InspectForm
As described:StopNarrowed:NarrowNo as a home-inspection report writer. Go, small, as a Fannie/Freddie PCA report writer, only with PCA-industry access.
property due diligence · ~$400 a month per firm · last reviewed (next review by 29 Dec 2026) · 34 cited sources
Start this week
- Write down your PCA-industry access honestly: who do you know who has written or reviewed Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac PCAs? Also write your hours per week available.
- Build a list of 60 US firms that write multifamily PCAs from lender panels you can find, public sample reports, LinkedIn job titles ("PCA project manager", "field assessor") and ASTM E50 membership. Book 12 calls.
- Ask each principal three questions: how many GSE PCAs they write a month, how many hours one takes from site visit to delivery, and how often a lender reviewer sends it back. Record the answers word for word.
- Set up the hands-on kit: a structured field sheet in Airtable, a reserve-table spreadsheet using the published useful-life tables, and a 4099-style Word template. Offer it to the first 3 firms at $300/month.
Checkpoints and kill gates
Decide in advance what counts as on track. Missing a checkpoint means changing the buyer or the offer, not adding features.
Day 30
~15 hrs/week
2 firms paying ≥$300
Full-time
3 firms paying ≥$300 for the hands-on service
If you miss it
No industry access yet: stop and sign an advisor first. With access: switch firm size or report family (Freddie 1105 first instead of Fannie 4099) once. Missing twice means stop.
Day 90
~15 hrs/week
3 firms, same rule
Full-time
5 firms on the self-serve app, each running all its GSE PCAs in it for one month
If you miss it
Cut to the core: field capture, reserve table and one lender format. Drop AI drafting and scheduling until usage returns.
Month 6
~15 hrs/week
$1k MRR (~3 firms)
Full-time
$2k MRR (~5 firms), zero firms lost, ≥1 lender reviewer who has noticed cleaner reports
If you miss it
Pivot A: HUD capital needs assessments for the same firms. Pivot B: reserve studies for condo associations (post-Surfside Florida rules; not verified in this run).
Month 12
~15 hrs/week
$2.5k MRR (~6 firms)
Full-time
$5k MRR (~13 firms), ≥50% on annual
If you miss it
Stop feature work. Fix template-setup time and the single best channel.
Month 18
~15 hrs/week
$4k MRR (~10 firms)
Full-time
$8k MRR (~20 firms)
If you miss it
Add the second report family (HUD or bank/CMBS PCA) to raise revenue per firm.
Month 24
~15 hrs/week
$4–5k MRR, profitable
Full-time
$10–12k MRR, profitable
If you miss it
Above $10k: keep running it profitably and add the second report family. Below $2k: stop, or sell the templates and customer list to a larger firm.
Do
1.Pick the GSE multifamily PCA as the only report family in v1. US only, firms with 2–30 assessors.
Target: Every user can say it in one line: "It turns my site visit into a 4099 or 1105 report the lender won't bounce."
Why: It scored highest of five candidates. It's the only one with a mandated format, high fees per report and no Spectora-style tool (analysis/02).
2.Make the building system the core record. Every component gets a condition rating, quantity, age, estimated and remaining useful life, photos and a cost line.
Target: Pilot reports built 100% from structured data, not pasted text
Why: The structure is what makes the reserve schedule, the lender format and the QA check automatic.
3.Build the reserve engine: immediate repairs and a year-by-year replacement-reserve schedule, driven by the useful-life tables the GSEs publish plus the firm's own unit costs.
Target: Reserve table produced in under 1 minute from field data
Why: This is the Excel work assessors hate most, and the part reviewers check hardest.
4.Ship a pre-submission check against the lender format. Missing photos, blank required fields, useful-life values outside the table, inconsistent totals.
Target: Pilot firms cut lender "revise and resubmit" requests by ≥30%
Why: Every bounced report costs a senior engineer's hour and delays a loan closing. That's the money pitch.
5.Keep form versions current, centrally. Fannie has published Form 4099 redlines in 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026 (research/10).
Target: New version live in the app within 14 days of publication
Why: Form churn is the pain every firm solves by hand. Doing it once for all firms is the product.
6.Build an offline-first tablet web app (PWA) for field capture: photos, voice notes, unit sampling tracker.
