What is the difference between a 4-point inspection and a home inspection?

The audience is the whole difference. A 4-point is written for an underwriter deciding whether to accept a risk. It asks four narrow questions: how old is the roof and how much life is left, what is the electrical service and are there hazardous wiring methods, what is the supply piping material and are there active leaks, and how old is the HVAC and does it run. The report answers those and stops. It does not evaluate the foundation, windows, doors, drainage, attic ventilation, insulation, appliances, or structure.

A home inspection is written for you. It follows the InterNACHI Standards of Practice and covers structure, foundation, roof, exterior, attic, insulation and ventilation, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, interior, and installed appliances. It typically produces thirty to eighty findings with photographs, ranked by significance. It is the document you and your agent use to decide whether to proceed, renegotiate, or walk. A 4-point will never tell you the addition was built without a permit or the grading dumps water against the north foundation wall.

Buyers get into trouble by substituting one for the other. Because the 4-point is cheaper and the insurance company demanded it by name, some buyers order only that and treat a clean result as a clean house. We have inspected homes with a perfectly satisfactory 4-point where the real problem was a failed stucco system holding moisture behind the wall, or a slab addition separating from the original structure. Neither of those is in the 4-point scope, so neither appeared, and the buyer read a clean report as reassurance.

In practice most Florida buyers are better off with both, and there is a good reason to order them together. The same visit covers both scopes, since the roof, panel, water heater, and HVAC are being evaluated for the home inspection anyway. You get one trip, one setup, one attic entry, and both documents on the same timeline. Add wind mitigation to the same visit and you have covered the buyer view, the underwriting view, and the credit documentation in a single afternoon.

One more distinction worth knowing. A home inspection is not required by anyone, and you can waive it. A 4-point is effectively required whenever your carrier asks for one, and waiving it means no binder and no closing if you are financing. That asymmetry is exactly why buyers assume the 4-point is the more important document. It is the more mandatory one. It is not the more informative one.