Need Wind Mitigation? New Florida Insurer Wants to Help With That

Is this the future of home insurance in disaster-prone areas: The carrier coordinates the home-hardening work, from connecting homeowners with contractors to installing sensors, and maybe even financing the cost of the mitigation?

“That’s our belief and that’s why we started the company,” said Dan Preston, CEO of the startup known as Stand Insurance Exchange.

The reciprocal launched last week in the Florida market with a tweak to the standard business model and a nod to the growing recognition that more storm-resistant homes may be the best way to limit claims and premiums.

Preston, the former head of tech-heavy Metromile auto insurance company, said that, historically, insurers have had just two main tools at their disposal to manage risky areas: Exit the market altogether, or raise premiums. He believes there’s a third method—working closely with property owners to mitigate the risk and reduce claims and premiums.

“Ultimately, what we’re finding is that in most cases for homeowners, the combined cost of mitigation, with the resulting lower premium, is less than what they’re paying now,” Preston told Insurance Journal.

Stand, one of at least 20 new insurers in the Florida market since historic 2022 legislative reforms, was granted a certificate of authority by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in September 2025. That was followed by approval of a takeout offer of 25,000 policies taken from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state’s insurer of last resort. So far, only about 1,000 takeouts have been made, but Preston said that’s enough to get started.

OIR has approved six rate or form filings from Stand in the last year, mostly marked “trade secrets.” If the company does offer mitigation financing later, it will be done through finance companies that already have regulatory approval, a company spokesperson said.

For now, the focus is connecting homeowners with mitigation firms. The reciprocal has negotiated discounted rates with Florida contractors to install roof-to-wall connections that are designed to prevent roof rafters from being lifted from the house during high winds. Stand also plans to gift water-leak detectors to qualified homeowners.

Stand, with offices in San Francisco and Tampa, has operated in the California market for almost three years, where its mitigation model has been validated in wildfire-prone communities, a company statement explained.

Wind mitigation in Florida is not new, but it has gained steam in recent years. The ever-popular My Safe Florida Home program is the best-funded state mitigation plan in the country, providing matching grants of up to $10,000 per home. But the wait list is long, and it can take months for the inspection and approval process, according to news reports.

Leak sensors have been around for years, but have not been widely adopted by homeowners.

But few, if any, Florida insurers have offered to finance the retrofit costs. Preston said the financing plan will come later and will be covered through a separate bill to homeowners. It won’t be tacked on to the premium, he noted.

The mitigation plan is the latest innovation to come out of the crucible that is the Florida market: People’s Trust Insurance, in Deerfield Beach, Florida, and a few others continue to utilize managed repair programs, with policies that ask homeowners to use the insurer’s designated restoration contractors.

Orion180 has offered rebates on the first year of premiums for homes that stay claims-free. And insurers around the country continue to provide premium discounts and credits for mitigation and other property-protection efforts.

Preston, who holds a master’s in computer science from Stanford University, did not disclose what the average HO premiums may be for Stand this year. But he noted that with the wind retrofits coordinated by Stand, premium discounts could be as much as 40%. In California, Stand has offered home-hardening discounts as much as 75%, he said.

The Florida OIR is expected to report later this year on data collections that should show the size of discounts that Florida carriers have provided for mitigation work in recent years.

Leaders at two Florida-domiciled insurance carriers said they like Stand’s mitigation approach, and are contemplating similar plans. The biggest concern is the headache and potential liability risk involved in recommending multiple contractors to do the installs—and ensuring that quality work is done. It’s essentially taking on a new type of side hustle for an insurer, one that can lead to frustration from homeowners, executives have said.

Preston said it’s worth the hassle and should prove attractive to potential policyholders.

“The playbook for us is making it ultra simple for homeowners to get the mitigation work done,” he said.

Preston does not plan on direct-to-consumer advertising for Stand but will rely on brokers and agents around the state to spread the word.

“We have some really close broker relationships, and I find that brokers we’ve worked with are really great advocates for the product and for their customers,” he said.

Stand enters the Florida arena at a favorable time for property insurers, following the 2022 legislative changes that succeeded in tamping down excessive litigation, attorney fees and assignments of benefits. Lawsuits have declined statewide and combined ratios have improved.

“It’s a wonderful state,” Preston added.

Top photo: A Florida home damaged in Hurricane Ian

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