Wind Mitigation
Inspection
Your insurer is legally required to give you credit for the wind-resistant features your home already has. Most Florida homeowners are paying for features they've never had documented. A wind mitigation inspection puts them on paper.
Six Reasons to Get
Inspected This Month
A wind mitigation inspection isn't something your insurer will remind you about. In almost every case, you have to ask.
A Standard Form,
Filled in Honestly
A wind mitigation inspection documents seven specific features of your home on a standardised Florida form — the OIR-B1-1802 — which your insurance agent submits to your carrier.
Florida law requires insurers to offer premium discounts for construction features that reduce hurricane damage. The catch is that the burden of proof sits with you. Your carrier assumes the least favourable answer for every category until an inspector documents otherwise.
That means two identical houses on the same street can pay very different premiums — not because one is better built, but because one owner had the inspection done and the other didn't.
The inspection itself is straightforward: exterior, roof, and attic where there's access, with photographs of each documented feature. It takes under an hour on most homes.
Every documented feature is photographed for your carrier
The Seven Categories
on the Form
Nobody explains this to homeowners, so here it is. These are the seven things an inspector documents, and what each one actually means for your premium.
| Category | What the inspector is recording | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building Code | When your home was built or permitted. Homes permitted after Florida's stricter code took effect start from a better position on several other categories. |
| 2 | Roof Covering | Whether your shingles, tile, or metal carry current Florida Product Approval or Miami-Dade approval, and whether the permit documentation supports it. |
| 3 | Roof Deck Attachment | The size and spacing of the nails holding your roof deck to the trusses. This is checked from inside the attic and it's one of the categories a re-roof most often improves. |
| 4 | Roof-to-Wall Attachment | How your roof structure connects to the walls — toe nails, clips, single wraps, or double wraps. Often the single largest credit on the form, and the one most homeowners have never heard of. |
| 5 | Roof Geometry | Hip, gable, or other. A hip roof sheds wind better from every direction and is credited accordingly. You can't change this one — but you should be getting credit if you have it. |
| 6 | Secondary Water Resistance | Whether a sealed barrier was installed on the deck beneath your roof covering. Yes or no. More on SWR here — it's the layer we install as standard. |
| 7 | Opening Protection | Impact-rated windows, doors, and shutters. Frequently the biggest credit available, and it only counts if every opening is protected. |
Credits and their weighting are set by each carrier within the framework Florida requires. Two insurers can value the same documented feature differently — which is why the honest answer to "how much will I save" is always "ask your agent once you have the form."
How the Inspection
Actually Runs
We schedule and confirm access
We'll need to reach the attic where there is access — that's where roof deck attachment and roof-to-wall connections are documented. If your attic access is blocked or non-existent, tell us when you book and we'll discuss options first rather than turning up and finding out.
Exterior and roof survey
Roof geometry, covering condition, and openings recorded and photographed. We measure and note what's there rather than what a previous report claimed was there.
Attic documentation
Deck nailing size and spacing, and the roof-to-wall connection type. These two categories carry significant weight and they can only be verified from inside. This is the part cursory inspections skip.
Permit and approval research
We check county permit records where relevant to support roof covering and building code answers. A feature you have but can't document doesn't earn you anything.
Form completed and photographed
The OIR-B1-1802 filled in, with the supporting photographs your carrier requires attached.
Sent to you and your agent
You get the completed form the same or next business day. We'll send it directly to your agent if you'd prefer — and we'll walk you through what each answer means before you do anything with it.
Included in Every Inspection
Two Things We'd Rather You Hear From Us
We're a roofing contractor. If we inspect your roof and tell you it needs work, you should know that we sell that work. That's a real conflict and we'd rather name it than pretend it doesn't exist. What we can tell you is how we handle it: the inspection form gets filled in based on what's actually there, and if your roof is fine we write that down and leave. We've done plenty of inspections that ended with no quote attached.
We can't tell you what you'll save. You'll find contractors advertising specific dollar figures. Ignore them. Your credit depends on your carrier, your policy, your county, your home's other features, and how each insurer weights the categories. Anyone quoting you a number before seeing your policy is guessing. We give you the documentation; your agent gives you the number.
