The rule this whole thing is built on
Unknown is a real answer, and it gets displayed. Most property tools quietly fill gaps with a model output, a regional average, or the year the house was built, then present the result in the same typeface as a confirmed one. We treat "not yet collected," "not applicable," and "cannot be determined without an inspection" as three different states, and we say which one you are looking at.
The confidence labels
| Label | What we are telling you |
|---|---|
| Public record | Looked up in a source we name on the row itself: your county assessor, your utility’s published service map, the federal weather archive. You can go and read the same record, and we would rather you did. |
| Estimated | Calculated, with the method stated. If we cannot state the method, the row does not get this label. |
| Needs a visit | Nobody can answer this from here, including us. It covers the questions no dataset reaches, and it covers the case where the public record for your address is simply thin. Either way somebody has to go and look. |
There used to be five labels. Two of them, "Verified" and "Available", described our own pipeline rather than your question, and no homeowner could tell them apart. A third, "In review", was worse than useless: it made a permanent limit sound like an activity in progress, as though somebody were examining your house at that moment. Nobody was. Three labels answer the only question worth asking, which is how the line was arrived at.
Property records
County assessor, recorder and local permit records can help explain a California property. Availability varies by jurisdiction. These records may be incomplete or out of date, so a record is a starting point rather than an inspection.
A permit can document the scope and date of recorded work. Check the city or county that issued it. Missing online records do not establish that work never happened.
Weather records
All of this is public. None of it is ours, and you can search every one of these yourself without our help:
- NOAA Storm Events Database: the archived record of severe weather events collected by the National Weather Service, searchable by state, county and date.
- Storm Prediction Center reports and NWS local storm reports: point observations from spotters, officials and the public. Real, but scattered wherever a person happened to be.
- NOAA MRMS: Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor products from the National Severe Storms Laboratory, which combine radar with other observations into gridded estimates. Complete coverage, but estimates from the sky rather than measurements in your yard.
- NWS severe criteria: the published thresholds that define a severe thunderstorm: hail at least one inch in diameter, or winds of at least 58 mph.
Weather data describes areas. It never describes a roof. When hail exposure appears for an address, the sentence we use is fixed:
"Verified weather records indicate hail exposure near this address. This does not establish property damage. A professional inspection can determine the property's actual condition."
Utility and service territory data
Utility territory information provides context. Confirm your utility and rate plan on your current bill before comparing solar options. California utility and community choice arrangements vary by address.
What we will not do with any of this
- We do not infer condition from age. A twenty-year-old roof is not a failing roof, and a five-year-old roof is not a sound one. Condition requires an inspection.
- We do not convert exposure into damage. Not by model, not by probability, not by implication.
- We do not produce solar suitability, production, or savings figures. No solar analysis provider is configured, so any such number would be manufactured.
- We do not collect or use credit, income, or financial information. Ever, for any purpose.
- We do not fill a blank with a plausible value. A blank row is information. A fabricated one is a liability you would be carrying, not us.
What happens to your address
The address you enter is used to perform the lookup. Contact details are collected only when you explicitly check the consent box, and when you do, we record the exact wording you agreed to and when you agreed to it, so there is a record of what you actually consented to rather than a claim that you did. If you do not check it, no contact details are stored and nobody calls. A professional introduction may involve a payment to VVE and requires your permission for the proposed recipient. The lookup can include your property address in the report URL, so avoid sharing that URL if you do not want to share the address. Contact details are sent through the form rather than included in its URL. The full text is in our privacy policy.
California residents can explore the education library without providing contact details, request a conversation, or use the assessment with its consent choices. Installer availability is not established by a property report. Your rights under state privacy law are described by the California Attorney General.
Keep reading
- Understand your roofWhat to check before adding panels or planning repairs.
- California electricity costsCompare published rate examples and your own usage.
- How we route homeowners to professionalsCredentials, written proposals and your permission.
- Check your California propertyAddress first. Contact details only with your consent.