Wind mitigation inspection in Sarasota and Manatee County

What the inspection is

A wind mitigation inspection documents your home's wind-resistive construction on Florida form OIR-B1-1802, the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form. A qualified inspector, defined under Florida law, walks the property, photographs and verifies each feature, and signs the form. You give it to your insurer, and they apply the corresponding credits to the wind portion of your premium. The credits are not a favor: Florida law requires insurers to offer discounts for documented wind-resistive features.

The seven features it records

The form looks at the building code and year of construction, the roof covering, the roof deck attachment, the roof-to-wall connection, the roof shape, secondary water resistance, and opening protection. Each can carry a credit, and they stack. Opening protection from impact-rated windows and doors is frequently the single largest credit, which is why so many owners pair the inspection with an impact upgrade. Worth knowing: the opening-protection credit generally requires every glazed opening to be protected, so a mixed set of impact and non-impact openings may not earn it.

How long it lasts, and when to redo it

A completed form is generally valid for up to five years without material changes to the home. Add impact windows, replace a roof, or reinforce a roof-to-wall connection, and a fresh inspection captures the new features so the credit reflects the current home. Keep the form with your policy records, because insurers often ask for it at renewal or when you switch carriers.

Worth knowing for 2026: FLOIR revised form OIR-B1-1802 effective April 1, 2026, following a state-commissioned residential wind-loss mitigation study completed in 2024. New inspections use the revised form, which documents features, including opening protection, more rigorously than the old one. If you hold a valid earlier form it generally remains usable until it expires, but any fresh inspection after the changeover is on the new form, so expect the inspector to ask for more product documentation than last time.

Free inspections through My Safe Florida Home

The state's My Safe Florida Home program may offer a free wind mitigation inspection to eligible site-built single-family homes, with no obligation to apply for a grant. It is a low-risk way to learn which credits you already qualify for before spending on upgrades. Eligibility and availability are set by the program and change, so confirm both at mysafeflhome.com, and read our My Safe Florida Home guide.

Where it fits in your plan

Many owners inspect first to see their baseline, upgrade openings with impact windows and doors, then re-inspect to document the improvement. The savings guide walks the whole sequence line by line. Reported savings vary by carrier, county, and coverage, so your policy will vary.