Answers to the Question of: What’s a Four-Point Inspection?

animation of Plumbing Heating Cooling Electrical icons under a roof

  Why it Came to Be In the early morning hours of August 24th, 1992, Hurricane Andrew, a devastating Category 5 storm, struck land off the eastern coast of Florida’s Peninsula, destroying more than 125,000 homes, and causing the death of more than 60 people. Insurance companies knew that the high-wind storm would result in […]

Wind Mitigation Inspections: What are they & the Importance of Receiving One

Illustrated Image of tiny characters with larger ruler performing an inspection on a giant house

  Home ownership comes with its own set of highs and lows, especially when it comes to the upkeep and protection of your property. One of the most important considerations for coastal properties, is to determine if your home is protected from wind; as hurricanes, tornadoes and severe storms are an often-unpredictable regional norm. When […]

What is This …and Other Questions About the FORTIFIED™ Program?

Image of the Fortified Logo with a question mark on a brick background

    We get a lot of questions from new and existing homeowners concerning the FORTIFIED™ program, so we’d like to take a moment and answer the most common ones:   What is a Fortified™ home? A FORTIFIED™ home is one that utilizes uniform building methods designed to improve & strengthen new and existing homes […]

Regular Maintenance Means Less Damage & More Value

Man Holding Orange Electric Grass Cutter on Lawn

    Household chores, no one wants to get up early on a weekend and clean gutters or do yard work, but in doing so, you can, not only retain your home’s value but also lessen the likelihood of damage in the event of inclement weather or natural disaster that could lead to expensive repairs. […]

Is it Time to Reroof? 12 Signs That a Replacement May be in Your Future

image of roof of a modern house showing trees in the background and sky

    If you’ve ever had a child throw a ball on your house, or grabbed the ladder to clean your gutters, then chances are, you’ve taken a glance at an often forgotten but critically essential part of your home—the roof. While you were up there, did you think about the shingles that might be […]

Are Your State’s Building Codes Up to Par? Probably Not!

Image of United states with Washington, California, Montana, Utah, New Mexico, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolia & Florida showing in the color green to indicate a higher resistance (75.0-100% score) to disasters. Nevada, Colorado, North Dakota, Texas, Iowa, Alabama, Maine, & Delaware are showing in the color gray to indicate a moderate resistance to disaster (25.0-74.9 % score) and the remaining states in red indicating a low resistance to disaster (0-24.9% score)..

Building codes establish the minimum construction standards necessary to ensure the safety of those who live, work, and exist inside of a property. In a recent Scientific American article titled “Most States Are Failing on Building Codes, FEMA Says.” Author Thomas Frank stated that 39 states received the lowest score that the agency could give […]

Alabama Condos Recognized with Highest Resiliency Certification by IBHS

“With over 7,000 FORTIFIED homes in Alabama and now the first-ever FORTIFIED Commercial-Hurricane Gold designation is also earned in Alabama.” The Colonial Inn Condominiums have earned the first-ever FORTIFIED Commercial–Hurricane Gold designation in the U.S. By Symone Garvett In order to improve resiliency for a new coastal Alabama complex, developers of the Colonial Inn Condominiums […]

Travelers Fortifies Communities

“Travelers Insurance joined forces with Habitat for Humanity and Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) to build affordable, wind-resistant, FORTIFIED homes in coastal regions of the country.  Read this article to better understand the few important changes they made while only adding four to five percent, on average, to the total construction coast.” […]

Renovations for a more hurricane-resistant home

“Here is another news story by our local station, NBC 15, on how to strengthen existing homes to FORTIFIED standard.  This is something every homeowner should look into as it also saves money on your homeowners insurance policy.”  For more details ….

What Insurance Agents Wish You Knew About Keeping Your Home Safe

“Experts suggest completing a few key maintenance tasks, such as ensuring your smoke alarms are working and installing an automatic water shut-off device.  This U.S. News & World Report article will share some items about keeping your home safe!” Click here to read the full article