home_inspection_report_triage v1.0.0

name: "home_inspection_report_triage" description: "Read a home inspection report like a buyer: sort every finding into act now, negotiate, budget for later, or monitor, price the top defects from sourced planning ranges plus local quotes, spot the not-inspected gaps, and build the question lists for the inspector and the seller. Triggers when a buyer, agent, or agent assistant has an inspection report, a summary page, or inspector photos and needs a triage sheet, a negotiation shortlist, or a walk-away call before the contingency deadline." metadata: { "includeInPrompt": true }

Home Inspection Report Triage

Purpose

Turn a long inspection report into a decision a buyer can act on before the contingency deadline. The output is a triage sheet that sorts every finding into one bucket, prices the findings that matter, lists what the inspection did not cover, and drafts specific questions and requests. The report is a record of visible conditions on one day. It is not a repair list, a warranty, a code audit, or a prediction.

Use the InterNACHI definition as the anchor. A material defect is a specific issue that may have a significant adverse impact on the value of the property, or that poses an unreasonable risk to people. A system that is near, at, or beyond the end of its normal useful life is not, by itself, a material defect.

Workflow

1. Lock the clock and the contract first. Read the purchase contract in hand and write down the inspection response deadline, the required form of notice, and what happens to earnest money if the deadline is missed. Do not assume a number of days. Every later step works backwards from that date. Flag lender or insurer conditions separately, because a lender-required repair follows a different track from a buyer request.

1. Read in three passes, not front to back once.

• Pass 1, summary only: copy every summary item verbatim with its report page and photo number. Do not interpret yet.
• Pass 2, full text for each summary item: add the inspector's exact wording on location, extent, and recommendation, especially phrases such as "further evaluation by a licensed...", "monitor", "active leak", or "safety hazard".
• Pass 3, limitations section: copy every "not inspected", "not accessible", "not operated", and exclusion line into the gaps list in step 6. This pass is where most buyers lose money, because an untested system reads as a passed system if nobody checks.

1. Sort every finding into one of four buckets. Use the tests in references/triage-sheet.md and place each finding once. If a finding could sit in two buckets, place it in the higher one and note the reason.

• Act now: an unreasonable risk to people, active water entry, active leak, gas or carbon monoxide concern, electrical hazard, structural movement that is active, or a system that does not operate at all. These need a specialist or a safety fix regardless of negotiation.
• Negotiate: a material defect that affects safety, function, structure, water control, insurability, or a major system, and that a reasonable seller discussion can address with a repair, a credit, or a price change.
• Budget for later: no current failure and no safety risk, but a dated cost the buyer will own within about five years, such as a working system past the midpoint of its expected life or a roof in its last years.
• Monitor: a minor, cosmetic, or maintenance item, or a condition the inspector described with no active damage. Record a check date and the change that would move it up a bucket.

1. Score before you sort by price. For each Act now and Negotiate finding, rate four things in plain words: safety (could someone get hurt), activity (is damage happening now), spread (will delay make it bigger or more expensive), and verification (did the inspector see it directly, or infer it and recommend a specialist). A low-cost safety item outranks a high-cost cosmetic item every time. Keep the scores on the sheet so the buyer can see why the order is what it is.

1. Price only the top defects, and price them honestly. Take the Act now bucket plus the top Negotiate items, usually five to eight findings in total.

• Start from a sourced planning range in references/cost-and-life-planning.md. Label it a planning range with its source and date, never a quote.
• Then localise it: get two or three written quotes from licensed contractors in the property's market for the same written scope, or ask the inspector's recommended specialist for a priced evaluation. Replace the planning range with the quote range on the sheet and keep both so the buyer sees the move.
• Add access and knock-on costs the quote may exclude: opening and patching, permits, disposal, and the second defect a repair often exposes, such as decking under bad shingles. If a contractor cannot price it without opening something up, write "unknown until opened" instead of guessing.
• Total the low and high ends separately. Never present a single-point total for work nobody has bid.

1. Build the not-inspected gaps list. A general inspection is visual and non-invasive, and the standards do not require the inspector to move belongings, dismantle systems, operate a shut-down system, enter an unsafe area, determine code compliance, or price repairs. Translate the report's limitations into a plain list: what was not seen, why, and what would close the gap. Common gaps and their closing tests are in references/gaps-and-specialists.md. For each gap, decide one of three things before the deadline: order the test, ask the seller a direct question about it, or accept the unknown in writing with a budget reserve.

1. Decide the specialist calls. Escalate when the inspector recommends it, when a finding is Act now, or when the cost is unknown until a specialist looks. Typical pairings: structural engineer for foundation movement or sagging, licensed electrician for panel hazards or suspect wiring types, plumber or sewer contractor for drain and supply failures, HVAC contractor for a non-operating or unsafe furnace, roofer for active leaks and end-of-life coverings, and a qualified tester for radon, well, septic, chimney, or wood-destroying insects. Book these the same day the report arrives. Specialist slots are what the deadline usually runs out on.

