The short answer: two documents, two audiences
A 4-point inspection is a narrow report on four systems — roof, electrical, plumbing and HVAC — written for an insurance underwriter who is deciding whether to take the risk on a Florida home. A full home inspection is a broad evaluation of the whole accessible property, written for the buyer or owner who needs to understand what they are getting into. They overlap in subject matter, but they exist for different reasons, they are read by different people, and neither one substitutes for the other.
The confusion is understandable, because both look at the roof, both look at the panel, and both look at the water heater. The difference is depth on one side and breadth on the other. A 4-point answers a yes-or-no underwriting question about four systems. A home inspection answers an open-ended question about the entire structure: what is here, what condition is it in, what is going to need attention, and what should you be asking the seller about before your contingency runs out.
Requirements for a 4-point vary by carrier and by program, and they change. Confirm with your insurance agent, your realtor or your lender whether one is needed for the property you are buying or insuring. If it is, we can include it with your inspection on the same visit rather than sending someone back a second time.
What a 4-point inspection actually covers
The four points are the four systems that generate the large majority of expensive homeowner claims in Florida. Roof: covering type, documented or estimated age, remaining useful life, condition of flashing and penetrations, and any evidence of active leaking. Electrical: panel manufacturer and amperage, wiring type, breaker condition, GFCI protection in wet areas, and any visible hazard such as scorching, double-tapped breakers or open splices. Plumbing: supply and drain material, water heater age and condition, visible leaks or corrosion, and whether the home still has polybutylene supply piping. HVAC: system type and age, whether it operates, condensate handling, and the condition of the air handler and condenser.
The report goes out on a form the carrier expects, with photographs attached. It is factual rather than advisory. We record what is there and what condition it is in, and the underwriter applies the carrier's own rules to it. There is no formal pass or fail stamp on a 4-point, although in practice a small set of findings — an obsolete panel, polybutylene supply lines, an active roof leak, a covering at the end of its life — functions as a decline with most carriers.
What a 4-point does not cover is almost everything else. No foundation evaluation, no attic structure beyond what is relevant to the roof, no windows and doors, no appliances, no grading and drainage, no exterior cladding, no decks or railings, no garage, no interior finishes. If a buyer's only inspection is a 4-point, they close on a house knowing four things about it.
What a full home inspection covers
A full home inspection is a systematic walk through everything safely accessible. Structure and foundation, visible framing, the roof covering and its drainage, attic insulation and ventilation, exterior cladding and trim, windows and doors and their operation, the electrical service from the meter through to the receptacles, supply and drain plumbing and fixtures, heating and cooling, water heating, built-in appliances, garage and its fire separation, decks, porches, railings and stairs, and site grading and drainage around the structure.
The output is different too. A 4-point is a form. A home inspection report is a narrative document with photographs, organised so you can separate a safety issue from a maintenance item from a note for the file. That distinction is what makes it useful in a negotiation. A buyer who can point to three genuine defects has leverage. A buyer who hands a seller forty pages of undifferentiated observations usually gets nothing.
There are limits worth naming up front, because a home inspection is visual and non-invasive. We do not open walls, we do not lift flooring, and we do not perform destructive testing. Wood-destroying organism inspection is a separate Florida FDACS licence and is not part of a home inspection — we document any visible evidence and conducive conditions such as wood-to-soil contact, moisture-damaged trim or heavy vegetation against the structure, and we recommend a licensed WDO inspector. We are happy to help connect you with one. Mold sampling, septic systems, well water testing and engineering analysis are likewise outside the scope of a home inspection and get referred to the appropriate specialist.
Why one does not substitute for the other
Buyers sometimes ask whether they can skip the home inspection because the lender or carrier only asked for a 4-point. The problem is that the 4-point was never designed to protect the buyer. It was designed to protect the insurer. A house can produce a clean 4-point and still have a failing foundation, rotted framing behind the siding, a garage firewall that was cut open for a laundry hookup, chronic moisture intrusion at a wall, and drainage that sends stormwater under the slab. None of that appears on the form because none of it is one of the four points.
The reverse also happens. Owners sometimes assume that because they had a full inspection at purchase, the carrier will accept it. Carriers generally will not. They want their own format, current photographs, and specific data fields completed. A comprehensive report that answers more questions than they asked is not the document they requested.
The other structural difference is time. A 4-point reflects one moment for underwriting purposes, and carriers usually want a recent one. A home inspection is a baseline you keep — a record of what the house looked like on the day you bought it, which becomes genuinely useful three years later when something fails and you are trying to work out whether it was there all along.
Doing both on the same visit in St. Johns and Duval County
For most buyers in St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Nocatee and the surrounding communities, the sensible answer is not choosing between the two. It is booking the full home inspection because you need to understand the property, and adding the 4-point and the wind mitigation inspection at the same appointment because your insurance is going to want them.
Combining them is more efficient in every direction. One trip, one set of access arrangements with the listing agent, one occasion when the utilities need to be on. We are already in the attic, already at the panel, already at the condenser. Producing the additional forms from that same visit avoids a second scheduling round in the middle of a contingency period that is usually shorter than anyone would like.
Wind mitigation deserves a mention alongside the 4-point because the two are frequently ordered together and they do opposite jobs. A 4-point documents condition and can cost you coverage. A wind mitigation inspection documents construction features — roof covering compliance, roof deck attachment, roof-to-wall connections, roof geometry, secondary water resistance and opening protection — that can work in your favour with the carrier. We do not quote what any of that will do to a premium; that is the carrier's decision and your agent's conversation.
How to decide what you need
If you are buying, get the full home inspection. That one is not really a judgement call. It is the only document in the transaction that exists to tell you what you are buying, and the inspection contingency is the narrow window where the information is still actionable.
If you are buying and the property is being newly insured, ask your agent early whether a 4-point is required, and add it. Do not wait until after closing to discover that the carrier wants one and the panel is a problem. Ask about wind mitigation at the same time.
If you already own the home and you are renewing, changing carriers or shopping the policy, the 4-point may be all you need. If the home has systems you have never had eyes on — an attic you have not been in, a crawl space, a roof you have only seen from the ground — a full inspection is still worth doing on its own merits, quite apart from insurance.
And if you are selling, a pre-listing inspection lets you find the negotiating items before a buyer's inspector does. In a market where buyers are cautious, controlling that information early is often the difference between a clean close and a renegotiation two weeks before the closing date.