Please note that Homexam no longer offers web sites.

Streaming video note: We are changing all the videos to flash
format - better image quality, and they'll always be available
(it appears that Google Video has removed our videos that
no one had taken the time to rate). We hope to have all 
videos working again soon. In the meantime, you can get two 
free CDs with all videos. Important note: The videos mention
websites that you can get that are hosted by Homexam, 
but Homexam NO LONGER hosts websites.

Free! Get 2 CDs & DVD with movies that explain the e-report system -
just send an email request to joiereavis@yahoo.com

16 e-report CDs.

Special offer for first-time users of Homexam's e-report system: 
Get 16 e-report CDs for $50.00!  Here's how:

1. Mail us your photo (either a print or 35mm negative or transparency) of 
your face (or digitized - at least 400x400 pixels) and tell us how to use it by 
filling out our form. Print the form and sign it before mailing it with a CD to 
which you have burned these files:

2. The above-mentioned form; your photo and/or logo, if you have a digitized 
version; and a simulated inspection report that includes at least 3 references to 
Homexam's homeowner's manual. We recommend that you use Homexam's free 
EZguide or Porter Valley's Homexam library, but you could use your current 
software and add 3 statements, something like "see 1C.19 in the homeowner's 
manual included on this CD." The simulated report should be complete - one that 
you would be proud to deliver to your customer.

3. Mail the printed form and the CD containing the form, your report, etc., to
our address, along with your check for $50.

When using your CDs, you'll burn your reports to the CDs (see movie). When
your customers place their e-report CD into their computer, a brief movie will
explain how to get the most from the CD; and your report and the homeowner's
manual both will open automatically. They'll also see the files and folders
included on the CD, including the installation files for Adobe Acrobat, Open
Office (which includes a Word-like word processor so that they can read any
reports created in the .doc format), and a movie player that will play most
movie types, including those that you may have burned onto their disk.

Pretty spiffy, huh? If you send a request to joiereavis@yahoo.com, we'll
mail you 2 CDs that explain everything, including all the
instructional movies mentioned herein.

Homexam reserves the right to withdraw this offer at any time.

New! You can download a 5-minute movie that tells your customers how they
can get the most from the e-report system (you could burn it to mini-business
card CDs). You also can use it in presentations to real estate agents, attorneys,
and other referral sources. Click here to download. If you prefer to watch a
streaming version of that movie and don't want to save it to your hard disk,
please click here. This movie is included on all e-report CDs.

New! Watch our 12-min. anti-liability movie, 
"Inspectors, Lawsuits, and Watermarks."

You can watch a streaming movie that explains the e-report system here.
In addition to instructions, it explains the advantages of the e-report system.

More free e-report CDs: When you receive your free e-report CDs, we'll include
bonus cards that you can give to your home inspector friends. If they put a
bonus card in the envelope with their request for free e-report CDs, they'll get an
additional 4 e-report CDs, and you'll get an additional 16 e-report CDs!

Getting started: First (for those who took advantage of previous website offer), 
register an unused website name. To do that, go to 1and1
and choose a short name. Unfortunately, we've found that trying to register for
someone else is difficult or impossible; so please register and then forward the
e-mail that you receive from the registrar to us so that we can change the name
servers to point to the new website that we'll host for you (or do it yourself - see
instructions above). After your site is working, change the password (only you
should be able to modify your registration of your domain name). The cost of
registration should be less than $8 per year. To see an intructional movie select
"Choosing a Domain Name" after clicking here.
.

Next: After you find an unused website name, use this updated form to give
that name to us with your order for free CDs. We'll setup up your website and 
CD face after receiving your instructions that you'll write into the form. You can
download the suggested web pages for your website here. After you unzip them,
place the .html and .htm files into a directory on your hard disk, such as "www,"
then create a subdirectory named "images" and place all the .jpg files in it.

Editing your website: Best done with Nvu - go to www.nvu.com and download
their free editor (it's great). Setup as shown in the screenshot, below.

You can watch a streaming  instructional video for Nvu here. It's intended for
users of e3servers service providers, but the information generally applies to
other servers.

After you edit your web pages, save them to your hard disk before publishing to
the web with Nvu. When publishing to the web, you always should put Nvu's
.html files into the public_html directory (if you are using e3servers).

Control panel: Or, you can transfer files from your hard disk to your website by
using the free control panel that we'll assign to you. You can access it from your
web browser, such as Internet Explorer (or - better yet - Firefox). Just type

(so sorry, our server changed the numbers and we no longer offer websites; please
contact your server for instructions; however, you might still get an idea of how it all
works by reading the rest, below):

into your browser's address block, sign in with the username and password that
we sent to you by email, and click (or double click, if necessary) the icon for 
the File Manager, choose (click) the public_html directory, then click Upload and 
choose the file from your hard disk with the Browse button.

