What Is the Gunnysack Method?

The name says it all. Instead of picking up individual items one by one, you toss everything into one sack. In the context of home inspection reporting, that means selecting one master comment, for instance, “Old Nonconforming Stairs”, and letting it contain every possible code violation and defect related to that system. So all you have to do is select those that apply. No more searching. No more copy-pasting. One comment, countless problems covered.

It’s an innovative methodology built directly into the ScribeWare inspection platform, and once you see how it works, it’s hard to imagine going back to the old way.

The Four-Step Gunnysack Workflow

Step 1: Select a Single Master Comment

The process begins with choosing one high-level comment that represents the system you’re inspecting. Rather than scrolling through 50 different stair-related comments, you’d select a single “Old Nonconforming Stairs” entry. That one comment becomes the container—the “sack”—for everything that follows.

Step 2: Add Photos and Supporting Visuals

With the master comment selected, you can then drag and drop inspection photos directly into it. ScribeWare also comes standard with pre-loaded illustrations that can be added to the report as well, which is useful for illustrating code requirements or common defect patterns without needing to source images on the fly.

Step 3: Customize with Specific Defects

Here’s where the real power of the Gunnysack comes in. Double-clicking within the master comment opens a checklist of every common code violation and defect related to that system. It’s all there, every item that could conceivably be wrong with a staircase, pre-written and ready to go.

Step 4: Check Off All Applicable Issues

Then you simply click the checkboxes next to each observed problem. Guardrails incomplete? Check. Handrails do not return? Check. Riser heights uneven? Check. Each selected item is automatically added to the report narrative, with no typing required.

Why It Works: The Three Core Benefits

Speed and Efficiency

The most immediate win is time. Searching for, writing, and inserting multiple individual comments is one of the most time-consuming parts of report writing. The Gunnysack Method eliminates that bottleneck almost entirely. Inspectors can document complex, multi-issue systems in a fraction of the time it used to take.

Quality and Consistency

Because all the text is pre-written and proofread within the ScribeWare platform, every report that comes out of the Gunnysack Method is held to the same standard. There are no typos introduced in the rush of a busy inspection day, no vague or incomplete descriptions, and for multi-inspector firms, no variation between inspectors covering the same type of defect. The language is precise, professional, and the same every time.

An Excellent Training Tool

For newer inspectors, the Gunnysack Method doubles as a built-in training guide. Because every relevant code requirement and potential defect for a given system is already built into the master comment, nothing gets overlooked simply because an inspector didn’t know to look for it. It creates a consistent floor of thoroughness, regardless of experience level.

The Bottom Line

The ScribeWare Gunnysack Method is a practical solution to one of the oldest problems in inspection reporting: the tension between speed and completeness. Organizing defects under a single master comment and turning the selection process into a simple checklist, it makes it genuinely easy to write fast reports without sacrificing the detail that clients and liability both demand.

One comment. Countless problems covered. That’s the Gunnysack.

Watch a video about it!

ScribeWare’s mobile app includes a powerful workflow called “Photo Captions to Bullets” that lets you do the heavy lifting while you’re still on-site, so that by the time you leave the property, your report is practically writing itself.

Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Capture & Caption with Your Voice

It starts the moment you take a photo. As you move through the inspection, snap images directly in the ScribeWare mobile app and immediately add a specific defect caption using voice-to-text (just your voice!). Rather than a vague note, you can dictate precisely what you’re looking at — something like “Roof shows signs of wear and missing shingle near chimney” — in just a few seconds.

Instead of relying on memory or scribbled notes later, you’re capturing accurate, detailed observations at the exact moment you see them. Every photo becomes its own mini-report entry before you’ve even moved on to the next room.

Step 2: Group Photos Under a “Parent” Comment

Once you’ve built up a collection of captioned photos in a particular area, the next step is organization. ScribeWare lets you group related images together under a single overarching observation called a “parent comment.” Think of it as a folder title that gives context to everything inside it.

For example, all those individual roof photos with their specific captions get grouped under a parent comment like “Roof Repairs Needed.” This keeps your report structured and logical, with general findings sitting at the top and the detailed evidence neatly filed beneath them. You’re not just taking photos, you’re building the architecture of your report in real time.