1. Apply the life-expectancy check to Budget for later. Compare the reported age of each major system with the guideline ranges in references/cost-and-life-planning.md. Those ranges are planning guidelines, not guarantees, and age alone is not a defect. Use them to build a five-year reserve list with a rough year for each expected replacement, so the buyer prices ownership, not just the purchase.

1. Draft the negotiation shortlist. Keep it short and specific. Include only Act now and strong Negotiate items, each tied to a report page and photo, each with one clear ask: repair by a licensed professional with receipt and permit where required, a credit at closing for a stated amount backed by a quote, a price change, or a specialist evaluation before the deadline. Leave cosmetic wear, minor maintenance, and working-but-old systems off the ask and keep them on the budget sheet. Where the buyer prefers to control the work, prefer a credit over a seller repair and say why in one line. Use the request wording patterns in references/triage-sheet.md.

1. Write the question lists. Produce two separate lists.

• For the inspector: which findings worry you most and why, what you could not access, what each "further evaluation" line means in cost terms, what you would test if this were your purchase, and what a re-inspection should check after any seller repair.
• For the seller, through the buyer's agent: age and service history of roof, HVAC, and water heater, permits for past work, past leaks, flooding, backups, or pest treatment, warranties that transfer, and direct questions for every gap in step 6. Route seller questions through the agent and the contract process. Do not contact the seller directly unless the buyer's agent and contract say to.

1. Run the sheet tool when findings are in a file. Put findings in a CSV with the columns in scripts/triage.py, run it, and use its bucket totals as a check against the hand-sorted sheet. The tool sorts and sums only. It does not decide severity, and any disagreement between the tool and the sheet gets resolved by re-reading the report wording, not by trusting the tool.

1. Close with a decision line. End with one of four plain outcomes and the reason: proceed, proceed with the attached requests, extend or specialist-test before deciding if the contract allows it, or exit inside the contingency period if the contract allows it. Attach the deadline to the decision line. Never state a contract right the agent has not read in the actual contract.

Output Contract

Deliver these parts, in this order:

• Deadline line: the inspection response deadline from the contract, the notice method, and how many days remain.
• Triage sheet: every finding once, with report page or photo reference, bucket, safety/activity/spread/verification notes, and the inspector's recommendation in short form. Use the layout in references/triage-sheet.md.
• Priced top defects: for each priced finding, the planning range with source, the local quote range if obtained, and what the price excludes. Low and high totals kept separate.
• Gaps list: everything not inspected, not accessible, not operated, or excluded, with the closing test or seller question for each, and the buyer's choice: test, ask, or accept with reserve.
• Five-year reserve list: working systems and coverings near the end of a guideline life range, with an expected window, not a promised date.
• Negotiation shortlist: the specific asks, each tied to a page and photo, each with repair, credit, price, or evaluation as the requested remedy.
• Question lists: one for the inspector, one for the seller through the agent.
• Decision line: one outcome, the reason in two sentences at most, and the deadline repeated.

Operating Rules

• Never invent a price, an age, a life expectancy, a quote, or a contract right. Every number on the sheet carries a source: the report, a dated planning source, or a named local quote.
• Never call an item a code violation unless the report or a qualified professional in the relevant trade says so. A general inspection does not determine code compliance.
• Never treat "not inspected" as "no problem". An untested, inaccessible, or shut-down system is an unknown, and unknowns stay visible on the gaps list until they are tested or accepted.
• Never treat age alone as a material defect, and never tell a buyer a working system must be replaced because it passed a guideline age. Plan for it, monitor it, and say what failure signs to watch.
• Keep cosmetic and routine maintenance items off the negotiation shortlist. Loading the ask with small items weakens the serious ones.
• Do not diagnose causes the inspector did not diagnose. If the report notes a stain and recommends further evaluation, the sheet says exactly that, plus the specialist who can find the cause.
• Do not give legal advice about exiting a contract, earnest money, or disclosure law. State what the contract document in hand says, flag the deadline, and direct the buyer to their agent or attorney for the legal call.
• Radon is a test result, not an opinion. The US EPA recommends fixing a home at 4 pCi/L or more and considering a fix between 2 and 4 pCi/L. Report the measured level and that guidance, and let a qualified tester handle protocol questions.
• Safety findings go to the buyer the same day, in plain language, even if the full sheet is not finished. Do not hold a gas, electrical, or structural warning for a polished document.
• Worked example: references/worked-walkthrough.md shows a complete triage of a fictional 14-finding report, including a credit-based ask and a gap that stays unknown at closing. Follow its level of detail, not its facts.