HOMEBUILDER:  PERFORMING AN INSPECTION

In this article:

Overview | Two Kinds of Inspection | Before You Begin | Step 1: Create the Inspection | Step 2A: Perform a Checklist Inspection | Step 2B: Perform an Ad-hoc Inspection | Step 3: Signatures and the Inspection Report | Step 4: Mark the Inspection as Performed | After the Inspection | Inspections (Whole Company) | Related Articles

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Overview

This article is for the service inspectors who carry out inspections on site, and for the office staff who prepare them. It covers the inspection itself, from creating it on the Lot to marking it Performed. What happens to the problems found afterwards, work orders for vendors and resolving each issue, is described in Service Issues and Work Orders.

An inspection is always created on a Lot and always has an Inspection Type (such as Quality Care Inspection, Pre-delivery Inspection, 30 Days, 90 Days, 1 Year, Customer Call, etc.) The type decides how the inspection is performed: with a checklist, or without one.

 

Two Kinds of Inspection

Inspections are generally of two types:

• Checklist inspections follow a predefined list of areas and things to inspect (Checklist Items), house area by house area. Pre-Delivery Inspections (PDI) and Quality Care (QC) inspections are typical.
• Ad-hoc inspections have no list. The inspector records only what the purchaser reported or what is found on site. Customer calls, emergency calls and 30-day inspections are typical.

 

Before You Begin

Before going on site, check that:

• The setup is complete. Service inspectors, inspection types, checklist items, house areas and deficiency types are set up once, usually during implementation. They are summarized in Setup Reference at the end of this article, and described in technical detail in Inspections Setup Requirements.

• The Lot has its House Areas. The checklist, and the House Area Code of a service issue, offer only the house areas of the Lot. See House Areas and Measurement Types.

Using a phone or tablet. Inspections work well on a phone or tablet. Install the Business Central mobile app and sign in with your usual Business Central account. On a device with a camera, Take Picture opens the camera directly. To keep pictures small enough to email, set the Picture Compression % in My HomeBuilder Settings. See Standardized Inspections Process.

 

Step 1: Create the Inspection

Both kinds of inspection start the same way.

1. Search Lots, open the Lot Card, and choose Inspections. The Inspections page opens, showing the inspections of this Lot.
2. Choose New. The Inspection Card opens with the next inspection number.
3. In Inspection Type Code, choose the type of inspection, for example the PDI or a customer call.
4. Check Inspector Code. If you are a service inspector, you are already filled in. Otherwise, choose the inspector.
5. Enter the Scheduled Date, and the Scheduled Time From and Scheduled Time To if a visit is booked. For a customer call, enter the date the problem was reported.
6. Check the Due Date. The system calculates it from the Date Performed (or the Scheduled Date until then) plus the number of days set for the inspection type. If it stays empty, enter it: work orders cannot be created for an inspection without a Due Date.

The inspection now has the status 'Open'. Continue with Step 2A for a checklist inspection, or Step 2B for an ad-hoc inspection.

Inspections can also be created without opening the Lot: New → Service Issue on the Inspector Role Center creates an inspection of the default type together with its first service issue (see Service Issues and Work Orders).

 

Step 2A: Perform a Checklist Inspection

Use this procedure for inspection types with a checklist, such as a Pre-Delivery Inspection or a Quality Care inspection.

Record the Start Time

When you start the inspection with the purchaser, enter the time in Time-in on the Inspection Card. When you finish, enter Time-out. Together they record how long was spent with the purchaser. For inspection types with Time-out Required, such as the PDI, the inspection cannot be marked as Performed without both.

Populate the Checklist

1. On the Inspection Card, choose Checklist. The Check List Entries page opens.
2. Choose Populate Checklist. For each house area of the Lot, the system adds an entry for every checklist item that applies both to that house area and to the inspection type, and shows "The population has been completed."

The entries are grouped by house area, so you can walk the house room by room. The lower part of the page shows the issues of the selected entry.

Work Through the Checklist

Go through the entries room by room and give each one an outcome. How you do it depends on the entry's outcome type:

Record the Issues

Every entry marked 'Has Issues' needs at least one issue:

• If the inspection type has Auto-create Issue, the system creates an issue as soon as you mark the entry 'Has Issues', and opens the Checklist Issues page.
• Otherwise, select the entry and choose Edit Checklist Issues.
• Comment: what is wrong, in your own words, for example "Scratch on the floor".
• Take Picture: one or more pictures, if useful. They stay with the issue and are attached when the work order is emailed to the vendor. Pictures shows the pictures already taken.
• Assessment: 'Deficiency' if a vendor has to fix it; 'Concern' if the purchaser is unhappy with something that is not a defect; 'Inquiry' for a question that needs an answer later; 'Non-Issue' if there turns out to be no problem.
• Deficiency Type Code: the standard description of the deficiency, chosen from the deficiency types that apply to the checklist item. If the checklist item has only one, it is filled in when you choose 'Deficiency'.