Filezilla: Instead of publishing your work to your you website with Nvu or the
Control Panel, you could transfer the files (including graphic files, movie files,
etc.) to your website with Filezilla (click to download), a free file-transfer
program. You also can use Filezilla to create a subdirectory under the public_html
directory that should be named "images." Use Filezilla to put all .jpg images there.

As instructed in the google movie (or the YouTube movie) and shown in the screen shot above, 

type 70.85.5.135
into Filezilla's "Host" space. Choose 21 for the "port" and FTP as the "server type,"
enter the username and password that you receive from us via email, and you're
done. 

Image editor: If you want to create a new button, add text to the blank button 
templates that you downloaded above (or here), use VicMan's Photo Editor -
download the free version from www.photo-editor.net. When you add text,
use Arial or Arial Bold font, 14 pt. size. Usually it's best to save image files 
in the .JPG format. If you wish to create a new button that is the same size
as those created for you by Homexam, the dimensions should be 80 pixels
high by 150 pixels wide. Watch the instructional movie here.

You also could install Google's free Picassa2. It will straighten pictures so
that buildings stand vertically instead of tilted, etc., and do other neat tricks.

To do this, go to your DNS registry help or your website administrators and ask
them for help (you'll need your username and password). If you already know
your DNS account location, log onto your account, type in your username and
password, then change the name servers to the 2 new nameserver names
(ns1 and ns2) as follows:

ns1.e3-gecko.com

ns2.e3-gecko.com

If you have your DNS account registered with Networksolutions, dotster, 1and1,
or godaddy, Homexam will try to help you for a small fee (typiclly $30). You’ll
need to supply the passwords. Sometimes the site is locked - all sites are locked
for at least 60 days after creation. Sometimes it is easier to simply choose a new
domain name.

Step-by-Step Instructions - our recommendations

1. Organize your hard disk: If you haven't installed EZguide, create a new
directory on Drive C with the name Homexam. Do this from Windows Explorer
(hold the Windows key as you press E) by clicking Drive C to turn it blue, then
click File> New Folder, and typing "Homexam." (If you installed Homexam's
free EZguide, it already has created that directory.)

2. Click the new directory: Click the "Homexam" directory to turn it blue,
then create a subdirectory entitled "Reports," using Windows Explorer as
described above.

You may want to create yet another directory under "Reports" for each inspection.
That way, all related files - movies, pictures, reports, etc. - will be easy to find in
one place. If you name the directory beginning with the date - such as
2005-10-31-BobSmith - then all the directories will appear in chronological order
when you view them in Windows Explorer.

3. Create reports on site, review the draft report with your customer (making
any necessary changes), and save it with the filename exactly as shown on the
face of the CD (be sure not to change case - don't use caps unless the face shows
caps) to your directory and then immediately again save as "report-draft.doc."
If you use exactly that filename, then the report will open automatically when
your customers put their e-report CDs into their computers.

4. Close that report-draft.doc file and burn it to your e-report CD - you
won't be able to burn an open Word file. If you don't use Word to create your
reports, you'll need to edit the autorun.bat file in Notepad so that instead of
saying "start report-draft.doc" it says "start report-draft.???" and substitute your
filename extension for the "???." You can start Notepad by clicking

Start>Programs>Accessories>Notepad

Now when you burn your CD, burn the new autorun.bat file along with your
report. Better yet, tell us to change the autorun.bat file before we create your
e-report CDs so that it will have the correct filename extension already burned
onto the CD.

5. Review your report within 48 hours, add a watermark (see below) so
that it will appear on each page, add your digitized signature to the last
page, and save it as a .pdf file with Open Office or Win2pdf (see below).
The watermark and signature make it difficult for unauthorized persons to alter 
your file. Upload the .pdf file to your website using FTP software, such as Filezilla. 

6. Notify your customer by email that the final version of the report is on the
web, and remind him or her of the password (if you created a .PDF file that
requires a password).

---------------------

Watermarks: You can create a watermark in Word by clicking View>Headers
and Footers. Then click Insert>Picture>From File and place it on the page
between the header and the footer. Click it to open the picture menu and choose
the text-wrap option that places the image behind the text. Press the PgDn key
a couple of times to see if it appears on the other pages. If not, go back to the
picture, click it once and press Ctrl C to copy it, then PgDn to the next page and
press Ctrl V to paste it. Then it should appear on all pages of your report. Our
movie shows this process.

