Florida
Supplements written for Florida roofs, code first
Florida is the one state where the roof assembly is written into law hard enough that the code is the supplement. A repair threshold that converts a patch into a full section replacement, product approval on every component, and two counties operating under the strictest wind provisions in the country. Get the citation right and the argument is already made. Get it wrong and the file dies in a sentence.
By Kyle Hamrick, Founder
The Estimate Company is run by a licensed independent insurance adjuster, and the desk writes Xactimate estimates and supplements for roofing contractors nationwide. Adjuster licensure is held in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and Alabama.
On a Florida file the role is estimating desk, and it is worth being exact about that. We do not adjust the claim, we do not represent the homeowner, and we hold no adjuster appointment in this state. We write the scope, source the code basis, build the documentation, and stay on the file with your office until the carrier answers.
The Estimate Company is run by a licensed independent insurance adjuster, with claims experience across many states, writing for contractors nationwide. What we bring to a Florida file is code mechanism, carrier behavior, and claim pattern, confirmed for the address rather than assumed from a statewide rule. More about Kyle.
What actually damages roofs in Florida, and what it does to the estimate
Southeast Florida: Miami-Dade and Broward, the HVHZ
Two counties, and only two, sit inside the High Velocity Hurricane Zone. Andrew is the reason. What came out of that storm is the strictest set of roofing provisions in the country: design wind speeds at the top of the national range, a Notice of Acceptance required for each component rather than a generic equivalent, anchor sheet and cap sheet detailing that has no analog in a national price list, and inspection points that do not exist elsewhere.
For a supplement that geography is leverage, because almost nothing about a compliant HVHZ assembly is what the default line item assumes. It is also a trap in the other direction. The instinct to reach for HVHZ language on a Gulf coast or Panhandle roof is strong and it is fatal, because an adjuster who catches it stops reading. Precision about which county the address is in is not pedantry here, it is the difference between a paid supplement and a closed file.
The Gulf coast and the I-4 corridor: Tampa Bay to Fort Myers to Orlando
Outside the two HVHZ counties the state sits in a wind borne debris region with elevated design wind speeds, product approval requirements, and fastening schedules that step up as the address gets closer to open water. Charley crossed Punta Gorda and then ran up the interior to Orlando. Irma came up the peninsula and produced claims in counties that had never filed a wind loss. Ian put Lee County through a rebuild that is still in progress.
The material mix on this side of the state is what changes the estimate. Concrete and clay tile is everywhere across the Gulf coast and central Florida subdivisions, and a tile roof is a system rather than a covering. Underlayment is the waterproofing, set method is mortar or foam, ridge and hip tile is bedded, and salvage breaks tile. Estimates that treat tile as shingles with a material substitution miss most of the actual cost, and the roof claim inspection checklist exists so the tile documentation is captured before anything gets removed.
North Florida and the Panhandle: Jacksonville to Pensacola
The northern tier is a different claim market inside the same state. Housing stock skews older, asphalt shingle dominates instead of tile, and the loss profile mixes tropical wind with the severe thunderstorm and hail activity that the peninsula largely does not see. Michael went into the Panhandle as a catastrophic wind event and left a rebuild market behind it that reset local expectations about what a roof costs.
Older stock also means older decks, and older decks mean the fastening schedule question comes up on nearly every tear off. That is a code conversation with a real dollar answer, and it is one of the arguments most reliably left off a first estimate in this part of the state.
Three code arguments that move Florida files
The 25 percent rule, and the carve out that decides it
The existing building provisions carry a threshold: once repair, replacement, or recovery reaches roughly a quarter of a roof section, the whole section conforms to current code instead of only the repaired part. What most people miss is the carve out. A roof that was itself built or replaced under a recent code edition gets treated differently, and only the repaired portion has to conform. That means the permit history for the address decides the answer more often than the headline rule does. Verify with local building dept Pull the permit history and confirm the current threshold language with the building department for that address.
Product approval is a scope constraint, not paperwork
In Miami-Dade and Broward a roofing component needs a Notice of Acceptance. In the rest of the state it needs state product approval. Either way the approved assembly dictates the underlayment, the fastener, the accessory, and the installation method, and the approved version is very rarely the cheapest option the price list defaults to. The supplement argument is not that a better product would be nice. It is that the compliant product is the only one that can legally go on the roof.
Sealed roof deck and secondary water barrier on replacement work
A sealed deck, built either with self adhering underlayment or with taped seams, is the layer still doing its job once the shingles are gone. On replacement work in this state it belongs to the required assembly rather than to the upgrade column, and the mitigation credit programs push homeowners toward the same detail independently. None of that gets it onto a carrier estimate by itself. It has to be written, sourced to the provision that requires it, and defended when the pushback comes.
