VANGUARD v.27

No! Pay once and it's yours to use forever. All minor revisions are always free (v.26.1, v.26.2 etc.). Major updates (e.g. v.26>v.27) are optional and have a small upgrade fee after two years. All updates, minor or major, are free for two years from the  date of purchase. Most inspectors go five years or more between upgrades. 

No! We have never collected inspector information other than the details needed to process a purchase or to build a custom website. We never have, and never will sell your information. We do not, never have, and never will access, collect, or sell your clients' information. We take your privacy and your clients' privacy very seriously.   

No. Everything runs locally on your computer/device. You can, optionally, store your reports on a cloud service of your choice or back-up reports to a cloud service, but that is entirely at your discretion. Everything resides and runs locally. The only time you need internet access is when you download the software to install it.

We develop software for the platforms that you almost certainly already own, such as MS 365, and PDF, so you don't have to purchase DLLs and run-time engines times that already reside on your computer or device. Most software, of any kind or type, is modular in its construction. The developer doesn't create all the components. Software is like constructing a building. It is made from putting together many components that have to be purchased or leased and held together by a certain amount of custom code. The modules are in various forms such as DLLs and Drivers. The software developer doesn't know which components you already have so they have to include them to give you a complete functional software product.

We use a completely different approach. We already know that almost all businesses use MS 365 and Adobe's free Acrobat Reader. We build on top of those technologies that you already own or have ready access to. MS 365 is the most powerful, robust, and comprehensive development platform that exists. We leverage that power with thousands of lines of custom code that is integrated with millions of lines of code that Microsoft has spent tens of billions of dollars developing. The same is true with PDF technology. The runtime engine for all XFA apps resides in the free Adobe Acrobat Reader that you almost certainly already have, and it's free if you don't already have it.  An XFA PDF, such as our WindSurance Insurance Report software and InspectorLogic Pro, is an app. It can do all the things you expect of an app. You can add or remove report sections, add or remove photo sections, and so on.

Yes. We offer free live telephone support (ph. 313-920-5996, or 407-641-1954), email support (support@bestinspectors.net), and live remote one-on-one support. We don't place our customers on long telephone holds. If you don't get an answer when you call, leave a voice mail message and your call will be returned promptly. 

We are inspectors first, and foremost. We have been in business since 1992. We started as a non-profit organization that initially did training and consulting, mainly for construction contractors. Our first software grew out of a need to train construction companies in things like project management and project accounting. In 1999, our founder and one of our first trainers decided to go into the home and commercial building inspection business. In those days, most reports were done on paper on a clipboard. Most of the time, the inspector didn't even keep a copy for himself. he reports were hand-written and delivered to the customer at the conclusion of the inspection. There were no photos in the reports. Most inspectors purchased pre-printed reports in bulk, usually 10, 50, or 100 reports at a time. There weren't many software options and the time and the few that existed were too expensive for most inspectors to even consider.

Having come from a large corporate background, the way inspectors were doing reports seemed archaic to us. We were accustomed to more modern and efficient ways of doing things. As consultants and trainers, teaching others to be efficient was a major component of what we did. Our first thought was that at a minimum, we could avoid purchasing by creating reports in the still very new Portable Document Format (PDF), which was invented he same year we started in business. After spending months designing and refining our first report, we decided to recoup some of our investment by selling it as an alternative to inspectors needing to buy paper copies in bulk over and over. For a nominal one-time cost, they could buy our report and print an unlimited number of copies. The paper reports typically cost anywhere from $5 to $20 a copy. With our report, an inspectors could print a report for less than $1. Our reports were an instant hit with inspectors and transformed the inspection world. More than a quarter of a century later, we have the largest assortment of home, commercial, and inspection report software in the free world.