A grading system on a condition report has one job: to tell the buyer what to do next, while the CPCV is still unsigned and the sinal is still theirs.
A defect that costs nothing today and might cost something later. A hairline shrinkage crack in a render, a seal degrading at a normal rate.
Note it and look again in a year. Not a negotiation item.
Ordinary wear with a predictable cost and no urgency. Repointing, a worn gutter run, tired sanitary silicone, a window needing overhaul.
Budget it into the first year of ownership.
Something the buyer would have paid less for had they known. Most damp findings, most roof findings, most electrical installations that predate the current rules.
Renegotiate, or require the works before the deed. The graded finding list is the working document.
A gas installation with no valid boletim, an unearthed circuit, structural movement with no established cause.
Commission the specialist study before anything else. Not a negotiation position.
It does not turn a crack width into a verdict. A measured crack width is a trigger for escalation to a structural engineer. No Portuguese norm sets a width at which a crack becomes a defect, and a report presenting one as though it did is overstating what the measurement carries.
It does not state how often findings occur. No Portuguese dataset supports a frequency claim at finding level. What is measured is the stock: INE recorded 35.8% of Portuguese buildings as needing repair in 2021, split 21.8% light, 9.4% medium and 4.6% deep, which puts serious condition problems at 14%.