Hurricane Season Home Insurance Checklist for Florida Homeowners

Florida homeowners know the drill: June 1st arrives and the Atlantic starts warming up. But while you're stocking up on water and batteries, there's one preparation that often gets overlooked — reviewing your home insurance before a storm is named.

A hurricane is not the time to discover a gap in your coverage. Here's what every Palm Beach County homeowner should check before the season heats up.

1. Review Your Dwelling Coverage Limit

Your dwelling coverage is the amount your policy will pay to rebuild your home if it's destroyed. The critical question: does that number reflect what it would actually cost to rebuild today?

Construction costs in South Florida have risen significantly over the past few years. Labor shortages, material costs, and permitting delays all drive up rebuild expenses. If your coverage limit was set three or four years ago, there's a real chance it's now too low.

Ask your agent to run a replacement cost estimate using current local construction data. This is one of the most important steps you can take.

2. Understand Your Hurricane Deductible

Florida homeowners policies typically have a separate hurricane deductible — and it's usually much higher than your standard deductible.

Most hurricane deductibles are calculated as a percentage of your dwelling coverage, commonly 2% to 5%. On a $400,000 home, that's $8,000 to $20,000 out of pocket before your insurance kicks in.

Make sure you know:

• What your hurricane deductible is
• Whether it applies to all wind damage or only named storms
• Whether you have enough savings to cover it if needed

3. Check Your Flood Insurance — Separately

Here's something many homeowners don't realize: standard homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage. Not from storm surge. Not from heavy rainfall. Not from overflowing canals.

Flood insurance is a separate policy, typically through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or a private carrier. And there's a critical catch — most flood policies have a 30-day waiting period before they take effect.

If you don't have flood insurance and a storm is already forming in the Gulf, it's too late to buy it in time. Don't wait.

4. Document Your Personal Property

If a hurricane damages or destroys your home, you'll need to file a claim for your belongings. Without documentation, that process becomes much harder.

Before the season starts:

• Walk through your home and take a video inventory of every room
• Photograph serial numbers on electronics and appliances
• Keep receipts for high-value items like jewelry, art, and electronics
• Store copies of this documentation in the cloud or off-site

A home inventory takes about an hour and can save you thousands in a claim.

5. Know Your Additional Living Expenses Coverage

If a hurricane makes your home uninhabitable, where will you go? Your policy's Additional Living Expenses (ALE) coverage pays for hotel stays, meals, and other costs while your home is being repaired.

Review your ALE limit and understand how long it lasts. In a major hurricane, repairs can take months. Make sure your coverage is sufficient for an extended displacement.

6. Confirm Your Policy Is Current

This sounds obvious, but it's worth checking: is your policy actually in force? Confirm that:

• Your premium is paid and up to date
• Your policy hasn't lapsed or been non-renewed
• Your insurer is still licensed and financially stable in Florida

Florida's insurance market has seen significant carrier exits in recent years. If your insurer has left the state or been placed into receivership, you may have been moved to Citizens Property Insurance without realizing it.

7. Review Your Roof Coverage

Roof damage is the most common hurricane claim in Florida. How your policy handles roof damage matters a lot.

Some policies cover roof replacement at actual cash value (ACV), which means they'll depreciate the value of your roof based on its age. Others cover replacement cost value (RCV), which pays to replace the roof at today's prices regardless of age.

If your roof is more than 10 years old and you have ACV coverage, a major storm could leave you with a significant gap between what insurance pays and what a new roof costs.

8. Talk to Your Agent Before the Season

The best time to review your coverage is before you need it. An independent insurance agent can:

• Compare your current coverage against your actual risk
• Identify gaps you may not be aware of
• Shop multiple carriers to find the best value
• Help you understand exactly what your policy does and doesn't cover

At Evergreen Insurance, we work with homeowners across Palm Beach County every year to make sure they're prepared before hurricane season. If you haven't reviewed your policy recently, now is the time.

The Bottom Line

Hurricane preparation isn't just about shutters and generators. It's about making sure that if the worst happens, your insurance is ready to help you rebuild. Take an hour this week to review your coverage — your future self will thank you.