Wind Mitigation Inspection in Tampa: What It Checks, Who Can Sign It, and How to Use It

September 30, 2026 · Impact Protection Program

Florida homeowner reviewing a wind mitigation report and insurance declarations page

A wind mitigation inspection in Tampa is the cheapest, fastest thing most homeowners can do about their insurance bill. It takes about an hour, it produces a single state form your insurer is required to accept, and that form decides which wind-loss credits show up on your policy. This guide covers what the inspector actually looks at, who is allowed to sign the form, what changed when Florida revised it in April 2026, how long a report lasts, and the steps that turn the report into a lower premium instead of a PDF sitting in your inbox.

What a Wind Mitigation Inspection Is (and What It Is Not)

Florida law requires insurers to offer discounts and credits for construction features that reduce hurricane losses (Florida Statute 627.0629). The way your insurer learns what your home has is the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form, OIR-B1-1802. Under Florida Statute 627.711 there is one statewide form, and insurers have been required to accept a valid completed one since July 1, 2008. Every carrier writing homeowners policies in Tampa uses the same form, so one report works for all of them.

It is easy to confuse with two other inspections Tampa homeowners hear about:

The 4-point inspection looks at the roof, electrical, plumbing and HVAC on older homes. It is an underwriting inspection — it decides whether a carrier will write the policy at all. It does not earn discounts.
A general home inspection for a purchase covers the whole house. It does not produce the 1802 form unless you order a wind mitigation inspection alongside it.

Many inspectors do the 4-point and the wind mitigation in the same visit, which is worth asking for if you are buying a home or switching carriers.

What the Inspector Checks

The form walks through the features that decide how a house holds up in high wind. We cover each line in detail in our My Safe Florida Home inspection guide; here is the short version and what it usually means for a Tampa house:

Building code. Whether the home was built under the 2001 Florida Building Code or later (generally a permit application dated on or after March 1, 2002, outside Miami-Dade and Broward). A large share of Tampa’s housing stock — most homes permitted before 2002 — answers “no” here, which is why the other six lines matter so much for older houses.
Roof covering. The roof material and whether it was permitted and installed to current product-approval standards. Your re-roof permit date matters here.
Roof deck attachment. The size and spacing of the nails holding the roof sheathing to the trusses, photographed from the attic.
Roof-to-wall attachment. Toe-nails, clips, single wraps or double wraps tying the trusses to the walls — also an attic photo.
Roof geometry. Hip roofs (sloped on all sides) perform better than gables and are credited.
Secondary water resistance. A sealed underlayment layer beneath the roof covering that keeps water out if shingles or tiles blow off.
Opening protection. Whether every window, door, sliding door, garage door and skylight is impact-rated or covered by rated shutters.

That last line is where most Tampa homes built before the mid-2000s come up short. For the credit to apply, every glazed opening has to be protected — one unprotected window drops the rating. That rule is why a proper impact window quote in Tampa counts every opening, including the garage door and the back slider.

What Changed on the Form in April 2026

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation adopted a revised form, OIR-B1-1802 (Rev. 04/26), and inspections performed on or after April 1, 2026 must use it. According to Citizens Property Insurance, the revision updates the building code, roof covering, roof deck attachment, roof-to-wall attachment, secondary water resistance and opening protection sections, and adds three new items:

FORTIFIED Home certificates (Roof, Silver and Gold levels) can now be recorded on the form.
A region field based on the home’s design wind speed.
A roof slope indicator for homes with more than one roof slope.

The roof-to-wall section also now allows tested, documented retrofit connectors to be classified as clips, single wraps or double wraps when they are installed to the manufacturer’s specifications — which means documentation and photos from the installer carry more weight than they used to.

Two practical points. First, Citizens has said these changes do not by themselves change the credits available right now. Second, Citizens continues to accept the older Rev. 01/12 form if it was completed within five years before April 1, 2026. If your report is on the old form and still inside that window, you do not need to redo it just because the form changed — but if you have made upgrades since, a new inspection on the new form is how those upgrades get credited.

