Treasure Coast specifics · The Two Inspections
A Wind Mitigation Report Is Not a Roof Inspection
These are two different documents produced by different people for different reasons, and owners conflate them constantly. Knowing which one you have, and which one you need, saves a surprising amount of confusion.
Tell us the age of the roof and whether anything is actually leaking. Those two answers decide what conversation we are having.
2005
A whole region re-roofed in eighteen months, and it is finishing together
No leak
Most people here are replacing a roof that works. We will say so
Our crews
We inspect, we photograph, and our own people do the work
Licensed
A licensed Florida general contractor
Assuming a clean wind mitigation means a sound roof
A wind mitigation inspection records specific construction features — how the deck is attached, the roof-to-wall connection, roof geometry, whether there is a secondary water barrier. It is a features checklist for a carrier. It is not an assessment of whether your roof is in good condition or how long it has left. An owner holding a favourable wind mitigation report can reasonably but wrongly conclude that somebody has told them the roof is fine.
What each document actually is
- Wind mitigation: a features checklist, done by a qualified inspector.
- It records attachment, connection, geometry and water barrier.
- It is for the carrier and it does not grade condition.
- A condition report: what is physically wrong, with photographs.
- It is for you, and it does not set your premium.
Why the confusion is so common
Both documents concern the roof, both are requested around insurance, and both arrive as paperwork an owner did not ask for in detail. It is entirely reasonable to assume they are two versions of the same thing.
The practical consequence of merging them is that people believe a question has been answered that nobody asked. A wind mitigation report can be entirely favourable on a roof that is close to the end of its service life, because it is not looking at that at all.
How we handle it
- 01Provide the condition report, with photographs of what we found.
- 02Explain plainly which document answers which question.
- 03Leave the wind mitigation to the inspector who is qualified for it.
- 04Make sure our work is documented for whoever inspects afterwards.
We produce the condition report and we do not produce wind mitigation reports, because that is a separate inspection carried out by a qualified inspector rather than by the contractor doing the work. Keeping those apart is sensible: the person assessing features for your carrier should not be the person hoping to sell you a roof.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We make no promises about premiums, credits or what any carrier will do with any document. We do not perform wind mitigation inspections. What we do is the work, and document it properly so that whoever inspects afterwards has what they need.
FAQ
Common questions
- Do you do wind mitigation inspections?
- No. That is a separate inspection by a qualified inspector, and it is better that it is not done by the contractor who would like to sell you a roof. We document our work so that inspection has what it needs.
- Which do I need?
- If the question is about your insurance features, a wind mitigation inspection. If the question is what condition the roof is in and how long it has left, a condition report. They answer different questions.
- Can a report get me a lower premium?
- We make no promises about that, and it is a question for your agent. Wind mitigation features are what carriers price from, and what they do with them varies between carriers.
Roofs we work on
Shingle Roofs
Asphalt shingle is what most of this coast was re-roofed with after 2004, which means a very large number of shingle roofs here started their service lives inside the same eighteen months.
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Tile Roofs
On a tile roof the tile is a rain screen and the underlayment is the waterproofing. Tile outlives underlayment comfortably, so most tile roof work here is really underlayment work.
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Metal Roofs
Metal genuinely lasts on this coast when it is specified and detailed properly. What decides that is rarely the panel. It is the fastener system, the coating and what happens at every edge and penetration.
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Flat & Low Slope
Flat and low slope sections on this coast are very often over an addition, a Florida room or a carport enclosure. They fail differently from the main roof and they usually fail first.
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Leak Diagnosis
Water gets in at one place and appears somewhere else entirely. Diagnosing that properly is the whole job, and it is the part most often skipped in favor of sealing whatever is nearest.
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Deck & Underlayment
The visible roof covering gets all the attention. The deck it is fastened to and the underlayment over that are what decide whether the roof stays on and whether water gets in once it does not.
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More treasure coast specifics
The 2005 Cohort
Frances and Jeanne put most of this coast under new roofs across 2005 and 2006. Those roofs did not age independently, and they are not going to finish independently either.
Read more →
A Roof That Does Not Leak
The usual trigger for a roof replacement on this coast is not water in the house. It is a letter about the age of the roof, which is a genuinely uncomfortable position to be put in.
Read more →
Where Roofs Fail
Uplift starts at perimeters and corners. Water gets in at penetrations and flashings. The large open field of the roof, which is what a quote is usually priced by, is the part least likely to be the problem.
Read more →
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.