Home Inspection

Getting a 4-point home inspection

When you buy a home, you need to have it inspected. If you have an older home that you are trying to get insurance coverage for, you may need to have a less-intensive inspection called a four-point inspection.

What is a four-point inspection?

A four-point inspection gets its name from the fact that it covers four major elements of your home. During a four-point inspection, your home inspector will examine: electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling systems, as well as your roof.

During a four-point inspection, the inspector concentrates on the age and condition of your systems to ensure that they are in good working order and don’t present an inordinate risk.

Insurance companies often require such inspections on older homes, especially those that are 25 years older or more. The insurance company wants to ensure that your home doesn’t have some hidden risk that it could end up being liable for.

Benefits of a four-point of inspection

In addition to helping you qualify for a homeowners insurance policy, there are other benefits to a four-point inspection. Such an inspection can help you find problems with major systems in your home before they become bigger ones. On the other hand, a four-point inspection also can show you that older systems are still in good working order and prevent you from replacing things unnecessarily.

Can a four-point inspection qualify as a home sale inspection?

Four-point inspections cover a very narrow range of things in your home and are not extensive enough to satisfy the requirements of a home sale pre-inspection. Such an inspection is much more extensive and a home inspector looks at additional criteria such as the structural integrity of your home and whether there are signs of mold or termite infestations. Call Beryl today.