobile app.
Date: populates a calendar to choose a date.
used for noting the date something was last inspected, the current date of the inspection you're performing, or the warranty expiration date.
Number: this is a numeric range.
Signature: creates a signature box that can be signed digitally.
If you need to have the client sign the report for state reasons or to acknowledge something, having a signature comment makes it easy to capture the signature on-site through the app.
Text box: creates a text line/box for you to type in information on-site.
Limitations
These will have an orange icon.
You can use limitations for areas that were inaccessible during the inspection or were not able to be inspected at that time.
Deficiencies
These will have a red icon.
Use these for when things require repair, are safety hazards, or need replacing.
You can have up to three defect categories in your template.
You can pre-set which category you would like a particular comment to be.
You can also set a recommendation for the defect, which can include a list of people you may recommend the client get in touch with to fix whatever deficiency you have called out.
Template Settings
Let's take a close look at our template settings.
You can click the name of your template at the top of your screen to open up your template settings.
To start, you can change the name of the template, as well as give it a friendly display name for clients to see.
Next, you'll see we have our header text.
This will be at the very top of your report!
This is great to use for general information about the inspection process, disclaimers, or anything else you want the client to know.
There are two options: the full report header text and the summary header text.
The full report header text shows on the full web and PDF reports.
The summary header text shows on just the web summary and PDF summary reports.
Under Display Options, you'll see a few options.
"Display Category Counts Summary" - This adds different colored bubbles to the top of the summary to show how many of each defect category were noted.
"Dispaly Items Inspected Count" - this is the total number of items inspected on the report (includes informational comments, limitations, and defects together)
"Display Inspector Signature" - allows you to have your digital signature displayed in the report
""Display Standards of Practice" - allows you to display standards for each section of your report
"Display Contractor Recommendations" - allows your clients to see what type of contractor you recommend they contact (ie, builder, plumber, etc.)
"Smart Layout for Information Comments" - minimizes whitespace by separating short and long comments.
"Display Table of Contents" - automatically adds a table of contents to the PDF with clickable links to each section.
"Display Defect List" - automatically adds a list of all defects at the beginning of the report with clickable links to jump to each.
"Page break sections" - start each section at the top of a new page
"Page break inside comments" - Turn on to allow comments to split and span multiple pages (saving whitespace). Turn off to push comments to the next page if it won't fit.
"Footer text" - The text that will display on the bottom-left of each page of the PDF.
"Defect Label" - The client-facing word you prefer for defects (ie Issues, Comments, Observations, Recommendations, etc.) These can be broken down further into categories below
The next category you'll see is Item Ratings.
Item Ratings will have an overview grid on your report where you can rate an item.
You can choose between the classic rating system or creating a custom rating system.
And finally, you'll see the defect categories.
Choose between 1-3 categories to use.
You can change the name of each category.
Each category has a corresponding color - blue, orange, and red.
You can choose a default category for each defect in your report, and you can even change the category on the fly if you think something may be more or less urgent to repair.
Module 5: Revenue and Reviews
Module 5: Revenue and Reviews
Welcome to the fifth and final module of Spectora Academy. Now that you've learned most of the platform, we'll discuss how to get reviews, how to market/allow clients to book ancillary, and how to set up recommended contractors within Spectora.
We'll cover:
Client Portal Upsells
Client Portal Reviews
Recommended Contractors
Client Portal Reviews
Reviews are incredibly important to a business. In this quick video, we'll guide you through setting up external reviews (Google, or any other platform of your choice) in the Client Portal.
📹 Watch time: 2 minutes
Click in to your Settings page
Scroll down to Review Options
Click "Enable external reviews"
Copy the URL at the top of your page
Go back into your Spectora Settings for Review Options
Paste this URL and it will save automatically
Once you've completed an inspection and clicked publish, your client will receive a link back to their client portal and they will have a task in their client portal to leave a review.
When your client clicks "leave a review" it will open them directly to your Google review page.
📗 Quick tip: The best way to get the link for your Google page would be to jump over to Google, search your company, and find your Google profile.
Client Portal Upsells
We make upselling easy. In this video, we'll show you how to include your ancillary services and add-ons in your client portal so every client will see them automatically if they don't initially purchase your ancillary services.
📹 Watch time: 2 minutes
Jump into your Settings page.
Click "Services and Fees"
This functionality is specific to add-on Services.
You may already have a few add-ons attached to your service, but if not, you can add any add-ons you want to upsell on the client portal.
Be sure to check the "allow upsell" box!
This means that if your service has been scheduled, any of these add-ons that were not added to the inspection will be shown on the client portal as an upsell option.
If your client decides to add any remaining add-on services, you will receive an email and you will see a flag on the inspection in your dashboard calendar.
You will also see this in your alerts box!
To see, accept, or deny the requested add-on, click on the inspection then scroll to the Services & Add-Ons box.
Click the + button to accept
Click the trash can button to deny
Recommended Contractors
This video will walk you through setting up your recommended contractors in Spectora, and customizing your contractor types for preference, or if you need to do so to meet state guidelines.
📹 Watch time: 3 minutes
Click on Settings.
You should see Recommended Contractors under the Spectora Connect Header
If you don't, reach out to our team on the chat bubble - we'll help you get sorted!
You can customize your contractor types to fit your needs.
This is completely optional - you can use our list of contractor types or make your own edits to be more specific
Scroll down your settings page to find the Report Options header
Click Recommendation Types
By selecting default, you will be able to edit our pre-made list of contractors
Once you make a change, click save and it will reorganize your list to keep your new contractor types in alphabetical order.
When you're finished, scroll to the top and click back into settings.
Now open up your recommended contractors
This list will be organized alphabetically by your contractor type
You'll also see the contact name, email, company name, and contractor types that it is connected to.
You also see how many times one of your clients has sent their information over to one of your recommended contractors under leads from the report.
Click Create Contractor in the top right corner to add a new recommendation to your list.
Additionally, you can preset your recommended contractor types for your deficiency comments. To do that:
Click on your Templates tab
Make your way to your defect comments
Open one up and you'll see recommendations at the top
You can adjust these recommendations here in the template as well as on-site through the mobile app or on the web editor page
From the client's end, they will see your recommended contractors list at the bottom of their web report.
They can see which defect comments are grouped together for each contractor
They can click get quote to send a quote request to each contractor listed.
They can check their own contact information to make sure everything is correct.
They can also see which issues will be sent to the contractor and add an optional message before clicking send!
If you have any questions or feedback, write into our chat bubble or email support@spectora.com!
