4 point inspections are quick, focused inspections that zero in on a few areas of the home. The 4 points are:
- Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC)
- Electrical System
- Plumbing
- Roofing
A 4 point inspection is generally required by your home insurance provider. They want to know certain facts about the house to make sure that it isn’t too large of a liability. They don’t necessarily care about the condition of the interior paint, but they do care about whether or not your electrical system has any components that are known to cause fires.
What’s Included In A Full Home Inspection
A full home inspection is typically what you’d get if you were still deciding whether or not to buy a house. For that reason, it’s also referred to as a buyer’s inspection. It’s more comprehensive than a 4 point and will root out most major problems with a home. The areas examined in a full inspection include:
- Exterior
- Interior
- Appliances
- Grading and drainage
- Plumbing
- Electrical system
- Doors and windows
As you can see, it’s quite a bit more involved than a 4 point. Now you might be wondering why you should even bother with 4 point inspections at all, but they exist for a very good reason.
Why Both Are Necessary
A full home inspection covers a lot of the same ground as a 4 point, so you may be wondering why you need both. While it’s true that full home inspections are more comprehensive, there is a benefit to the focused nature of the 4 point inspection. Remember, this inspection is designed to inform insurance providers about the condition of your home so they can assess how much of a liability it will be. They are looking for specific things here. A more focused inspection will be able to shine a spotlight on the areas that these insurance providers most care about, and potentially save you thousands on homeowners insurance.
The bottom line is that both the 4 point inspection and the full home inspection have their place. It’s always recommended to get a full home inspection in addition to the 4 point required by your home insurance provider. There is some overlap between the two but they serve very different purposes: the 4 point inspection providing valuable information about insurability and the full home inspection providing you with information you can use to make a purchasing decision.
At Super Inspection Pros our licensed inspectors have years experience performing efficient 4 point inspections. We’ve worked with many insurance providers so we know how to tailor our reports to get you the best results possible. Please, contact us today to learn more about our inspection process or to schedule a 4 point inspection of your home.
