Four-Point and Insurance Inspections

Why this matters

A home inspection is for the buyer. A four-point inspection is for the buyer's insurance company, and it has a much shorter list and much less patience. When it flags a panel brand, a pipe material or a water heater's age, the carrier may simply refuse to write the policy, and with no insurance binder the lender will not fund the loan. That puts a specific repair, on a specific system, on a deadline set by an underwriter who will never meet you. Trades in markets where these inspections are routine get a steady stream of this work. The shops that do well with it understand what the underwriter is actually asking for, because "make it pass the four-point" is not a scope.

What a four-point inspection is

A four-point inspection reports the condition and age of four systems: roof, electrical, plumbing and heating and cooling. It is not a home inspection and does not grade the house. It answers a narrow underwriting question: does any of these four carry a known elevated risk of a fire or water claim?

It is most common, and most formalized, in Florida, where the state's insurer of last resort and most private carriers require one for older homes, commonly once a house passes about 30 years old and at some carriers at 20 or 25. The age trigger is a carrier rule, not a state law, so it varies by company and changes; the agent writing the policy knows the current one. Insurers in other hurricane and older-housing markets, along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts in particular, ask for the same report under the same name less systematically. Outside those markets you may never see one.

The four-point is usually performed by a licensed home inspector, contractor, engineer or similar professional the carrier accepts, on the carrier's own form or a form it approves, with photographs of each system. A Florida home is often also given a wind mitigation inspection, on the state's uniform form OIR-B1-1802, which documents roof shape, roof-to-wall attachment and opening protection for premium discounts. That one earns credits rather than causing declines, and it is a separate document.

What the underwriter rejects, system by system

These are the items that most commonly make a carrier decline to write or demand correction. Each carrier publishes its own list; this is the pattern, not any one company's rule.

Electrical

• Panels from a small number of manufacturers with a documented history of breakers failing to trip, Federal Pacific Stab-Lok and Zinsco being the two named most often.
• Fuse panels, regardless of condition.
• Knob-and-tube wiring and cloth-sheathed wiring still in service.
• Single-strand aluminum branch-circuit wiring without an approved remediation at the connections.
• Visible defects: double-tapped breakers, missing knockouts, scorching, an undersized service for the house.

Plumbing

• Polybutylene supply piping, installed widely in the U.S. from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s, a gray plastic often marked "PB."
• Galvanized steel supply piping, at many carriers.
• Active leaks or evidence of past leaks without repair.
• Water heaters past a carrier's age limit, which commonly falls somewhere around 10 to 15 years, or missing a temperature and pressure relief discharge line or a pan where one is needed.

Heating and cooling

• A system not operating at the time of inspection.
• Visible deficiencies: rust-through, a disconnected vent, a condensate leak.
• Age at some carriers, though HVAC age declines are less common than the other three.

Roof

• Remaining useful life judged below what the carrier accepts, commonly about three to five years.
• Age beyond the carrier's limit for the covering type; shingle roofs draw the shortest limits.
• Active leaks, missing or damaged covering, soft decking.

On roof age specifically, Florida enacted a law in 2022 that limits an insurer from refusing to write or renew a policy solely because a roof is under 15 years old, and gives owners of older roofs a right to an inspection before a nonrenewal on age. That is a Florida rule, current as of 2026 and subject to change; check the statute text before quoting it to a customer.

What the inspection report looks like when it lands on you

A buyer's agent typically forwards the deficiency lines with "can you fix this by Friday." This is the shape of what you will see.

4-POINT INSPECTION - 3115 PALMETTO WAY - BUILT 1987
---------------------------------------------------
ELECTRICAL  Panel: Federal Pacific, Stab-Lok, 150A
            Branch: copper     Hazards: none obs.
            Inspector note: panel brand on carrier
            unacceptable list. REPLACE.
PLUMBING    Supply: polybutylene, visible at heater
            and under kitchen sink. Heater: 2017,
            40 gal, TPR line present.
HVAC        2019 split system, operating.
ROOF        Shingle, 2014. Est. remaining 5-7 yrs.
---------------------------------------------------
Photos 1-14 attached.

