Water damage · InspectCam Pro, coming soon

Water damage jobs, documented from the first visit to dry

By Andre Gaz, developer of InspectCam · Published 3 October 2026 · Last updated 3 October 2026

A water job is judged on its file. The adjuster wants to know what failed and when, how much got wet, that someone read the structure every day until it was dry, and how long each dehumidifier and air mover stayed. Too often that file is a clipboard moisture sheet, a camera roll and a text thread, stitched together at the end. Pro builds it as you go.

Day one: the claim, the source, the signature

Start the job from the ready-made Restoration template and it switches on what a water loss needs: claim details, a floor plan, a drying log, an equipment log, and two documents for the customer to sign. Fill in what you know at the door. Every field is optional, and anything left blank simply doesn't print.

The claim card takes the claim number, insurer, date of loss, cause (water, fire, smoke, mold, storm, or one you type), what failed, the water category and class, and the adjuster's name, phone and email. When the adjuster calls back weeks later, search the jobs list by claim number.

Before the first air mover goes down, hand the phone to the owner to sign the work authorization with a finger. It uses your company's wording, or a plain default: remove the water and wet materials that can't be dried, dry the building and check it daily, repairs not included; the owner agrees not to move or turn off the drying equipment without asking you, and to pay for the work, including anything insurance doesn't. The job keeps the words exactly as signed, with the signer's name, the date, the time and the time zone.

The seven photos a water job needs

The Restoration template comes with a shot list. Two shots are required out of the box; the rest are reminders. Rename them, require more, or write your own tips, and the job page keeps a “Still needed” list until they're done.

Every photo taken into the job is stamped with the date, time, street address and GPS position the phone reports, in one thin line along the bottom; with location off, just the date and time. Tap the small EDIT thumbnail right after a shot to add a numbered arrow or circle and say what it points at. Give each photo one or more categories, such as Kitchen or Hallway, for one photo or a whole selection at once; tap a category on the job page to see just its photos, and the report prints each room's photos under its own heading.

The homeowner's own photos from before you arrived can come in from the phone's gallery, labeled as such and unstamped, so nobody mistakes them for yours. And since the source is usually somewhere dark, InspectCam, free on Google Play, opens with the light already on: you see what you're aiming at without a flashlight in your other hand.

Daily readings, with the math done

Set up each wet room once: its name, its size, and the moisture points you'll read, each with its material, where it is, and a dry standard from the same material in a room that stayed dry. A point counts as dry at or below its goal, which is the dry standard unless you set one. Above about 2,000 feet, enter the elevation; grains per pound depend on it.

After that, each visit is one page: outside, a dry area, each room's air, each point, each dehumidifier's outlet, and a note. Type the temperature and relative humidity; grains per pound and dew point appear beside them. An outlet reading gives that unit's grain depression, so you can tell on site, not at invoice review, when a dehumidifier stops pulling its weight.

The job page shows when each room and the whole job reached dry, and how many days it took. A day when a room that was still drying went unread is flagged, and the report prints it as “No readings” rather than skipping it, so you spot the gap before the adjuster does. Readings are typed in by hand, in Fahrenheit; nothing connects to a meter.

Equipment in, equipment out

Log equipment as you set it: a dehumidifier (LGR, conventional or desiccant), an air mover (centrifugal or axial), an air scrubber, a heater or anything else, with how many, which room, make and model, size, and when it was placed. Each dehumidifier gets its own line, so its outlet readings stay with it. When units come out, “Remove from site” asks how many and when.

Equipment-days follow one rule every time: units × whole 24-hour periods on site, rounded up, never less than one, with the hours beside them. Units still on site count to the report's date. The report adds totals by type, units on site each day, and any equipment left in a room after it read dry, with that day's notes. Nothing connects to an estimating program; you carry the totals over yourself, with the log behind them.

What the adjuster gets back

One tap builds the report with your company's name, logo, contact details and license on it, and a permanent report number that doubles as the file name. On a water job it runs in this order:

1. The cover, with the claim number, insurer and date of loss.
2. Job details, with every claim detail.
3. Photos by room, each with its stamp, note and marks; before-and-after pairs get a page each.
4. The floor plan: a picture prints whole, a PDF its first page, marked “Page 1 of N shown”. There's no drawing tool, so photograph the sketch or attach the plan.
5. The drying log: tables, a chart per room, each dehumidifier's grain depression.
6. The equipment log and its totals.
7. The signed work authorization and certificate of completion, a page each.
8. Your closing page, with one small “Generated with InspectCam” line.

Preview before you send, make a summary-only version, and pick US Letter or A4. On a company job you can also send the adjuster a link instead of a file: it opens the report's photos in their browser, with Download PDF for the whole report, logs included. Stop sharing takes the link down. A photo, video or finding you mark internal only stays with your team and never reaches the report. When the last room reads dry and the equipment is out, the owner signs the certificate of completion on your phone. The app records the signing. Whether it binds anyone isn't something an app can tell you; ask your own lawyer.

If you're the adjuster

The ready-made Insurance adjuster template is built for the inspection rather than the drying. It turns on the claim card and findings, and lays out the walk-around above: the front with the house number showing (required), each side, the back, every roof slope, a damage overview and close-up, inside damage, and other buildings on the lot.

Group the photos into findings, each with a title, a severity, a location, what you saw, what it means and a recommendation. The report then prints as an inspection: a cover with the claim, then a findings summary, a contents page, one card per finding with its figures numbered, and a page on scope and limitations.

One tech or a few crews

The plan's owner brings techs in with a short invite code: Duo adds one tech, Team holds 5 people and Business 10. Every phone on a company job shows the same claim, photos, logs and signed forms. Changes merge field by field, so the tech who read the kitchen in the morning and the one who read the basement in the afternoon both keep their readings. On Team and Business, the plumber who repaired the drain can send photos of the repair from their phone's browser, by QR code or link, with no app and no account. For now, each person on your crew needs an Android phone; the iPhone app is coming soon, with Pro included.

There's no one-person plan: if you work alone, Duo leaves room for a helper. For 11 or more people, ask us about a custom plan. The full plan comparison is on the InspectCam Pro page.

Questions restorers ask

Does InspectCam connect to my moisture meter?

No. You type each reading in by hand, and grains per pound and dew point are calculated from the temperature and humidity you enter. Temperatures are in Fahrenheit.

Can the report go straight into my estimating software or the carrier's system?

No. Pro doesn't connect to any estimating, insurer or claims system. It builds a PDF report under your company name, and you send it yourself.

Is the drying log approved by an industry standard or an insurer?

No. It records your readings and works out grains per pound, dew point, days to dry and equipment-days from them. The water category and class choices are short summaries, not the text of any standard. Whether a log meets a carrier's guidelines is between you and the carrier.

Can the property owner sign the paperwork on my phone?

Yes, with Pro. The owner signs the work authorization and the certificate of completion with a finger. The job keeps the wording as signed with their name, the date, the time and the time zone, and each document prints on its own page.

How are equipment-days counted?

Units × whole 24-hour periods on site, rounded up, never less than one, with the hours beside them. Units still on site count up to the report's date, and the report totals them by type.

What if nobody reads a room one day?

The report prints that day as a “No readings” row instead of leaving it out, so you spot the gap before the adjuster does. Only a room with moisture points that hasn't reached dry can miss a day.

Pro for other trades: home inspectors, move-in and move-out inspections, contractors and their crews, and who InspectCam is for.

Nothing on this page is for sale yet, and the details may still shift before Pro launches. If your water jobs need something that isn't here, write to support@inspectcam.app.