Wind Mitigation Credits in Florida: How to Cut Your Premium

A single $75–$150 inspection can trigger hundreds — sometimes thousands — of dollars in annual savings on your Florida homeowners policy. The credits are mandatory: if the inspector's report supports them, your insurer must apply them.

Published October 7, 2026

Florida law requires every homeowners insurer to offer wind mitigation discounts, and a licensed inspector can document the specific features of your home or condo building that qualify. The inspection costs $75 to $150, takes about an hour, and the resulting report is valid for five years under Section 627.711, Florida Statutes. For buyers looking at post-2002 condos in Edgewater, Brickell, or Midtown, this is often the fastest way to reduce carrying costs after closing.

The Seven Features the Inspector Grades

Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation publishes a standardized form — the OIR-B1-1802, formally the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form — that every insurer in the state must accept. There are no carrier-specific forms: one completed inspection works across all carriers for five years, which matters when switching insurers within the validity window. As of April 1, 2026, the updated form requires at least one photograph per rated attribute, so inspectors now document findings with photographs as well as written findings.

The form evaluates seven construction features:

Building Code Compliance Year

When was the structure built or last substantially re-roofed relative to Florida Building Code editions? Buildings completed to the 2001 code or later carry significantly better wind-resistance standards and earn more favorable base ratings across the form. This is the single biggest predictor of total wind mitigation credit — post-2002 construction was engineered to the standard, and pre-2002 construction generally was not.

Roof Covering

The material type and its compliance with Florida Product Approval requirements. A roof covering carrying a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance or a Florida Product Approval — common on post-2001 construction in the high-velocity hurricane zone covering Miami-Dade and Broward — earns a credit. Non-compliant materials, or an unknown installation where the inspector cannot confirm compliance, earn nothing or rate negatively.

Roof Deck Attachment

How the plywood or OSB sheathing is fastened to the roof rafters. The inspector checks nail size, nail type (ring-shank versus smooth-shank), and spacing. Roofs fastened with 8d ring-shank nails at 6-inch spacing earn the best rating; staples or undersized smooth-shank nails earn the least. This is largely a construction-era outcome — you cannot change what was done at the original build without a full re-roof.

Roof-to-Wall Connection

The attachment between the roof truss and the exterior wall below it. This is one of the highest-value items on the form. The hierarchy from best to worst: embedded strap (double wrap), single wrap, clip, and toe nail. Toe nails — where the truss is nailed into the top plate at an angle — are the weakest connection and earn the lowest rating. Hurricane straps (single or double wraps) can be retrofitted in some construction types. Post-2002 construction in Miami-Dade almost always uses embedded straps by code.

Roof Geometry

The shape of the roof. A hip roof — where all four sides slope downward to the walls — earns the largest single credit on the form. Gable roofs, where two triangular walls are exposed at each end of the building, catch wind and create uplift pressure that hip designs eliminate. In a condominium building, this is a whole-building feature: if the building has a hip roof, every unit owner in it benefits from that geometry credit on their premium. If the building has gable ends, no unit owner in it earns the hip-roof credit, regardless of how the individual unit is configured.

Secondary Water Resistance

A self-adhering waterproof underlayment applied directly to the roof deck beneath the outer covering. If the covering is removed in a storm, secondary water resistance is the last barrier against water intrusion into the structure. Buildings re-roofed after 2006 in Miami-Dade and Broward typically have this as a code requirement; older construction often does not, and it cannot be added without a re-roofing project.

Opening Protection

This is the all-or-nothing category, and it catches buyers off guard more than any other item on the form. To earn the maximum credit for opening protection, every single window, door, skylight, and garage door in the unit must meet the rated wind-resistance standard — impact glass, approved shutters, or equivalent. One unprotected opening — one bathroom window without impact glass, one slider without a rated shutter — forfeits the entire opening protection credit. Every opening, no exceptions.

In a condominium unit, the relevant openings are those within your unit's perimeter. A building where the lobby doors are impact-rated but your second-bedroom window is not still scores zero for opening protection on your inspection. This is worth confirming before you close: ask the seller or association which windows and doors in the specific unit were upgraded, and request the installation documentation if it exists.

How Much Can You Actually Save?

The statute requires that credits be applied and documented, but it does not set a single published discount schedule — credits are carrier-specific and depend on the combination of rated values across all seven items. What Florida law sets is that the credits must be applied to the windstorm portion of your premium, not the total premium.

A Florida HO-6 policy has two major cost components: windstorm coverage (hurricane and named-storm damage) and all-other-perils coverage (fire, theft, liability, water damage from non-storm causes). Wind mitigation credits apply only to the windstorm bucket. For most Miami-Dade and Broward condos, windstorm is the larger of the two buckets by a meaningful margin — which is why the credits matter despite the qualifier.

For a post-2002 building in Miami-Dade with a hip roof, impact windows and doors throughout, embedded hurricane straps, and a code-compliant roof covering, documented annual windstorm premium savings of $800 to $2,500 are common on an HO-6 policy. On a total policy premium of $4,000 to $6,000, that represents a 15 to 40 percent reduction on the windstorm component. The inspection itself costs $75 to $150. The arithmetic on a single inspection is hard to argue with.

Who Can Perform the Inspection

Section 627.711 authorizes the following professionals to complete the OIR-B1-1802: a licensed home inspector, a licensed general contractor, a licensed building contractor, a licensed residential contractor, a professional engineer, a registered architect, or a building code inspector. In practice, a licensed home inspector is the most common and most affordable option.

Expect to pay $75 to $150 and to receive the completed form within 24 to 48 hours. Many inspectors offer a bundled package that includes both a wind mitigation inspection and a four-point inspection — which covers roof, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC and is separately required by many insurers for structures over 25 years old — for $150 to $250 total. The four-point is a different document serving a different purpose; do not assume that completing one satisfies the other.

When to Order the Inspection

The right time is during your inspection contingency period, before you go hard on your deposit. Once you have the completed OIR-B1-1802, submit it to your insurer before the policy binds. Credits applied from day one of your policy save more over the term than credits applied at the next renewal.

If you closed recently without ordering an inspection, you can commission one now and request a mid-term adjustment from your insurer. Florida law permits this; your carrier's processing timeline varies, but the adjustment should take effect within one to two billing cycles.

Because the form is valid for five years and works across carriers, it also simplifies comparison shopping at renewal. You hand the same completed form to any prospective insurer and they are required to apply the credits their rating schedule reflects — one inspection, five years of portability, no re-inspection when you switch carriers.

The Bigger Picture

Wind mitigation credits exist because Florida took a deliberate policy position: if a homeowner invests in a more resilient structure, the insurance market should reward that investment. The requirement on insurers to accept and apply the OIR-B1-1802 form — codified in Section 627.711, Florida Statutes — turned that policy into a mechanism any buyer can use from day one.

The 2022–2023 legislative reforms addressed the cost of lawsuits and changed the trajectory of Florida's insurance market. Wind mitigation credits address the cost of storms and reward the physical characteristics of a building. Together, they represent the two levers the state has meaningfully moved. For buyers, a $100 inspection that reduces an annual premium by $800 or more is one of the most efficient expenditures in the first months of ownership — and unlike a structural upgrade, it requires no renovation, no contractor, and no permit.

Stefania Riverin, Licensed Real Estate Sales Associate · FL SL3620067 · Brokered by NB Elite Realty · Equal Housing Opportunity. This is general information about Florida wind mitigation inspections and insurance credits and does not constitute legal, financial, or insurance advice. For guidance on your specific property and coverage, consult a licensed inspector and a licensed Florida insurance professional.