OK, so you just got your Citizens Insurance quote and it’s sticker shock so how can you get that down?
First, make sure they have all of your basic criteria correct. These are things like is it owner occupied? primary residence? Do you have a fire, sprinkler or fire alarm? The latter is only applicable if you have a policy for other than wind storm from citizens. Next, look at the “Construction Details” section. Some of this is basic information and other stuff is taken from the Wind Mitigation Form. Tale a look at this document that Citizens has to be able to verify the Wind Mitigation Feature guidelines.
A while back I wrote this article on how to calculate the reduction in premium that having a certain wind mitigation credit will get one. So, if I add ALL/FULL impact shutters then how much do I save each year? And I wrote this one going over the Citizens Mitigation Form. Let’s look at the policy declarations to check…
Year Built – The only question here is does the property appraiser show this as being before or after 1 January 2002? This has to do with the implementation of the statewide Florida Building Code. IF THE HOUSE WAS BUILT AFTER 1 JAN 2002 THEN STOP. YOU GET THE BEST RATE.
Construction Type – CBS or Frame? If the house has more than 1/3 of the square footage as frame then it’s considered frame by Citizens. This would include a 2 story house built before 2002.
Roof Shape – Hip shaped roofs with NOT MORE THAN 10% of the perimeter of the roof that is something other than hip get a credit. Get your tape measure out and do some math.
Roof Cover – Was the roof installed post 03/01/2002 (After the FBC was adopted) or post 09/01/1994 for Miami Dade located houses?
Roof deck Attachment – How many nails are hold the plywood onto your roof trusses? Was it re-nailed at the roof change out? Look at the “shiners”, the nails that missed the truss. Are they 6 penny, 8 penny, ringed? And, you need the spacing which you can figure out with a small metal detector.
Roof Wall Connection – This is what holds your roof truss down to the walls. Is it a single wrap, a double wrap, a small “clip” or is it toe nailed (no metal)? ON inspection they denied my credit for a single strap for to few nails so I bought a Milwaukee “palm nailer” and added 10 penny x 1.5 inch nails to the straps. That was fun.
Secondary Water Resistance – The requirements for this is something which has changed over the years as far as where and when it would be required. This can be a few options but most of the time it is a done by peel and stick tape applied to the plywood joints at re-roof. This is a VERY minor mitigation credit but still, if I was having a new roof installed then I would do it.
Terrain – B or C? If you have Citizens its probably because you live in an Exposure C location.
