Save on Home Insurance with a Wind Mitigation Inspection
Florida law requires insurers to offer discounts for homes with wind-resistant roofing features. A wind mitigation report from a licensed contractor can cut your homeowner's insurance premium by 10–45% — often saving hundreds of dollars per year.
What Is a Wind Mitigation Inspection?
Florida insurers are required to offer discounts to homeowners whose roofs have features that resist hurricane damage. A licensed inspector evaluates your home and produces an official OIR-B1-1802 form that documents those features. You submit that report to your insurer, and they apply the applicable credits to your premium.
The inspector evaluates your roof shape, deck attachment method, roof-to-wall connections, roof covering type, and opening protection (windows, doors, garage doors). Each feature earns a credit that stacks to produce your total savings.
- ✓Recognized by all Florida-licensed insurers
- ✓Valid for 5 years from inspection date
- ✓Required to obtain Citizens Insurance coverage
- ✓Works with your existing roof — no replacement required
By the Numbers
What the Inspector Evaluates
Every wind mitigation report covers these six key areas of your home:
The 7 Things the Inspector Documents
The OIR-B1-1802 form breaks your home down into seven specific items. Each one is verified with photos — from the attic, the roof, and the exterior — and each one maps directly to a credit on your wind premium. Here is what the inspector is actually looking for, and why it matters to your bill:
1. Roof Covering
The inspector records what material is on your roof — shingle, tile, metal, or membrane — and whether it was permitted and installed to the Florida Building Code (2001 or later) with valid product approval. An FBC-compliant covering is the baseline credit; an older, non-compliant covering limits what the rest of the form can earn you.
2. Roof Deck Attachment
From the attic, the inspector measures the nails holding your plywood deck to the trusses — nail size and spacing. A deck fastened with 8d nails at 6-inch spacing resists far more uplift than 6d nails at 12 inches, and insurers price that difference. Stronger attachment means the deck is less likely to peel off in hurricane winds, so it earns a larger credit.
3. Roof-to-Wall Connection
This documents how the roof structure is anchored to the walls: toenails (nails driven at an angle, the weakest), metal clips, single wraps, or double wraps of strap around the truss. It is one of the largest single credits on the form, because a roof that stays connected to the walls is the difference between shingle damage and losing the whole roof structure.
4. Roof Geometry (Hip vs. Gable)
A hip roof — slopes on all four sides, like a pyramid — sheds wind from every direction and earns a significant credit when hip features make up at least 90% of the roof perimeter. A gable roof presents a flat vertical wall to the wind, so it carries more risk and no geometry credit. This is one item you cannot change without reframing, which is why it matters when you buy.
5. Secondary Water Resistance (SWR)
SWR is a self-adhering peel-and-stick membrane applied directly to the deck, sealing every seam between plywood sheets. If a storm strips your shingles or tiles, SWR is what keeps rain out of the house. Because interior water damage drives so much of Florida's claim costs, insurers reward it with its own credit — but it can only be added during a re-roof.
6. Opening Protection
Windows, exterior doors, garage doors, and skylights are rated for impact resistance — or not. The credit generally requires every opening to be protected with impact-rated glazing or code-approved shutters; one unprotected opening can forfeit it. Openings matter because once wind breaches the envelope, internal pressure can lift the roof from below.
7. Roof Age & Permit Date
The permit date establishes which building code your roof was built under. A roof permitted after March 2002 falls under the Florida Building Code and typically qualifies for compliance credits automatically; older roofs must prove their features item by item. This is also why insurers ask for a new inspection after a re-roof — the permit resets the clock in your favor.
What the Savings Actually Look Like
Florida law (Statute 627.0629) requires every insurer writing residential property coverage in the state to file rates that credit homes with qualifying wind mitigation features. That means the discounts are not a promotion or a negotiation — if your report documents the features, your insurer must apply the corresponding credits to the wind portion of your premium.
How much that is worth varies by insurer, coverage amount, and policy, because the credits apply to the windstorm portion of your premium — which in Tampa Bay is often the largest single component. In our experience, Hillsborough and Pasco County homeowners with a reasonably modern roof commonly see savings in the $300–$800 per year range, with homes that check every box (hip roof, SWR, full opening protection, FBC-compliant covering) sometimes exceeding that. Homes with older roofs and few qualifying features may see smaller credits — which is exactly what the inspection tells you before you spend anything.
The findings are recorded on the OIR-B1-1802 — the official Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection form issued by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. Every Florida-licensed insurer accepts the same form, and it remains valid for five years, so one inspection keeps the discounts in place across renewals and even if you switch carriers.
Not Sure Your Roof Will Qualify?
If your roof is 15+ years old or predates the Florida Building Code, a wind mitigation report may only capture partial credits. A new roof replacement typically qualifies for the maximum credits in nearly every category — FBC-compliant covering, modern deck nailing, and secondary water resistance are all built into how we install. For many Tampa Bay homeowners, the insurance savings meaningfully offset the cost of the new roof over its life.
Not ready for either? Start with a free roof inspection. We will tell you what condition your roof is in, which wind mitigation features it already has, and whether an inspection, a repair, or a replacement is the smartest next dollar to spend.
New GAF Roof = Maximum Wind Mitigation Credits
As a GAF Master Elite certified contractor, Protek installs roofing systems built to maximize your wind mitigation score. A new GAF roof includes a secondary water resistance layer, FBC-compliant shingles rated to 130+ mph, and correct deck fastening patterns — often earning the highest possible credits in every category.
Ask us about combining your roof replacement with a wind mitigation inspection for maximum savings. Many Protek customers find that the insurance savings alone offset a significant portion of their roof investment over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
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