Florida Hurricane Shutter & Impact Glazing ROI Calculator

How this calculator works

Florida's wind-mitigation discount under F.S. § 627.0629 grants a substantial reduction in the windstorm portion of the premium for "hurricane-rated" opening protection. The statute defines hurricane-rated as either impact-rated glazing or TAS-tested hurricane shutters that meet Florida Building Code Test Protocol TAS 201/202/203. Both qualify equally for the credit — the carrier pays the same percentage discount whether the openings are protected by impact windows, storm panels, accordion shutters, or roll-down shutters.

The credit is documented on Florida OIR Form OIR-B1-1802 by a licensed wind-mitigation inspector. Per OIR rate filings 2024-2026, the hurricane-rated opening-protection credit is typically 18%-22% of windstorm premium — the largest single line item among the wind-mit credits. For a Florida coastal home with $3,000/year in windstorm premium, that's roughly $540-$660/year in saved premium, every year, for as long as the protection stays in place and the Form 1802 remains on file with the carrier.

The calculator computes:

1. Install cost — windows + impact-rated entry doors, by protection type.
2. Annual windstorm premium savings — the incremental opening-protection credit captured by the upgrade.
3. Simple payback period — install cost divided by annual savings.
4. 5-year, 10-year, 20-year cumulative ROI — savings minus install cost.
5. NPV at the user-entered discount rate — discounted-cash-flow value at the ownership horizon.

The key word is incremental. A property that already has hurricane-rated protection on the Form 1802 cannot capture more credit; a property at "basic non-rated" captures only the delta between the basic and the hurricane-rated credits (typically 7% to 22%, so the 15-point delta); a property with no protection captures the full credit. The calculator handles all three starting states.

Side-by-side comparison: a $3,000/year coastal home

A Florida coastal home with $3,000/year windstorm portion of premium, 150 sqft of glazed openings, 2 impact-rated entry doors needed, no current opening protection, 10-year ownership horizon, 4% discount rate:

Storm panels (cheapest, manual deploy):

• 150 sqft × $11.50/sqft = $1,725 panels
• 2 × $3,500 = $7,000 impact doors
• Total install: $8,725
• Annual savings: $3,000 × 22% = $660/year
• Simple payback: ~13.2 years
• 10-year ROI: $660 × 10 − $8,725 = −$2,125 (not yet paid back at the horizon)
• NPV at 4%: ≈ −$3,371

Accordion shutters (mid-cost, accordion-fold deploy):

• 150 sqft × $20/sqft = $3,000 shutters
• 2 × $3,500 = $7,000 impact doors
• Total install: $10,000
• Annual savings: $660/year
• Simple payback: ~15.2 years
• 10-year ROI: $660 × 10 − $10,000 = −$3,400
• NPV at 4%: ≈ −$4,646

Roll-down shutters (premium shutter):

• 150 sqft × $45/sqft = $6,750 shutters
• 2 × $3,500 = $7,000 impact doors
• Total install: $13,750
• Annual savings: $660/year
• Simple payback: ~20.8 years
• NPV at 4% over 10 years: ≈ −$8,396

Impact-rated glazing (premium replacement window):

• 150 sqft × $65/sqft = $9,750 glazing
• 2 × $3,500 = $7,000 impact doors
• Total install: $16,750
• Annual savings: $660/year
• Simple payback: ~25.4 years
• NPV at 4% over 10 years: ≈ −$11,396

At a 10-year ownership horizon and the wind-mit credit alone, none of the four options break even through insurance savings. At a 20-year horizon, storm panels and accordion shutters become net-positive on the wind-mit credit alone; roll-down shutters approximately break even; impact glazing remains net-negative on insurance dollars alone.

But this analysis materially undercounts the value of the more expensive options. Impact glazing in particular delivers:

• Energy efficiency — modern impact windows are typically rated U-0.30 or better with low-emissivity coatings, cutting cooling load 15%-25% on Florida coastal homes.
• Resale value — Florida MLS data 2023-2025 consistently shows impact-window homes selling at a $10K-$25K premium over comparable shuttered homes.
• Insurance carrier appetite — some Florida carriers refuse to write new policies on coastal homes without hurricane-rated openings; impact glazing removes a binary underwriting gate that shutters do not always remove.
• Daily life — no deploying shutters before a storm, no storage burden for panels, no visual obstruction.