If Your Report Comes Back Weak
Sometimes the honest answer is that your home doesn't have much to document — older nailing patterns, a gable roof, no secondary water resistance, no opening protection. That's disappointing, but it's useful information rather than bad news.
It tells you exactly which upgrades would move the needle, and roughly in what order. Several of them — secondary water resistance, deck re-nailing, improved roof covering — happen naturally as part of a roof replacement. Which is worth knowing before you replace the roof, not after.
What Makes Us Different
Two State Licenses
Roofing CCC1332394 and general contracting CGC1533052. The general contractor license is one of the qualifications Florida recognises for completing the 1802 form.
We Go in the Attic
Roof deck attachment and roof-to-wall connection carry serious weight and can only be verified from inside. A report that skips the attic is leaving credits on the table.
We Explain the Result
A form full of checkboxes tells you nothing. We walk through what each of the seven answers means, and which ones could realistically be improved.
Roofers Read Roofs
We install these systems every week. We know what a properly nailed deck looks like and what a re-roof did or didn't upgrade — because we've done thousands of them.
The Owner Walks Roofs
Ronny Hanna runs the jobs that matter and answers the phone when something goes wrong. You get a name and a number, not a call centre.
You Keep the File
Form, photographs, and permit references — the complete package, in your hands, whether or not you ever hire us for anything else.
Wind Mitigation FAQs
What is a wind mitigation inspection?
An inspection that documents seven wind-resistant features of your home on a standardised Florida form, the OIR-B1-1802. Your insurance agent submits it to your carrier, who applies whatever credits those documented features qualify for. Florida law requires insurers to offer discounts for these features — but you have to prove you have them.
How much does a wind mitigation inspection cost?
In Florida these typically run somewhere between $75 and $175 depending on the inspector and the home. Call us for our current price — and ask your insurance agent whether your carrier reimburses the cost, because some do.
How much will it save me on insurance?
We can't tell you, and anyone who quotes you a figure before seeing your policy is guessing. It depends entirely on your carrier, your policy, your county, and which features your home actually has. What we can say is that for most Florida homeowners the inspection pays for itself, often several times over — and that the only way to find out your number is to get the form and hand it to your agent.
How long is a wind mitigation report valid?
Generally five years, after which carriers typically require a new one. Worth putting a note in your calendar — when the form expires, the credits attached to it can quietly come off at renewal. If you've re-roofed since your last inspection, get a new one immediately rather than waiting; a re-roof usually improves several categories at once.
Who is allowed to perform one in Florida?
Florida limits the 1802 form to specific qualified professionals — the list includes licensed general, building and residential contractors, professional engineers, architects, licensed home inspectors, and certified building code inspectors. We hold Florida General Contractor license CGC1533052 alongside our roofing license.
Do you need to get into my attic?
Where there's access, yes — and it matters. Roof deck attachment and roof-to-wall connection are two of the highest-weighted categories on the form, and neither can be verified from outside. If your home has no attic access or it's blocked, tell us when you book. There are limits to what can be documented without it, and we'd rather discuss that up front than surprise you.
Will a new roof improve my score?
Usually, and sometimes substantially. A code-compliant re-roof can improve roof covering, deck attachment, and secondary water resistance in one job. That's why we recommend getting inspected after a replacement rather than before — and why it's worth asking your roofer which categories their specification will actually upgrade, before you sign anything.
Which areas do you serve?
We're licensed statewide, with crews working regularly through Martin, St. Lucie, Palm Beach, Broward, and Southwest Florida — including Stuart, Palm City, Port St. Lucie, Jupiter, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Naples, and Fort Myers.
Related Services
If your inspection shows room for improvement, the fix is usually part of a larger job. See roof replacement, which typically upgrades three categories at once, or underlayment and secondary water resistance — the layer that answers category six.
Not sure whether your roof needs replacing at all? Start with a free roof inspection. And if you're seeing signs of water intrusion, roof leak repair comes first — a wind mitigation form doesn't help a roof that's actively leaking.
Find Out What Your
Home Already Qualifies For
Under an hour on most homes. You get the completed form, the photographs, and a plain-English explanation of what each answer means — then your agent tells you the number.