I do not disagree with much of what you said but there are other points of view:
Who says you have to put on a suit and mask? **No one, but it only makes sense for the inspectors safety. If you want to go under without one, so be it.
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If water leaks under a house and it is just a crawl, how are you going to file a claim? Are you going to file the claim for the pipe? If you get the insurance company to pay for it you will have insurance problems. Insurance companies do not pay for maintenance repairs on a home. They pay for damages caused by accidents. This is why we have an insurance problems in Florida, if people maintained their homes, esp. roofs, we not even be discussing this. **You do have a valid point here. But, if you were the homeowner and had an inspection done, and your waste pipe is leaking and not reported, what would you do? While it might be considered a maintenance problem, this is why the insurace company wants to know before they issue the policy, so it can be corrected. I totally agree that homeowners should maintain their home, or be held responsible. But if they dont know what is wrong because it is not reported, how will they know?
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I have always gone with the idea the 4 point is being done for the insurance company, not the owner. The owner is paying for it but it is being requested by the insurance company and sent to the insurance company.
It is not a homeowner inspection. All aspects of plumbing, electric, HVAC, roof are not inspected and the homeowner can not rely on it for anything other than obtaining insurance.
I guess my point is a claim should not be filed or paid. If your roof leaks do you file a claim? You would only if it was caused by a storm.
A person would know if they had a leak if they looked or had a HOME inspection a four point is a **limited **inspection. I am not saying you should never go in a crawl for a four point, but it would not get a full crawl as I do for a full home inspection. If you have a many crawlspaces in your are you should price them accordingly. I rarely have a crawl space. The last one I did had an improperly supported tub, I went in as far as I wanted to see what I needed.
Several months ago I did a 4 point on a dentists office and never entered the crawl. It was open on all four sides and I could see all the plumbing. All of the plumbing was redone in PVC.
You an I both know that there a inspectors that don’t even look.