Wind Mitigation Inspections: How a New Roof Cuts Your Premium

A wind mitigation inspection is one of the few homeowner-side actions in Florida that can meaningfully affect your insurance bill. It does not touch your roof, your liability coverage, or your dwelling limit: it documents specific wind-resistant construction features and hands that documentation to your insurer to price accordingly. Most homeowners have heard of it. Fewer understand what it actually inspects or why a brand-new roof does not automatically qualify for every possible credit.

What the Inspection Actually Is

Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation publishes a standard form, OIR-B1-1802, that a certified inspector completes during a visual, non-invasive survey of your home. The inspector is not grading your roof's cosmetic condition or checking for leaks. They are documenting specific construction attributes that affect how your home performs in high wind, each of which maps to a credit category insurers use in their wind premium calculation. The inspector cannot inspect what they cannot verify, which is why paperwork from your reroof, permit documentation, product approval numbers, photos taken during construction, matters as much as the physical inspection itself.

What the OIR-B1-1802 Form Inspects

The form is organized around six main categories. Understanding each one helps you see why some homes qualify for far more credit than others with a similar-looking roof:

Category	What It Documents
Roof covering	Whether the roof covering meets current Florida Building Code wind-resistance testing (relevant FL# product approval) and its installation date relative to code editions.
Roof deck attachment	How the roof deck (typically plywood or OSB) is fastened to the trusses or rafters: nail size, spacing, and pattern all factor in.
Roof-to-wall attachment	The connection method between the roof structure and the wall framing below it: ranging from toe-nails at the weak end up through clips and wraparound straps at the strong end.
Roof geometry	Overall roof shape: hip roofs (sloping on all sides) generally perform better in wind than gable roofs (with flat vertical end walls) and are documented separately on the form.
Secondary water resistance (SWR)	Whether a self-adhering secondary water barrier is installed under the primary roof covering, reducing water intrusion risk if the roof covering itself is damaged.
Opening protection	Whether windows, doors, garage doors, and skylights have impact-rated glazing or approved shutter systems protecting them from windborne debris.

Which Reroof Features Typically Earn Credits

Not every reroof is built the same way, even when both meet minimum code. Since insurers price based on documented features rather than assumptions, the specific choices made during your reroof determine what shows up on the form:

• Sealed roof deck. FBC 9th Edition already requires a secondary water barrier in our region, and a properly sealed deck with taped or sealed seams supports a stronger SWR finding on the form than a basic felt underlayment alone.
• Ring-shank nails at code spacing. Enhanced deck attachment, the right nail type at the right spacing, properly documented, moves your roof deck attachment rating up from the weakest category.
• Hip roof geometry. If your home already has a hip roof, that is a structural fact the inspection documents; it is not something a reroof changes, but it is worth confirming it is captured correctly on the form.
• Wind-rated roof covering with current FL# approval. Installing a system tested and approved to current code standards, rather than an older or unapproved product, supports the roof covering category.

What a reroof alone does not change: your roof-to-wall connections (unless that structural work was part of the project) and your opening protection (windows, doors, garage door): those are separate systems that require their own upgrades to improve.

How to Book an Inspection After a Permitted Reroof

The sequence matters. Booking too early, before your paperwork is complete, means the inspector cannot verify what they are looking at and you leave credits on the table.

1. Finish the reroof and pass final inspection. Your county building department inspector signs off on the completed work: this is the point where the roof is considered code-compliant and documented.
2. Gather your paperwork. Permit card, FL# product approval documentation for the installed materials, and any photos taken during construction showing deck attachment and underlayment before the roof covering went on.
3. Schedule a certified wind mitigation inspector. This can be an independent inspector, your insurance agent may arrange one, or in some cases a licensed contractor who holds the appropriate certification can complete it. Confirm with your carrier which inspector credentials they accept before you pay for one.
4. Submit the completed OIR-B1-1802 form to your insurer. Your agent or carrier applies the documented credits to your policy at your next renewal, or in some cases a mid-term endorsement, depending on your carrier's practice.

Roofing & Roofing provides the permit documentation and product approval paperwork you need for this step on every reroof we complete, and we are glad to point you toward the sequence that gets your paperwork in order before you schedule the inspection.

Realistic Savings: Why We Won't Quote You a Percentage

Every roofing website wants to tell you a wind mitigation inspection will save you some specific percentage on your premium. We are not going to do that here, because it is not true in any way that holds up across carriers. Wind mitigation credits are calculated differently by every insurance company, are affected by your specific coverage limits and deductibles, and change as carriers adjust their underwriting models. A hip roof with a sealed deck and hurricane clips might save one homeowner a meaningful amount on one carrier's wind premium, and produce a smaller adjustment for an identical roof on a different carrier's book. The only accurate answer to "how much will this save me" comes from your own agent, looking at your own policy, after the inspection is complete.

What we can say with confidence: an unpermitted or poorly documented roof qualifies for none of these credits regardless of how well it was actually built, because the insurer has nothing to verify the construction against. That is one more reason the permit and inspection process on your reroof is not paperwork for its own sake: it is the foundation the entire wind mitigation credit system is built on.

Related Reading

If you are earlier in the process, deciding on a reroof before you get to the wind mitigation step, see our roof replacement cost guide for pricing and our metal vs. shingle comparison for how material choice affects both cost and wind performance. If you are dealing with storm damage now, our insurance claim guide walks through that separate process.