If you are shopping around for homeowner’s insurance, then chances are you have been asked for inspections. We often get questions about what these inspections entail, why they are necessary, and which types of inspections we need in order to provide homeowner’s insurance quotes. With all of the different home inspection options, as well as home inspector options, it can definitely get confusing!

Now, the most important part of any inspection is the inspector that you choose to hire for the job. We have had many clients in the past come to us with high praises for their home inspection services, while others have come to us with terrible experiences and missed information. Some tips to ensure that you are hiring a solid home inspection team is to do your homework before working with them. Check out their website and social media pages, read their reviews, talk to your insurance company or other service provider to see who they suggest, (etc.). An inspection is only as good as the person gathering the information is at their job, so be sure to take your time and choose wisely.

Now onto the different types of home inspections. You will typically be asked for/hear of, (depending on your home situation), the following three types of inspections when looking for homeowner’s insurance quotes.

1. Wind Mitigation.
   1. This inspection is typically used to analyze the construction of your home in order to measure how well it will stand up in the event of a storm with strong winds. Living in Florida, this is obviously a must! Wind mitigation inspections often bring discounts to the windstorm portion of your insurance premium, which can be extremely helpful in the long run. This inspection looks at such things as the age of the home/roof, construction features, building code, secondary water resistance, opening protection, and more.
2. 4-Point Inspection.
   1. This inspection explores 4 different systems within your home: plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and the roof. The age of the home as well as the year of the latest update within each of the 4-points of focus is key here. It is important that the report that this inspection provides only covers information surrounding the 4 afore mentioned systems. There are other full home inspections that are more comprehensive and nature, and can easily be confused with a 4-point inspection.
3. Roof Certification Inspection.
   1. This inspection is very focused and is essentially providing the same information as the roof portion within a 4-point inspection. A roof certification, however, will also provide additional information in regards to the condition of the roof, the roof life expectancy, detailed inspection of the drains, downspouts, gutters, ridges, caps, (etc.), as well as additional photos.

Each of these inspections has different purposes and provides us with different information, so it is important to understand which inspection you need in order to effectively quote or requote your home – remember, inspections often provide discounts as well. Feel free to reach out to us if you would like to assess what your home inspection needs are, or have any questions in regards to how to get that process started.