Wind Mitigation Inspections have gone from being just a way to save some money on your insurance policy to an Inspection that most insurers will require prior to issuing a policy in Florida. These inspections are intended to inform the insurance company of several different items that will help mitigate damages to your property in the event of a hurricane.
The problem with these inspections is becoming similar to what we see in the claims environment, the inspector your insurance company sent out for a re-inspection or referred you to call for your inspection may not have your best interest in mind. I was speaking recently with Tom Mullen who is Windsafe Inspections senior inspector and has been in the Construction Industry his entire life with a focus on Hurricane Protection. What he has been hearing and seeing on his re-inspections is either a lack of knowledge on their inspectors part or just pure laziness. He proceeded to explain that in many of these cases they are checking a box that states “unknown or undetermined’ or ‘no access’. In some cases attic access may be limited or not present which would make it real easy to check one of those boxes, however there is more than one way to verify this information. He has had clients actually cut an access hole for him to be able to inspect it or on many occasions he has been able to simply see what he needs to through a soffit vent. These inspections are actually quite simple and there is not much if anything requiring an opinion, it is simply an information gathering inspection.
If you have had any problems or concerns regarding your wind mitigation inspection I urge you to get a second opinion.
