Getting Started: From Walkthrough to Signed Report

Baseline PCR drafts an ASTM E2018-24 property condition report from the evidence your field observer already collects. You upload; the engine classifies, extracts, computes the cost tables and writes the narrative; a reviewer at your firm edits, approves and signs. Nothing is issued unreviewed. Here is the flow from a fresh workspace to a delivered PDF.

1. Set up the firm

On first sign-in you complete the firm profile: firm name, address, phone and licence line. These print on the letterhead, the cover and the signature block. Accept the Terms, Privacy Policy and AI Disclosure on behalf of the firm. While you do this, the sample job (the Cedar Mill office building) is seeded into your workspace with your firm's name on it, so you can see a finished report before uploading anything.

2. Create a job

Jobs, then New job. The intake form holds what the report's general description needs: property name and address, use, year built, gross and net rentable area, stories, buildings, the client and their position in the transaction, the purpose, the site-visit date, weather, escort, and the field observer and reviewer. It also sets the evaluation period, inflation rate and reporting threshold, pre-filled from Firm settings. Everything can be changed later; the report is rebuilt from these fields.

3. Upload the evidence

On the job page, drop the walkthrough photographs (JPEG or PNG) and the owner's documents (PDF). Uploads go straight to storage and are processed as they land: each photograph is classified to a building system and captioned, each document is typed and its dated facts extracted. The evidence panel shows which of E2018's minimum photograph subjects are covered and which are still missing. See uploading photographs and documents.

4. Add the notes and send the questionnaire

Paste or type the field notes in the Notes box; per-system headings help but are not required. Copy the pre-survey questionnaire link and send it to the property manager; their answers arrive as reported information. See field notes and the questionnaire.

5. Draft the report

Click Draft report. This is the one paid step; the price, or "your free draft", is printed under the button, and the first job every firm drafts is free. The engine consolidates observations per system, identifies deficiencies with remedies and significance, builds reserve items with useful lives, computes Table 1 and Table 2 from your unit-cost library, drafts each section and the executive summary, and runs its checks. A progress list shows each step; a job the size of the sample (ninety photographs, seven documents) takes roughly ten to fifteen minutes, and you receive an email when the draft is ready. See what drafting does.

6. Review

The report workspace has four tabs: Review (the prose, editable field by field), Tables and data (every cost line editable, totals recompute as you type), Photographs (caption, reassign, exclude) and Preview (the rendered document). The Checks panel lists anything the engine flagged in its own draft; the reviewer checklist mirrors E2018-24 section 11. See reviewing and editing the draft.

7. Approve, sign and deliver

Type your name and click Approve and sign. The report locks, the PDF renders without the draft watermark, and the delivery panel offers a download, an email to the client, an expiring share link and a reliance-letter draft. Approval and delivery cost nothing: the per-report fee (or a firm-plan report) was charged when you drafted, and your firm's first draft is free. See approving and delivering.

What to do first

Open the sample job, go to Tables and data, change a quantity and watch the totals move; exclude a photograph; approve it and download the PDF. Ten minutes in the sample teaches the whole product.