An Unsatisfactory 4-point inspection report isn’t the end. Here’s what a Fort Myers 4-point inspector wants you to know about repairs, licensed contractors, and commission traps.
Your 4-Point Inspection Report Failed, Now What?
If one or more items came back Unsatisfactory on your 4-point inspection report, your insurance company will require that the item be corrected before they’ll insure you. In rare cases a carrier may agree to insure you with an item still marked Unsatisfactory, but they’ll do it with restrictions on how long you have to make the repair, and they may withhold full coverage — excluding the areas your report flagged as Unsatisfactory until the work is finished.
If the home has never had a 4-point inspection report before, an Unsatisfactory result on that first inspection isn’t unusual. Most often it’s something minor — a double-tapped breaker, or a missing discharge pipe on the water heater’s TPR valve. Other times it’s something major, like polybutylene piping that requires re-piping the whole house, or certain electrical panel brands deemed fire hazards. Several brands fall into that category — Federal Pacific (Stab-Lok) and Challenger among them — but in the Cape Coral, Fort Myers, and Southwest Florida area, Challenger panels tend to be the most common. This is one more reason to have an experienced 4-point inspector in Fort Myers who documents everything correctly the first time.
There are three important things you should know about repairs.
#1: Your Home Inspector Cannot Make the Repairs
A Florida home inspector cannot perform the repairs needed to turn an Unsatisfactory four point inspection report into a passing one. Licensed Florida home inspectors aren’t licensed to make repairs. Even if an inspector holds additional licenses — electrician, plumber, and so on — they still can’t perform the repair if they’re the one who did the inspection.
Florida Statute §468.8319(1)(f) states plainly that a person may not “perform or offer to perform any repairs to a home on which the inspector or the inspector’s company has prepared a home inspection report.” That’s a statutory prohibition, not a suggestion. Violating it is grounds for disciplinary action under §468.832, which can bring fines up to $5,000, probation, suspension, or revocation of the inspector’s license.
The statute also includes a related provision at §468.8319(1)(g): an inspector may not “inspect any property in which the inspector or the inspector’s company has any financial or transfer interest.” So it runs both directions — they can’t inspect a property they have a stake in, and they can’t turn around and profit from repairs on a property they inspected. While the statute is written specifically for licensed home inspectors, the same conflict of interest exists for any professional performing the inspection: profiting from repairs on a home you just inspected undermines the integrity of the inspection no matter what license you hold. It’s also why reputable contractors don’t inspect their own work — they refer customers to, or hire from, a pool of local inspectors for an independent review.
#2: Make Sure Your Repair Professional Is Licensed
When it’s time for repairs, always confirm the person doing the work is licensed in the state of Florida. If you don’t already have a licensed professional you trust, ask friends, family, and neighbors who they use. Your home inspector is often a good resource too, since they hear feedback from customers about the companies they’ve hired. An inspector offering referrals should always try to give more than one company name — and they should not receive any compensation for that referral.
A note on follow-up inspections: a follow-up to verify a repair or upgrade doesn’t count as “compensation,” since you were the inspector’s customer to begin with. You’re under no obligation to use the same inspector for the follow-up, but a repair company steering you to a different inspector for it — without you asking — is an unethical business practice on their part and should raise a red flag.
#3: Be Cautious of Commission-Based Repair Services
This is strong advice: steer clear of commission-based repair services. They tend to upsell customers on hundreds or even thousands of dollars in “upgrades” that weren’t needed. The author of this site regularly runs into situations where a simple repair that should have cost $300 ballooned past $4,000 for items the client didn’t need. It’s far more common than most people would think, and the pattern often targets older individuals and single women. In my personal — and very strong — opinion, there’s zero need for salesmanship when it comes to making repairs. Something genuinely dangerous is a different matter. But a commission-based sales structure, including “contests” where the repairmen/salespeople compete for prizes, only serves to incentivize dishonesty so the salesman can put food on the table. You can usually find out whether a company works this way by Googling “Does [COMPANY NAME]’s repairmen work on commission?”
Commission-based sales do have their place. For a new roof or the various types of shutters, it makes sense — those decisions involve many options and real trade-offs to weigh. But that’s not the case with swapping a single breaker or a toilet supply line.
For an experienced, licensed home inspector serving Cape Coral, Fort Myers, and Southwest Florida, consider SWFL Home Inspector LLC — or
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