Step 3: Instantly Create a Detailed List

Here’s the payoff. With a single tap, ScribeWare converts all of your individual photo captions into a clean, formatted bulleted list under the parent comment. Instantly, “Roof Repairs Needed” becomes a professional observation entry complete with supporting bullet points like “Roof shows signs of wear and missing shingle near chimney”, and “Gap in flashing observed”, all ready to drop straight into your report.

No retyping. No reformatting. No digging back through 40 photos trying to remember what you were looking at. The report writes itself from the captions you already created with voice-to-text. And all the client sees is a simple bulleted list of all the defects. Clean and easy to understand.

Three Bonus Features Worth Knowing

Instantly Access the Caption Screen. ScribeWare includes a setting called “Advance from photo to caption screen” that automatically jumps you to the caption field every time you take a photo. Enable it once, and you’ll save hundreds of clicks across a full inspection.

Two Ways to Link Photos & Observations. You’re not locked into one workflow. You can add photos directly from within a comment, or you can select photos from your gallery and assign them to a comment afterward. Either way works; use whichever fits your style in the moment.

Never Miss a Required Field. The “Needs Attention” feature flags any incomplete required fields and missing information across your entire report in one place. It’s your quality-control checkpoint before you hit submit, so nothing falls through the cracks.

The Bottom Line

The Photo Captions to Bullets workflow isn’t just a productivity trick — it’s a fundamental shift in how you approach an inspection. By building your report as you go rather than reconstructing it afterward, you stay more observant in the field, produce more detailed findings, and get your reports out faster. Our inspectors say they save between 30 and 90 minutes per report.

For home inspectors who pride themselves on being thorough, ScribeWare’s mobile tools make sure that thoroughness actually shows up in the final document… without costing you an extra hour at your desk.

Here’s a video demo:

… and here’s it in action!

We hope it helps you decide if you want to spend some time with us at the conference.

If you like what you see, stop by to learn more and say hello.

Want to chat with us now?

If you’d rather get in touch now, just let us know! We’d be happy to jump on a call or Zoom at any time.

I’ve been inspecting since about 2003, and back then, digital cameras were a brand-new thing. Most people wrote reports with paper, carbonless copy-type checkbox reports, and the reports that the client saw were absolutely awful. But they were incredibly fast to write. You’d check a few boxes, and you’d be done. 

What we wanted to create at ScribeWare was the speed of a checkbox report, but the elegance and beauty of a photo-driven narrative report. 

We’ve done this by designing the ScribeWare workflow so that you just check a box when an issue is found, and a pre-written comment will automatically populate in the report. You’re adding an entire paragraph of pre-written information, including recommended maintenance advice, with one click. Then you can quickly and easily add photos… using voice-to-text to caption the photo. You can even turn those captions into bullets with a click of a button to add more detail to your report!

In short, you can add dozens of detailed comments and photos rapidly without repetitive typing or keyword searches. Which saves you time. A lot of it. 

On your side, it looks like a bunch of checkboxes, but the published report is a clean, easy-to-read narrative document that clearly explains issues and concerns. It is rich, visual, and organized, with photos organized by issue, and captions and bulleted lists for easy reference.

See? Party on your side, business on the client side.

Want to know more?

January 22, 2025, 2 PM Pacific

Zoom link for the meeting on 1/22: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2258268664

Looking for more advanced RV inspection report software? Join us for a full demo of ScribeWare RV, led by our RV Inspection specialist, Wayne Kosters.

Wayne will introduce you to ScribeWare and show you all the features of the RV template, which can support motorhome, travel trailer, toy hauler, and external kitchen inspections. You’ll also learn how it’s flexible enough to support multiple bathrooms, toilets, sinks, beds, etc, how the mobile app works seamlessly across all your devices… and more.

For those of you who already have a ScribeWare RV account, we’ll save the last half of the meetup for a Q&A session and a tutorial on how to get started on your first report.

🠞 2:00 – 2:30: Live Demo of ScribeWare RV

🠞 2:30 – 3:00: Getting started and Q&A

You don’t want to miss this! Click below to add the event to your calendar.

