Severity levels

The severity levels you define in the template are those the inspector assigns to each deficiency narrative during writing. They color the report, structure the statistics (summary cards) and visually signal to the client the most critical items. This page describes the 7 default levels, the 3 display types, and how to customize them.

Access

Severity levels block with its icons and the list of 7 levels

Click Template Overview in the editor’s sidebar (virtual item at the top). Scroll to the Severity levels block.

The 7 default levels

The system BNQ template defines 7 levels covering the severity range expected in a residential inspection:

Level (FR)	Level (EN)	Color	Meaning
Aucun problème	No Issues	Green	No significant deficiency observed.
À surveiller	Monitor	Yellow	Element to observe over time, no urgency.
Avertissement	Warning	Orange	Moderate anomaly to fix in the medium term.
Déficience	Deficiency	Magenta	Significant anomaly to fix.
Urgent	Urgent	Black	To fix quickly.
Expertise requise	Specialist Required	Blue	Requires the opinion of a specialized professional.
Danger	Hazard	Red	Immediate safety risk.

These 7 levels constitute the standard severity vocabulary of the BNQ 3009-500 standard. You can modify them, add others, or remove some if your practice justifies it.

The 3 display types

Display Type dropdown with its 3 options (Icons, Emojis, Color dots)

The Type dropdown above the levels list controls how each severity is visually represented in the report and inspection editor.

Icons

Each level has a Lucide icon (modern vector icon set). Clicking a level’s icon opens the Choose an icon modal with search and grid.

Advantages: modern, professional, readable at large and small sizes.

Emojis

Each level has a Unicode emoji. Clicking a level’s emoji opens the Choose an emoji modal organized by categories (STATUS, TOOLS & WORK, ALERT & SAFETY).

Advantages: very expressive, readable on mobile, familiar to the general public.

Color dots

Each level is represented by two color dots only (background color + text color). No icon or emoji.

Advantages: minimalist, subtle, doesn’t distract from the text.

The Type choice applies to the entire template. All levels use the same type — you cannot mix Icons for some and Emojis for others.

Anatomy of a level

For each level, the row in the list shows:

Drag handle (left) — to reorder.
Background color swatch (clickable, opens a color picker).
Text color swatch (letter A, clickable).
Icon / emoji picker (only if Type = Icons or Emojis).
Name (FR) field + Name (EN) field.
Delete button (trash).
Chevron to expand / collapse.

When a level is expanded:

Chip preview — how the level appears in the inspection and report.
Description (French) + Description (English) — free-text textareas that appear in the report’s legend (“Definition of each severity level”).
Checkbox Count as “Urgent Issue” in the report.

The “Count as Urgent Issue” checkbox

When checked, deficiencies at this severity level are counted in the “Urgent Issues” card of the PDF summary. This is useful to:

Highlight the Urgent and Hazard levels (checked by default on these levels).
Also include Specialist Required if you want to flag these cases as needing immediate attention.

Unchecking this box on a level (e.g. Monitor) keeps the level in the report but removes it from the urgent issues count.

Reorder

Drag & drop in the list. Order matters: it defines the appearance order of levels in the severity selector dropdown on the inspector side, and in the legend of the report. Place the most-used levels at the top.

Add a level

Click + Add a level at the top right. A new level is added at the bottom with a default name. Configure its color, icon, FR/EN names, description, and Urgent Issue checkbox.

Delete a level

Click the trash on the right of the row. Deletion takes effect immediately in the template (on save).

If existing narratives use a level you delete, their severity becomes undefined. Lumos may flip these narratives onto the closest level or display them without severity — behavior to verify in your case. To avoid surprises, prefer deleting an unused level or first reassign existing narratives to another level before deletion.

Best practices

Keep the 7 default levels at least at start. They align with the BNQ standard and are recognized by your clientele.
Don’t add too many — beyond 8-9 levels, inspectors hesitate in their choice and consistency is lost.
Choose the Type once and stick to it — switching between Icons and Emojis disorients users used to the previous one.
Care for descriptions — they appear in the report and help the client understand the scale. Avoid descriptions too short (“Anomaly.” doesn’t help) or too long (beyond 2 sentences gets verbose).
Distinct colors — choose visually distinct colors (not two shades of yellow). The client should be able to scan the report and identify severities at a glance.