Loss avoided~20 seconds
The floodplain, surfaced first.
FEMA NFHL · Flood screen · ScenarioA lot can look perfect from the street and still sit partly inside a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area. The flood factor scores the share of the parcel inside the SFHA (a creek clipping one corner reads differently than a fully mapped floodway), so the constraint shows up before the offer, not after the appraisal.
The flood factor comes from the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer, queried live, and the report names the zone and the lot fraction it covers.
- Data source
- FEMA NFHL, queried live
- Signal
- Share of the lot inside an SFHA
- Where it lands
- Flood factor + report hazards section
Loss avoided~20 seconds
The five-figure hookup, flagged.
OpenStreetMap · Utility gap · ScenarioOn 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. 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
Loss avoided~20 seconds
Slope you cannot see in photos.
USGS 3DEP · Terrain check · ScenarioTwo 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 do not.
- Data source
- USGS 3DEP, queried live
- Signal
- Percent grade at the lot
- Default weight
- 18%, heaviest in v2
Loss avoided~20 seconds
The unbuildable sliver, caught.
Parcel ring · Lot geometry · ScenarioAcreage 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%
Loss avoidedRe-run it yourself
92-point land, published at 60.
Austin, TX · Septic-limiting soil · Worked exampleA real address we use as the docs example, 1207 E 30th St, Austin, scores well on flood, terrain, utilities, and geometry. But USDA rates the soil "Very limited" for septic absorption fields, so the Buildability Formula caps the published score at 60 · C+ · caution instead of letting a strong average bury the finding.
Score = min(composite, every landmine cap). The cap appears as a named banner in the report. You can re-run this exact address in the app today and see it.
- Landmine
- Soil rated "Very limited" for septic
- Published score
- 60 · C+ · caution
- Mechanism
- Score = min(composite, caps)
Upside found~20 seconds
The envelope, in numbers.
Municipal code · Zoning envelope · ScenarioA 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
Time saved~20 seconds
A line item, not a landmine.
EPA zones · Radon check · ScenarioEPA Zone 1 radon is not a deal-killer. It is 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
Loss avoided~20 seconds
Severity that will not average away.
Federal hazard layers · Wildfire exposure · ScenarioVery-high wildfire hazard potential pulls its factor deep into the red, and in California the wildfire weight rises to 16%, so great zoning cannot 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
Upside foundOne question
The entitlement, priced before the hearing.
Geo · Upzone modeling · ScenarioWondering what a rezone is worth? Geo re-scores the parcel under the changed assumption (upzone, utilities, hazards) and returns the before and after score and unit delta, computed by the same versioned engine as every report.
Scenarios run through the real Score engine, not a separate model. The delta is auditable factor by factor.
- Tool
- run_scenario (Geo)
- Output
- Before/after score + unit delta
- Engine
- Same versioned methodology
