2026-08-02 · Josh Douglas
The short version: A wind mitigation inspection runs most Florida homeowners around $75 to $150, and it documents the features that earn a discount on the wind portion of your premium. State law requires every residential carrier to offer those discounts. The form was revised on April 1, 2026, and if you already have one on file, there is a good chance it still counts. Here is how to tell.
What the inspection actually looks at
The inspector is not evaluating your kitchen. They document the handful of things that decide how your house behaves in a hurricane:
- Roof shape. A hip roof, sloped on all four sides, handles wind better than a gable end.
- Roof deck attachment. How the sheathing is fastened to the trusses. Nails versus staples, and the spacing, matter more than people expect.
- Roof-to-wall connection. Whether toe nails, clips, or straps hold the roof structure down to the walls.
- Secondary water resistance. A sealed layer under the roof covering that keeps water out if the shingles come off.
- Opening protection. Impact-rated windows and doors, or shutters rated for windborne debris. Protection generally has to cover every opening to earn the credit, so shutters on three windows and nothing on the rest can score the same as no protection at all. Ask before you pay for a partial job.
All of it goes on one state form, the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form, better known as the OIR-B1-1802. Florida Statute 627.711(2) spells out who may sign it, which is why you cannot fill it out yourself.
The form changed on April 1
Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation revised the 1802 form, and the new version took effect April 1, 2026. Any inspection performed on or after that date has to use it. The update came out of a 2024 state wind-loss mitigation study, and it adds things the old form had no place for: FORTIFIED Home certificates, a region designation based on design wind speed, roof slope, and performance-based options for roof-to-wall attachment.
If you already paid for an inspection, do not go buy another one out of reflex. The 1802 is valid for up to five years as long as no material changes were made to the structure and nothing on it turns out to be wrong. Citizens has said it will keep accepting the older Rev. 01/12 version when the structure has not changed and the form was completed within the five years before April 1, 2026. Private carriers set their own practice, so call and ask whether the form on file still works. The time to buy a new one is when something actually changed: a new roof, new windows, new shutters, or a form old enough to have aged out.
What it is actually worth
This is where I am less exciting than the ads. You will see numbers thrown around online, usually between 20% and 45%. Nearly all of them come from companies that sell wind mitigation inspections, and I would not budget around them.
Two things are worth knowing instead. The discount applies to the wind portion of your premium, not the whole bill, so a big percentage off a slice is smaller than it sounds. And the credits do not all pile on top of each other. As one applies, others get reduced, up to a maximum.
Here is the useful part. A 2005 law, Section 627.0629(1) of the Florida Statutes, requires residential carriers to file a range of these discounts with state regulators and to send policyholders a list of them with the actual dollar savings attached. Your insurer already has your real number. Ask your agent what each credit is worth on your policy. That beats any average you will find, including mine.
And plainly: on an older house with a gable roof, staples in the deck, and no opening protection, the report can come back with very little to credit. You are paying about a hundred dollars to find out. Usually it pays for itself. Sometimes it does not.
Before you spend the money
Check one program first. My Safe Florida Home, run by the Department of Financial Services, offers a free hurricane mitigation inspection to homeowners who qualify, plus matching grant money for the lower and moderate income groups. It opens and closes with its funding, though, and it has run out within days of a window opening more than once. Look at mysafeflhome.com before you count on it, and do not delay an inspection you need waiting on a window that may never open.
If you are buying, get the wind mitigation and four-point reports during your inspection period, not after closing. On an older Brevard home those two documents drive the insurance quote about as much as the address does, and finding out early gives you room to renegotiate or walk. Pull the flood zone early too, because flood is a separate policy and no wind credit touches it. My flood-zone lookup gets you the zone by address, and here is where Florida insurance rates are actually heading.
Program rules and carrier practices change every cycle here, so verify any of this against your own policy before you spend money. You do not need an agent for this part. A licensed inspector and one call to your carrier will get you there. If you want a straight read on what a specific address is likely to cost to insure and carry, text me at (321) 576-2239. I answer 8am to 8pm, usually within the hour. No pressure either way.