What Is a Wind Mitigation?
An inspection of your roof and house's wind resistance. Qualifying features can lower your premium.
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A wind mitigation inspection looks at features like your roof shape, the way it's attached to the walls, your roof covering, and whether you have storm shutters or impact windows. An inspector checks these and fills out a form your insurer uses to price the policy. If your non-renewal mentioned the roof or storm risk, getting this inspection done before you apply elsewhere can work in your favor, since qualifying features often lower what you pay rather than just affecting whether you're accepted.
Insurers price wind risk differently, and a wind mitigation report that helped nothing with your old carrier might cut real money off a new policy somewhere else. Since you're already shopping after the non-renewal, it costs nothing to see what the same inspection does across several insurers before you pick one.
How do you get a wind mitigation inspection done
A licensed inspector does this, not your insurance company. In most states this means a licensed contractor, building inspector, or home inspector who has training in the wind mitigation form your state uses. Some insurers keep a list of approved inspectors, but you can also find one on your own through a home inspection company. The inspection itself usually takes under an hour, since the inspector is checking construction details, not running tests.
The inspector looks at things you can't easily judge yourself. The shape of your roof, whether it's hip or gable, matters because hip roofs perform better in wind. How the roof deck is attached to the frame, whether it's nailed or glued, matters too, and that often means checking in the attic. They'll also note your roof covering's age and rating, whether windows and doors have impact protection, and whether the roof-to-wall connections use clips or straps. Most of this is visible without tearing anything open.
The result is a signed form, not a letter grade. It lists each feature and what was found, and that form is what gets sent to an insurer for pricing. It typically stays valid for several years, so if you're inspected now, the same report can be used when you shop again at renewal, not just this one time. Keep a copy for yourself regardless of which insurer ends up with the policy.
The inspection costs money upfront, generally a flat fee paid to the inspector regardless of what the report finds. It is not refunded if your roof doesn't qualify for any credits. Given that your non-renewal already points to roof or wind risk, the form at least tells you plainly what an insurer will see, and whether the fixes that would help, like newer roof covering or hurricane straps, are worth doing before your next renewal.
Is a wind mitigation inspection worth the cost
The inspection runs somewhere around 75 to 150 dollars depending on who you hire and where you live. That cost comes out of your pocket up front. The report might come back showing your roof qualifies for several credits, or it might show almost nothing, and you still owe the inspector either way. There's no way to know beforehand which outcome you'll get.
The houses that benefit most are the ones built or re-roofed after the mid-2000s, when wind-resistant construction became more standard in coastal states. A newer roof with proper nailing patterns, hip framing, and straps connecting the roof to the walls can qualify for several credits at once. An older house with the original roof deck and no retrofitting usually qualifies for little or nothing, and in that case the inspection confirms what the non-renewal letter already told you.
If you're not sure which category your house falls into, the roof's age is the fastest clue. A roof replaced in the last ten to fifteen years was likely built to more current wind codes, so it's worth paying for the inspection. A roof older than that, especially if your non-renewal mentioned its age, means the money might be better spent getting quotes first and asking each insurer whether a wind mitigation credit would even move the price before you pay for the report.
Some insurers will accept a report done for a previous insurer, since the form itself isn't company-specific. If you've had this inspection done in the past few years, pull that paperwork before paying for a new one. It can likely still be used, and it saves you the cost outright.
Check your roof's age first
Pull your declarations page or the non-renewal letter and look for your roof's installation date. If it's under fifteen years old, ask about a wind mitigation inspection before comparing quotes.