Signature for the last page: You can write your signature in an image editing
program or in Open Office's Word-equivalent with your mouse or a pen, but it's
simpler to photograph it with a digital camera after writing it on a white sheet
with a felt-tip pen. If you put your signature behind some of the text, and upload
the report to the web in .pdf format, it will be almost impossible for someone to
extract your signature from the text and cheat with it.

Speaking of cheating, you also might want to password-protect the .pdf file. You
can't do that with the free version of Win2pdf, but you can pay a few bucks and
do it. Then you won't have to worry that unauthorized persons will read the report. 

Questions and Answers:

Q: I recently received a newsletter from a trainer of inspectors who
argues against using a reporting system that includes references to
codes or a book. He says each such a reference is making a
"recommendation as directive" and results in problems when going to
court, or when specialists, code enforcement officers, etc., have other
opinions. Is it really a good idea to give reports that include references
to a book, such as The User-Friendly Home?
There are two conflicting business models to be found in the home-inspection
industry. One model argues that inspectors should keep it simple, for any
complications - such as "excessive" written material, or the use of moisture
meters, electrical testers, etc., "just give the opposing attorney ammunition with
which to shoot you in court." Decisions in this business model are intended to
avoid getting into disputes with others professionals (real estate agents,
tradespersons, code officers, etc.) and - above all - to win cases in court. We
could call this the defensive model.

The other major model argues that we should serve our customers to the best of
our ability, even if doing so sometimes results in conflict with others. In this
model, the inspector clearly expresses his or her concerns rather than referring
to problems as "conditions," gives an outline of possible repairs, and information
on tempting - but ineffective - alternatives that don't work. Inspectors who follow
this model use moisture meters, electrical testers, and any other tools that help
them tell their customers as much as possible about the house given the time
limitations imposed by the customer's chosen level of thoroughness/cost. This
could be called the service model.

Homexam chose this model because we feel a moral obligation to provide our
customers with the best possible information. For example, I heard in a tape of a
presentation given to home inspectors a story about someone who was
electrocuted by a receptacle that had totally reversed wiring.

What an unnecessary tragedy! $2 neon-bulb testers find these "conditions." In
such cases - by paying lawyers a substantial fee and enduring months of stress -
you may prevail in court by arguing that you only offer visual inspections; but
how can you prevail in your conscience?

Moreover, even when problems are missed, customers probably are less likely
to sue when they see that you are going the extra mile to inform them by using
testers and giving them a homeowner's manual. Remember this: Avoiding
court is always better than winning in court.

If you fully inform your customer, you will lose some referrals. But an increasing
number of enlightened agents are searching for inspectors who provide thorough
reports. Better yet: When you provide superior service, you can mail postcards to
past customers asking them to give your telephone number to their homebuyer
friends. Then you won't be dependent upon referrals from real estate agents.

Does this business model work? It certainly did for Homexam. During the decade
when we were doing home inspections, we never got sued, nor threatened with a
lawsuit. And when we decided to devote full time to developing training materials,
some real-estate agents were at first unwilling to stop sending their clients to us
(in one case we had to send a registered letter to an agent, begging him to stop
giving our telephone number to his clients).

Similarly, some of the most successful inspection companies, such as HomePro,
Carson-Dunlop, and other industry leaders, promote both book-based reporting
systems and the use of testers. Of course, you could write long reports that
include the material found in books; but do you really want to take time to print
the pictures necessary for full understanding? Certainly that would preclude
the use of on-site reports - which always are preferred by customers, agents,
and others involved in the transaction.

Q: Do customers read the book?
Generally, inspectors who don't at least put checkmarks in the index tell us that
their customers find the book to be overwhelming. At least put checkmarks in
the margins of the index by sections of the book that are especially
important for your customers to read. However, if you really want them to
read the references (and it is to your benefit for you to do everything possible to
get them to read the book, which reinforces reasonable expectations), include a
reference with almost every item on the report. Having said that . . .

A few engineer-types read the book from cover to cover. Some mere mortals read
all the referenced items. However, more read only those items that particularly
interest them. And, unfortunately, some are like the high EPA official who burned
out the motor on his circulator by flooding the oil cup with too much oil. Then,
according to his wife - who happened to be a real estate agent and who told me 
this story - he then read the other referenced articles just to avoid ruining
something else in the house. People generally don't throw away the book, and
most eventually read relevant sections.

