HomeGauge Announcements — Spring 2020

Spring didn’t exactly begin the way we had all hoped. This has been a challenging time for everyone, not least our inspectors.  Something which you can rely on is the new HomeGauge development team. I’d like to begin by checking in on our commitments last quarter and setting expectations for where we intend to be three months from now. 

Here’s an overview of what we laid out for Q1 and what we achieved:

Revamped scheduling functionality for single Inspectors –  COMPLETE

We launched our new scheduling tool for single inspectors. We’ll continue sending out invites in waves over the next few weeks to make ScheduleNow available to all inspectors by the end of April. We will be including some multi-inspector features in a public beta at the same time.  Check out your invite email for more details.

Desktop update #1 addressing the top 5 support requests – COMPLETE

In January, we released version 5.3.9 of our desktop writer, addressing these issues outlined in our release notes.

Desktop update #2 focusing on reliability and bug fixes – POSTPONED

We have decided to forgo version 5.3.10 in favor of a larger release in the summer, providing some much-requested features, new print templates, and bug fixes.  We’ll provide more information on this release in our next Product Update.

Expanding Beta Programs for Web Writer and our scheduling tools – COMPLETE

We are in the process of opening up ScheduleNow access for all users.  The new multi-inspector features will now be available to all users as part of our public Beta.

We will continue to work on our Web Report Writer in a closed beta for now and will onboard new users in waves through spring. 

Urgent update made to Buyer Contacts functionality  – COMPLETE

Due to client-reported issues with Buyer Contacts, we released some hotfixes in February.  We’re overhauling how we handle contacts and will assemble some working groups to help steer us to the best solution.  Watch out for our upcoming web events for more information.

 

Pricing and Packaging update

Earlier in the year, we announced changes to our pricing and packaging.  These would have been the first overhaul of how we offer our products and services in almost a decade.  Given the pressure of the wider housing market, we have decided to postpone any package changes until further notice.    

 

E&O Update

Some may have noticed that we paused our E&O product in February after it became a runaway success with newer inspectors.  We intend to bring it back and are actively negotiating with our partners to deliver something even better in 2020. We’ll provide an update on this popular new product in our next Product Bulletin. 

 

Check-in on Roadmap

Here’s a list of what we laid out as our roadmap for the year back in February.  Now that we’re a little further in, we can provide some more granular details for the months ahead:

 

Q2

Launch scheduler functionality for multi-inspector teams

We’re a little ahead of schedule with this one (excuse the pun).  Some of the multi-inspector features are already present in the open Beta.  We will refine these to provide more multi-inspector features through Q2.   

Requested features for enterprise customers 

We are working with some of our larger clients on specific value-added features.  These features are typically adjusted and made available to all customers. 

Updating Buyer Dashboard

We have heard much feedback (both good and bad) about the first iteration of the Home Buyer Dashboard.  We will work with some of our Beta participants to further improve the experience for your customers in Q2.

Q3/Q4

– Revamping how contacts work

– First public release of our Web-Based Report Writer

– Milestone release of the desktop writer focused on reliability and highly requested features

– Adding call center support

– A reimagined mobile app for the new web writer

 

Meet the team

Arpan Shah is our Sr. Product Manager for Report Writing, including our Desktop and Mobile applications, and our upcoming Web Writer.  Arpan has been with the team for almost 7 months and has made incredible progress with our next-generation web-based report writer, as well as seeing that we released updates for both the Desktop and the iOS Companion app last quarter.

“Greetings –

I joined the HomeGauge team last fall and, since then, have been fortunate enough to meet and speak with many of you at conferences, meetings, software training seminars, and webinars. It’s been great meeting all of you!

A common thread I find across all those I have met is that Home Inspectors – as a community – are passionate about doing what’s right for their customer. Inspectors care about the prospective home buyer and are there to look out for them, whether it’s the buyer’s first home, fourth, or fifth…

I respect the time Home Inspectors take to ensure their customers receive an accurate, comprehensive, well-detailed, and easy-to-understand inspection report. Many of you spend evenings completing reports before sending them to customers and agents.

That said, my goal – and one thing that I’m extremely excited about – is making sure our software is incredibly intuitive, easy to use, and as efficient as possible so that home inspectors can focus on the inspection itself (as opposed to the software), growing their overall business – and most importantly spending more time with their families and friends.

In addition to making our software the easiest and most efficient to use, I’ll also be playing a key role in making sure our software offerings – particularly our new report writing products – are modern, work on all device types, can perform at scale, and are secure.

I’m thrilled to be working with a great crew here at HomeGauge, and I’m looking forward to working with all of you as we update existing products and launch some exciting new ones in 2020 and beyond!

All the best,

Arpan Shah”

 

Partnering with the HomeGauge Product Team

We still monitor our product feedback email as a valuable source of new ideas and constructive feedback.  

If you have a general comment or concern regarding our products, you can provide feedback directly to the product team by emailing us at productfeedback@homegauge.com.

Due to the volume of feedback, we cannot respond to every message and do not provide support via this channel, but we can assure you that every request is read and taken into account when planning anything new we develop.

Another way  HomeGauge collects information and input from our customers is with beta programs. We tend to have several running to provide live feedback. We’re always looking for participants, and if that interests you, you can apply to the program here.

 

Release Notes Jan through March 2020

Bug Fixes

We have made all our release notes available within our support and knowledge base.

Check back for regular updates.