As technology advances, tasks that were once difficult or preventively expensive, are now within reach.
In the world of commercial building inspection software, there are many advancements that present opportunities for managers to save money and provide excellent service.
Whether it's an ongoing construction project or a scheduled commercial building inspection, software is used to increase safety, quality and compliance of the operation.
Available for up to 5 users
Premium for $99/month for the first 20 users (with free trial period)
Available on iOS, Android and Web
However, there are many different types of inspections and with that, comes different types of software. Instead of deliberating the difference between software with similar features, this article will provide 4 completely different types of inspection software we recommend checking out in 2024.
With this, we hope you can find a new commercial building inspection software to try in the new year.
What Is Commercial Building Inspection Software?
Commercial building inspection software is designed to assist in identification, documentation and correction of defects, damage, and hazards that would negatively impact the safety and quality of continued operations.
Often, building inspection programs are used by facility managers, building owners, contractors, commercial site inspectors, technicians, and a wide range of other professionals who are held accountable for different aspects of the building's well-being.
Due to a wide range of commercial building structures, layouts and details, there are many different types of commercial software to choose from. The examples on this list cover this wide array to support inspections from the ground, air and even virtual inspections.
Why Is Building Inspection Software Important?
In short, inspections provide protection from downside risk caused by compliance, safety and quality issues.
Regulatory authorities worldwide have set different standards to ensure that commercial and residential buildings are constructed and maintained in a certain manner that prioritizes human safety and minimizes risk of injury to staff and consumers who occupy the space. Non compliance can lead to serious fines and even shut down operations entirely.
Furthermore, commercial building inspection software helps to identify symptoms of issues to provide opportunity for correction prior to it becoming a safety concern. This type of preventive maintenance is crucial to retaining a strong brand image and to protect your bottom line from surprise expenditure due to equipment failure. It also keeps your team safe, ensuring that unexpected injury and lawsuits don't threaten your bottom line.
4 New Commercial Building Inspection Software
1. Xenia - All in One Maintenance, Inspections and Operations Platform
Xenia is a frontline workforce management solution that combines the key features of computerized maintenance management systems, safety inspection platforms and deskless team operations software to provide an all in one solution.
Xenia solves building inspections with a robust checklist builder that supports procedures, pass/fail, text and number inputs, photo attachments, and notes. All failed inspection points are flagged during use for easy review, and completed inspections are saved in a log view for review and audit trail.
Inspection checklists can be assigned to team members via a task and work order module that tracks details such as category, priority level, and time to completion. Managers can track progress in real time and communicate within each task via an integrated chat system.
All inspection checklists can be reviewed and exported individually or with all entries in aggregate for easy analysis of inspections over time. The individual reports have time stamps on every step of the checklist to protect against pencil whipping and fraud, while the aggregate view is in an Excel file for easy data analysis.
Key Features
- Safety and quality management inspections on desktop and mobile
- Ready-to-use checklist and inspections library (customizable in-app) and easy-to-use builder
- Task Management with integrated checklists, SOPs, and chats to power teamwork and accountability
- Lightweight CMMS powering work orders, PMs, Inspections, Audits, and Safety Compliance
- Easy to organize and export reports in both PDF and CSV
- Employee directory with individual chats, groups, and company-wide announcements
- Custom location configuration to assign work to specific facility areas
- Fast onboarding and ease of use
Pricing
- Xenia's pricing starts at $15 per user per month for monthly subscribers
- Annual plan prices are further discounted to $10 per user per month
2. vHive - Drone Powered Exterior Inspections
vHive is an end to end software that enables the creation of digital twin maps of field assets and facilities using autonomous drone fleets. Although this may be intimidating at first glance, vHive simplifies a problem that many inspections cannot handle; view from the air. For industries such as telecommunications, cranes, construction and insurance, the software provides detail and security like never before.
vHive improves employee safety by sending drones to inspect assets that previously would have been climbed by humans. Given the high risk of human climbing, the operational savings of time and money are easily realized with vHive.
With vHive, you can either use your own drone (if you have a commercial drone license) or leverage their global field operations network to collect the footage. The technology will take over from there and provide a virtual twin model of your facility that can be shared for collaboration and actionability.
Key Features:
- Drone powered inspections and digital mapping
- 360-degree virtual site tour
- Inspection audits through a dedicated task management grid
- Inbuilt A. I and machine learning capabilities
- Data insights sharing and custom reports
- Construction assets inspection
Pricing:
- vHive pricing plan details are available on request
3. Procore - Advanced End to End Construction Management
ProCore is the industry's leading construction management software platform, helping companies in the construction industry manage their projects from start to finish. This cloud-based platform allows users to connect with team members and clients, receive updates on project statuses, and create and assign tasks.
ProCore allows its users to keep track of every aspect of their project, including expenses and time spent on individual tasks. It also makes it easy for clients or team members to submit requests and track the progress being made on those requests by other team members.
With ProCore's mobile app, you can access your files at any time—even if you're off-site—and give your clients a full picture of what's happening with their projects with detailed inspections with full project information available in one place.
For enterprise level construction projects, Procore is an outstanding solution for building inspections and project management
Key Features:
- Pre Construction Management: qualification, bids, and estimates
- Project Management: design, quality and safety management
- Workforce management: scheduling, productivity analytics
- Financial management: project financials, invoicing, accounting
Pricing:
- Procore pricing plan details are available on request
4. Camino - Virtual Building Inspection Software
Camino is the easiest way to conduct virtual inspections. Their software allows you to invite an on-site attendee to use their mobile device as the video feed for external inspectors to view. The software makes it easy to record the video, annotate the screen, capture images, location data and take notes.
This helps to streamline inspections related to permitting and licensing which provides huge cost savings to event planners, municipalities and construction companies. This software is used by cities in California and New York and leads to massive time and financial savings associated with in person inspections.
Key Features:
- Virtual Inspection Management
- Record video, capture images
- Add notes and drawings to images and video
- Capture location data
- Improves permitting inspection cost and timing
Pricing:
- Camino pricing plan details are available on request
Conclusion: Explore Your Options Every Year
With the rapid development and advancements in technology it is essential to evaluate your options each year and decide whether your existing solutions are meeting your needs.
It is important to think creatively about possible solutions to your inspection needs. Whether you need a flexible in-person inspection platform like Xenia or a drone powered exterior mapping system such as vHive, there are an assortment of options available to choose from.
In the end, the goal is to identify the core problems that your business is facing and test out solutions to that problem. Your business problems may move over time, causing new questions to arise and a new window of opportunity to solve with software. Stay curious and up to date with technology and you will be in a great position to choose wisely, saving your team time and money.