Wind mitigation inspection in Boca Raton, FL for homes, condos and associations

A wind mitigation inspection documents the features of a building that help it resist hurricane winds, and the results can earn credits on the wind portion of a Florida homeowners or condominium policy. The report is made on the state's Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form. Florida law, in Sections 627.0629 and 627.711, is why it exists: insurers must offer credits for verified wind-resistant features. Confirm with your carrier which form revision it accepts before anyone climbs a ladder.

Boca Raton is the southernmost city in Palm Beach County and sits just north of the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, which covers Broward and Miami-Dade. It is on the Atlantic side, with the Intracoastal Waterway and a web of canals through the city. Wind, rain and storm surge are all part of living here, and insurers price accordingly, so a verified report is worth having on file.

Boca Raton's housing is a layered stock, and the form reads differently across it. East of Federal Highway and along the Intracoastal there are many older concrete-block single-story homes and low-rise condominium buildings. West of the Turnpike the city is dominated by large gated communities built from the 1980s through the 2000s, many with tile roofs, hip rooflines and attached garages. Gated communities and condominium buildings also bring a question single-family owners never face: what belongs to the association and what belongs to the owner.

Whatever the street, the form records the same features:

• Roof covering: and whether the permit application date meets the building code in force at the time.
• Roof deck attachment: how the sheathing is fastened to the rafters or trusses.
• Roof-to-wall connection: toe-nails, clips, single wraps or double wraps. Older Boca homes and newer ones often differ here.
• Roof shape: hip, gable or flat. Hip roofs, common on tile-roof homes in Boca's newer communities, load differently from gables.
• Secondary water resistance: a barrier under the roof covering.
• Opening protection: impact windows and doors, shutters or none, for every opening including the garage door.

Each feature that can be documented may earn a credit; a missing one is recorded as not present. Roof covering, deck and opening protection are the items a roof replacement or a window upgrade changes most, so a new roof or new impact windows is usually the moment to order a fresh report.

The City of Boca Raton runs its own building permitting; it does not go through the Palm Beach County Building Division. When an inspector needs the year and product of a roof, a window or a shutter system, the city's permit record is usually where that answer sits, alongside your own invoices and product approvals. Pull those before the visit. A report is only as good as the documents behind it, and a roof with no permit trail is harder to credit than one with a clean file.

The statute that created the standard form lists the kinds of Florida-licensed professionals whose verification an insurer must accept: among them a licensed general contractor, a licensed roofing contractor, an engineer, an architect, a building code inspector and a home inspector. Randolph Scott Bell holds a Certified General Contractor license (CGC1528750) and a Certified Roofing Contractor license (CCC1332751), and he is a RESNET Certified HERS Rater (RTIN 4516301).

That is a credential statement, not a promise of availability. To ask whether and when an inspection of your Boca Raton property can be arranged, call (561) 779-3213 or use the form above. We do not publish a price on this page, because the scope depends on the property.

A single-family owner usually needs one report for one house. A Boca Raton condominium or HOA board may have a building-wide roof, shared opening protection and individual owners with their own windows and doors. Know which features belong to the association and which to the unit owners before ordering reports, because a good roof does not document an owner's old windows. For boards, the inspection ties into reserve planning; see our milestone inspection and SIRS guide and the Boca Raton condo association management page.

1. Ask the insurer in writing which report it wants, which form revision it accepts, and by what date.
2. Gather the permits and invoices for the roof, windows, doors and shutters from your files or the city record.
3. Make sure the inspector can reach the attic, the roof and every opening, including the garage door.
4. Keep photos and the signed report with the policy, and send the carrier the exact form it asked for.

If the roof is near the end of its life or the openings are unprotected, see our roofing page and the impact windows and doors page for the work behind the credits.

Once the report is filed and the board or the household has its next step settled, many neighbors turn to the gathering that follows: an owners' meeting, a community event or a family occasion. Our food truck catering page for Boca Raton covers America, the farm-to-bus kitchen that serves the county.