[zcaveman]

Originally Posted by DangeloInspections

Perhaps I can shed some light on this issue.

First, this is an old thread. At the time it was started in 2007 all of the first posts were true. The state of Florida had a program called My Safe Florida Homes. They hired folks who would come to your house and take a quick look in your attic, etc and fill out a small form and you would get a reduction in your homeowners insurance premium. The person was at your home for about 10 minutes. I know this firsthand because I had it done on MY home back then.

A few years went by and insurance companies found that many of these forms were inaccurate, and not done well, thus negating any value they wee meant to provide.

They responded by rewriting the rules completely. The current wind mitigation form is four pages and a bit complicated. It needs to be filled out by a licensed Home Inspector or Engineer. There is no longer a "free state program" to do this.

The Home Inspector needs to inspect your attic and take pictures of at least 5 different things up there. He needs to have access up there, sometimes moving tons of storage items to do so.

He then needs to take pictures of the outside of your home, roof, etc, and calculate the footprint of the home, type of windows, doors, etc. If you have any hurricane shutters, etc they need to be documented, etc.

The form is then filled out, signed and sent to both the homeowner and the insurance agency.

The cost of $100-$150 is normal for this area. I know some Home Inspectors that charge double that for doing a wind mitigation inspection.

The discount you receive is usually a percentage off what your home in insured for. This inspection is good for 5 YEARS, so an annual savings of say $300/year will net you a savings of $1500.00 in those 5 years.....so the investment of a few hundred dollars to have the inspection can be well worth it.

The first thing you would need to do is to speak to your insurance agent to see if they have already given you this discount, and if they will lower your premium if you get one done.

To be honest I do them, but do not "push" them. I've been more then busy doing "new buyer" and warranty inspections so I fit these in when I can. If there is a demand for these I may just set aside a day just for these every few weeks, or perhaps fit one in after a morning inspection. I need to think about this more.

As a licensed Home Inspector here in Florida I do many types of Home Inspections.....New buyer inspections, Warranty Inspections, Wind Mitigation Inspections, Roofing Inspections and Four Point Inspections, (for homes 30 years old and older).

Again, the first thing you should do if you are interested in this is to speak to your insurance agent.

It is a challenge for me to balance fulfilling the needs of my customers whom I am grateful for and making sure what I do business-wise remains profitable in terms of time and travel, etc.

I hope this helps answer some questions. Sorry for such a long post. I am actually writing this from NY, as I have taken a bit of a vacation to "inspect" my new granddaughter......

Rspectfully, Frank D'Angelo, ACI

Thanks. Your explanation was great.

I have had a PM about this. I mentioned that this thread was from 2007 and I found this on the internet:

https://apps.fldfs.com/WINGS/InspectionApp/default.aspx

Thanks,
Z