Florida’s Wind Mitigation Form (OIR-B1-1802): Inspection, Filing, and Validity

Florida’s wind mitigation form, officially the OIR-B1-1802, is a standardized inspection report that documents the wind-resistant features of your home so your insurer can apply the premium discounts state law requires it to offer.1The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 627.0629 – Windstorm Loss Mitigation It is the only proof-of-features document insurers are obligated to accept, and a licensed inspector must complete it after physically examining your property. The form was revised effective April 1, 2026.2Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. Wind Mitigation Resources

Who Can Fill It Out

You can’t complete this form yourself. Florida Statute 627.711 limits authorized mitigation inspectors to five categories of licensed professionals:3The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 627.711 – Notice of Premium Discounts for Hurricane Loss Mitigation; Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form

  • Home inspectors who have completed at least three hours of hurricane mitigation training approved by the Construction Industry Licensing Board and passed a proficiency exam.
  • Certified building code inspectors.
  • Licensed general, building, or residential contractors.
  • Licensed professional engineers.
  • Licensed professional architects.

Insurers may accept a form from someone outside these five categories, but they are not required to.4Florida Senate. Chapter 627 Section 711 – Florida Statutes Hiring from the statutory list avoids the risk of a rejected report. Before you book, confirm the inspector’s license is active using the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s license verification portal at myfloridalicense.com.5MyFloridaLicense.com. How to Verify a License Engineers are verified separately through the Florida Board of Professional Engineers. A form signed under an expired or suspended license will be rejected.

Scheduling and Preparing for the Inspection

A wind mitigation inspection in Florida typically costs between $75 and $150 and takes about an hour. The savings on your policy usually recover the cost within the first year, often faster.

You can shorten the visit and protect credits by pulling together paperwork in advance:

  • Roof permits. The permit application date is one way to prove your roof meets the Florida Building Code. Your local building department can provide copies.
  • Florida Building Code or Miami-Dade product approval numbers for your roofing material, impact windows, shutters, or doors. These often appear on original receipts or contractor invoices.
  • Manufacturer labels, Notice of Acceptance (NOA) numbers, or test reports for shutters and impact-rated openings.

Clear a path to your attic hatch and make sure the space is accessible with adequate lighting. The inspector verifies roof deck attachment and roof-to-wall connections from inside the attic. If features there can’t be observed (spray-foam insulation covering connections is a common obstacle), the inspector has to mark those items unknown, and you lose the credit.

What the Inspector Evaluates

The form walks through seven numbered questions after the property information section, and the inspector must attach at least one photograph for each feature in questions three through seven.6Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. OIR-B1-1802 Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form One rule shapes almost every result: the inspector records the weakest condition found in each category, not the best. A single deficient connector or one unprotected opening can drag an entire category down to its lowest tier.

Building Code Compliance

The first question asks whether the home was built, or had its roof permitted for replacement, after the Florida Building Code took effect: March 1, 2002, statewide, and earlier in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone covering Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Code-compliant construction earns a baseline credit before any individual feature is scored.

Roof Covering

The inspector identifies every roof covering on the home and records the permit application date, the FBC or Miami-Dade product approval number, or the installation year.7Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. OIR-B1-1802 Florida Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form Roofs permitted on or after March 1, 2002, or original to a home built in 2004 or later, satisfy the FBC standard. Miami-Dade product approval is the higher tier.

Roof Deck Attachment

This looks at how the plywood or OSB sheathing is nailed to the trusses or rafters. The strongest common tier involves 8d common nails driven into sheathing at least 7/16-inch thick on trusses no more than 24 inches apart, with nail spacing of 6 inches in the field. Twelve-inch spacing earns a lower credit than 6-inch spacing. The inspector confirms this from the attic by looking at where the nails penetrate the sheathing.

Roof-to-Wall Connection

How the roof structure is anchored to the walls is one of the largest credit drivers on the form. The inspector sorts the weakest connection into one of four categories:

  • Toenails — nails driven at an angle through the truss into the top plate.
  • Clips — metal connectors that do not wrap over the truss.
  • Single wraps — a metal strap that wraps over the truss, nailed on both sides.
  • Double wraps — two straps, or one strap with three or more nails per side.

