Buying an older home in Florida can open a world of terms and requirements from a past time. This article addresses one of those older concepts: a four-point inspection, which looks at four crucial systems in a home.
As a homeowner or prospective buyer, there’s no question you want to make your living space as safe as you can. Safety means assessing risks in your home and making the necessary fixes before they become problems.
But plenty of home inspections help you achieve home safety, and four-point inspections are no longer the industry standard to qualify for home insurance—even for older homes.
Instead, modern companies like OpenHouse Home Insurance use advanced technology to pull data and self-inspections to verify your home’s safety.
If the insurance provider you’re considering still requires four-point inspections, read on for what you should know and what you can expect.
What Is a 4-Point Home Inspection in Florida?
Florida created a new set of building regulations in response to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which destroyed many homes and caused 65 deaths. As a result, four-point inspections were created to ensure that homes 30 years and older were safer and better prepared for severe weather.
In a four-point inspection, a licensed inspector visually looks for issues and takes photos of problem areas in the following four principal systems in your home:
- HVAC (heat, ventilation, and air conditioning)
- Electrical
- Plumbing
- Roof
These inspections can result in easier or less expensive repairs than waiting for severe damage or malfunction. For example, it’s better to notice roof damage during your four-point inspection and pay for it early than deal with about $1,200 in roof leak repair costs later.
That said, full inspections will give you a better idea of the state of a home if you’re looking to buy. We talk a bit about this below.
And like we shared above, four-point inspections are no longer the standard when it comes to getting home insurance.
How Long Does a Florida 4-Point Inspection Take?
Four-point inspections may take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the size of your house and the condition of your systems.
As a visual inspection, the process is fairly short because inspectors don’t need to use any heavy equipment.
What Does a 4-Point Home Inspection Cover?
Inspectors focus on finding issues for each of the four systems, like outdated or damaged materials and structures. They also check if certain elements in your systems are working normally.
Use the bullets below as a four-point home inspection checklist to understand what your inspector looks for.
HVAC
The inspector will look at your home’s HVAC system to determine the following:
- If there’s central heat and air: The inspection’s requirements do not consider fireplaces, oil furnaces, window AC units, portable AC units, or ductless ACs as central heat or cooling units.
- The age of your system: You’ll likely need to replace an HVAC system over 20 years old.
- The functionality of your system: A poorly functioning HVAC system may pose health risks due to bad air quality and dust growth.
- If the system is properly sized: If your HVAC system is too small for your home, it will waste energy trying to meet your set temperature.
- Signs of leakage: Water leaking from your HVAC system can create difficulties like mold in your AC, which can cause health problems.
Electrical
When looking at your electrical system, your inspector will check electrical components to see if they meet code regulations. They will determine if your electrical system:
- Has the right amount of wires per breaker, unlike a double-tapped breaker, which uses two wires under one circuit breaker that should only have one wire.
- Is the appropriate size for your house to prevent overheating and the risk of fire.
- Has properly grounded electrical outlets to ensure excess electricity is diverted to the ground.
The inspector will also look for older types of wiring that are no longer acceptable because they pose a fire hazard. The following types of wiring are uninsurable due to known risks:
- Aluminum: Single-strand aluminum wiring, popular in the 1960s and ‘70s, is a poor conductor compared to other materials for wiring, so connections can overheat or become loose. Note that multi-strand aluminum wiring is still commonly used today and is not considered hazardous.
- Knob-and-tube (K&T): K&T wiring, common in the 1940s, is ungrounded and too old for use with modern appliances.
Additionally, your inspector will assess the condition of your electrical panel, which controls electricity distribution throughout your home. Some brands of electrical panels are uninsurable due to historical failures and will fail a four-point inspection, including:
- Federal Pacific
- Zinsco
- Challenger
- Sylvania
Plumbing
When conducting the plumbing portion of the inspection, the inspector will look at each related fixture in your home, such as bathtubs, sinks, toilets, and the dishwasher.
They will check for the following to ensure your plumbing meets the standard:
- Evidence of leaks
- Age and condition of your water heater
- Age of your drain and supply pipes
The inspector will also note the types of pipes your home has, including the following unsafe materials:
- Galvanized steel: These pipes, used before the 1960s, have a layer of zinc that can start to wear away, rust the interior, and eventually cause the pipes to collapse or leak.
- Lead: Houses built before 1986 may have lead pipes, which can endanger you and others with lead poisoning.
- Polybutylene: This type of piping, popular from the mid-1970s to the mid-90s, reacts with chlorine from municipal water and becomes brittle, causing leaks.
