The inspector app is mobile-first and works offline in the field. Submit once — the PDF, the unit status, and the owner’s view all follow.
After logging in, you see a mobile-optimized dashboard showing:
Assigned Buildings — Buildings you've been assigned to inspect.
Today's Progress — Count of inspections completed today.
Active Drafts — Unfinished inspections saved as drafts. Tap to resume.
Every inspection on a unit is listed for every inspector who can inspect it — the type, the date, the pass/fail result and which firm did it. That is what stops two firms inspecting the same unit in the same week, so it is never withheld from you.
The report — the filled-in form, the photos and the PDF — opens for the inspector who wrote it, the lead of the firm that wrote it, lead maintenance staff, and management.
A report that is not yours to open still appears in the list, labelled *"Report held by <firm>"* (or *"the association"* for in-house work). It is never silently left out: a shortened list is how an inspector concludes a unit is clean when it is not. Across a firm boundary the row names the firm rather than the technician.
"Report unavailable" on a PDF means the app could not open the file — not that the report is missing. Try again, and tell management if it persists.
If no inspection firm is linked to your account you are association staff, and you see and open in-house work exactly as before.
The form engine walks you through each section step-by-step:
Auto-filled fields: Unit number, building name, inspector name, and date are pre-populated.
Repeatable sections: Click "Add Another" for multiple items of the same type (e.g., toilets).
Photo capture: Tap the camera icon to take photos directly.
Signature: Draw your signature on the touch canvas (toilet inspections use the logged-in user as inspector of record).
Draft auto-save: Work is saved automatically as you go so you can resume later.
The PDF includes header with building/unit details, section-by-section data, photos, and pass/fail result.
When marking a toilet as "Fail," select specific reasons, grouped by severity:
Water waste (red): Failed Dye Test, Double Flushing - Wastes Water, Running Toilet - Won't Stop, Wrong Parts - No Water Level Compensation.
Condition (yellow): Signs of Leak at Base, Toilet Moves - Needs Reset, Supply Line Corroded, Wrong Parts - Not Wasting Water, Wrong Flapper - Not Wasting Water.
Each toilet gets its own pass/fail from component assessments. The overall result is computed automatically — no manual assessment needed. Results display with color-coded labels on all dashboards.
Navigate to the Schedule tab from the bottom bar.
Tap "Start" on any item to begin that inspection. Tap "Remove" to take it off the queue. Duplicates are prevented.
Note: The queue is for your current session and resets when you close the app.
HelmHOA supports offline inspection work:
Offline detection: A banner appears when you lose connectivity.
Draft auto-save: Form data saves to your device automatically.
Offline queue: Completed inspections queue locally and upload when connectivity returns.
Sync status: Monitor the queue. Failed items keep retrying automatically until they upload.
Tip: Start inspections before entering areas with poor connectivity.
Navigate to History from the bottom tab bar.
Drafts are shown with an amber "Draft" badge — tap to resume.
Completed inspections show the result (Pass/Fail/Conditional).
Click the download icon to view or download the PDF report.
If you administer more than one organization, you pick one company at sign-in and the whole app scopes to it — much like an accountant switching between client files.
Switch companies from the header. Platform mode is the unscoped view, for organization management and onboarding new customers.
This is a view convenience, not a security boundary. Choosing a company narrows what you are looking at; it is the underlying permission rules that decide what you may actually reach.
Members can switch too. An inspector contracting for several associations, or an owner holding units in two, gets the same switcher — but only when their own buildings genuinely span more than one company. There is no blended "all companies" view: exactly one is ever in scope, which is what stops one customer's data appearing alongside another's.
Looking for something this page doesn't cover? The in-app Help Center carries the same guides plus help for each module your association has enabled — or try the FAQ.
A free 30-day trial of the full platform, set up for you by a HelmHOA specialist — no credit card, no self-serve maze.
Start Your Free 30-Day Trial