The carriers writing Florida, and why the desk behaves the way it does
The book here does not look like the book anywhere else. National names still write, but the residential market runs heavily on domestic carriers: Universal Property and Casualty, Florida Peninsula, Tower Hill, Security First, American Integrity, Heritage, and Slide among them, alongside State Farm Florida and Citizens. Every one of them settles into a predictable threshold for what clears without argument, and that predictability is what makes a supplement plannable.
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is the state backed residual market and the structural fact of the system. On a lot of coastal and older property it is the only place a roof can get written. Its files run to procedure, which cuts both ways: a documentation gap that a voluntary carrier might absorb gets bounced, and a complete submission with the code basis attached gets processed instead of argued.
The other thing to understand is why the desks are defensive. The assignment of benefits era and the fee structures around it produced claim departments built to resist, and the legislative changes that followed did not undo the institutional habit. The practical consequence on your file is simple and useful: assertions get rejected, documented arguments get paid. Photo support, permit history, and product approval references do more here than persuasion does.
After a landfall, files get handed to catastrophe adjusters working daily file counts where the metric is files cleared per day. That is a staffing math problem rather than a bad faith one, and the estimate that lands on your desk reflects the math. The reinspection supplement is built for claims that stall until a carrier representative physically returns to the property with the documentation already in hand, and depreciation recovery is the separate fight when an aging adjustment cut the settlement.
What gets recovered on a Florida roof file
Ordered by how often the item is missing when a file reaches our desk.
Status key: In scope. Usually omitted. Code driven. Verify with the authority having jurisdiction. Every status is spelled out in words beside the item, so nothing depends on color.
Full section replacement under the 25 percent provisions
Verify with local building dept
Once the repaired area of a roof section passes the threshold, the section conforms to current code rather than only the patch. The carve out for roofs already built under a recent edition is decided by permit history, so confirm the address.
Secondary water barrier or sealed roof deck
Code driven
When a tropical system takes the shingles, this layer is the last barrier the interior has. On replacement work it belongs to the required assembly, not the upgrade column, and it rarely appears on a first estimate.
Product approval documentation on every component
Code driven
In the two HVHZ counties a component needs a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance, and elsewhere it needs state product approval. That constrains which underlayment, fastener, and accessory can legally go on the roof, and the compliant part is rarely the cheapest one the price list defaults to.
Sheathing re-nail to the current fastening schedule
Code driven
Older decks were fastened to a schedule that no longer qualifies. Bringing the deck up before the covering goes on is a labor and fastener line, not an assumption baked into the shingle price.
Tile underlayment replacement and set method
In scope
On a tile roof the underlayment is the waterproofing and the tile is the ballast and the shell. Mortar set or foam set is real material and real labor, and hip and ridge tile is bedded rather than nailed.
Tile breakage allowance on removal and reset
Usually omitted
Salvaging and resetting existing tile breaks a share of it. Every roofer in the state knows the number is not zero, and carrier estimates written for reset routinely assume it is.
Corrosion resistant metals and fasteners
In scope
Salt air eats standard galvanized metal along the coast, and most of the state is coast. The correct metal is a requirement on those addresses rather than a preference.
Detach and reset on screen enclosures, pool cages, and lanais
Usually omitted
Standard construction on Florida houses and impossible to roof over. The removal and the reset are billable operations, and they land on the invoice whether or not they appear on the estimate.
Starter, hip, and ridge accessories with matching approval
Usually omitted
Accessories have to carry the same approval as the field product, so a generic substitution is not permitted. Adjusters commonly fold all three into the shingle line.
Interior loss that surfaces once the tarp is pulled
Usually omitted
The ceiling, insulation, and drywall damage on a tropical loss keeps developing after the adjuster has gone. None of it was visible on the day the first estimate was written, which is precisely why it supplements.
Separate roof deductible applied to the right figure
In scope
Where the policy carries a distinct roof deductible calculated against dwelling coverage rather than a flat amount, the settlement math is easy to get wrong in the carrier's favor. Reading the declarations page is part of writing the supplement.
Overhead and profit on multi trade files
In scope
Roof, screen enclosure, soffit, fascia, plus interior on a single loss turns it into a general contractor coordination file. Whether it qualifies turns on how many trades have to be coordinated, not on the size of the loss.
Each becomes a written line with a reason attached, inside a real Xactimate file. Depending on the claim it ships as a roofing supplement, an Xactimate supplement package, a supplemental estimate, or a full claim estimate written from scratch.
