August 2021

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In this edition of Trade Secrets Inspections Podcasts, Rick explains the purpose of an insurance report called a “4-Point Inspection” and how it relates to your insurance coverage. Especially if you own an older home, listen in for some clarity on the subject!

 

Charlie
Welcome to the Trade Secrets Inspections podcast because you need to know, here’s your host, Rick Kooyman. Hey this is Charlie McDermott, I am back in the trade secrets inspection studio with none other than Rick Kooyman. And Rick, how you doing today?

Rick
Excellent, Charlie, great to be with you, again.

Charlie
Great to have you and your your knowledge, I just just hear far and wide how every time I talk about your show, oh, my goodness, I always learned something new from Rick. And then you have a great topic for us today. And that being the four point inspections, I couldn’t even tell you what one point is. So I can’t wait to hear all four. So, Rick, let’s start with that. Tell us about the importance of the four point inspections and what they even are for that matter.

It’s more for going to get insurance, and it’s generally used on older properties.

Rick

Yeah, right.  The four point inspections is is one of those insurance documents in a sense, and people often get that confused right off the bat, because they think it’s just another form of inspection for a customer. And it really isn’t for the customer in that regard for them to interpret. It’s more for going to get insurance, and it’s generally used on older properties. So it’s a way for underwriters to get the details, basically.

Charlie
Okay, so is the concept that, you know, obviously, insurance is all about risk. And they need to understand the risk level of older properties is that kind of the point?

Rick
So they’re they’re looking at when they come up with a four point, the four major systems that they’re evaluating the risk of, they want to know what their general conditions are, when they were last serviced, you know what they are, you know, they have some very specific questions. So I was actually going to go through each each of the sections, because as a homeowner, there’s stuff you can do with this to kind of prepare for when this actually comes out. And it’ll affect how I have to record it. And you know, that some a little preparation ahead of time, a little cleaning up a little paint here, and there can go a long way, in a great world a lot better off.

Charlie
Awesome, awesome. Yeah, go ahead.

The 4 Systems Inspected During a 4-Point

Rick
Yeah, so let’s just start with what are the four systems, right? So we can look at is the electric system, your air conditioning, heat, your hvac, your plumbing system, and your roof system. Within those four components, they want to know a bunch of information. So when we get hired by the insurance company, or you the customer to come out and do this for you, we’re essentially made to ask a whole series of questions, you know, they basically checkboxes and input data kind of thing on a form, you know, so starting with the electrical panel, they’re looking for manufacturer, and then conditional wires, and what kind of wire systems are used, specifically is aluminum involved because they want to know, aluminum can be a high risk activity.

In older homes, you often have wire that is not insulated, we call it knob and tube wire, or there’s even the older style cloth wire, that actual cloth line wire gets, especially down here, it gets really brittle, and it becomes a fire hazard just in itself. So they they look for things like that. And then we take pictures, everything. So if we find something wrong, or something that needs to be reported, we have to show a picture of it. If it you know is presented in one of the topics on the form, you know, such as blown fuses or you know, corrosion or scorching, or something like that, we’ve got to show the proof of it. And then if we find nothing wrong, well, then we just take a picture of it is one big shot and the underwriter can see it and we check it off is satisfactory, we’ll move on to the next section. You know, so electrical, we don’t ever encourage people to get involved with themselves, because it’s often hazardous.

But people often ask, why does it matter that these things get corrected? And I always say, well, it generally matters for insurance forms. So when we do the other inspections, and we’re like, hey, you’ve got a you know, these double taps in here. And it’s not really a huge issue, except for the insurance underwriters won’t give you a policy if they know about it. Right. So this is why those things got to get corrected. And again, this is why I say you know ahead of time, then you can prepare and then instead of me coming out there and saying oh there’s this problem in here. And if I say there’s a problem, they’re immediately going to disqualify it and say yeah, we don’t want to be involved with that until there’s no problems we want to clean form essentially.

Charlie
No surprises right.

