Is a 4-point inspection required in Florida?

The distinction matters because buyers hear the word required and assume the state is behind it. It is not. No Florida statute compels a 4-point inspection. What compels it is underwriting. Carriers writing homeowners policies in Florida have taken heavy losses on aging roofs, failing plumbing, and obsolete electrical panels, and the 4-point is how they decide whether to take the risk at all. If your carrier asks for one and you cannot produce it, you are not going to get a binder, and if you are financing, no binder means no closing.

The four points are roof, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. Nothing else. It is a narrow report by design, and it answers underwriting questions rather than buyer questions. How old is the roof and how much service life is left. What brand is the panel, what is the amperage, and is there any aluminum branch wiring. What material is the supply piping and are there active leaks. How old is the HVAC and does it function. That is the whole exercise. It is not a substitute for a home inspection and it will not tell you whether the foundation is sound or the windows leak.

Requirements vary by carrier and they move. Some companies ask for a 4-point on nearly every policy they write, others only within certain programs or on certain properties, and the same company can change its position from one year to the next. Some carriers waive the requirement if the roof, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC have all been updated and documented within a recent window. Your insurance agent, your realtor or your lender should be able to tell you what the specific carrier and program you are applying to requires, and it is worth asking before you order anything.

Timing is where people get hurt. Buyers frequently wait until the week before closing to start on insurance, discover the carrier wants a 4-point, order it, and then find out the panel is a Federal Pacific Stab-Lok or the supply piping is polybutylene. At that point the seller has no incentive to fix anything and the buyer has no time to negotiate. Order the 4-point during your inspection period, alongside the home inspection, while you still have leverage and options.

In Northeast Florida the failure patterns are consistent. Older Jacksonville, Palatka, and Green Cove Springs homes turn up obsolete panels and cast-iron drains. Late-1970s through mid-1990s stock across Clay and St. Johns counties still has polybutylene in service, and it fails at the fittings rather than in the middle of a run, which is why it looks fine right up until it does not. And roofs are the single most common decline reason across every market we work in, because carriers want meaningful remaining life, not a roof that has one more season in it.