What happens to your file after you send it
- 01
The carrier estimate gets read line by line against the roof
Not skimmed. We pull the estimate apart against your measurements and photos, marking every line where the assembly written does not match what that roof needs in that county.
- 02
Code and manufacturer requirements get sourced before they get argued
Product approval, fastening, and threshold arguments only work when they are cited correctly and scoped to the right jurisdiction. Where a requirement turns on permit history or on which of two counties the address sits in, we confirm it rather than assert a statewide rule an adjuster can knock down in one line.
- 03
The supplement is written in Xactimate and delivered as a PDF
Real file, real price list, real sketch. You get the PDF as the deliverable, and the ESX free any time you ask for it. Retail estimate work with no supplement attached delivers the ESX. Written same day or next day, submitted next day. One to three extra days on large commercial and multi structure work.
- 04
We stay on the file until the carrier answers
Follow up, desk adjuster calls, and reinspection support when the carrier sends someone back out. Response runs about three weeks as a general expectation, and the file does not close on our side because it went quiet on theirs.
Two promises, stated separately
Promise one: the fee
The standard fee is 15 percent of supplemental recovery. If a file produces no additional approved recovery, you pay nothing on that claim. That is the whole fee structure, and it applies claim by claim.
Promise two: the guarantee
Send us an average of 2 claims per week for 12 months. If that volume does not produce a minimum of six figures in additional margin for your company, we write you a $5,000 check at the end of the 12 months. The volume, the 12 month term, the six figure threshold, and the $5,000 figure are one set of terms and they always travel together.
Two different promises, no overlap. The fee describes what a single claim costs you. The guarantee describes what a year of steady volume is worth. Nothing in the fee structure is a guarantee, and the guarantee does not change the fee.
Florida questions we get from contractors
How does the 25 percent roof rule actually work on a claim?
The existing building provisions carry a threshold: once repair, replacement, or recovery reaches roughly a quarter of a roof section, the whole section has to conform to current code rather than only the repaired part. There is a significant carve out for roofs that were themselves built or replaced under a recent code edition, where only the repaired portion has to conform. That carve out is where most of the arguments happen, so the permit history for the address decides the answer, not the general rule.
Which counties are actually in the High Velocity Hurricane Zone?
Miami-Dade and Broward. Only those two. Everywhere else in the state sits in a wind borne debris region where the design wind speeds step up and its own product approval and fastening requirements, which is a real and separate thing but is not HVHZ. Calling a Sarasota or Jacksonville roof an HVHZ roof in front of an adjuster costs the argument in one sentence, and it is one of the most common self inflicted wounds on a supplement.
Why do estimates on tile roofs come back so far short?
Because the carrier estimate treats tile as a covering when it is a system. The underlayment beneath the tile is the actual waterproofing, the set method is either mortar or foam and both are real labor, hip and ridge tile is bedded rather than nailed, and breakage on removal and reset is unavoidable rather than negligent. A tile file written as shingle squares with a material substitution misses most of what the job costs.
What is Citizens and how does it change a file?
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is the state backed residual market, and in a lot of the state it is the only place a coastal or older roof can get written at all. Its files run to procedure. Documentation gaps that a voluntary market carrier might absorb get bounced, so the scope, the code basis, and the photo support have to be complete on the first submission rather than negotiated afterward.
Why are Florida carriers so much harder on roof claims than carriers in other states?
Because of what the litigation environment did to the claim function here. The assignment of benefits era and the fee structures that came with it produced a defensive posture inside carrier claim departments, and the legislative changes that followed did not undo the habits. The practical result on your file is that assertions get rejected and documented arguments get paid. That is not a complaint about the market, it is the operating instruction for it.
How fast is turnaround, and what does it cost?
Estimates are written same day or next day and submitted next day. Larger commercial and multi structure files take one to three extra days, said up front. Carrier response runs about three weeks as a general expectation. The standard fee is 15 percent of supplemental recovery, and a file with no additional approved recovery owes nothing on that claim.
Florida markets
Southeast and the Gulf coast
- Miami and Miami-Dade County
- Fort Lauderdale and Broward County
- Tampa and Tampa Bay
- Fort Myers and Lee County
Central, North, and the Panhandle
- Orlando and the I-4 corridor
- Sarasota and Manatee County
- Jacksonville and the First Coast
- Pensacola and the western Panhandle
Files also come in from West Palm Beach, Naples, Punta Gorda, Cape Coral, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Lakeland, Ocala, Daytona Beach, Gainesville, Tallahassee, and Panama City.
Send one file and see what came back short
Send us the carrier estimate along with measurements and the declarations page. You get the supplement the following day, built against the provisions that actually govern that address instead of the ones that apply two counties over.