The wind-mit credit is the floor of the financial case, not the whole case. A homeowner deciding between $8,725 in storm panels and $16,750 in impact glazing on a 15-year-horizon primary residence is weighing $8,000 in additional upfront cost against 15 years of energy savings ($300-$500/year), the resale premium at exit, and the avoided operating burden of shutter deployment ahead of every named storm.

The deductible and underwriting interaction

Beyond the wind-mit credit, hurricane-rated openings interact with two other lines of the Florida insurance economics:

1. Underwriting appetite. Florida coastal carriers in the post-2022 market are increasingly underwriting on construction features, not just location. A property with hurricane-rated openings has access to a wider pool of admitted carriers (and is often eligible for Citizens depopulation transfer); a property with no opening protection may be limited to Citizens or surplus-line carriers with substantially higher premiums.
2. Reduced loss frequency. Hurricane-rated openings reduce the probability of catastrophic wind-driven water and structural loss during a named storm. Carriers price for this in the wind-mit credit, but the policyholder benefit extends to the hurricane-deductible exposure — an uninvaded opening means a much lower loss, which often means staying below the hurricane deductible threshold and avoiding the percentage-of-Coverage-A out-of-pocket entirely. Pair this calculator with the Florida Hurricane Deductible Calculator to quantify the deductible-side benefit.

These second-order effects are not in the calculator's dollar output. They matter.

The Form 1802 documentation step

Once the install is complete, the homeowner must schedule a follow-up wind-mit inspection, file the new Form 1802 with the carrier, and confirm in writing that the opening-protection credit is reflected on the renewal policy. This step is non-trivial — installers typically do not file the form, and carriers rarely retroactively apply the credit mid-term without prompting.

The post-install steps:

1. Keep the installer's product-approval documentation (FBC TAS 201/202/203 certification numbers, product approval IDs).
2. Hire a Florida-licensed wind-mit inspector and have them re-do Form 1802 with the new opening-protection rating.
3. Submit Form 1802 to the carrier via your agent (registered or e-mail with read receipt).
4. Request written confirmation that the renewal policy reflects the new opening-protection credit.
5. Verify the windstorm-premium line item on the renewal declarations page reflects the credit.

Skip any of these steps and the dollar savings in the calculator do not materialize, regardless of how well the install is done. The Form 1802 is the binding document; the install itself is not.

What the calculator does not do

This calculator is a planning estimator. It does not:

• Quote a specific installer. The per-square-foot ranges are typical Florida market 2024-2026 pricing (post-2022 reinsurance market, post-Ian supply conditions). Actual quotes vary substantially by region — Miami-Dade and Broward run high, Florida Panhandle and Central Florida run mid, rural areas vary. Get three written quotes before signing.
• Quote a specific carrier's credit. The 22% opening-protection credit reflects the OIR rate-filing floor; specific carrier filings can be higher (some go to 25%) or lower (some have tightened to 18%-19%). The actual policy quote from your carrier is authoritative.
• Capture energy savings, resale value, or operating-burden cost. Impact glazing in particular delivers benefits well beyond the wind-mit credit — energy efficiency, noise reduction, and resale premium — none of which are in the calculator's dollar output. If you are choosing between options, factor those benefits in separately.
• Replace a Form 1802 inspection. The credit is paid by the carrier based on what the inspector documents, not what you enter in the calculator. Inspector findings sometimes differ from owner expectations — particularly on whether sliding glass doors and skylights count as "openings" requiring protection.
• Handle commercial properties or master-policy condo associations. This calculator is for single-family residential and individual condo unit (HO-3, HO-6) policies. Commercial-residential master policies on condos have their own wind-mit framework with different forms and a more complex inspection model.

How this page is maintained

F.S. § 627.0629 and the underlying opening-protection-credit structure have been stable since the modern wind-mit framework was established in 2002. The dollar values of the install ranges and the credit percentages move with carrier rate filings and contractor pricing; we refresh both at least annually against Florida OIR rate filings and Florida market quotes. The FBC TAS 201/202/203 test protocols have been refined periodically — most recently in 2023 — but the substantive criteria for hurricane-rated have not changed. If the legislature or OIR substantively changes the opening-protection credit structure, this page is updated and re-stamped within the quarter.

Last reviewed: 2026-05-15 against F.S. § 627.0629, § 627.711; Florida OIR Form OIR-B1-1802; FBC Test Protocol TAS 201/202/203; Florida shutter / impact-glazing market pricing 2024-2026.