Q: An inspector who once offered the book to customers for an additional
sum told me that most customers did not pay extra for the book. Do
customers value the book?
Customers who glance at the book probably won't see why it should cost  twice
as much as, say, some book from their local home center. However, as a trained
home inspector, you know that no book in the home center contains as much
technical information as The User-Friendly Home. More important (at least from
your perspective), the book helps set reasonable expectations. If you you want
to reduce callbacks and lawsuits, it probably is to your advantage for your
customers to read the book. 

Q: Do I get a free website if I prefer to give paper editions of Homexam's
book instead of CDs?
Homexam no longer offers websites.

Q: I have a Homexam website. Does the website include email service?
Yes, the control panel that you get with your website allows you to set up email
service. However, we recommend that you use the free mail service at Yahoo.com
or pay for the spam-free Zoemail.net mail. If, instead, you choose to use your
website, all webmail can be opened by typing your website name and then adding
/webmail into your browser address block. No account needs to be set up, and you'll
get everything sent to your website. For example, people can send an email to us
by addressing it to larry@homexam.com, or climate@homexam.com or whatever -
it all comes into the mailbox and can be seen when I go to
www.homexam.com/webmail - including tons of spam (please don't send anything
to homexam.com, for we don't read it; this morning I deleted 800+ spam emails).

Q: If I do chose to create mail service on my website, how many email
addresses can I create for free?
As many as you want.

Q: Can I access my mail from any browser on any computer, or do I need
to setup Outlook Express, or other mail software?
You can access your control panel from any browser, and the control panel has a
webmail program that will allow you to read your mail, respond, compose a new
email, etc. Just type

http://www.(inspector).com/webmail   
(after your domain name has propagated - some 72 hours after we get it going)

or

http://70.85.5.135:2095        
(immediately available on your new website)

Q: Does my website include SSL (secure socket layer) encryption so
that I can solicit customer’s credit card numbers in emails or post them
on my website?
Not at present. However, you can insert a secure paypal button rather easily by
using the "Source" view in Nvu. Just download paypal buttons code, copy the
code that you want, and paste it into your webpage using Nvu's Source view.
Be sure to edit the values regarding price, etc.

Buy clear plastic CD holders, peel and stick, for delivering an e-report CD along 
with a paperback or 3-hole punch book. You can get them from Quill.

Q: I plan to store all my reports permanently on my hard disk. Is there an
easy way to find a particular report?
Get Google's free Copernic. It can find any file that contains the text for which
you search - such as your customer's name. The search may be especially easy if
you use EZguide, for it has more pre-worded items that almost any other reporting
software. If, then, you can remember a particular problem in that house, you can
search for the exact wording that is found in EZguide, and you'll pull up all the 
reports that contain that item. You should be able to identify the exact report you
want by noting the date. Yahoo desktop search may be even better.

2007 update: Get the free X1 Desktop Search instead.

Q: Where can I learn more about the mini-cd business cards? What is
their capacity?
The mini-CDs hold 225 MB with a full-color image of your face and logo.
See our marketing page. We now are likely to charge a setup fee for these.

Q: If I want to make professional quality videos, what sound editor do
you recommend?
Get the free Audacity - it gets good reviews.

Q: Which pro video editor?
I've used Adobe Premier and others, but much prefer Sony Vegas. If you can't
afford the price then consider the similar Sony Vegas Movie Studio + DVD -
available here for about $80.

Q: Is there any free video editing software worth considering?
You might look at Avid's freeware here.

Q: I don't have GPS to help find my customers' country houses. Solution?
Download Google Earth - the free satelite service; or, go to local.google.com.

Q: Is there a free drawing program that you recommend?

A  free program is Inkscape; download here.

Q: Is there free clipart that I can include in my marketing?
Try this link.

Q: Is there a free 3d image-creation program?
Blender has been around for years, and many people swear by it. Not for the
novice.

Q: How do I keep virus infections and other junk out of my computer?
Get avast! home edition, or the free AVG. But you also need a
firewall - get the free Zonealarm. It's also a good idea to search for spy infections with 
adware and spybot. Finally, get Panda's $30 anti-virus tool that does NOT depend upon 
a database of known virus signatures. Better yet, set up a virtual Linux machine that runs within Windows. It would be an
exceptional virus that would be able to get out of the virtual machine and infect your
real machine, and, anyway, few viruses are written for Linux. Best of all, if your Linux
virtual machine does get infected, you can uninstall it and re-install everything. Our
movie shows how to create a virtual machine using 100% free software that will do
everything on the web that a home inspector needs - setting up a website, browsing
the web, etc. Incidentally, the link above is to an updated movie, so watch it even if
you have watched the CD version of the movie.

Q: Where do I get the Lightwave Illuminator, mentioned in the video? 
LEDs for video?
Here's the Lightwave Illuminator. You can get the LEDs here.