1. New Inspection with RV Template
2. Adding Customer Information
3. Adding the Coach Year/Make/Model/VIN Information
4. Adding Inspection Date and Time
5. Adding Boilerplate, Service, and Pricing
6. Select the Contract Agreements
7. Practice Using the Mobile App

The following describes the process of starting a new inspection in RV ScribeWare. The screenshots will show the process of setting up an RV inspection using the desktop ScribeWare application.

New Inspection with the RV Template

Once you have installed the ScribeWare RV template and library, you can select the template by clicking ”Create from template”. This will bring up a list of inspection templates on your system. Select the one that starts with ‘RV Inspections’.

Adding Customer Information

Once the template is selected, you should be on the Client/Property page. The next step is to enter the client’s information, such as Client Name, Client Email, Client Phone, and Property Address.

Adding the Coach Year/Make/Model/VIN Information

The contracts, which are available on request, are configured to use the ‘Agent Name’ field for the coach’s Year/Make/Model and VIN information.

Adding Inspection Date and Time

On the left side of the ‘Client/Property Information’ screen, add the date and time of the inspection in the ‘Inspection Date’ field.

Adding Boilerplate, Service, and Pricing

On the right side of the ‘Client/Property Information’ screen, select the ‘NRVIA Intro’ boilerplate and enter the ‘Invoice Items’: service and pricing.

Select the Contract Agreements

Select the applicable contract agreements and then select the arrow to the right to send the agreements. The agreements shown below are available after reading the Terms and Conditions and sending a request to info@RVScribeware.

Practice Using the Mobile App

Link to Mobile App layout

There are two methods to create an observation on the mobile Scribeware app:

1) Select the book-like icon on the upper right of the app (see Figure 1-1); this will pull up a list of observations that come from the RV ScribeWare library.

2) Select the ‘+ Add New Observation’ on the lower part of the screen (see Figure 1-2).

Watch the YouTube Mobile App Overview

When the residential real estate market slows, many home inspectors feel the impact immediately. Fewer listings and longer days on market inevitably lead to fewer inspection opportunities. But for inspectors willing to broaden their skills and service offerings, commercial inspections present one of the strongest—and most reliable—avenues for business growth.

Commercial buildings are always being bought, sold, leased, remodeled, and repurposed. Even when the housing market cools, commercial activity tends to remain steady. Property investors, building owners, tenants, and lenders all depend on accurate information to make decisions, and that means they need qualified inspectors.

Here’s why commercial inspections offer such a valuable opportunity for home inspectors looking to stabilize and grow their business.

1. Commercial Work is Less Dependent on Market Cycles

Residential markets fluctuate quickly with interest rates and consumer confidence. In contrast, commercial real estate tends to move in longer, steadier cycles. Investors often see slowdowns as buying or redevelopment opportunities—and inspections are part of that process. Retail spaces, warehouses, office suites, light industrial buildings, and mixed-use facilities continue to change hands or tenants regardless of what the residential market is doing.

For inspectors, this translates to more consistent demand.

2. Higher Fees and More Profitable Jobs

Commercial inspections typically command higher fees than residential jobs. Even small commercial units can exceed the price of a typical home inspection, and larger buildings often involve multi-day projects with premium compensation.

Additionally:

• Many commercial clients understand the value of detailed reporting. If you’re using a powerful report writer like ScribeWare, this will help you stand out in the market.
• Larger properties mean larger scopes… and larger invoices.
• Add-on services such as infrared, sewer scoping, drone imaging, reserve studies, or environmental screening integrate naturally.

Commercial work can help inspectors maintain strong revenue even when residential inspections decline.

3. Commercial Clients Value Efficiency and Expertise—A Chance to Stand Out

Unlike typical homebuyers, commercial clients are usually investors, property managers, or business owners. They want clarity, scope, and reliable timelines. Inspectors who can deliver organized reports, strong communication, and a professional process quickly become go-to providers in their region.

For inspectors used to producing high-quality residential reports, like those produced by ScribeWare, commercial inspections can feel like a natural extension—just with more emphasis on systems, safety, and performance.

