HouseRater is a web and mobile tool for storing, collecting and combining field inspection data with information stored in energy modeling software to rate houses for code compliance, utility rebate programs, and the RESNET HERS Score. We're excited to level-up your company, so let's dive into the app.

We're going to create our first house in the system, look at how the app works, and then once you see HouseRater, we can do some more setup to get all the datasets you'll be using. You can always update any of this data as you use the system.

Adding Houses

We're all set to start adding houses to HouseRater, and we can do this by pressing the blue "+" button on the Houses page this will open the Add House modal. To add a house you'll need to complete a few required fields such as: Builder, Street Address or/and Lot and Block. When adding a house, start by typing the builder name into the dropdown...as you type, existing builders will begin to appear, but if you need to add a new client, an "Add New Builder" link will help. You can find more details on how HouseRater Manages Builders & Contracts on our Help Center.

Once the house has been created, more data points can be tracked on the House Overview page. It will also get a unique HouseRater ID number, so you can always find your work. You'll find all kinds of info on Enrolling New Houses on our Help Center.

You can add Site Visits to a House in HouseRater by checking the SV boxes when adding the house, or by adding them from within the house. There are a few Types of Site Visit Forms, and they contain all the field data your RFI's collect. To add one, select the blue Pencil symbol, and select the type of form to create on the house.

There's lots of information to complete in field inspection forms, but the mobile app makes it incredibly easy to complete this data with photo documentation for each data point. HouseRater makes it easy to track all the field data needed for HERS Ratings and utility rebate programs, with unlimited storage for photo documentation.

You'll also use Site Visit forms to collect energy consulting items, called Evaluated Items. When doing field inspections, you can note problem areas of the house construction, by assigning a evaluation title and location HouseRater can automatically fill out descriptions of common problems and include them in one of the standard report templates. 

Now that you have a taste for HouseRater, you can start Managing Users in your Rating Company As the administrator of you Rating company, you have the ability to add new users to the system with specific access controls and restrictions that are still easy to manage.