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Inspection Report Writer

A typical AU agency runs a quarterly routine inspection on every property in its portfolio. For 150 doors that's 12 inspections per week, and each one ends with the PM at a desk writing 1-2 pages of prose referencing photos and ticked checklist items. The report writer takes the checklist and writes the prose.

What it produces

For a given (property, tenant, date, inspection type, room-by-room checklist), the writer returns:

  1. Statement / report narrative — multi-paragraph prose, AU English, factual tone, organised by room. Header line, per-room paragraph, optional overall observations, sign-off block.
  2. Safety flags — items extracted from the checklist that touch smoke alarms, gas, electrical, structural, mould or similar. Each flag is one short sentence the PM can review at a glance.
  3. Follow-ups — actionable imperatives derived from POOR-condition items ("Replace range-hood filter in kitchen", "Repair scuff on south wall of bedroom 1").
  4. Legal disclaimer — visible reminder that this is a draft, not a compliance certification.

The flow

  1. Walk the property with the form open on phone or tablet. Default checklist has 6 standard rooms (entry / living / kitchen / bathroom / bedroom 1 / outdoor) with 4-7 default items each, all pre-set to GOOD.
  2. Override only deviations — set a condition to FAIR / POOR / N/A, type a one-line note. Add or rename rooms as needed.
  3. Click "Draft report" — Claude (or the heuristic fallback) writes the prose in ~2 seconds.
  4. Review + edit — copy individual sections (narrative / safety flags / follow-ups) or the full report to your clipboard, paste into your normal email or owner-digest flow.

Inspection types supported

TypeWhen to use
Routine quarterlyStandard quarterly walk-through
Routine 6-monthlySome agencies run half-yearly instead
Move-in / ingoingNew tenant — full condition documentation
Move-out / outgoingEnd of tenancy — pairs with bond claim flow
Bond-outSpecifically for bond return assessment
Follow-upReturning to verify earlier action items
OtherAnything not captured by the above

The type drives the report's tone. A routine quarterly reads warmly ("the property continues to present in good order"); a move-out reads formally ("the kitchen is documented as follows for the purposes of bond assessment").

Conditions

Each item gets one of four conditions:

  • GOOD — no issues, standard expected condition. Compact one-line treatment in the prose.
  • FAIR — minor wear, no follow-up required. Mentioned in prose with the PM's note.
  • POOR — needs attention. Pulled into the follow-ups list as an imperative.
  • N/A — item not present at this property. Filtered out before Claude sees it.

Privacy

Per AI Fallbacks & Privacy:

Sent to Claude:

  • Property address (for the cover line)
  • Tenant name (when supplied — may appear in the report header)
  • Inspection metadata (type, date)
  • Every checklist item the PM filled in (description, condition, notes)
  • The PM's overall comments
  • Agency name + PM name (sign-off block)

Never sent:

  • Tenant email, mobile, lease number
  • Other tenants on the property
  • Any owner data
  • Photos (not yet wired — see "Coming soon")

Heuristic fallback

HeuristicInspectionReportDrafter produces a structured per-room recital — "Kitchen / • Oven — good / • Range hood — poor (filter missing)" — plus extracted safety flags + follow-ups via keyword matching. Less polished than Claude's prose, factually identical. modelVersion reports heuristic-v0 in this mode.

API

POST /api/v1/inspections/draft
Content-Type: application/json

{
"propertyAddress": "45 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000",
"tenantName": "Alex Nguyen",
"inspectionDate": "2026-04-26",
"inspectionType": "ROUTINE_QUARTERLY",
"rooms": [
{
"name": "Kitchen",
"items": [
{ "description": "Oven", "condition": "GOOD", "notes": "" },
{ "description": "Range hood", "condition": "POOR", "notes": "Filter missing" }
],
"generalNotes": "Generally clean; tenant cooks frequently."
}
],
"overallComments": "Property continues to present well.",
"agencyName": "Harbour Property Management",
"pmName": "Sarah Patel"
}

Response: InspectionReportResponse with the prose narrative, safetyFlags array, followUps array, the original room checklist echoed back, the disclaimer, and modelVersion / draftedAt. Non-mutating.

Coming soon: photos

The text-only flow ships first. Once photo upload is fully wired across the app, the report writer will accept room-keyed image uploads with captions, reference them in the prose ("a chip approximately 50 mm long on the south wall of bedroom 1, photographed as exhibit P-3"), and inline thumbnails in the rendered output. Tracked under AI Roadmap.

See also