Report Writing Tool
Jun 2023
WIN Home Inspection
SaaS
My Role
UX Lead - Information Architecture, User Flows, Empathy Mapping, Prototyping, Visual Design, Interaction Design, Usability Testing
Team
3 Frontend, 2 Backend, 2 QAs, 1 PM, 3 SMEs
Timeline & Status
6 months, MVP launch: Dec 2023
3 months, Web launch: Mar 2023
4 months, v2 launch: Jul 2024
Overview
Rebuilding a decade old inspection workflow without disrupting the people who relied on it every day. In 2023, WIN Home Inspection made a strategic decision to reduce its dependency on a third-party platform that had powered inspections for nearly ten years - ISN.
The platform wasn't broken. In many ways, it had become part of how inspectors worked. But increasing costs, limited flexibility, and growing operational dependencies made it difficult for the business to evolve.
The goal wasn't simply to replace software. The goal was to replace habits.
HIGHLIGHTS
An end-to-end re-imagination of how home inspections are conducted and completed on-site. Reduced the time to 40mins (67% reduction)
0.1
Product Synopsis
VIDEO
0.2
Admin Panel
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0.3
App - Key Pages
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0.4
Web - Key Page
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0.5
Interactive Report
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CONTEXT
An opportunity to re-imagine home inspection report writing
The ask was loud and clear
Moving away from a legacy third party software (ISN) to build our own ecosystem that enables inspectors based in US to complete inspections on-site.
The report writer is where we started from since it's the bread & butter of the business.
So we went to investigate the source - ISN
"
I spent almost 2 hours on the inspection site writing issues on my notepad to come back and document it on web app because the app is so laggy even on my iPad Pro that it crashes at inspections
1-1 Interview
Zoom
A Reddit User
r/homeinspectors
I messed around with it during beta testing…hated it. Wasn’t intuitive and it felt clunky. I’m not sure if they worked out the kinks or not
It’s so difficult to train my additional inspectors. I get so many inspections calls but have to turn them down as it takes so long to complete even two in a day.
Survey
Google Forms
I often find myself getting lost within the application, it becomes frustrating after a point. I have 500+ categories to go through for each inspection report.
Survey
Google Forms
"
My clients want the report on the same day, and it brings a negative impact on my business when i’m not able to do so
1-1 Interview
Zoom
A Reddit User
r/homeinspections
Almost no one uses ISN report software. It's terrible. I don't understand how such a big player in the industry can't prioritise their core product. On top of that, they are now sharing data with Porch???
and many, MANY more…
1.0
Feedback on ISN
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Is there not a single inspection software that is easy to navigate through and does not require me to go through 10000 steps to just document an issue. Literally all softwares out there are sh*t at doing their job.
A man can only dream.
1.1
A Dream
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THE PROBLEM
This wasn't going to be a simple redesign from scratch.
A pile-up of contraints
We had to move our inspectors to an entirely new product which meant developing the solution in a tight timeline with feedback loops, handle onboarding & data recovery, training sessions, etc.
The decision was made to build an offline-first mobile app as the MVP - which came with its own set of unique constraints and challenges:
A five month deadline, because ISN was sunsetting and we had to onboard every user before the deadline.
Limited backend infrastructure. We had to use ISN's backend for order listings, prop details & report delivery.
Old habits die hard. We had to move inspectors awayfrom a product they were using for >10 years.
Template & remarks. Our biggest challenge. Managing 35 different templates with remarks for each.
THE CHALLENGE
Design a new mobile-first app for inspectors which enables them to complete inspection on-site, while keeping all the necessary features the legacy app provided.