Who Is Allowed to Sign the Form

Florida Statute 627.711 limits who can complete the 1802. According to the Department of Financial Services, the list is:

A Florida-licensed home inspector who has completed at least 3 hours of hurricane mitigation training and keeps up at least 2 hours of related continuing education each year
A certified building code inspector
A licensed general, building or residential contractor
A licensed professional engineer or registered architect
Anyone else the insurer recognizes as qualified

The inspector has to personally inspect the home (licensed professionals may use qualified direct employees). Knowingly providing a false or fraudulent mitigation form is a first-degree misdemeanor under the same statute, and insurers may have any form independently verified at their own expense. In plain English: the report has to match what is actually in your attic and on your windows. A form that claims features you do not have is not a shortcut — it is a problem waiting for a re-inspection.

How Long a Report Lasts

A completed 1802 is valid for up to five years, as long as no material changes are made to the home and no inaccuracies are found on the form. Two situations should send you back for a new one before the five years are up:

You re-roofed. A new permitted roof in Tampa is typically installed with re-nailed decking and a sealed underlayment to current code, which can move three or four lines on the form at once. The report from before the roof does not show any of that. See our Tampa roofing page for what a code-built replacement includes.
You protected your openings. Impact windows and doors, or rated shutters on every opening, change the opening protection line — but only after an inspector documents them.

Your insurer does not find out about an upgrade on its own. The permit being finaled at the county or City of Tampa does not update your policy; the new form does.

Private Inspection or the Free My Safe Florida Home One?

You have two ways to get the report.

Hire a qualified inspector privately. This is the fastest route and the one to use when you are buying, switching carriers or just finished an upgrade. You pay the inspector a one-time fee, you schedule on your timeline, and you usually have the report within a few days.

Request the free inspection through My Safe Florida Home. The state program provides a wind mitigation inspection at no cost to eligible homeowners, and the report is the same 1802 form your insurer uses. It also lists which improvements on your house are eligible for the program’s matching grant. The trade-off is timing: the inspection is scheduled through the program’s portal, and the grant side opens and closes with funding. If you are considering grant-funded upgrades, this route is usually worth the wait — start with our Tampa Bay My Safe Florida Home guide and the current funding status.

How to Prepare So Nothing Gets Missed

Clear the attic access. Deck nailing and roof-to-wall connections are photographed from the attic. If the inspector cannot get in, those lines can default to the lowest rating.
Pull your roof paperwork. The permit, the contractor’s invoice and product approval numbers. A roof with no paperwork can be treated as if it were older than it is.
Find the labels on your windows and doors. Impact glass carries a permanent label in the corner of the pane; doors and garage doors carry product labels too. Know which openings are rated.
Have shutters accessible. If you rely on panels or accordions, the inspector needs to see the hardware and rating labels. Panels stacked in the garage with no visible mounting may not be credited.
Keep your declarations page handy so you can compare the credits before and after.

Getting the Credit Applied

The inspection does nothing until your insurer processes it. Once you have the report:

Send it to your agent or carrier and ask, in writing, for the policy to be re-rated with the mitigation credits.
Check the next declarations page or endorsement. The wind mitigation credits are usually listed by feature. If a line you documented is missing, ask why.
Save the report and photos with your home records. You will reuse it when you shop your policy, and a buyer’s agent will ask for it when you sell.
Re-inspect after every qualifying upgrade. This is the step most people skip, and it is the one that pays for the upgrade.

How much the credits move your premium depends on your home, your carrier and where the house sits — most of Tampa is rated at 140–150 mph design wind, with bayfront areas higher. Florida homeowners who completed these upgrades have seen premiums drop 30% or more, some by 50%+. Our guide to insurance savings with impact windows explains how the opening protection line drives that, and the roof and wind mitigation guide covers the roof lines.

Where the Impact Protection Program Fits

We do not sell inspections, and you do not need us to get one. Where we come in is after the report: we read your 1802 line by line, show you which lines are costing you credits, and quote the work that moves them — impact windows and doors for the opening protection line, a code-built roof replacement for the roof lines, with every opening counted so the credit actually lands. For qualified homes in Hillsborough, Pasco, Manatee and Sarasota counties (unincorporated areas plus participating cities), the work can be paid for with $0-down county-approved financing, and approval is not based on your credit score.

Have a wind mitigation report already?

Bring it to a free evaluation and we will show you which lines your home is missing and what it takes to fix them.

See If Your Home Qualifies

We serve homeowners across Hillsborough, Pasco, Manatee and Sarasota counties. Start with the page for your area:

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