Target: Works for a full site day with no signal and syncs cleanly
Why: Basements, mechanical rooms and roofs have no signal. One lost site visit ends trust.
7.Do the template setup for them. Import the firm's boilerplate, cost library and branding from their last 3 reports.
Target: New firm live within 10 days of signing
Why: Switching cost protects Word. Remove it and the sale gets easy.
8.Price per firm with a report allowance. Charge from day one. Solo $149, Firm $449, Firm Plus $899. 30-day pilot on real reports, no free plan, 2 months free on annual.
Target: ≥50% of firms on annual by month 12
Why: A PCA often bills in the low thousands of dollars (unverified). $25–40 of software per report is an easy yes.
9.Build channels that run without you: a free Fannie/Freddie useful-life lookup tool, SEO pages ("Fannie Mae Form 4099 checklist", "Freddie Mac 1105 unit sampling"), a monthly "what changed in the GSE PCA rules" email, and ASTM E50 committee presence.
Target: ≥40% of pilots from search, email list or referral by month 12
Why: At ~15 hrs/week you can't sell every firm by phone. The form-change email is the reason assessors subscribe.
10.Automate onboarding and support. A template-import wizard, a recorded demo, a help center, and one weekly office-hours call.
Target: ≤2 hours of founder time per new firm after firm #10
Why: This is what makes the ~15 hrs/week plan possible at all.
11.Show the money outcome per firm: hours per report before and after, bounced reports avoided, reports per assessor per month.
Target: Every case study opens with hours or dollars
Why: Principals buy "one more report per assessor per month", not "modern software".
12.Add the second report family only after the first holds: HUD capital needs assessments or bank/CMBS ASTM E2018 reports for the same firms.
Target: Not before $5k MRR
Why: It raises revenue per firm without a new customer base, and it's the only realistic route past ~$15k MRR.
Avoid
1.A general home-inspection report writer
Why: Spectora has 12,000+ inspectors and ~$30M ARR. HomeGauge, ISN, Home Inspector Pro and Palmtech cover the rest. The as-described odds show the result.
2.Florida wind-mitigation and 4-point forms as the wedge
Why: Real volume and a real mandate, but Spectora includes both forms in its base plan, and at least eight other tools sell them, some as $395–540 one-time packages. Inspectors earn $75–200 per inspection, so they won't pay much.
3.Sewer, pool, mold or radon report add-ons
Why: No mandated form, low fees, and Spectora already covers sewer scope as an add-on service.
4.Starting without PCA-industry access
Why: The buyer is a small, credentialed, relationship-driven group. No access, no pilots, and no truth about how reports get bounced.
5.Chasing national firms first (the top due-diligence firms)
Why: They have in-house systems and procurement. You win at the 2–30 assessor firms that still run on Word and Excel.
6.Selling to lenders or building an ordering portal
Why: That's a different sale with long cycles, and due-diligence ordering platforms already exist (not verified in this run). Stay on the consultant's side.
7.Promising "Fannie Mae approved" or "GSE compliant" reports
Why: The consultant signs the report and the lender decides. You provide structure and checks. Wrong cost opinions are the liability. State clearly that the licensed consultant is responsible.
8.AI that writes the engineer's opinions
Why: Draft boilerplate and summaries, yes. Condition ratings, useful-life judgments and cost opinions, no. One AI-invented deficiency in a lender report ends the firm's trust in you.
9.Scheduling, agreements and payments as headline features
Why: They were the residential idea. PCA engagements come from lenders by email or ordering platforms and are invoiced net 30. Keep a simple job list and an invoice export.
10.Custom report layouts for every firm
Why: It turns the product into a consultancy. Offer one configurable layout per report family, with branding and boilerplate slots.
11.Native iOS and Android apps before $10k MRR
Why: An offline PWA on an iPad covers the site visit. Two app stores double release work for a tiny team.
12.A free plan, lifetime deals or AppSumo
Why: The buyer is a firm billing thousands per report. Free plans attract students and one-off users who never pay.
13.Adding features when a checkpoint fails
Why: A miss means wrong firm size, wrong report family or no access. Change that first.
14.Raising money
Why: The ceiling for one report family is a good small business, not a venture outcome. Outside money pushes you back to general inspection, which is avoid #1.