New Report Reveals Carriers May Miscalculate Florida Roof Ages

According to its new Florida Roof Age Report, BuildFax estimates 45 percent or more of the roof ages currently on file for carriers may be miscalculated by one or more years.

The new report lists the top 10 Florida counties where the difference between permitted year built and permitted new roof age is the greatest.

Calculating Probable Maximum Loss (PML) relies on building characteristics such as year built, roof age, number of stories, etc. This calculation is often times inflated due to the fact that many carriers do not collect or store certain details for policies, like current roof age, leaving them to default to year built. With this kind of uncertainty in a book of business, carriers may be grossly overestimating PML and overpaying for reinsurance.

Reinsurance is a costly expense to carriers in Florida; some carriers have reported spending more than $40 dollars for every $100 in premium on reinsurance coverage.

“BuildFax has found that upwards of 45 percent of the roof ages currently on file for carriers are typically miscalculated by one or more years,” says Holly Tachovsky, CEO of BuildFax. “Many carriers may not even realize that year built is in fact the date on which their PML calculation is based. Using roof age to help carriers get an accurate PML for their book of business is key to getting the best reinsurance terms.”

TOP 10 COUNTIES WHERE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YEAR BUILT & ROOF AGE IS GREATEST*

1. PALM BEACH
2. ORANGE
3. PINELLAS
4. MIAMI-DADE
5. BROWARD
6. HILLSBOROUGH
7. DUVAL
8. SARASOTA
9. SEMINOLE
10. VOLUSIA

* These rankings were calculated by running a list of over five million single family homes in Florida and matching it against BuildFax’s proprietary Roof Age Database, identifying those counties that had the highest impact when comparing the difference between average age of permitted year built and average age of permitted new roof.

Source: BuildFax