inspection-report-decoder

Inspection Report Decoder Skill

Inspection reports bury a $15,000 foundation note between forty comments about caulk — everything is written in the same alarmed font. This skill triages: what threatens the deal, what's a negotiation line, what's Saturday-morning maintenance — with cost ranges, because a finding without a number can't be negotiated.

What This Skill Produces

• The triage — 🔴 walk-risk / 🟡 negotiate / 🟢 cosmetic-or-maintenance, every finding placed
• Cost ranges — order-of-magnitude repair estimates per meaningful finding, stated as ranges with the "get a specialist quote" flag where warranted
• The seller ask-list — repairs vs credits, ranked by leverage, with the deadline noted
• Inspector follow-ups — the questions to ask while you still can

Required Inputs

Ask for these only if not provided:

• The report (paste the findings; photos' captions help)
• The deal context — price, market temperature (multiple offers?), objection/resolution deadline
• The house basics — age, region (cost ranges and typical failure modes vary), how long you plan to stay
• Your risk appetite — first home stretched thin vs experienced renovator changes the triage

Framework

1. The big five get found first: foundation/structural movement, roof (age + active leaks), electrical (panel type, aluminum branch wiring), plumbing (supply material, sewer line), water intrusion/grading. Everything else waits.
2. Cost ranges honestly: wide ranges with the driver named ("panel replacement: low thousands; if service upgrade needed, more — electrician quote required"). A specialist-quote flag beats a false-precision number.
3. Age vs defect: a 19-year-old roof on a 20-year design life is pricing information, not a defect the seller "hid" — decode which findings are negotiation-legitimate vs already-in-the-price.
4. Negotiate credits over repairs where possible — the seller's rushed contractor is nobody's friend; state the tradeoff.
5. The deadline governs everything: objection windows are short and expire silently; every recommendation carries the date.

Output Format

Inspection Decode: [address] — objection deadline: [date]

The one-paragraph verdict: proceed / negotiate hard / specialist-inspect before deciding / walk-risk present — and why.

Triage table | Finding (report §) | Plain English | Cost range | Tier |

🚩 The money findings — each: what it is, the realistic range, the driver, specialist-quote flag The seller list — asks ranked by leverage: [credit/repair/price] with suggested wording Ask your inspector — 3–6 questions (verbal answers are often franker than the written report) Budget reality — year-one likely spend if you buy as-is: [range]

End verbatim: "This is a plain-language reading, not a professional inspection, engineering, or legal opinion — cost ranges are regional estimates; get specialist quotes for anything load-bearing before your objection deadline."

Quality Checks

• Every finding is tiered — none left floating in report-speak
• Every 🔴/🟡 carries a cost range with its driver named
• Age-based findings are distinguished from defects
• The objection deadline appears in the header and the asks
• The disclaimer appears verbatim

Anti-Patterns

• Do not mirror the report's flat tone — triage IS the value; forty equal alarms equal zero alarms
• Do not price findings as points ("$8,500") — ranges with drivers; false precision dies at the first quote
• Do not treat every finding as seller-negotiable — priced-in aging isn't a gotcha
• Do not let 🟢 items pad the ask-list — nickel lists cost credibility on the dollar items
• Do not say walk/don't-walk for them — surface the walk-risks, price the rest, hand the decision back