4-Point Inspection Florida: Checklist, Cost & How to Pass

The Short Answer

A 4-point inspection is a short condition report on four systems in your home: the roof, the electrical system, the plumbing, and the heating and air conditioning. Insurers ask for it before they will write a policy on an older house. Citizens Property Insurance requires one for every property owner, dwelling or mobile home application on a home more than 20 years old. It is not a wind mitigation inspection, which documents hurricane features for discounts, but most South Florida inspectors will do both in one visit for less than the price of two.

What a 4-Point Inspection Is, and Is Not

The 4-point exists for underwriting. The insurer wants the age, type and condition of the wiring, the heating and cooling equipment, the plumbing and the roof before it accepts the risk. It is not a warranty on any of those systems; Citizens’ form says it is used only to determine insurability.

	4-Point	Wind Mitigation	Roof Inspection
Purpose	Insurability of an older home	Premium discounts for wind-resistant features	Roof condition and remaining life
Form	Citizens sample form Insp4pt (03/25) or equivalent	OIR-B1-1802, the statewide uniform form	Citizens sample form RCF-1 (03/25)
Covers	Roof, electrical, plumbing, HVAC	Roof covering and shape, deck and roof-to-wall attachment, secondary water resistance, opening protection	Roof only
Who asks	The insurer, based on the home’s age	Optional, but required for discounts	The insurer, based on roof age
Valid for	Set by each insurer	Up to five years if nothing material changes	Set by each insurer

Wind mitigation is where impact windows and doors earn credit. A 4-point never asks about them. For that side, read the wind mitigation inspection guide.

When You Need One

Citizens. Citizens requires a four-point inspection “for all property owner, dwelling and mobile home applications for properties more than 20 years old.” For a 2026 application, that is roughly any home built in 2005 or earlier. Private carriers set their own age triggers, so ask your agent first.

Roof age. Under section 627.7011(5), Florida Statutes, an insurer may not refuse to issue or renew a homeowner’s policy on a roof less than 15 years old solely because of its age. From 15 years on, the insurer must let you get an inspection, and it may not refuse solely for age if an authorized inspector finds 5 years or more of useful life remaining. Citizens goes further: roofs older than 25 years (shingle and similar “soft” coverings) or 50 years (tile, slate, clay, concrete or metal) need documentation showing at least five years of remaining useful life, and a roof with less than five years left must be fully replaced before a policy is written.

The 4-point form has a “remaining useful life (years)” field for the main roof and any secondary roof. With photos of each slope, Citizens accepts that section in place of a separate Roof Inspection Form.

What the Inspector Checks

Citizens publishes a sample form. Other formats are accepted, but any report “must include at least this level of detail to be acceptable.”

Electrical

• Each panel: breaker or fuse, total amps, whether the amperage is sufficient for current usage, age, brand and year last updated
• Wiring type: copper, copper-clad aluminum, single-strand or multistrand aluminum, cloth, knob and tube
• Named hazards: double taps, blowing fuses, tripping breakers, empty sockets, loose or exposed wiring, improper grounding, improper breaker size, corrosion, over-fusing and scorching

If single-strand aluminum branch wiring is present, the inspector must describe where it is used and any repairs (COPALUM crimps or AlumiConn connectors), and the remediation must be separately documented and certified by a licensed electrician.

HVAC

• Central air and heat, or the primary heat source and fuel
• Whether the systems work, the date of the last service, the age of the system and a photo of the data plate
• Hazards: a wood-burning stove or gas fireplace, a space heater used as primary heat, and any blockage or leak at the air handler or condensate line

Plumbing

• Whether the water heater has a temperature and pressure relief valve, plus its age and location
• Any sign of an active or prior leak
• Condition of visible fixtures and connections, from the dishwasher to the main shut-off valve
• Pipe material (copper, PVC or CPVC, galvanized, cast iron, polybutylene, ABS, PEX) and whether the supply and drain lines are original or re-piped

Roof

• Covering material, age, remaining useful life, date of the last roofing permit, and whether any update was a full or partial replacement
• Visible deterioration: cracking, curling, granule loss, exposed asphalt or felt, missing or cracked tabs or tiles, soft decking, hail damage
• Visible leaks in the attic, on the underside of the decking, or on interior ceilings

Photos are mandatory: each side of the dwelling, each roof slope, the water heater with its relief valve, under-cabinet plumbing, exposed valves, the main panel with its door label and with the cover off, and every hazard noted.

