The Four-Point Inspection
An inspector checks the roof, electrical, plumbing and HVAC on older homes before an insurer agrees to cover them.
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What Triggers the Inspection
Insurers usually ask for a four-point inspection when a house is older, often 25 to 30 years or more, or when the roof's age is unknown. Your insurer sets the exact cutoff. Check with them before you assume you need one.
Why It Affects Your Price
The inspection confirms how old the roof, wiring, plumbing and HVAC actually are. Outdated systems, like fuse boxes or galvanized pipes, can raise what you pay. They can also get flagged as something to fix before coverage starts.
Who Schedules It
You or your agent usually arrange the inspection with a licensed inspector, not the seller's home inspector. The report goes to the insurer directly. Ask your agent early so it's done before your closing date puts you in a time crunch.
If Issues Turn Up
If the inspector flags an aging roof or old wiring, the insurer may ask for repairs before binding coverage. It may exclude that system from coverage instead, or decline to write the policy at all. Get the report early enough to fix problems before closing.
What one insurer flags on the four-point report, another may pass without a second look, and pricing for the same roof or panel can land far apart. If this house needs an inspection, comparing quotes before closing shows which insurers will write it cleanly and which will ask for repairs or exclusions first.
How the Four-Point Inspection Is Different From the Home Inspection
Buyers often assume the home inspection they already paid for covers this. It doesn't. The home inspection you order during the purchase looks at the whole house for your own decision about buying it. The four-point inspection looks at four systems only, roof, electrical, plumbing and HVAC, for the insurer's decision about covering it. Different inspector, different report, different purpose. Some inspectors are licensed to do both, but the insurer needs its own form filled out, usually one it names or supplies.
The report itself is short, often a page or two, with the inspector noting the age and condition of each system and checking boxes for obvious hazards. No inspector is grading the paint or the landscaping here. A wiring panel that is fine for daily use can still get flagged if it's a type insurers avoid, like aluminum branch wiring or certain older panel brands. That is a judgment about insurance risk, not about whether the system works.
Cost and timing are worth planning around. The inspection usually runs somewhere in the low hundreds of dollars, paid out of pocket, and it isn't ordered by the insurer. You or your agent sets it up with an inspector, and the report has to reach the insurer before a binder can be issued. If closing is three weeks out and the inspection takes a week to schedule and another few days to write up, that leaves a narrow window to fix anything that gets flagged. Asking the agent on day one whether this house will need one, rather than finding out after an application is already in, is what keeps that window open.
A report that comes back clean doesn't expire immediately, but insurers typically want it dated close to when the policy starts, often within 30 to 90 days. If financing falls through and the purchase drags on, an old report may need to be redone. Keeping a copy for your own records is worth doing too, since a future renewal or a switch to a different insurer may ask for the same information again.
Who Pays For It and Who Keeps the Report
The buyer usually pays for the four-point inspection, not the seller. It's a cost separate from the home inspection you already ordered, separate from the appraisal, and separate from anything the lender charges. Expect somewhere in the low hundreds of dollars, paid directly to the inspector, and it isn't something that gets rolled into closing costs automatically. Ask early whether your agent has an inspector they work with regularly, since that can save a few days of searching.
The report goes to the insurer, not to the seller or the lender, though the lender will want proof that coverage exists before closing. Your agent typically forwards the report once it's done, or the inspector sends it straight to the insurer if asked. Either way, hold onto a copy for yourself. If the deal falls through and the house gets insured by someone else later, or if coverage switches insurers down the road, a current inspection report can save paying for a second one.
A four-point inspection failing to turn up anything alarming doesn't mean skipping it is an option if the insurer requires it. Some buyers try to save the cost by assuming an older roof or panel will pass fine, then get surprised when the insurer won't bind coverage without the paperwork in hand. The requirement comes from the insurer's underwriting rules, not from how the house actually performs, so there's no shortcut around having the report filed.
Splitting the cost with the seller sometimes comes up in negotiation, especially if the seller already suspects an aging roof or panel will need addressing before any buyer can get insured. That's a conversation for the purchase contract, not for the insurance application. The insurer doesn't care who paid for the inspection. It only cares that a qualified inspector filled out its form and that the findings meet whatever it requires to write the policy.
Before you close
Check your declarations page or ask your agent whether this house's age or roof puts it in four-point territory, and get the inspection scheduled now. A report in hand well before closing gives you room to fix anything it flags.
