Before you can start efficiently scheduling appointments with HomeGauge, you'll need to establish your inspection services. During the scheduling process, the appointment will generate an invoice by selecting inspection services. This article covers how to set up inspection services for the first time, edit services, create a new service, an hourly rate service, discount service, delete services, and make services public for Schedule Now.

Inspection Services Location

To set and edit your inspection services, you will need to:

1. Click Appointments, then click Inspection Services
   

Setting up Inspection Services for the First Time

HomeGauge offers several options to set up inspection services, catering to both new and existing users:

1. On the Inspection Services screen, several options exist to get you started. You can click the one you prefer.
   
   
   • Use the default services: this is a great starting point with essential pre-made services you can use or change.
   • Import your services from the old scheduler: intended for HomeGauge’s Classic Scheduler users.
   • Import the services from your HomeGauge desktop software: this allows you to continue using the services you set up in your software. So that so you know, you will be prompted to specify the estimated time required for your services in minutes. For example, if your average inspection takes 2.5 hours, you'll want to enter 150 minutes.
   • Create new services from scratch: just as the title suggests, this will allow you to create your own services from scratch.

Create a New Inspection Service

1. Click New Service
2. Fill out the fields:
   
   • Service Name: a required field that will be visible to your customer if the service is made visible through the public appointments
     
   • Description: a free-text field where you can provide details about the service that can help your customer with service selection
     
   • Allow Quantity: You can charge a set price per room, mile, or square footage. This allows you to increment your services (ex. 2 rooms, 50 miles, 2500sqft). Add the Quantity Descriptor as well to describe the units of measurement.
     
   • Time Required: enter the time required to complete the service in minutes (ex. 3 hours = 180.00 minutes). For a very short service, like hanging a radon test, you may want to put in 1 or 2 minutes.
     
   • Fee: the cost of the individual service
     
   • Tax Rate: if applicable, add tax rate in the format 7.25%
     
   • Service Groups: you, and your customers, will view the services in categories called service groups. Click on a service group in the Available box to move it to the Selected box.
     
   • Public Appointments: check this box if you want to allow customers to see and select this service when requesting an appointment online
     

   • Which inspectors can perform this service?

     • All Inspectors Can Perform this Service: used by single-inspector companies; however, it can apply to multi-inspector companies 
     • Only the Selected Inspectors Can Perform this Service: click the inspectors you want to perform this service in the Unselected box to move them into the Can Perform Service box
       
   
   
   • Check the box next to any agreement which is required for the Service. When you or the customer select this Service, the customer will be required to sign the agreements you've checked off.
     
3. Once the fields are filled, click one of the following:

• Save Service: save the service and exit the creating process
• Save and Create Another Service: save the service and continue to create another new service
• Cancel: undo the work on this page and exit the creating process. No changes or new services will be saved.

Create a Discount Service Item

You can create a discount by creating a service with a negative fee. You can use this for standard discounts, such as for those paying in cash, military members, or repeat customers.

Make a Flat Discount (always the same price)

1. Click New Service
2. Fill in the fields as necessary
3. Save the service.
• Make the Fee field a negative dollar amount. For example, if you want to give someone $50 off, make the Fee -50.00
  

Make a Custom Discount (you set the discount for each inspection)

1. Click New Service
2. Fill in the fields as necessary (see section Edit an Inspection Service for more detail about each field). Set the Fee field to -1.
3. Check the Allow Quantity box, but leave the Quantity Descriptor box blank
4. Leave the Time Required box blank
   
5. Save the service.
6. When you're creating an appointment that requires a custom discount:
   • For example, if you wanted to give a $30 discount, set the quantity to 30. The result will be -$30 from the total price because 30 quantities * -$1 dollar fee = -$30.
1. Add the custom discount service you created
2. Make the quantity equal to the dollar discount you want
3. Finish the appointment like usual

Create an Hourly Rate

HomeGauge allows for adjustable quantities on an hourly rate service allowing you to charge per hour. 

1. Click on New Service
2. Type in the service name "Hourly Rate"
3. Click the checkbox to allow quantity. Then set your fee and select a service group
4. Be sure to select who can perform the service and hit SAVE SERVICE
5. When you are scheduling the appointment with the hourly rate, you will see the new "Hourly Rate" service available to select with a quantity box to enter your hours worked.

Edit an Inspection Service

1. Click on the name of the service you want to edit
   
2. Fill out the fields. These are the same fields in Create a New Inspection Service

Delete an Inspection Service

1. Click on the name of the service you want to delete
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Delete button
   
3. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.
   

Setting Public Services and Service Groups

This section is for inspectors who want to do both of these things:

• Want customers to request appointments online, AND
• Want customers to be able to select their own services.

Services belong to a service group category. First, you must make a service group visible to the public. After that, you can choose which services from that service group you might want to hide. Finally, you want to enable the public to make appointment requests.

Make a Service Group Available to the Public

1. Click the name of the Service Group to edit it.
   
   
2. Check the Services in this Group are Available in Public Appointment Requests box.
   
3. Scroll to the bottom and click the Save Service Group button.

Make a Service Available to the Public (or Hide It)

1. Log into your HomeGauge Dashboard.
2. From the main menu, click Appointments > Inspection Services.
3. Click the name of the service to edit it.
4. Check the Show in Public Appointment Requests if Group is Shown box. Alternatively, please uncheck this box to hide it from the public.
   
5. Scroll to the bottom and click the Save Service Group button.

Enable Public Appointments Requests and Make Public Services Selectable

To enable public appointment requests, you will need to navigate to the company settings section. Check out our articles on how to configure and use ScheduleNow.