The jump from toenails to clips is significant, and the jump from clips to wraps is where the largest premium reductions appear. One toenailed truss in an attic full of straps scores the whole home as toenails.

Roof Geometry

Hip roofs qualify for a credit because wind flows over all four sloped sides rather than catching a gable-end wall. To earn the hip-roof credit, no other roof shape may account for more than 10 percent of the total roof perimeter. Everything else falls into the “Other Roof” category.

Secondary Water Resistance

A secondary water resistance (SWR) barrier protects the roof deck if the outer shingles or tiles blow off. Standard underlayment and hot-mopped felt do not count. Qualifying methods include fully adhered polymer-modified bitumen underlayment, taped seams at roof deck joints with a compliant underlayment, two layers of certain qualifying felts or synthetics, or spray foam at rafter-deck intersections and panel joints. Because SWR sits beneath the outer roofing material, it’s often hardest to verify after installation; if the inspector can’t confirm it, the credit is lost.

Opening Protection

Every window, door, skylight, and garage door is evaluated and given a letter grade. Level A requires verified cyclic pressure and large missile impact protection with products listed in the Florida or Miami-Dade product approval system. Level B meets the standards at a lower missile threshold. Level C covers all glazed openings with plywood or OSB meeting Table 1609.1.2 of the 2007 Florida Building Code. Level N means protection is present but doesn’t meet A, B, or C, or lacks documentation. Level X means no protection.

Earning the top opening protection credit requires every opening to qualify at Level A. One unprotected window or an undocumented shutter pulls the whole home down. This is where your product approval numbers and NOA paperwork save the most money.

Submitting the Form to Your Insurer

Once the inspector signs and dates the form, send it to your agent or carrier, usually through an online policyholder portal or an underwriting email address. Include every required photograph; missing photos are one of the most common reasons forms get kicked back.6Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. OIR-B1-1802 Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form

Your insurer is required by law to notify you, at policy issuance and at each renewal, of the range of wind mitigation discounts available.4Florida Senate. Chapter 627 Section 711 – Florida Statutes Once the credits are applied, you should see the reduction on your next billing cycle or renewal, often as a pro-rata refund if the form is submitted mid-policy. Keep a copy of the signed form, photographs, and supporting documents.

How Long the Form Stays Valid

A completed OIR-B1-1802 is valid for up to five years, as long as no material changes have been made to the structure and no inaccuracies are found.2Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. Wind Mitigation Resources If you replace your roof, install new windows, or make other structural changes within that window, order a new inspection. The old form no longer reflects your home, and the upgrades may qualify you for higher credits.

The form was revised effective April 1, 2026. Older versions may still be honored within their five-year validity period, but any new inspection should use the current revision. Ask your insurer if you’re uncertain whether an existing report will still be accepted at renewal.

Insurer Re-Inspections and False Information

Your insurer may send its own representative to re-inspect the property at the carrier’s expense.4Florida Senate. Chapter 627 Section 711 – Florida Statutes If a re-inspection turns up discrepancies, the carrier can revoke the discounts and bill you retroactively. Roof-to-wall connections and opening protection are the two areas where auditors most often find errors.

Submitting a form with knowingly false information is more serious. Under Section 626.989, presenting a written statement to an insurer that you know contains materially false information is a fraudulent insurance act, and the Florida Department of Financial Services can investigate, administer oaths, compel testimony, and gather evidence.8The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 626.989 – Investigation by Department or Division of Criminal Investigations The statute reaches both inspectors who falsify findings and homeowners who submit reports they know to be inaccurate.

Because the form scores by weakest link, a small pre-inspection walkthrough often pays off. If most of your truss connections are straps but a few are still toenails, upgrading those few before the inspector arrives changes the result for the entire category. The same holds for openings: one unrated garage door can cost you the credit on nine protected windows.