On the Checklist Issues page, add one line for each problem. One entry can have several, for example a scratch and an uneven surface on the same laminate floor. For each issue:

Note to Vendor and Internal Note: optional instructions for the vendor, and notes for builder staff only.

Add and Item That Is Not on the Checklist

To check something the populated list does not include, select an entry in the right house area and choose Add Checklist Entry. The page lists the checklist items that apply to the inspection type but are not added automatically. Select the ones you need and choose Add Checklist Entry.

 

Step 2B: Perform an Ad-hoc Inspection

Use this procedure for inspection types without a checklist, such as a customer call, an emergency call or a 30-day inspection. The purchaser reports a problem ("my roof is leaking") or, after 30 days in the home, hands over a list of what they found. There is no list to work through: each problem is recorded directly as a service issue. Time-in and Time-out are not needed.

1. If not already, create the inspection as in Step 1, choosing the ad-hoc inspection type.
2. On the Inspection Card, choose Service Issues. The Service Issues page of the inspection opens.
3. Add a line for each problem. On a phone, use the + button.
4. Fill in each line:
   • House Area Code: where the problem is, for example the backyard or bedroom 2. Only the house areas of the Lot can be chosen.
   • Checklist Item Code: what has the problem, for example landscaping or floor carpet. The lookup lists the checklist items of the chosen house area. Choosing one sets Assessment to 'Deficiency' and, if the checklist item has only one applicable deficiency type, fills in Deficiency Type Code.
   • Comment: what is wrong.
   • Assessment and Deficiency Type Code: as in Step 2A. If the problem is not a deficiency, change the Assessment to 'Concern', 'Inquiry' or 'Non-Issue'.
   • Take Picture: one or more pictures.
5. Check Vendor No. and Vendor Contract No. on each deficiency. Choosing the deficiency type fills them in from the Phase Items of the Lot's Phase. If they stay blank, choose the vendor and contract, or leave them for the office. To learn How the Vendor Is Filled In, see Service Issues and Work Orders.

Example: A Customer Call

A purchaser calls about two problems: the landscaping in the backyard, and the carpet in the second bedroom. The inspector creates an inspection of the customer call type on the Lot, chooses Service Issues, and adds two lines:

The issues are then sent to the vendors on work orders: see Example: A Customer Call in Service Issues and Work Orders.

Recording a Service Issue on a Phone

 

Step 3: Signatures and the Inspection Report

At the end of an inspection with the purchaser, such as a PDI, the purchaser signs the inspection report. You can print the report and have it signed by pen, or take the signatures on screen.

Sign on Screen

1. On the Check List Entries page, or on the Service Issues page for an ad-hoc inspection, choose Customer Signatures.
2. For each person signing (the purchaser, a second purchaser or the purchaser's designate), enter the name, sign in the box with a finger, a stylus or the mouse, and choose Sign document. Clear starts that signature again.
3. Choose Inspector Signature, sign as the inspector, and choose Sign document.

The signatures are shown in the Customer Signatures and Inspector Signature FactBoxes on the Inspection Card and are printed on the report.

Print or Email the Report

Use these actions on the Inspection Card:

 

Step 4: Mark the Inspection as Performed

When the inspection is done and every problem is recorded, choose Mark as Performed on the Inspection Card. The status changes to 'Performed' and Date Performed is set to today. The checklist, and the comments of the issues, can no longer be changed; the office can still complete the assessment, deficiency type, vendor and notes of each issue.

Before changing the status, the system checks the checklist and the times. If something is missing it says what, and offers Open Checklist so you can fix it:

 

After the Inspection

Once the inspection is performed, the office follows up on its service issues. Each step is described in Service Issues and Work Orders:

1. Assess each issue, and give every deficiency a deficiency type and a vendor. See Step 1 and Step 2.

2. Create work orders. On the Service Issues page, select the issues and choose Create Work Orders. The system creates one service work order for each vendor and vendor contract, grouping the issues, not one per issue. See Step 3.
3. Issue and send them. From Work Orders on the Inspection Card, issue the work orders and email them to the vendors; the pictures of each issue are attached. The vendor email addresses for these documents are set up as described in Inspections Emails. See Step 4.
4. Resolve the issues as the vendors complete the work. Concerns, inquiries and non-issues need a Resolution before they can be resolved. See Step 5 and Step 6.
5. When every service issue is resolved, the inspection's status changes to 'Completed' automatically. See Step 7.

 

Inspections (Whole Company)

To see the inspections of every Lot, search Inspections, or on the HomeBuilder Role Center choose HomeBuilder, then After-sales Service, then Inspections.

From the list, you can open an inspection or use the same actions as on the Inspection Card: Checklist Entries, Service Issues, Work Orders, Planning Lines, Print - Checklist, Print - Issues, Send by Email - Checklist, Send by Email - Issues and Sent Emails, plus the report Deficiency Completion By Lot. The actions are described in Inspection Card. New inspections are created from the Lot (Step 1).