This type of inspection is typically performed on homes in excess of 25 years old.

This inspection type is required by only some of the insurance carriers, one of the biggest of course being Citizens Insurance.

A Four Point inspection is required to determine the condition of the home's electrical, mechanical, roofing and plumbing systems from an insurance risk assessment perspective. The problem however is that the reports generated rarely identify these risks because of the vagueness of the carrier's requirements.

A simple question a carrier asks on these reports is "has the electrical system been updated?" The majority of inspectors simply answer "Yes" because either the main panel has been upgraded or the weather head for an overhead electrical service has been upgraded but there is no reference to the original wiring still in place posing a fire hazard. The same vagueness applies for the mechanical section. Insurance carriers do not ask if the system is installed in an attic or above a finished ceiling, and if so, whether it has the required overflow protection. As such, it is never identified within the report.

This is not the case with our service and standards of practice. We have developed an extensive standard of practice for all our inspectors which we have attached for you to review. See Attachment 1 of this Section. This Standards of Practice document was developed from our research with insurance carriers and their various claims. Our goal is to attempt to cover all the risks associated with a Four Point and not merely provide a single piece of paper with no backup whatsoever, so that the insured can merely get insurance accordingly.

We provide two types of Four Point Surveys, a Four Point Summary and a Detailed Four Point. Most insurance carriers request the Summary as it contains all the information needed for the carriers underwriting. The Detailed Four Point is often used by real estate buyers who cannot afford to pay for a complete home inspection, but want more detailed information about the four main systems of the home they are purchasing.

There are no standards of practice for Four Point inspections in this unregulated industry. At AmeriPro we have developed our own for the protection of our carriers and clients. We developed this Standards of Practice based on experience, the feedback we received from the insurance carrier's claim departments and the Four Point Inspection Reports received by the same.

Our inspection report follows all the standards outlined so carriers can minimize the risk of older homes accordingly by using accurate and reliable inspection data only.

The Wind Mitigation Inspection – Form OIR 1802 was legislated to ensure homeowners are receiving proper credits and discounts on their insurance policies based on the insurance industry's rate plan submitted to the Office of Insurance Regulations.

To date we have conducted literally thousands of these inspections and audited the same number to ensure your interests are protected in addition to the interests of the homeowner.

We believe however that there is no insurance carrier immune to the losses of fraudulent or incorrectly completed wind mitigation inspections today.

We have witnessed first hand literally hundreds of inspections either completed incorrectly by inexperienced or untrained inspectors, or fraudulently by inspectors wanted to provide homeowners with an insurance reduction as part of their service.

The 1802 mandated discount – credit inspection has led to the current situation of insurance inspectors we believe.

Many inspectors are guaranteeing their homeowners savings, or the inspection is free. In essence, this is the fox guarding the hen house and as such will make the necessary notations to ensure this fee is secured as part of the inspection. Many non-qualified inspectors are even purchasing pre-signed blank reports with no quality assurance whatsoever.

On the AmeriPro system this is not possible as we audit 100% of the inspections. We ensure that the inspection credits and discounts given are qualified by not just having the right inspectors, but by online validations based on county and construction techniques which are in turn backed up by our in-house quality assurance department with photographs and other paperwork gathered in the field by our inspectors.

We provide the insurance carrier with all this information online by simply logging in. Carriers can have access, not just to the photographs and the inspection report, but also the additional documentation collected by the inspector such as permitting documentation, contractors’ documentation relating to the repairs or upgrades conducted and much more.

We would also refer you to our next section relating to our Second Opinion Inspections and our Wind Loss Calculator for additional information.

Our online system provides all the validations for inspectors to ensure that data input and inspection errors are minimized with our quality assurance department approving each report, providing all the validation and backup information is provided in addition.

As part of our leadership and business development we have programmed a second opinion quality control re-inspection program for wind mitigation inspections that comply with Form OIR 1802.

Under this program, insurance carriers can request second opinion inspections for inspections already conducted.

If we are provided with the original inspection report as part of this inspection program our inspector will identify each section of the original report that was either correct or incorrect.

Our application will generate the error rate or wind loss calculator report for insurance carriers.

Insurance carriers can then use the percentages provided to calculate the probability of accelerated losses for every homeowner they insure.

For example, if our analysis finds that the opening protection on the quality assurance second opinion inspection program we conducted shows a 67% error rate on the opening protection, this number can be used to approximate the losses carriers are experiencing based on county or state.