Rick
There in there in comes the next section of the hvac you know, and this is one where people can definitely help themselves out especially in Florida with all this moisture and humidity and rain and heat using using the air conditioning excessively. They specifically ask is there indications of water staining from you know, condensation leaks or interior air handler condensate tray leaks, you know, water staining on your ceiling. Those kinds of things matter when we come out and do this inspection because they’re specifically asking those questions. And then we have to show a picture of it clear if it’s not. So it’s not about just our discretion. It’s literally about checking the boxes and then showing the proof, you know, so if in the past your drain line has gotten clogged up, because you know, who hasn’t neglected your condensate drain and Florida. And it backed up and made a stain on your ceiling, and you got it fixed three years ago, and it’s never been a problem. And there’s just a brown spot there. Well paint the brown spot before we come out and do this inspection. Otherwise, we got to report that there’s a stain on the ceiling, and that’s unsatisfactory, as silly as that might sound.

Charlie
Wow, that’s great. Yep.

Rick
Well, it matters keeping, you know, making things look good, I guess, in a way actually does matter, to some extent more than some people would like to think it does. Right. And then the next section, they talk about plumbing, and this is sometimes more about conditions of equipment. Again, water is their biggest concern when they’re writing risk policies.

What kind of the pipes? Are they specifically they want to know what are your drain pipes made out of where your supply pipes made out of? And then they want to know about valves are they functional, or they show signs of leaking,again this question of leaks, they actually asked, Is there an indication of a prior leak Yes, or no? Water staining again, you know, it goes to that point, I got to put a picture around the toilet if the toilet leaked A few years ago, and the floors all messed up because of it. Well, they’re not going to want to be part of that. So yeah, those occur and those things are going to need to get taken care of, but they go as far as wanting to know about the kitchen appliances, they you know, dishwasher, refrigerator, washing machine, of course, your water heater, and then all your fixtures, your bathtubs, your toilets, your sinks, you know, any of your main valves, if you have a sump pump, which you probably don’t in Florida, but they want to know about anything to do with water, essentially, any of those things where you have those those past issues that guy got taken care of, but never got cleaned up. toilets and around air handlers. Yeah, that’s some that’s some, some a few minutes with some paint that can really go a long way for your insurance coverage and your rates and stuff like that.

And then the last one we talk about is roofs, because, you know, of course, the roof in Florida is one of the most important things and it’s one of the first things to go and when the storms hit. So again, they’re just looking at conditions. Is there damage? How old is the roof? What kind of roof is it? You know, has it been partially replaced or fully replaced, you know, different kinds of roofs they ask different kinds of questions about you know, if it’s asphalt shingle, is it, you know, sun worn and cracked and cut and all that kind of stuff? And if it’s tile, are they cracked and missing? You know? And again, are there any indications of leaks past or present? That question comes up in all four sections. So you know, these matter, as far as you know, taking care of your home, and when the insurance appraisers come out, and when they send out us to do these inspection reports. You know, conditions make a difference is the is the note for today.

Charlie
Wow, that’s great, great stuff. I mean, it reminded me I have a closet, of course in the ceiling, if you look up, which is right below the HVAC unit from spill over years ago, it’s like, you know, who’s ever gonna look in the closet is a good reminder. You know, it’s worth getting a paintbrush out, right?

Rick
Yeah, right. I mean, you know, you can wait until the insurance tells you you need to have this done. But most people don’t even know that. And they don’t tell you ahead of time. And oftentimes, I don’t get to speak with the customer, necessarily when it gets scheduled. I mean, if I’m talking to somebody, I always try to give everybody a heads up on what’s going on. But you know, everybody’s different. A lot of people are out of town. Most of these homes are not occupied. So that’s where I just get sent in and report what I see.

Charlie
Yeah, yeah. Well, this is really helpful. Besides the fact that I now know what a four point inspection is. our listeners also know some of the things that they can do to ,yeah,. Make sure the process goes a lot smoother without any surprises.

So this is awesome, Rick.

Unknown Speaker
Excellent. Excellent. Yeah. And this goes hand in hand with the last episode we went, we did together on the wind mit form. So wind mitigation goes hand in hand with insurance and as the homes get older, they ask for this four point inspection and depending on who The underwriter is depends on how old the home is when they ask for it, it might be 10 years it might be 30 years. So it’s all over the spectrum. Wow.

Charlie
Wow. Great stuff. Rick, really appreciate you spending time with us again today and I look forward to our next episode.

Rick
Excellent speaker with you again, Charlie.

Charlie
Thanks for listening to the Trade Secrets Inspections Podcast. To learn more about Trade Secrets Inspections, go to www.TradeSecretsInspections.com or call 239-537-1186

Transcribed by https://otter.ai