When to Get a
Wind MitigationInspection in Brevard

What a Wind Mitigation Inspection Actually Is

A wind mitigation inspection is not a pass/fail test and it is not a condition report. It is a documentation exercise. An authorized inspector walks your home, verifies a specific list of construction features, photographs the evidence, and records the findings on a single state-standardized document: the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form, OIR-B1-1802. Your insurance carrier reads that form and applies whatever credits your policy allows.

The reason the form exists at all is Florida law. Insurers writing residential property coverage in this state are required to offer premium discounts for construction features that reduce wind damage. The discount structure is set at the carrier and policy level, but the trigger is the same everywhere: verified documentation on the state's form. You can read more about Florida's property insurance regulation at the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

Worth being clear about what we are and aren't: SureHome inspects and documents. We are not contractors performing the repairs and we are not insurance agents selling the policy. We don't set your rate and we can't promise a number. What we can do is make sure every feature your house actually has is recorded correctly, because an incomplete or sloppy form costs homeowners credits they were entitled to.

The Seven Things the Inspector Documents

The OIR-B1-1802 form is narrow and specific. It covers:

• Building code compliance — year built and permit dates
• Roof covering — material, permits, and code compliance
• Roof deck attachment — nail type, size, and spacing
• Roof-to-wall connection — clips, single wraps, double wraps
• Roof geometry — hip, gable, flat, or a mix
• Secondary water resistance — present or not
• Opening protection — shutters, impact glass, and their ratings

Two of those carry the most weight for most Brevard County homes. Roof geometry is one: a true hip roof, where all sides slope down to the walls, sheds wind load far better than a gable end and is credited accordingly. The other is the roof-to-wall connection — the metal hardware tying your roof structure to the walls. The difference between a toe-nailed connection, a clip, and a double wrap is significant, and verifying it means getting into the attic and physically looking.

This is where inspector diligence genuinely matters. If the attic access is tight, if the insulation is deep, if the connection is only visible at a few points — the temptation is to record the weakest assumption and move on. Doing it properly means documenting what is actually there. For a deeper look at each item, we've written separate guides on roof deck attachment, secondary water resistance, and opening protection systems.

When You Should Get One

There are six situations where a wind mitigation inspection is clearly worth the $125, and one where it's close to essential.

1. When You Buy a Home in Brevard County

This is the obvious one. You're already scheduling a full home inspection, your carrier is about to quote you, and the wind mitigation form directly affects what you'll pay from day one. Scheduling it alongside the home inspection means one visit, one inspector, one appointment to coordinate. We currently include the wind mitigation report free with any full home inspection — a $125 value — specifically because it makes so little sense to skip it at that moment.

2. When Your Premium Jumps at Renewal

If your renewal notice came in higher than expected, the first question worth asking is whether your carrier has a current wind mitigation form on file at all. Plenty of Brevard homeowners are insured on a policy that has never had one. If your home has a hip roof, or a roof replaced under a recent code cycle, or impact-rated windows, and none of that is documented, you may be paying a premium that doesn't reflect your house.

3. After You Replace the Roof

A new roof frequently changes several answers on the form at once — roof covering compliance, deck attachment, sometimes secondary water resistance. A form completed before the replacement no longer describes your home. This is one of the most commonly missed opportunities we see: homeowners spend heavily on a roof and never update the document that tells their insurer about it. If you're also being asked for a roof certification, both can usually be handled in the same visit.

4. After You Add Shutters or Impact Windows

Opening protection is credited based on rating and completeness. Partial protection is generally treated differently from whole-home protection, so if you've just finished protecting the last few openings, that change is worth documenting. Keep the product documentation from the installation — ratings and approval numbers make verification straightforward.

5. When Your Existing Form Is Aging Out

The OIR-B1-1802 is generally accepted by Florida carriers for five years from the date of inspection. If yours is approaching that mark, renewing it before it lapses avoids the scenario where credits quietly drop off at renewal. Check the inspection date on your copy, and confirm the requirement with your carrier or agent, since practices vary.

6. Before Hurricane Season, If You've Never Had One

Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30. Carriers frequently restrict binding new coverage or making policy changes when a storm is in the forecast cone, and inspection schedules across Brevard County tighten considerably once a system is being tracked. If you've never had a wind mitigation inspection, doing it in the quiet part of the year is simply easier than doing it in September.

What It Costs

SureHome's pricing on this is deliberately simple:

• Wind mitigation, standalone — $125
• Wind mitigation with a full home inspection — FREE
• 4-point inspection, standalone — $150
• 4-point plus wind mitigation — $250
• Full home inspection — from $299
• Military & first responder discount — available

Full home inspection pricing scales with square footage; the complete schedule is on our rates page. If your carrier has asked for both a wind mitigation report and a 4-point inspection — a common request on older Brevard homes — bundling them into one visit is cheaper and faster than booking separately.

What Happens After the Inspection

You receive the completed, signed OIR-B1-1802 with supporting photographs, delivered digitally within 24 hours — usually the same day. From there you or your agent forward it to your carrier. We don't submit it on your behalf and we don't negotiate your rate; that relationship is between you and your insurer.

Keep the file. You'll want it at renewal, if you switch carriers, and if you sell — a current wind mitigation form is a genuinely useful document to hand a buyer, and it's one of the things we'd flag in a pre-sale inspection as worth having ready before listing.

Three Misconceptions Worth Clearing Up

"My house is too old to qualify." Age alone doesn't disqualify anything. Older Brevard homes with re-roofs done under newer code cycles often document better than owners expect, and roof geometry credits don't care what year the house was built.

"My agent said I don't need one." Sometimes that's right — if a current form is already on file. It's worth confirming rather than assuming, because a form that expired two renewals ago isn't doing anything for you.

"The inspection will find problems and raise my rate." A wind mitigation inspection documents construction features. It is not a condition assessment, and it does not report defects the way a full home inspection does. If you want the condition picture too, that's a different inspection — and worth having, but it's a separate question.

Scheduling in Brevard County

SureHome serves all of Brevard — Melbourne, Palm Bay, Viera, Rockledge, Cocoa, Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral, Titusville, Merritt Island, Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, West Melbourne, and Grant-Valkaria — with same or next-day scheduling. A standalone wind mitigation inspection typically takes under an hour, and most of that is attic and roof access.

Our inspectors are licensed beyond the home inspector credential: FL Home Inspector HI 11755, General Contractor CGC1530959, and Roofing Contractor CCC1336594. On a form that turns largely on roof construction, that background is the difference between guessing at a connection and knowing what you're looking at.

Frequently Asked Questions