4. Opportunities for Team Inspections and Scalability

Commercial buildings can be large and complex. While that may intimidate newer inspectors, it’s actually a major advantage. The commercial sector rewards team inspections, where specialized trades or additional inspectors join the project. This allows:

• More collaboration
• Faster onsite times
• Shared expertise
• Ability to take on larger properties
• Potential for scaling your business

It also means inspectors don’t have to “know everything” themselves—they just need to manage the process and bring the right specialists when needed. Just make sure your report software has features built for teams, like automatic syncing, library and template syncing, and required item review (check out our features for multi-inspector firms here).

5. Commercial Inspections Build Long-Term Clients

Residential inspectors may perform one inspection for a single client, maybe two. Commercial inspectors, on the other hand, can gain repeat clients who regularly buy or lease properties and require recurring assessments.

Examples include:

• Property management firms
• Real estate investors
• Developers
• Franchises and chain businesses
• Municipal or nonprofit agencies

These relationships can become reliable pipelines of steady work… and positive, predictable revenue.

Conclusion: A Smart Pivot for Inspectors in Changing Times

As the residential market continues to ebb and flow, diversifying into commercial inspections is one of the most resilient strategies available to home inspectors. It opens the door to:

• Higher earnings
• More consistent work
• Long-term client relationships
• Broader professional expertise
• Business stability, regardless of housing trends
  

Training, standards of practice, and industry resources for commercial inspections are widely available, making it easier than ever for residential inspectors to step into this space responsibly and professionally.

Inspectors who invest in commercial training, refine their reporting tools, and learn to market to commercial clients can build a stronger, more future-proof business. In a shifting market, commercial inspections aren’t just an alternative—they’re a strategic opportunity for real, sustainable growth.

About the Author

Dylan Chalk is the owner of Orca Inspections and a co-founder of ScribeWare inspection report software, a powerful report-writer with purpose-built tools that stand out for multi-inspector and commercial inspection jobs. He is a published author, speaker, a past president of ASHI Washington, is certified by Inspection Training Associates (ITA), a member of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), and has performed more than 8,000 structural home inspections. 

Free Learning Resources

1. Scriber Zoom Meetings

Join our free, regularly scheduled Scriber Zoom meetings. These are a forum where you can ask questions, watch live demonstrations, and learn from both our team and from fellow inspectors. These sessions are an excellent way to deepen your understanding of ScribeWare’s tools and workflows. 

Check out our meetup calendar here for the next Scriber Meetup.

2. YouTube Tutorials

Our YouTube channel is packed with tutorials and walkthroughs covering different aspects of ScribeWare. Whether you’re looking for quick tips or in-depth explanations, our video content can help you master specific features at your own pace.

3. Scribers Forum on Facebook

The Scribers Forum is a thriving community of inspectors who share their experiences, solutions, and best practices for using ScribeWare. If you have a question, chances are someone in the group has encountered a similar challenge and can offer valuable advice.

4. ScribeWare Directions

ScribeWare has well-organized directions that will teach you everything you need to know to use the tool. 

One-on-One Training for Faster, Higher-Quality Inspection Reports… Right Away

ScriberTune-Up Meetings

For those who want personalized help, our Scriber Tune-Up Meetings provide one-on-one report-writing and ScribeWare user training, tailored to your needs. These sessions are designed to help you optimize your workflow, improve report quality, and speed up your inspection reporting process. 

For just $89/hour, you’ll receive customized guidance to enhance your efficiency and mastery of ScribeWare. These can be used for getting started, but you can also use these tune-up meets if you’ve already started using the software. In that case, we can analyze your reports to see how we can improve quality, efficiency, workflow, and overall template design and structure. These can be great for both individual inspectors and team training. 

Find the Right Tools, Style, and Workflow for YOU!

Every inspector has different needs and preferences when it comes to report writing. From the super-simple to the crazy detailed, ScribeWare can support your business model. 

Ready to take your report writing to the next level? Join a Zoom meeting, explore our YouTube tutorials, engage with fellow inspectors in the Scribers Forum, or sign up for a Scriber Tune-Up Meeting today!

1. It often sacrifices the quality and depth of core features, particularly in the case of report writing.
2. It makes your business dependent on a single provider. You can feel trapped if they go down or become unreliable or more expensive. 
3. A limited report writer will hamper your growth. You may overlook the limitations at first but the more inspections you do, the more you will discover its limitations. For instance, do your reports look almost exactly like your competitors’ reports? 