Roof
Since a roof is particularly expensive to replace, this portion of the four-point inspection is often the most in-depth.
When examining the roof, the inspector will look at the following:
- Type of roof covering: Many materials can cover your roof, like metal, concrete, clay, membrane, and asphalt.
- Age and life expectancy of your roof: Generally, your roof must have three to five years of useful life left, but you should call your insurance company to check its roofing policy.
- Condition of shingles: Missing, warped, or damaged shingles can cause problems like structural deterioration and water damage from pooling water.
- Leakage: You will need to address the presence or evidence of leaks.
- Roof shape: A hip roof, for example, partly covers all walls and is best for high winds.
Is a 4-Point Home Inspection Required for Insurance in Florida?
Some Florida insurance companies may still require you to submit a passing four-point inspection to receive home insurance. However, the four-point inspection requirement is an older and less reliable method of assessing risk, so some insurers have moved away from it.
For example, OpenHouse does not require homeowners to get a four-point home inspection to receive home insurance. Instead, we guide homeowners through an easier, more reliable “self-inspection” of their own house and use data to identify and evaluate risk.
How Long is a 4-Point Inspection Form Valid in Florida?
The validity of a four-point inspection report may depend on your insurance company and if it requires this type of inspection. Generally, you can expect home insurance companies that take the results of a four-point inspection to accept them no later than 12 months after the inspection date.
How Much Is a 4-Point Inspection in Florida?
Depending on the size of your house, your location in Florida, and the inspection company, a four-point inspection costs between $50 and $200.
A licensed inspector with favorable reviews trumps low prices when it comes to inspection costs.
However, if you’re looking to save, ask the inspection company if they’ll offer a discount by bundling it with a wind mitigation inspection (we talk about these below).
How to Pass a 4-Point Home Inspection
Knowing what a four-point inspector looks for, you can have a professional address any obvious problems before the inspection. Addressing areas of concern before your inspection will help the process run more smoothly and potentially give you a passing report.
In each of the four areas, check that all systems are working well and do not have any noticeable damage.
You can also remove obstacles around the four systems to help the inspector easily move around your house.
A more modern solution, like OpenHouse’s, is easier because it requires less work that you can do in your own time entirely online and doesn’t cost extra like a four-point inspection.
4-Point Inspections vs. Other Home Inspections
Four-point inspections resemble other home inspections, which can be confusing if you’re new to home buying and home insurance.
4-Point Inspections vs Wind Mitigation Inspections
A wind mitigation inspection looks for features of a home’s roof and openings that guard it against strong winds, like during a hurricane.
Florida home insurance companies do not require homeowners to get a wind mitigation inspection, but the state does require insurers to provide discounts for homeowners who get them.
A four-point inspection also examines the roof, but it does not look at your home’s openings and is more focused on whether the roof is well-functioning rather than if it can withstand strong winds.
Unfortunately, even if your home insurance company requires a four-point inspection, it won’t offer credits toward your home insurance premiums like a wind mitigation inspection will.
4-Point Inspections vs Full Inspections
It’s easy to see the similarities between a full and four-point inspection because they both cover several areas of your home.
The main difference between the two is that a full inspection evaluates all areas of your home—many more than the four systems a four-point inspection looks at in an older home.
A full inspection can assess the following areas:
- Interior and exterior
- Appliances
- The landscape’s grading and drainage
- Plumbing
- Windows and doors
- HVAC system
- Roof and attic
- Flooring
- Electrical system
You want to get a full inspection when you include a home inspection contingency in your real estate offer to buy a home because it allows you to back out of the purchase if the full inspection reveals unsatisfactory conditions.
When it comes to obtaining insurance, OpenHouse doesn’t require four-point inspections at all.
What’s Next After a Florida 4-Point Inspection?
After your four-point inspection, the inspector will give you a passing or failing report. If the home insurer you’re interested in requires a four-point inspection, the inspector will submit the report to the company, and they will determine the eligibility of your home’s major systems and decide whether to insure your home.
If your home experiences a failed four-point home inspection, you’ll need to make the required fixes to receive homeowners insurance from the company that required the inspection.
An Old Method for Older Homes
Four-point inspections used to be a helpful way to assess risk in older Florida homes, but they have since lost their value. Newer technology and access to higher-quality data gives home insurance providers, like OpenHouse, more than enough to make informed decisions.If the insurance provider you’re considering still requires a four-point inspection in Florida, start with this directory from the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors and our guide on how to choose a great home inspector. If you’re still looking for your dream home and need a full inspection to evaluate the state of the house before making an offer, these resources come in handy for that as well.