Wind Mitigation Inspections in Florida, Explained

A wind mitigation inspection is the single most valuable hour a Florida homeowner can spend on their insurance. It documents what your house is actually built with, and Florida law requires insurers to give you credit for it — on the windstorm portion of your premium, which in this state is the biggest portion.

Most people around here first hear about it from a home inspector. We’d rather you hear it from the agency that has to place your policy, because we can tell you what each line on the form is actually worth.

What the inspection is

A licensed inspector fills out a state form — the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form, or OIR-B1-1802 — documenting seven specific things about your home. Your carrier rates from that form. No form on file, no credits, no matter how well your house is built.

It typically takes under an hour and the report is generally good for five years.

The seven questions, and what actually matters

1. Building code. Which code was in effect when the permit was pulled. Outside Miami-Dade and Broward, the thresholds on the form are 2002 (Florida Building Code 2001/2004) and December 8, 2006 (FBC 2007 or newer). The September 1, 1994 option applies only to the High Velocity Hurricane Zone counties, which we are not in.

2. Roof covering. Whether your roof material meets current code, and when it was permitted. Roof age drives Florida underwriting more than almost anything else.

3. Roof deck attachment. Nail size and spacing holding the plywood to the trusses. This is one of the two biggest credits on the form. Homes here built from the mid-1990s onward generally have 8d (eight-penny) nailing rather than the staples and short nails common before.

4. Roof-to-wall connection. Clips, single wraps, or double wraps tying the roof structure down to the walls. The other big one. Hurricane straps — also called hurricane clips — are what the inspector is looking for, and a double wrap earns more than a clip.

5. Roof geometry. Hip roofs, which slope on all four sides, earn meaningfully more than gable roofs. Wind behaves very differently against the two shapes. This one you can’t change without a re-roof.

6. Secondary water resistance. A sealed layer beneath the roof covering. Worth knowing: this is not required by code, so plenty of newer homes don’t have it and the credit gets missed.

7. Opening protection. Impact-rated glass or shutters on windows and doors. Partial protection earns less than full — one unprotected opening can cost you the whole credit, which surprises people who shuttered everything except the garage.

What it’s worth

We’re not going to publish a percentage, and you should be skeptical of any page that does. Here’s why.

Florida law — section 627.0629 — requires insurers to provide “actuarially reasonable” discounts for windstorm mitigation features, but it doesn’t set the amounts. The Office of Insurance Regulation determines the values, and each carrier files its own. Two companies can credit the same hip roof differently.

What we can tell you: the credits apply to the windstorm portion of your premium, not the whole bill, and the roof deck and roof-to-wall lines carry the most weight. For a well-built home the difference is not trivial — it’s the reason we ask for the form before quoting.

Three things worth knowing before you book one

Your build year isn’t the whole story. The code question is one of seven. A 1997 home with straps, tight deck nailing and a hip roof can earn strong credits. A newer home with a gable roof and an unprotected garage door may earn fewer. The inspection decides.

An old report may be leaving money on the table. If you’ve re-roofed, added shutters or replaced windows since your last inspection, the form is out of date and so is your premium.

The form can also work against you. An honest inspection sometimes documents that a home has less protection than the carrier assumed. That’s uncomfortable, but better to know — it’s also the roadmap for which upgrade would pay for itself fastest.

Send us the form

If you have a wind mitigation report, send it to us and we’ll shop it across the roughly 15 home carriers we represent. If you don’t have one, we’ll tell you whether it’s likely to be worth getting for your particular house before you spend the money.

Call 941-312-5771. We’re at 62 Sarasota Center Blvd, Sarasota, Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Sources: Florida OIR, Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form (OIR-B1-1802) · Fla. Stat. 627.0629, windstorm mitigation discounts · Florida OIR Residential Wind-Loss Mitigation Study. Credit amounts vary by carrier.