Listen in as Rick explains the reason behind a wind Mitigation Report, and how is could-or could not!- save you money on your homeowners’ insurance.
Charlie
Welcome to the Trade Secrets Inspections podcast because you need to know, here’s your host, Rick Kooyman. Hey, this is Charlie the producer of the Trade Secrets Inspections, podcast, and I’m back with Rick Kooyman in the studio. Rick, how you doing?
Rick
Excellent, excellent. How you doing, Charlie?
Charlie
Doing great, Rick, and you’re going to solve one of the big mysteries, for I know a lot of people’s lives and certainly was mine, probably still is I mean, hey, let’s be honest here- I’m not an expert. And that’s why you’re doing this podcast when it comes to home inspections. But, you know, a guy coming from Pennsylvania a few years back down to Florida- And this wind mitigation thing. I had no idea what it was about. And certainly, it’s a pretty big deal. When it’s all said and done, because I guess when a hurricane hit, it’s not so much the rain that does the damage. It’s the wind, right?
Rick
Yeah, absolutely. Now, we’re looking at wind storm resistance primarily with us this topic. But yeah, Florida is a difficult state for insurance in general. And recently, insurance has gotten even more tough. And there’s policies that have been cancelled, and lots of people are shopping and insurance rates have gone up. So this has been a big topic. There’s a lot of misunderstanding or just general, what is that all about? Yeah, let’s take a look at that.
Charlie
So yeah, what is Wind Mitigation, that whole inspection piece about where it came from anyways?
Rick
Why it exists in Florida. And honestly, most all, this stuff we deal with in Florida, and building is all a result of a Hurricane Andrew, essentially, you know, back in 92, Miami, and really caused a lot of damage. You know, it’s kind of hard to wrap your head around. But if you think about it, right after Andrew went through Miami, there were 250,000 people without, homes. We went through Irma, and that was a completely different story. If you can imagine devastation across, you know, the whole town. That’s what happened in the town of Homestead was virtually erased on the surface. When that happened, that there was a hard look to take that by, and what could we do about it. And at that point in time, insurance really just kind of ran out of the state because, of course, they were just getting hammered. So they didn’t want to write any more policies. And Florida had to come up with their own insurance, essentially, and created Citizens and Citizens, you know, established with these extremely high rates, essentially, because they were the only ones in town, in order to kind of qualify, what different homes were and how they could adjust the rates, they came up with this wind mitigation. certification, essentially, they call it an 1802 inspection. That’s per, you know, Florida Statutes and stuff. And they defined specific who could do it. There’s only about six different people under different license that can do it, you know, Home Inspectors, building code inspectors, general contractors, engineer architect that any one of those people can’t just go out and do this, you still have to be certified and take the course, to be able to do this and complete this form, because it is quite technical in its nature. And honestly, I’ve taken this class for the certification, I take it every year. And every year, I learn something new. It’s just, you just scratch your head over and over again, there’s just so many layers, but but ultimately, it comes down to seven different sections. And what underwriters are looking at and what they’re assessing is their risk based on these five different things that are honest. And one of them goes back to Andrew, and they want to know what building code was built to what you know, what standards was that house built under? And what year was it built? And you know, it was built pre 19. Let’s just call it 2000. There were no differences in the Florida building code. Unless you were in my day, because 94 Miami Dade said, you know, we’re not going to let Homestead build back to how it was right there in 94. They came up with what we all know is Miami Dade code or what we all hear is Miami Dade approved everywhere. And that’s where that came from. So then, in 2002, that the whole state adopted that building code. So houses built prior to 2002 don’t have the same building requirements that were established for hurricanes to begin. So right there. That’s what they want to know right off the bat. And when was this house built and what’s the standard it was built? You know, once they start with that question? Oh, okay, so maybe we want to look at this, maybe we don’t. And then the next thing they want to know is about the roof. The roofs in Florida and homes is like, they go hand in hand and topics of, you know, what status is this house? What value and risk is this house? And that’s the first place they look.
They want to know, again, when was that built? How old is it? What type of roof is it. And then, when they set up the Miami Dade code, they established product lines that had to meet the testing standards that went with those codes. So now there’s a products that are now called Miami Dade approved products, or there, they also have a mortar registration number. And then the county records, you see it as what’s called a NOAA or a notice of acceptance. And that means that it’s been evaluated by the state, and approved for use, and these are called high risk. We have the hurricane zone, we have a high wind zone. And they’re very close to the same. Ultimately, they’re going to be the same, but they have basic proximities to the coast that define them differently. This is the maximum expected high wind or what they’re designed for. So they meet the standards. And if you can, if you have your door, or your roof tile, and it’s tested to meet that requirement, then of course, that’s the product they only want you to use. And of course, there’s a premium to all those products because they had to go through all this rigorous testing. They want to know about that stuff. And then they want to know, how was the whole roof system built? Not just what kind of roof covering? Is it? They want to know specifically? What is the deck wall? What kind of sheeting Was it? What kind of nails were used? o with staples? What’s the spacing between those fasteners? They’re really nitty gritty on this stuff they want to know, was it on the edge of the sheeting? Or was it in the middle of the sheet? And there’s different levels for different classifications and all the different ways you can put a house together, right? So then they take it one step further. And they go, Well, how is that whole roof system attached to the walls? You know, not just the seat after the truss, but so now we look at how is the truss attached to the wall? And again, how many different ways can you come up with to do that. And then they came up with a list of different ones that they accept. And we call them straps or clips, the standard way homes were built forever, With the classic toenail, which you know, you just put the nail in on an angle on the side of the word pounded through the trust edge and end to the top of the wall. You put one on each side and was crossed and built. But essentially in a high windstorm. If you’ve built your house like that, it just pops right off. We’ve seen the videos where the whole system gives off when a tornado or a hurricane and you’re like wow, the whole roof just came off together. But that’s a classic toenail situation. You know, so here in Florida again, we have a myriad of different ways. We can attach that roof to the wall and what kind of wall it is. And again, they risk assess that, you know, and then they go Okay, so we’ve looked at what the roof and the walls and the clips and the straps and all these kinds of things and nails sheeting? What kind of roof is it? You know, is it a traditional gable roof with those big triangles on the end of it the catch when you know they look like a kite? Or is it what we call the hip roof where essentially around the perimeter of the house is one consistent law. You know, so there’s no big triangles up in the air. And that’s really what they’re looking for. They really like those hip roof styles. And then they take it because there’s lots of architects out there, they’d like to make fancy roofs. We’ve all seen the big fancy roofs, and they’ll go Okay, so is it within 90% of being a hip roof? And if so, you got to prove it by the plan and the numbers and you know, they want to see the map. They want to see the dimensions they want to see. Is it really a hip roof event? It’s not a small assessment they’re doing on this thing. So we looked at the roof structures, we looked at the roof types, and then what happens when the tile comes off the roof or the shingles get blown off the roof?