What Fails a 4-Point Inspection

There is no score. The inspector marks each system satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and Citizens defines acceptable condition as “each system is working as intended and there are no visible hazards or deficiencies.” Citizens tells applicants that “any serious hazards or deficiencies (such as exposed wiring, active leaks or evidence of leaks) should be repaired before an application for coverage is submitted.” The usual culprits in older South Florida houses:

1. A double-tapped breaker or scorching in the panel. Both are named hazards. An electrician can usually correct a double tap in one visit.
2. Single-strand aluminum branch wiring without documented repairs. The form requires an electrician’s certification.
3. Active leaks, or evidence of old ones. Each has its own yes/no question, and any “yes” must be explained.
4. A roof with less than five years of remaining life. For Citizens, that means a full replacement first.

A Worked Example: A 1998 House in Kendall

Take a concrete-block house in Kendall built in 1998, applying to Citizens in 2026.

• Age trigger. The house is 28 years old, so a 4-point is required.
• Roof. The original shingles were replaced with concrete tile in 2010. At 16 years the roof is far below Citizens’ 50-year threshold for hard roofs, and because it is past 15 years, section 627.7011(5) bars a refusal solely for age if the inspector records 5 or more years of remaining life.
• Electrical. A 150-amp breaker panel, copper wiring, one double tap. An electrician moves the second wire to its own breaker and the inspector photographs the corrected panel.
• Plumbing. Copper supply, PVC drains, a 2019 water heater with a relief valve, no leaks. Satisfactory.
• HVAC. A 2021 central system, serviced this year. Satisfactory.

With the double tap fixed and noted in the comments, all four systems are satisfactory. Had the roof still been the original 1998 shingle, it would be 28 years old, past Citizens’ 25-year threshold, and the application would hinge on a documented five years of remaining life.

How to Prepare

1. Pull your permit history. The roof section asks for the date of the last roofing permit. Look up roofing, electrical and water heater permits with your city or county building department.
2. Fix the obvious hazards first. Double taps, exposed wiring, a missing relief valve and dripping connections are all on the form.
3. Gather receipts for updates. Re-piping, panel replacements and HVAC changeouts count only if the inspector can record the year and who did the work.
4. Book the wind mitigation inspection for the same visit and verify the inspector’s license first.

What It Costs in Miami-Dade and Broward

Fees are not regulated. Two South Florida companies publish prices; we checked both pages in September 2026:

Company (service area)	4-point alone	Wind mitigation alone	Both in one visit
Green Foot Home Inspections (Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach)	From $125	Not listed separately	$200
Kore Home Inspections (Miami-Dade through St. Lucie)	About $100 to $175	$100 to $175	About $180

Kore’s separate ranges add up to $200 to $350; together it is about $180, in one appointment.

The free inspection from the My Safe Florida Home program, when state funding is available, is a wind mitigation inspection; the 4-point is a separate report you pay for. See our My Safe Florida Home guide and mysafeflhome.com.

Who Can Sign the Form

Citizens accepts a 4-point “completed, signed and dated by a verifiable Florida-licensed professional,” and gives three examples: a general, residential or building contractor; a building code inspector; and a home inspector. A trade-licensed professional may sign only the section for their trade.

The wind mitigation form is stricter. Section 627.711, Florida Statutes, limits it to licensed home inspectors, certified building code inspectors, general, building or residential contractors, professional engineers and architects. The inspector must inspect the home personally, and knowingly submitting a false mitigation form is a first-degree misdemeanor. Citizens will not accept a form if the inspector’s Florida license is not active or cannot be verified, so check it on the DBPR license search before the visit.

Where Impact Windows Fit In

Impact windows and doors do not appear on the 4-point form. They matter on the other report from the same visit: the opening protection question on the OIR-B1-1802 is where they earn a discount, and any discount depends on your insurer and the inspection result. In the HVHZ, which covers all of Miami-Dade and Broward, the products must carry a Miami-Dade NOA or a Florida Product Approval approved for use in the HVHZ. Our Florida Building Code guide explains the approvals, and the wind load calculator estimates the design pressures a replacement window has to meet.

If the openings are your remaining gap, National Glass & Construction has operated in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach since 1986 and installs impact windows and doors with the approval documents your inspector needs. More short answers are in the FAQ.

Sources

• Citizens Property Insurance: Inspections
• Citizens 4-Point Inspection Form, sample form Insp4pt 03/25 (PDF)
• Citizens Roof Inspection Form, sample form RCF-1 03/25 (PDF)
• Citizens: Qualified Inspectors
• Citizens: Your Wind Inspection
• Florida Office of Insurance Regulation: Wind Mitigation Resources
• Section 627.7011, Florida Statutes
• Section 627.711, Florida Statutes
• Florida DBPR License Search
• Green Foot Home Inspections: 4-Point Inspection
• Kore Home Inspections: Wind Mitigation and 4-Point Inspection Cost

Last checked: 2026-09-25.