This can be further used to set policies and procedures in place to ensure losses are minimized as a result of these fraudulent or erroneous reports.

Roof verifications are required by many insurance carriers, particularly Citizens under their new wind policy change over.

Under this requirement, all homes in excess of 25 years must have a roof verification inspection.

Our technology was developed to include a detailed, thorough roof survey that exceeds any insurance carrier requirements. It automatically completes the Citizens one page roof verification inspection report as we collect the same information on our detailed roof survey analysis, but carriers benefit from both inspections.

All roof surveys pass through our quality assurance department, in addition to our online quality assurance validation to assure the accuracy of the data being submitted.

No inspection report is released to carriers until such time as it has been approved by our quality assurance division.

This is performed to verify the apparent condition of the home as needed by the insurance carrier. Our advice to carriers is to include this as part of a main inspection such as wind mitigation or Four Point Inspection, inline with a preferred vendor inspector program.

The following is a list of the topics documented and verified at the time of the Drive-By Verification Inspection. These inspections can be customized for each carrier under a preferred vendor contract.

A minimum of three photographs will be taken. One from each front corner and one from the middle. These photos will be required to be taken with quality to substantially capture the current condition and quality of the exterior of the home.

A report will be built and added to our system outlining the carrier’s needs for the drive by inspections paying close attention to the various types of risks.

These risks will be identified on our web-based program and audited by reviewing the photograph validations.

Minimizing the risk of microbial issues is critical today for all insurance carriers once a moisture intrusion issue has occurred.

Over the last number of years we have seen a tremendous improvement on the response time for insurance carriers to deploy their remediation and drying out contractors to the claim concerned.

From a long term liability perspective however we are unsure as to how many carriers deploy mold clearance testing or microbial air quality testing following the drying out process.

We believe that this process should be taken care of by independent companies not associated with the remediation contractors – drying out contractor.

As part of our contract we are more than capable of conducting air quality and microbial testing to ensure the long term risks and liability associated with moisture claims is minimized on behalf of the insurance carriers.

Air samples and swabs can be taken following the standards of practice of the Indoor Air Quality Association. These standards recommend that one sample per 1000 square feet be taken in addition to the control sample.

Samples taken are sent to a laboratory and results are received within 48 hours. The PDF report is uploaded to the system for retrieval by client, agent and carrier.

There is no question that moisture intrusion and microbial issues are at the forefront of all insurance claims experienced today by insurance carriers.

Response times have greatly improved, remediation standards have been enhanced and the importance of an efficient and speedy service on behalf of the remediation contractor is well understood among the industry.

Insurance carriers need to be sure that the money spent on moisture intrusion claims is on actual remediation protection and clearance needed with each job and not inflated.

We offer third party quality assurance review from a claims perspective of ongoing works undertaken by remediation contractors. This limits the effect of open checkbooks.

Our reports are based on the efficiencies, quality and the extent of work being undertaken by the remediation contractor in addition to the effect of and size of the leakage area in question.

This service can be undertaken from any repairs or claims underway by contractors in the field.

It is basically a third party inspection similar to the remediation above but provides oversight to the works being conducted on behalf of the insurance carrier from a quality control/quality assurance perspective.

Random inspections can take place on every 10th claim or so to ensure remediation contractors are conducting the work to the required standards, quality and complexity based on the size of the claim.

This service ensures all remediation contractors and other contractors are held accountable for repairs and the risk of accelerated claims is kept to a minimum because of the unforeseen nature of this work.

Infrared camera devices and detection devices, in addition to moisture meters, humidifiers and other moisture detection equipment will be used in conjunction with any moisture related inspection we conduct.

We offer second opinion re-inspections on any inspection conducted by outside vendors including but not limited to:

•Wind Mitigation Inspection – Form OIR 1802

•Four Point Inspections

•Roof Verification Inspections

•Drive-By Insurance Rated Inspections, etc.

Our automated system will provide a clear report of our findings and if possible, a comparison to what the original inspector stated in addition to the error rate accordingly.

These inspections are coming into effect in 2010 relating to the hurricane rating scale required on each premises within wind borne debris areas.

While the initial intent of the legislation requires only Citizens insured’s to have the hurricane rating scale inspection initially, it is probable that many of the insurance carriers will require this as part of their insurance coverage from 2010 onwards.

This inspection is required in all wind borne debris areas for every carrier in 2011.