When does the water enter the home, essentially, because that’s really when the damage starts to occur when we start having flooding, that, you know, that’s where the big money starts to get spent. So that down here we, we come up with this secondary water resistance, they call it So, and the rest of the country, your roof covers your primary route, you know, your shingles your tile, that’s what keeps the water out of your house. In Florida. That’s not the case. Those are decorative items down here. The thing that keeps the water out of your home, is the underlayment. And it’s done in a different way. And they have qualifications for that. Is it a barrier? Is it a resistance layer? You know, these are all different levels of water resistance, if you will, or way they qualify? how well this home is going to stand up and these big storms. So, there again, you get another discount for, you know, what kind of underlayment you have? After all this stuff is about the roof is done. Can I put that all that they go? Well, what other hazards Can we look at in the house. And of course, the next big one is your windows and your doors. In construction Well, we call the penetrations. So a solid wall is a great thing. But if you put a hole in it, now you’ve got, you know, a riskier area. And they go to the extent in the testing of this things. They literally shoot a two by four and stuff. You know, it’s it’s, there’s a full size two by four shot out of a cannon, that if it penetrates it, it doesn’t qualify. So no hurricane rated, which is kind of funny. If you look at this, the real stats on the glass, a standard bulletproof window, doesn’t meet Miami Dade requirements. His window is a bulletproof window, and is actually stronger than a standard bullet. there’s a there’s a double benefit, if you will. These new windows because there is a huge security game. And having you know bulletproof glass in your home, you know, you can’t break through these windows with a bat, you cannot longer enter a home that way as you know, criminals. So that’s a big benefit to them. As a side note, but yeah, that they want to know what windows are there. They get a credibly specific about the glass and you may have noticed in your Windows this small etching in the bottom corner in your class. And it defines how that window was put together by the manufacturer? You know, what kind of glass was it? How thick is it? What are the layers? What standards was it led to? And then finally, some of them actually get to what’s called Miami Dade code approved. So what we’re seeing going nowadays down here on big money, but definitely worth it. If you spend that money, you should have that benefit in your insurance. Why would you not? Why would you pay the higher assessment than if you didn’t have, you know, the current cloud nowadays is you either have to have those or you have to have a large missile rated shirts. So they’re not letting anything built or get remodeled or changed out and not meet this requirement. It’s been that way in Miami for a long time you go over there or shatter your world locally, we’re just starting to get to that production, try and get to 100%. So we got a long way to go with that. Those are the big issues here. So, you know, in each one of those topics resulted in you know, anywhere from 500 to a couple $1,000 off your premium, you know, so depending on what materials and methods, your home were built, you can cut your rate in half. Right. Wow. So when I say nationals, it’s not a lot of money. It’s generally, you know, under 150 bucks to have this wind mitigation inspection down in the forms put together and you know, they’re not easy on the inspectors, that we can’t just make a statement on it and say it, this is how it was, we literally got to show a photo of what it is that we’re attesting to, so that any person could reasonably come to that same conclusion. So there’s no gray areas unless it’s literally This is what it is. And this is the proof. And then they take it and they write their assessment, and this is how much we’re willing to put a risk on that and that’s the value and that’s where your insurance rate comes from.
Charlie
So are you saying Rick that the onus is on the homeowner to prove that you know, they have a certain type of roof system to qualify or…
Rick
actually, really that’s what they hire us for..
Charlie
Okay…
Rick
Not so complicated you can download it yourself from the internet, the chances of you filling it out about zero. And then yeah, yeah, you’d have to send the photos that they’re asking.
Charlie
Yeah. Wow, wow. Sheesh, yeah. There’s this silly little discount form but yeah., and then there’s more to come, you know, the next podcast down the road we’re going to talk about the next other insurance things as house and they call that the four point inspection and that one’s yet even more to hear about. So that’s my other side of where your insurance policies come from. We’ll talk about that one next.
Well, I can’t wait. And yeah, this is great timing because, as you mentioned the beginning of the episode, you know, home insurance is a bit in a topsy turvy point at the moment. And yeah, so glad you’re able to spend some time sharing your knowledge and helping us homeowners who are kind of scratching our heads at this point, wondering what’s going on. So really appreciate it, Rick, and look forward to next episode.
Rick
Awesome. Great talking with you, Charlie.
Charlie
Thanks for listening to the Trade Secrets Inspections podcast. To learn more about Trade Secrets Inspections, go to www.TradeSecretsInspections.com or call to 239 537 1186
Transcribed by https://otter.ai