Read it for three things: the system the carrier objects to, the exact reason given, and whether the inspector noted the item as observed or assumed. "Polybutylene visible at heater" means the inspector saw it at those points. It does not mean the whole house is polybutylene, and it does not mean it is not.

Why the work lands on trades, and on a short clock

The sequence that creates the job runs like this. The buyer gets the four-point during the inspection window. The insurance agent submits it. The carrier either binds the policy, binds with a correction deadline, or declines. A lender will not close a mortgage without proof of hazard insurance, so a decline at every carrier the agent tries means no closing.

The correction deadline the carrier gives depends on whether this is new business or a renewal. On an existing policy a carrier may allow 30 to 60 days to correct. On new business for a buyer, many carriers will not bind at all until the item is corrected, which puts the work before closing and usually on the seller's side of the transaction, or funded through a negotiated credit. See related: Repair Versus Credit at Closing. The overall timeline is its own subject. See related: How a Home Sale Timeline Works for the Trades.

What the underwriter actually needs from you

The underwriter needs evidence that the condition no longer exists. That usually means some combination of:

• A permit final for work that requires a permit, which a panel replacement and most repipes do.
• Your invoice describing the work in terms the underwriter can match to the deficiency: "replaced Federal Pacific Stab-Lok 150A panel with new 200A panel and breakers," not "electrical upgrade."
• Photographs of the new installation, matching the angles the inspector used.
• An updated four-point, performed by the inspector after the work, which many carriers require rather than accepting your paperwork directly.

Ask the buyer's insurance agent which of these the carrier wants before you start. The agent can find out in a day; you cannot find out at all.

What you do not provide is a statement that the house is now insurable. You did not write the policy and the carrier may still decline for something else on the form. Describe the work and its date. That is a fact you can stand behind; insurability is the carrier's decision. See related: Liability When a Buyer Relies on Your Estimate.

A worked case

The 1987 house above went under contract with a 30-day closing. The four-point came back on day 6 with the Federal Pacific panel and the polybutylene supply. The buyer's agent called an electrician and a plumber on day 7.

Electrical. The panel replacement is a defined scope and was the easier half. The electrician confirmed with the buyer's insurance agent that the carrier would accept a permit final plus an updated four-point. A permit was issued on day 9 and the work completed on day 12, with the service de-energized by the utility at the meter and the panel proved dead on a tester checked against a known live source before and after, before any conductor was moved. The final passed on day 15.

Plumbing. The plumber's assessment on day 8 found polybutylene throughout, not only at the two points the inspector saw. A whole-house repipe on a slab house that size was a five-working-day job plus drywall patching, and the earliest it could start was day 13. Day 13 plus five working days put completion around day 20, a permit final around day 23, and the updated four-point after that. It was feasible but left almost no margin before day 30.

The fork, which belonged to the parties. The plumber put the scope, duration and earliest dates in writing on day 8 and sent it to both agents. The agents asked whether a different carrier would bind with polybutylene and a correction deadline. Through the buyer's insurance agent, one carrier would, with 60 days to repipe after closing. The parties chose that path: the seller credited the repipe at closing and the buyer had it done in week three of ownership.

What would have changed it. Had no carrier bound with a correction window, the repipe would have had to finish before closing and the parties would have needed a short extension to protect the margin. Had the inspection come in on day 20 instead of day 6, neither job fits, and the honest answer on the first call is that the deadline cannot be met.

The traps

Quoting to the four-point line instead of the house. The inspector saw polybutylene in two places. Quoting a repair of those two places produces a house that still has it in the walls, which the updated inspection or the next claim will find.

Fixing what the carrier did not object to. A buyer's agent under pressure will sometimes ask you to "do whatever makes it pass." Do the item named. Other findings go in a separate written quote.

Letting your invoice wording do the underwriting. "Panel upgraded, home now meets insurance standards" is a claim about someone else's rulebook. Write what you did.

References

• Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form OIR-B1-1802 (wind mitigation)
• Florida Statutes Chapter 627, roof-age provisions enacted in 2022, current as of 2026; confirm the current text
• Your customer's insurance carrier's four-point requirements and acceptable-condition list, obtained through the buyer's insurance agent
• See related: Repair Versus Credit at Closing
• See related: How a Home Sale Timeline Works for the Trades