Home Owner Insurance

Homeowners Insurance in the Pan Handle:

Everyone knows it is difficult and expensive to obtain wind insurance for
older homes in the Pan Handle and here’s why:
Due to political reasons, for twenty plus years, our building code was allowed to be below the rest of Florida’s Building Code. A particular Senator claimed “we did hot have hurricanes” in the Pan Handle and blocked any passage upgrading codes. (Apparently he never heard why we Celebrate the Fiesta of Five Flags and the fact that Pensacola is America’s first settlement.) Along comes Ivan, Dennis and Katrina and our Building Officials as well as the Insurance Underwriters took a look at the approved contruction methods in the Pan Handle and decided if they were to insure our homes, the home owners would have to pay a premium, since we had homes built to under the current codes and the insurance company was at a greater risk for a claim. Insurance rates sky rocketed and Homeowners demanded relief.
Charlie Crist becomes Governor and immediately enforces a uniformed building code across the state and then negotiates a rating system that levels the playing field for homeowners with homes built to the lesser codes. As a result, the My Safe Florida Home program came about.
This program is designed to assist homeowners in the education and offsets the costs to get their homes up to current building codes by offering a non taxable 50% matching grant up to $5000.00. In addition, for low income homeowners it 100% free.
Another feature in this program is that each homeowner that has a wind inspection on their home, they are given a wind mitigation report that tells them their wind resistant rating. This rating will be used to determine the price of their insurance premium instead of being lumped into the “Pan Handle Premium” pool.

More Insurance Changes Ahead

Florida Building Commission’s Code-Plus Initiative
by AAF Code Consultant Joe Belcher

The Commission was charged by the Legislature to develop “code-plus” building standards. The provisions are to be used by Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) for insuring properties within 2,500 feet landward of the Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL). By the terms of the law, Citizens may not insure properties within 2,500 feet landward of the CCCL which are constructed on or after January 1, 2009, unless those properties comply with the code-plus building standards developed by the Commission. The Commission has finalized its recommendations to be included in the report to the 2008 Legislature. It is unknown at this point what the Legislature will do with the recommendations. The Commission does not intend to adopt the recommendations into the Florida Building Code or by rule. The report entitled “Facilitator’s Summary of Issues for Inclusion in the 2008 Report to the Florida Legislature” prepared for the Florida Building Commission by the Florida Conflict Resolution Consortium and as reported at the Commission meeting in January includes recommendations as follows.
  1. Recommends establishing basic wind speeds based on the 500 year storm recurrence criteria. This will result in an increase of 0 to 25 mph depending on the location of the county. The Hurricane Research Advisory Committee appointed by the Commission recommended a 250 recurrence. However, the Commission adopted the DCA staff recommendation.
  2. Recommends there be no reductions in the wind speeds if the 500 year recurrence map results in a reduction in the current basic wind speed.
  3. Recommends the use of Exposure Category C.
  4. Adoption of the Miami-Dade County wind-borne debris provisions for the area within 2500 feet landward of the CCCL. This would require the entire building envelope to be impact resistant.
  5. Require all impact resistance related products be tested and approved in accordance with Miami-Dade Standards 201, 202, and 203. It is uncertain whether or not product approvals by the Florida Building Commission for products tested to the Florida Building Code High Velocity Hurricane Zone Protocols will be acceptable. Presumably, the issue will be resolved by Citizens.
Once again, these recommendations apply strictly to new construction begun after January 1, 2009, in areas within 2500 feet of the CCCL. As stated earlier, it is uncertain what action the Legislature will take regarding the recommendations. Presumably, they will be adopted into the law regulating Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.

What is “HVHZ”?

The High Velocity Hurricane Zone is defined in Florida law as Dade and Broward counties. The abbreviation is not related to any particular wind velocity but rather a geographic region and is a direct descendent and remnant of the “South Florida Building Code”. Prior to the development and implementation of the Florida Building Code (begun circa 1998), building jurisdictions of Florida could choose which building code to use in their own area. Dade and Broward counties had their own specific building code. Additional resources: http://www.aaof.org/
Florida Building Code versus Miami Dade Code:
By Janicak, Tom
Publication: Doors and Hardware
Date: Saturday, November 1 2003
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In October 2003, the state or Florida adopted a statewide building code that requires contractors to use only products that comply with standards set for hurricane-force winds. These design standards, developed by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and known as ASCE 7, determine the wind loads on buildings, based on parameters such as geographic location, basic wind design and speed, surrounding terrain, building use, size and shape, and location of components within the building envelope. Based on these components, a design pressure in pounds-per-square-foot (PSF) is established for building or structure.The new statewide code is built on the premise that the entire state of Florida–not just the southern tip–is highly susceptible to the extreme structural devastation and loss of lives that Andrew and other hurricanes have claimed.
The biggest difference between the new statewide Florida Building Code and the previous South Florida Building Code (Dade County) is component testing. Previously, an entire door opening was tested as a complete assembly; i.e. the door, the frame, the lock and the hinges were approved as a single configuration. If any component of this application was changed, the entire configuration would have to be tested again to be approved.
The new code simplifies the testing and is based on the ANSI A250.13 test protocol. Established by the Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association (BHMA) and the Steel Door Institute (SDI), the protocol defines a method for analyzing each component that comprises a door assembly as an independent entity.
The logic of this program is identical to the one currently practiced for fire door assemblies. Each assembly component will be assigned a specific rating. These ratings are based on “worst case” testing; i.e. the rating of the entire windstorm assembly would be that of the lowest rated component. Each component will bear a certification mark of a Florida Building Commission approved “Quality Inspection Agency.”

Additional Resources – More Info on Protection

For those of you that would like to keep up with the changes in the hurricane industry, a great resource is the International Hurricane Protection Association. http://www.inthpa.com/

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