What 20 seconds actually surfaces.

OpenStreetMap · Utility gap · Scenario

On rural and edge parcels the make-or-break question is distance to power, water, and road access. The utilities factor scores proximity from mapped infrastructure — and when mapping is too thin to trust, the factor drops out instead of being assumed serviceable.

Unknown is a finding, not a pass: methodology v2 never applies an optimistic default to utilities.

Data source

OpenStreetMap infrastructure

Signal

Proximity to power, water, road

When unmapped

Factor omitted, never assumed

USGS 3DEP · Terrain check · Scenario

Two adjacent lots can differ by an entire foundation budget because one falls away at 20% grade. The terrain factor reads lot-scale slope from USGS 3DEP — one of the two v2 factors that separates a parcel from its neighbors instead of scoring the whole ZIP code the same.

Terrain carries the heaviest default weight in methodology v2 — 18% — because slope differs house to house while county-level hazards don’t.

Data source

USGS 3DEP, queried live

Signal

Percent grade at the lot

Default weight

18% — heaviest in v2

Parcel ring · Lot geometry · Scenario

Acreage alone hides shape. A long, irregular sliver builds very differently than a clean rectangle of the same size. The geometry factor computes shape regularity from the real parcel boundary — area against its bounding rectangle — so a flag lot or remnant strip scores like what it is.

Geometry is the second within-market factor added in methodology v2, computed from the actual parcel polygon rather than a radius guess.

Data source

Parcel boundaries (Regrid)

Signal

Shape regularity, 0–1

Default weight

10%

Municipal code · Zoning envelope · Scenario

A district name alone tells you almost nothing. Where the jurisdiction publishes dimensional standards, the report turns FAR, lot coverage, height, and minimum lot size into a buildable envelope — units, floors, and square feet — and names the constraint that binds first.

When only a designation name is known, v2 omits the zoning factor entirely: a name is not an assessment.

Signal

FAR · coverage · min lot · height

Output

Max units, floors, buildable sf

If standards unknown

Factor omitted, never guessed

EPA zones · Radon check · Scenario

EPA Zone 1 radon isn’t a deal-killer — it’s a mitigation system you should price before you bid. The radon factor reads the county designation and takes a moderate, honest penalty, so the report tells you to budget for it instead of scaring you off the lot.

Every factor carries a plain-English note naming its dataset, so you can tell a budget item from a blocker.

Data source

EPA radon zones

Signal

County zone designation

Reading

Moderate penalty, clearly labeled

Federal hazard layers · Wildfire exposure · Scenario

Very-high wildfire hazard potential pulls its factor deep into the red — and in California the wildfire weight rises to 16%, so great zoning can’t paper over a WUI lot. Insurance is where this bites first; the screen puts it in front of you before the insurer does.

Severe findings dominate their factor instead of averaging away — that behavior is published on the Score methodology page.

Data source

Federal wildfire hazard mapping

Regional weight

Up to 16% (CA)

If unmapped

Factor omitted