Florida wind mitigation inspection, explained — and what changed on the 2026 OIR-B1-1802 form

# The Florida wind mitigation inspection, and the 2026 form

This is a Florida program page. Florida is the only state with a uniform state inspection form, but the idea, documented roof and opening features that earn mandated premium credits, now exists in most hurricane states through the FORTIFIED program. The "Outside Florida?" section at the end maps it.

Direct answer. A wind mitigation inspection is a short, photo-documented visit by a licensed inspector who records the hurricane-resistance features of your home on Form OIR-B1-1802. Florida law requires every residential insurer to give premium discounts for those features, so the form is the single most valuable piece of paper a Florida homeowner can hand an insurance agent. On April 1, 2026 the state replaced the 2012 version with a revised form, OIR-B1-1802 (Rev. 04/26), that runs nine questions over six pages; if your inspection is dated on or after that day, it must be on the new form to count.

Why the form exists

Section 627.0629, Florida Statutes requires insurers to reflect in their rates the reduced losses from windstorm-resistant construction, and requires the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) to revisit which features qualify, and by how much, by January 1, 2025 and every five years after. OIR commissioned Applied Research Associates (ARA), the engineering firm behind the original 2002 and 2008 loss-relativity studies, to redo the analysis. ARA delivered the Residential Wind-Loss Mitigation Study in June 2024, and the revised inspection form followed, adopted under Rule 69O-170.0155 and effective April 1, 2026.

OIR says it is still evaluating the companion forms (OIR-B1-1699 and 1700, which list the credit ranges, and the OIR-B1-1655 notice insurers send you) for updates. In plain terms: the inspection form changed first; the published discount tables may change next. Watch for it.

What the 2026 form documents

The core scored features will look familiar to anyone who has seen the old form, but Rev. 04/26 expanded the inspection from seven features to nine questions. An inspector now documents:

1. Building code. Whether the home was permitted under the 2001 Florida Building Code (effective March 2002) or later, or under the South Florida Building Code of 1994 in Miami-Dade and Broward.
2. Region. New. The design-wind-speed region the home sits in (HVHZ or Regions 1–3 under ASCE 7-22), which tells the insurer what the house was supposed to be built for.
3. Roof covering. Whether the covering carries a Florida or Miami-Dade product approval, and when it was permitted; the product-approval language was expanded in this revision.
4. Roof deck attachment. Sheathing thickness, nail type and nail spacing, read in the attic.
5. Roof-to-wall attachment. Toe nails, clips, single wraps or double wraps, and now performance-based retrofit options that let engineered connectors earn credit where a conventional strap cannot be installed.
6. Roof geometry. Hip, other or flat, by percentage of perimeter.
7. Roof slope. New. The pitch of the roof, which the ARA study found affects uplift loads.
8. Secondary water resistance. A sealed roof deck or self-adhering underlayment that keeps water out when the covering is lost.
9. Opening protection. Whether every glazed and non-glazed opening, including garage doors and skylights, is protected by impact-rated products or tested shutters. One unprotected opening drops the rating for the whole house.

The revised form also carries a FORTIFIED Home section, so a FORTIFIED Roof, Silver or Gold designation can be recorded alongside the Florida features, and it puts more weight on a photo or document for each feature marked: an inspector who cannot see the roof-to-wall connection cannot credit it. The adopted PDF runs six pages.

The DFS consumer guide and the 1699 table show how large the credits can be; the DFS guide is the best public summary of the discount ranges. Opening protection and roof-to-wall attachment are consistently the biggest line items.

Transition rule. Inspections dated on or after April 1, 2026 must be submitted on Rev. 04/26; Citizens' 2026 Wind Loss Mitigation Guide and multiple inspectors confirm this. Earlier forms stay valid until their five-year expiry. OIR has not published a line-by-line change log, so the description above is assembled from the form PDF and inspector and manufacturer sources; one vendor claim that product-approval numbers are now required for every opening is not corroborated and is not repeated here.

The rules that cost people money

• Five-year validity, provided no material change to the structure and no inaccuracy on the form. Insurers are not obliged to remind you. Put the expiry on a calendar.
• Authorized inspectors only. Section 627.711(2)(a) lists who may sign. A form signed by anyone else is invalid, and some carriers will claw back discounts applied on the strength of it. Verify the license on MyFloridaLicense.com.
• Photos are mandatory and have been since 2012; the 2026 form leans on them harder. An inspector who does not go in the attic is not doing the inspection.
• Every opening counts. A single unprotected skylight or garage side door can zero out the opening-protection credit.
• New roof, new form. A roof replacement usually improves roof covering, deck attachment and secondary water resistance at once; the credit does not appear until you re-inspect and submit.
• After a storm, re-inspect. If Isaias cost you a roof, the replacement is the cheapest chance you will get to upgrade the deck nailing, the strapping and the underlayment while the deck is open, then document all three on the new form. See Rebuilding after Isaias.

Does a concrete house get a bigger discount?

Not by itself. The form has no question about wall material. A block, ICF or panel house with a gable roof, toe-nailed trusses and ordinary glass scores like any other house with those features. Where heavier wall systems help on the form is indirect: concrete and panel roofs can score as the best deck and connection categories, and opening protection is easier to specify on a new build. The myth that "concrete lowers your insurance" is covered on our insurance-myth page.

How to get the most from one inspection

1. Pull the permit history before the inspector arrives: roof permit date, window product approvals, original building permit date.
2. Clear attic access.
3. Ask for the inspection to be on the Rev. 04/26 form and for a photo of every credited feature.
4. Send the completed form to your agent in writing and ask for the premium before and after.
5. If a feature was missed, request a correction rather than a new inspection.
6. File the form with your home's records; you will need it at sale.

Inspection fees are set by the market and typically run well under the first year's savings; we do not publish price ranges.

Outside Florida?

No other state has a uniform inspection form, but most hurricane states have the same mechanism under a different name:

• FORTIFIED evaluation (IBHS). A certified evaluator documents the roof deck, edges, attachment and (for Silver and Gold) openings and connections, and IBHS issues a designation. This is the "form" in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, the Carolinas, Georgia and Oklahoma. Alabama (since 2009) and Louisiana require insurers to discount FORTIFIED homes; South Carolina and North Carolina regulate discounts for FORTIFIED construction in coastal territories.
• Alabama — Strengthen Alabama Homes funds the retrofit; the FORTIFIED certificate drives the credit.
• Louisiana — Fortify Homes Program grants plus a mandatory FORTIFIED discount; a tax credit for self-funded upgrades.
• South Carolina — SC Safe Home certification or FORTIFIED Roof; dual-standard projects may earn more.
• North Carolina — NCIUA discounts in coastal rating territories by FORTIFIED level; some carriers offer FORTIFIED endorsements.
• Texas — TWIA requires a windstorm certificate of compliance for coverage on new or altered structures in its area, and offers FORTIFIED discounts.
• Everywhere else — ask your carrier what mitigation documentation it accepts; many national carriers credit FORTIFIED or impact glazing even without a state mandate.

The features are the same in every program: roof deck, roof attachment, roof covering, water barrier, openings. Florida simply standardized the paperwork.

Want the credits engineered in from the start? For a new build or a rebuild, BuiltStrong's advisory specifies the roof, connection and opening details that score at the top of every line, in Florida or under FORTIFIED, in whichever construction system fits your site. Start the intake · How the advisory works