Methodology

Methodology and confidence

Built around consistent rules, source hierarchy, house-vulnerability logic, and visible limitations rather than one black-box score. Public systems, generic summaries, and national hazard scores all help, but this product exists to bring them together in one property memo.

Public systems and GIS portals

Useful for: Parcel maps, overlays, records, and raw context.

Still missing: They do not fuse the current baseline, likely review path, documentation trail, and assumptions into one memo.

Public systems show layers. This audit turns them into one readable working file.
General-purpose AI

Useful for: Fast explanation and decent first-pass translation.

Still missing: They do not give one consistent, source-dated property memo with local review context and clear uncertainty notes.

Generic AI can explain. This audit creates one source-dated property memo.
National hazard scores

Useful for: Broad flood, wind, or climate context.

Still missing: They do not add local review path, permit or review history, or documentation readiness for this town.

National scores show broad hazard context. This audit adds local review path, permit history, and documentation readiness.
Public-data-first source hierarchy

Reports keep source dates, local detail level, assumptions, and known uncertainty flags visible instead of hiding them behind vague certainty language.

Consistent local review routing

Reports keep source dates, local detail level, assumptions, and known uncertainty flags visible instead of hiding them behind vague certainty language.

Known vs inferred vs unknown house-vulnerability inputs

Reports keep source dates, local detail level, assumptions, and known uncertainty flags visible instead of hiding them behind vague certainty language.

Section-level confidence instead of a fake single accuracy score

Reports keep source dates, local detail level, assumptions, and known uncertainty flags visible instead of hiding them behind vague certainty language.

Separate source-precision labels for regulatory, modeled, nearby-context, and regional-trend layers

Reports keep source dates, local detail level, assumptions, and known uncertainty flags visible instead of hiding them behind vague certainty language.

Hazard x house vulnerability matrix for homeowner prioritization

Reports keep source dates, local detail level, assumptions, and known uncertainty flags visible instead of hiding them behind vague certainty language.

Clear handling when a source is temporarily unavailable

Reports keep source dates, local detail level, assumptions, and known uncertainty flags visible instead of hiding them behind vague certainty language.

Regional coverage before town-specific overrides

Reports keep source dates, local detail level, assumptions, and known uncertainty flags visible instead of hiding them behind vague certainty language.

Official systems checked
  • Parcel, GIS, and overlay context: Parcel grounding, mapped overlays, and local context for the address being reviewed.
  • Local review context where supported: Historic, conservation, zoning, and board-aware routing only where the local source coverage supports it.
  • Permit and public-record trail where supported: Town-specific permit, plan, and public-record context when official public materials exist and are part of the local source coverage.
  • Coastal hazard and building-stress context: Flood, coastal, erosion, wind, rain, heat, humidity, and durability screening signals.
  • Assumptions, confidence, and source precision: Known facts, inferred facts, unknowns, and clear labels for official records, modeled context, nearby context, and regional trends.
What the labels mean

Not every source says the same kind of thing. This page keeps official records, modeled planning context, nearby context, and unresolved items in separate lanes so the memo does not imply more certainty than the file supports.

One report, multiple useful reads

One purchase includes the full audit memo plus transaction, renovation / permit, flood / diligence, and disclosure-readiness reading lanes from the same underlying report record.

  • Full Audit Memo: The flagship packet: a cover page, a four-page core memo, and one source page in one printable file.
  • Transaction Summary: The diligence read: current flood context, likely review flags, permit-history cues, and unresolved questions in one handoff view.
  • Renovation / Permit Summary: The planning read: likely authority path, permit-sensitive constraints, and the confirmations that matter before design or pricing hardens.
  • Flood / Diligence Summary: The flood-focused read: current FEMA context, modeled future screening, document checklist, and what remains unknown.
  • Flood Disclosure Readiness Checklist: The disclosure-ready checklist view: what the report already establishes, what the owner should gather, and what is still missing before relying on the packet in a deal.
Why the report stays calm

Unknown house facts lower confidence, shift language toward inspect or verify, and keep larger actions in professional-review lanes instead of pretending DIY certainty.

Evidence transparency

The product shows representative local, state, and modeled sources in homeowner-readable language so trust does not depend on blind faith in a black box.

Local review source

Named local boards only appear when the pack has a source-backed routing rule, such as Nantucket HDC or PLUS materials.

Permit or public-record source

Permit-history snapshots rely on the actual public trail available for that town, such as Nantucket public-record portals or town-level building and zoning materials.

Flood context source

FEMA NFHL stays the current regulatory flood context layer, while modeled layers are shown separately so they do not masquerade as permit truth.

Erosion or coastal context source

The Massachusetts Coastal Flood Risk Model, NOAA coastal context, and shoreline-change context can support planning, but the report labels their precision and limitations clearly.

Planning-only limitation note

Planning layers and nearby trend context are shown as context, not parcel-survey certainty, and the PDF spells that out directly.