Wind Mitigation Inspection in Palm Beach County

Palm Beach County sits just north of the HVHZ boundary but still carries some of Florida's highest windstorm premiums. Here is what a local wind mitigation inspection covers and what it costs.

Palm Beach County sits immediately north of Broward but outside Florida's official High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, which is limited to Miami-Dade and Broward. That means Question 1 of your form follows the standard statewide 2001 Florida Building Code path rather than the HVHZ-specific 1994 code path used just to the south. One more thing changed in 2026: Florida moved the form from seven questions to nine (OIR-B1-1802, Rev. 04/26, effective April 1), so a report written before that date will not line up question-for-question with a fresh one.

What matters most locally?

Despite sitting outside the HVHZ, Palm Beach County is still coastal South Florida, and its coastal municipalities commonly enforce wind-borne debris protection requirements on new construction similar in spirit to HVHZ counties, even without the HVHZ designation itself. In practice this means opening protection, shutters, impact windows, and impact garage doors, is frequently already in place on newer Palm Beach homes, which is worth confirming on Question 9 of the current form rather than assuming it based on the county's non-HVHZ status alone.

HOA-mandated shutters and gated communities

Many of Palm Beach County's gated and HOA-governed communities require hurricane shutters or impact windows as a condition of the community's own architectural standards, independent of anything Florida's building code requires. If your community has such a rule, your home may already carry the strongest opening-protection tier on Question 9 of the current form, but it still needs to be documented and photographed by a qualified inspector before your insurer will apply the credit. An HOA rule on its own is not proof an insurer will accept without the completed form.

Finding your home's permit history

The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser site is the starting point for confirming your home's year built and locating permit records before booking an inspection.

What does it cost locally?

Palm Beach falls in the same South Florida pricing band as Miami-Dade and Broward: roughly $100 to $175 standalone and $175 to $275 combined with a 4-point, per the Miami/Fort Lauderdale regional figures at inspectordata.com, the closest published regional band for southeast Florida.

How many licensed inspectors are in Palm Beach County?

Florida's licensee register lists 463 active home inspector licences with a Palm Beach County address, the 3rd highest of the state's 67 counties and 6.5% of the 7,150 held statewide. The towns holding the most are Boca Raton (81), West Palm Beach (67), Lake Worth (51), Boynton Beach (45). They are spread across the coastal cities rather than concentrated in one, with Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth and Boynton Beach each holding a similar share. A further 24 licences are held in the county but flagged inactive, meaning the holder cannot currently practise under them, so ask for a licence number and check it. The full county-by-county register shows how that compares with the rest of Florida, and remember that a home inspector is one of five licensed categories permitted to sign the form.