My Safe Florida Home, step by step.
My Safe Florida Home is a state program that helps homesteaded owners of older homes pay for hurricane hardening: impact windows and doors, stronger roof-to-wall connections and roof-deck attachment, and a secondary water barrier with a new roof. Here’s how it works, and where a licensed builder fits in.
RLW Builders isn’t part of the program and doesn’t speak for it. The program decides who qualifies and what it pays. Its official site is mysafeflhome.com.
It’s taking applications, in groups.
The program says it’s accepting applications through its online applicant portal. You answer a short priority questionnaire, and that places you in a group. The groups open about 15 days apart, starting with lower-income homeowners (F.S. 215.5586).
We don’t know your group’s date, and we won’t guess it. Check the portal for yours.
$2 from the state for every $1 you pay, up to $10,000.
- The state matches $2 for every $1 the homeowner pays, up to a $10,000 state share (F.S. 215.5586).
- Low-income homeowners can receive up to $10,000 with no match.
- Grants are limited to low- and moderate-income homeowners. The program sets the income limits for your county.
An example of the arithmetic, not a promise: on a $9,000 job, the state’s share would be $6,000 and yours $3,000. On a $15,000 job, the state’s share stops at $10,000 and yours is $5,000. You pay for the work; the state reimburses its share after the final inspection.
The home and the paperwork.
- A homesteaded single-family home that you live in.
- Built before January 1, 2008.
- Insured for $700,000 or less. The low-income tier may differ, so check the program.
- A My Safe Florida Home inspection within the last 24 months.
- The work finished within 18 months of the grant approval.
From F.S. 215.5586 and the program’s rule, 69J-7.001. The program has the final word on your eligibility.
Only what your inspection recommends.
- Opening protection: impact windows, exterior doors, garage doors and shutters. The program may require every opening to be protected, and plywood doesn’t count.
- Roof-to-wall connections, made stronger.
- Roof-deck attachment, made stronger.
- A secondary water barrier, with a roof covering replacement.
The work has to be recommended in your program inspection. We install windows and doors ourselves; roof work is done through our licensed roofing partner.
Seven steps, and who does each one.
- You apply through the program’s portal and answer the priority questionnaire.
- The program inspects your home, free to you, with its own inspector.
- The program approves your grant for the work the inspection recommends.
- We give you a written scope and price. You can see a starting price before that, with your address, on our project form.
- We pull the permit and do the work, after the approval and not before.
- The final inspections: the building department’s, and the program’s.
- The state reimburses you its share.
You list us as your contractor. That’s the whole sign-up.
- On your application, list RLW Builders, LLC, State Certified Building Contractor CBC1267185. The program has no contractor sign-up and no approved list (program FAQ).
- We don’t start until your grant is approved.
- We pull the permit and walk the final inspection.
- You get an itemized invoice that separates the work the program covers from anything it doesn’t.
- The state pays you after the final inspection. It doesn’t pay us.
If your work includes the roof, start with us before you list a contractor: roof work is done through our licensed roofing partner, and we’ll tell you in writing which licensed contractor goes on the form.
Is RLW Builders approved by My Safe Florida Home?
The program no longer keeps a list of approved contractors. You choose a Florida-licensed contractor and list them on your application. RLW Builders is a State Certified Building Contractor (CBC1267185). We are not part of the program and do not speak for it.
Do you do the inspection?
No. The inspection is the program’s own, done by its inspectors. Your contractor works from what that inspection recommends.
Can the work start before the grant is approved?
No. We don’t start until you have the program’s grant approval. Work done before approval doesn’t fit the program.
Who receives the grant money?
You do. You pay for the work, and after the final inspection the state reimburses you its share. It isn’t paid to the contractor.
Will this lower my insurance premium?
We can’t tell you what your insurer will do or what your policy says. Ask your insurer what wind-mitigation discount the finished work would earn.
Do you fill out the grant application for me?
No. You apply yourself through the program’s portal. We give you our name and license number to list, a written scope, and an itemized invoice that separates the work the program covers from anything it doesn’t.
General information about a state program, not legal, tax or insurance advice. Program rules change; the program’s own site and the statute govern. RLW Builders, LLC · State Certified Building Contractor CBC1267185.