At ScribeWare, we’ve chosen a different path: building the best, most reliable, customizable, and powerful report-writing tool in the industry. We think being the best at one thing is better than being just OK at a lot of things.

Why Report Writing Matters Most

When it comes down to it, the home inspection report is the centerpiece of your business. It’s the final deliverable, the product your clients take away from the inspection, and the key to securing referrals and repeat business. If your report doesn’t provide clarity, professionalism, and a comprehensive understanding of the home’s condition, you risk damaging your reputation—and in that case, it won’t matter that your scheduling and payment systems are top-notch.

That’s why we’ve put all of our energy into building a report writer that doesn’t just get the job done, it excels at it.

We’ve been able to innovate by focusing on report writing

Our focus on inspector user experience has resulted in industry-leading speed, customization, and innovation. If you don’t believe us, just look at what we have built. And we had to name these tools because they do not exist anywhere else in the industry!

• Gunnysacked comments: In ScribeWare, you can do more and do it faster with gunnysack comments. These help you move quickly and can drastically reduce the number of comments you need to write and maintain in your library. 
• Photo captions to bullets: Imagine a workflow where all you need to do is take photos and caption them. This technique allows for fast, high-quality report writing using far fewer comments.
• Inspector-only notes: There is no faster way to write a report than checkboxes. You can just go tick, tick tick, and get the report done. The problem is that checkbox reports are seldom the best for the client. So we build check boxes that only you see, which then display pre-written narrative comments for the client when checked. The checkboxes stay hidden in the final report. Tick, tick, tick. 
• Library categories: Imagine being able to sort your library of comments into folders that can be shared with any section of any template. This kind of feature help you stay organized and lets you grow as you need to add or expand report templates. 
• Unlimited observation modifiers: There is no way to write a detailed report with just three modifiers. If you are doing detailed work, you have to be able to distinguish major concerns from reports, maintenance improvement items, incomplete items, or due diligence items. We let you make your own modifiers to fit your inspection style and let you stand out in your market.

Focusing on the Core of What You Do Best

ScribeWare is not another web-based app and for good reason. Web-based apps are limited tools for report writing. That’s why we have built our report writer on a cloud-connected database. This gives you all the security and convenience of a cloud-connected tool but with the power of a database. It also allows us to add layers of code like CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and JavaScript on top of the base code for unprecedented levels of report customization. 

All of this power in a database allows us to accomplish our mission statement. Better reports, written more quickly.

Penney Wise and Pound Foolish

We know business management is critical. That is why we integrate with the best tools in the industry; Keystone and ISN are both specialists in online scheduling, timed emails, calendar events, and other powerful tools to schedule jobs, take payments, and manage agreements. Our integrations are so tight that getting your jobs over from these tools and publishing to them is just one click away. So if these tools exist, why do all in one? 

Well, the most common argument we hear for all-in-one is that it’s less expensive because you get two apps for the price of one. But let’s analyze this for a moment… Sure, with all-in-one software, you only pay for the one platform. But if the reports you’re writing with that software take you longer (remember, your time is money!), look just like everyone else’s reports, and don’t get you new business because they’re so much better than the competition’s… are you really saving money in the long run

Ever heard the idiom penny wise and pound foolish? We like to focus on helping you build reports that stand out from the competition. See the ROI this Scriber gets for his superior inspection reports. 

Conclusion: The Power of Focused Innovation

In an industry that’s increasingly crowded with all-in-one software solutions, the temptation to do everything can be strong. But we’ve stayed true to our belief that the best way to serve home inspectors is by delivering a powerful, easy-to-use, and customizable report writer. By focusing solely on this essential aspect of your business, we ensure that you have a tool that not only meets but exceeds your reporting needs.

If you’re ready to experience the difference that comes from a software platform that puts report writing first, we’d love for you to give us a try. With ScribeWare, you’ll get a tool that makes writing professional, comprehensive reports easier, faster, and more reliable than ever before.

Download ScribeWare today to see how our powerful report writer can elevate your business to the next level!

Check out the demo to see how seamless it is to add and apply media to your reports!