Wind Mitigation Inspections and Metal Roofs: What Florida Insurers Credit

What does a Florida wind mitigation inspection actually look at?

A wind mitigation inspection in Florida is a walk-through by a licensed inspector who fills out one state form, the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection form OIR-B1-1802, currently at Revision 04/26. The form does not ask whether the roof is metal, shingle or tile. It asks a series of narrower questions about how the roof was built and attached, and the answers to those questions are what a carrier in Tampa, Orlando or Jacksonville feeds into its rating software. The roof-related lines are the roof covering, the roof deck attachment, the roof-to-wall attachment, the roof geometry, secondary water resistance and opening protection. The roof covering line asks whether the covering meets the Florida Building Code, which for most of the state means a permit dated on or after March 1, 2002. Roof deck attachment is graded A, B or C by nail size and spacing, and the weakest area on the roof governs the whole answer. Roof-to-wall attachment records toe nails, clips, single wraps or double wraps, and the 04/26 revision added performance-based retrofit options for older connections. Roof geometry is a simple shape question: a roof counts as hip when the non-hip portions add up to 10 percent or less of the perimeter. Secondary water resistance asks whether the deck seams are sealed with a self-adhered membrane or foam; ordinary felt does not qualify. Opening protection covers shutters and impact glazing and has nothing to do with the roof, but it sits on the same form and usually gets inspected on the same visit.

Why does Florida law require insurers to offer a discount?

Section 627.0629 of the Florida Statutes obliges residential property insurers to offer discounts, credits or other rate differentials for construction features that reduce windstorm losses. The statute sets the requirement; the 1802 form is the mechanism carriers use to verify that the features exist. Without a completed form, a carrier has no verified basis to apply the credit, however good the roof looks from the street. Under section 627.711, a completed inspection is valid for five years. That timing matters for anyone planning a reroof in the next couple of years, because an inspection done before the work will document the old deck nailing and the old covering. Homeowners in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties who reroof and then never re-inspect are paying for the old roof. The right order is permit, reroof, final inspection, then a fresh 1802. The credit is not a single number. Each line contributes its own factor, and the factors are set by the carrier's filed rates rather than by the state. A carrier writing in Lee County may weight roof-to-wall attachment more heavily than one writing in Duval, because its loss history differs. The honest guidance is short: ask your carrier what each line item is worth on your specific policy before assuming a number.

What does a permitted reroof under 553.844 put on the form?

Section 553.844 is where a Florida reroof and a Florida insurance form intersect. When the installer pulls the reroof permit, the statute requires the roof deck to be re-nailed to a prescriptive schedule, a secondary water barrier to be installed over the sealed deck, and, for homes valued at $300,000 or more in the wind-borne debris region, a roof-to-wall retrofit when that work costs no more than about 15 percent of the reroof. Those three items map directly onto three lines of the OIR-B1-1802. Re-nailing the deck moves the deck attachment answer toward the A or B grade, depending on the nail and spacing the inspector verifies. The self-adhered membrane over the deck joints, or the full-deck self-adhered underlayment allowed under R905.1.1 of the 8th Edition, satisfies the secondary water resistance line. The roof-to-wall retrofit, where it applies, upgrades the toe-nail answer to clips or straps. The roof covering line is answered by the permit itself. A permitted reroof under the current Florida Building Code is FBC-equivalent by definition, and the inspector will want the permit number, the final inspection date and the Florida Product Approval for the covering. For an Interlock aluminum roof that approval is NEMO P.E. Evaluated FL7263-R7, which covers the Shingle, Slate, Diamond, Shake and Hidden-Fastener Tile profiles for non-HVHZ Florida. Standing seam is not listed in NEMO P.E. Evaluated FL7263-R7, so it cannot be offered as an approved covering on a Florida permit. Miami-Dade and Broward are outside the approval entirely and are not served. The practical result is that most of the insurance value of a Florida reroof comes from what the permit forces under the roof, not from the panels on top. A certified Interlock installer is assigned to the project and pulls the permit under their own license, and the permit is what drives the deck, barrier and attachment work the form rewards.

Why isn't a new metal roof alone an insurance credit?

Homeowners in Naples and Port Charlotte sometimes call after a hurricane season expecting that the phrase metal roof on a policy will drop the premium. It does not, and understanding why avoids disappointment. The 1802 form has no material line. A carrier cannot credit something the form does not record, and the roof covering line only asks whether the covering was permitted under the current code. That said, an aluminum roof can support several lines indirectly. The warranted wind resistance of 120 mph when installed to manufacturer specification is a material property, but the form only sees it as an FBC-compliant covering. The design pressures in NEMO P.E. Evaluated FL7263-R7 range from -30.0 to -187.5 psf by profile and fastening, and the installer's fastening schedule is part of the permit set. The roof geometry line is unchanged by any covering; a gable in Ocala is a gable after the reroof. The biggest indirect benefit is that a reroof is the moment the deck gets opened up. Once the old shingles are off, re-nailing the deck and sealing the seams is straightforward, and a strap retrofit at the eaves is possible in many attics. Those are the lines that move premiums, and they are cheap to address only while the roof is off. A metal roof that never comes off again means those upgrades are done once and stay documented.

How should a Florida homeowner sequence the reroof and the inspection?

Start by pulling the existing 1802 from the current policy file, if there is one. It shows which lines are weak. A 1980s house in Spring Hill or The Villages built with toe nails and a gable roof has two lines that no covering can fix, and one, roof-to-wall, that a reroof might. Knowing that before the estimate lets the installer price the strap retrofit into the job rather than discovering it at final inspection. Next, make sure the permit set includes the product approval, the underlayment path under R905.1.1, and the deck re-nailing schedule. The certified installer assigned to the project handles this under their own DBPR roofing license; Metal Roofing Florida certifies and assigns but does not pull permits or install. Ask for copies of the permit, the final inspection and the approval sheet, because the wind mitigation inspector will ask for the same documents. Schedule the new 1802 after the final building inspection, not before. The inspector needs to see the sealed deck through the attic or through photos taken during the work, so ask the installer to photograph the re-nailed deck and the self-adhered membrane before the panels go on. Those photos are routinely accepted as evidence for the deck attachment and secondary water resistance lines. Then send the completed form to the carrier and ask what changed. Section 627.0629 requires the discount to be offered, but the size of each line's credit varies by insurer and by county, and Monroe County in the Keys, at roughly 170 to 180 mph design wind and Exposure D, is handled case by case. Never accept a promised percentage from anyone other than the carrier itself.

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