3D Condition Inspections: A Look Under the Covers

Late in 2019 HomePlan NZ launched its 3D Condition Inspection Service for landlords and property management firms.  Since then, working closely with our early adopter property management firms, we’ve made a number of enhancements to this service and thought now was a great time to share a deeper look into what this service is, what you get, and our top five reasons why you should consider using it.

What is a 3D Condition Inspection?

This is where a HomePlan technician visits a vacant rental property and captures a set of high resolution 3D/360 photos and supporting 2D photos, then performs a detailed inspection of the property’s condition.  This information is consolidated and delivered to the property manager (or private landlord) to use as a complete and comprehensive record of the property’s condition prior to a new tenancy commencing.  It is the condition benchmark that can be referred back to for that tenancy’s routine and final inspections.

The service is appropriate when on-boarding a new rental property, or between tenancies as the initial inspection record.  It can also be used for final inspections, especially if there has been an issue with the state the property has been left in that you want comprehensively recorded.  Given how comprehensive the coverage is, this service is not suitable for routine inspections while the property is tenanted without the tenant’s explicit permission.

► Explore 3D Space
Cambridge Terrace | Available for Rent
► Explore 3D Space
Cambridge Terrace | Condition Inspection

1. You also get a Marketing 3D Walkthrough for FREE!

And right off the bat I’ll highlight this big, sometimes overlooked benefit – when you use our 3D Condition Inspection service, you have the option of receiving a FREE Marketing 3D Walkthrough from the same booking appointment.  This ’24/7 virtual viewing’ tool saves you time by pre-qualifying tenant interest before they arrange an actual viewing with you – but that’s a different article it itself.

This benefit means users of this service are getting a consistent, high-quality marketing tool AND inspection record at the same time.  In fact, you’re only paying a few extra dollars over what you would be paying for just a Marketing 3D Walkthrough alone – improving the overall value proposition.

2. The Most Complete Photographic Coverage

Question 1: How many photos do you take of the average sized room as part of your initial inspection process?
Question 2: How often did you still NOT have the photo you needed later down the track? 

3D photography, using Matterport’s Pro2 high-end 3D camera, solves this problem.  A single, 134-megapixel 360 panoramic photo per room would take the place of 18 or more traditional 2D photos.  If you increase this to four+ 360 panoramic photos per room at 2-metre intervals the resulting coverage is, well, hard to beat!

But then there are the things that the 3D camera can’t see: Inside the oven, kitchen cabinets, behind doors, curtains closed and their backs, shower trays and the like.  No problem – these are photographed and timestamped as traditional 2D photos and saved both alongside, and accessed directly within the 3D walkthrough. 

In our experience, HomePlan can achieve near-complete coverage of the average residential rental property’s interior with one 3D walkthrough containing 50-80 360 panoramic photos and 30-50 traditional 2D photos.

3. It's Unchangeable, but Interactive

In’s one thing to have the photo you want.  It’s quite another to quickly put your finger on it.  Or to have it shot on the angle and zoom that you need, to compare to a later photo of the same area or feature.  Or relate it to any noted issues at the time.

This is where the 3D walkthrough technology comes into its own.  You can do things like:

  1. Quickly navigate from room to room, and from 360 photo to photo, then zoom in on the area of interest.
  2. Click on the oven, or the door, to see the related 2D photo.
  3. Screenshot, or export a high resolution traditional 2D photo of what you need.
  4. Use the inbuilt measurement tool to check dimensions.
No more trawling through hundreds of photos – simply access the interactive inspection 3D walkthrough.  Easy!  And keep in mind this is interactive photographic coverage – it’s not a video.  A common observation is that Tenancy Tribunal will only accepted printed photos in submissions.  Everything HomePlan captures can can be viewed and exported as a traditional 2D photo.

4. Printable Inspection Report - Same Day Delivery

This was one of the most requested features we added early in 2020.  After capturing the property in 3D, HomePlan uses specialist inspection software to capture all the 2D photos and related observations – or as we call them, tags.

As soon as we get back to the office, the preliminary Inspection Tag Report can be made available to the property manager – we can email you a link, or a PDF report that contains all the 2D photos and observations, with any major issues highlighted at the start of the report so you can take immediate action if you want to.

The Tag Report is then retained and directly related to the Inspection 3D Walkthrough for future reference.

5. Just One URL to Remember/Save

By now your head might be spinning – we’ve talked about a Marketing 3D Walkthrough, an Inspection 3D Walkthrough and related Image Library, and an Inspection Tag Report.  And you might also have marketing photos and floor plans as well.  Then you might do it all again in 12 months time – how will you keep track of all of this?

Again, HomePlan has a solution.  Our unlisted Property Digital Record pages present everything you need to remember for the property, on one unlisted web page.  Bookmark or save this URL into your property management system and you can quickly access all HomePlan deliverables for that property.  

And Also, And Coming Soon...

We are continuing to evolve this service to suit the needs of our growing customer base.

We recently added a High Coverage 3D Walkthrough option that provides the same photographic coverage of a 3D Inspection, but without the tagging of condition issues.  This works well if you want to maintain your existing inspection process, but want to relate it to the comprehensive photographic record that HomePlan can provide.

Palace Integration is now in development!  Once in place, completed HomePlan 3D inspections will automatically appear in Palace against the property, saving you the trouble of recording the details there yourself.    

Book a HomePlan Demonstration Today!

We welcome the opportunity to meet with you, in person or by Zoom, to discuss your specific requirements and provide a full demonstration of the 3D Condition Inspection Service.  We look forward to hearing from you!

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