Stand Launches Innovative Hurricane Insurance in Florida
Stand, a company specializing in property insurance and risk reduction through advanced modeling, has launched its first voluntary hurricane insurance product in Florida. This development marks the company's expansion in the state, emphasizing its innovative approach of aligning insurance rates with resilience improvements at the property level.
The product is designed to help homeowners reduce hurricane-related risks and costs by enhancing their properties. Instead of relying mostly on historical loss data and geographic risk assessments, Stand examines how specific building elements impact a structure's resilience to severe weather.
Central to this product is the Stand World Model, a proprietary platform rooted in physics that analyzes how catastrophic events affect individual properties. This technology assesses a structure's characteristics to predict its performance during extreme weather and identifies possible fortification measures. Initially crafted for wildfire risk analysis in California, the model has now been adapted for hurricane threats in Florida.
Stand collaborates with certified contractors to assist homeowners in strengthening their properties. This includes identifying suitable mitigation actions and coordinating projects. Early adopters might receive smart water leak detectors with the first year of monitoring covered by the company. Additionally, discounts through selected contractors and potential financing support for mitigation measures are available.
According to Stand, policyholders who make qualifying improvements may enjoy significant premium reductions. Enhancements such as installing roof anchor clips and water shut-off valves can potentially lower insurance costs by up to 40%, depending on the property's features and completed upgrades.
This initiative represents Stand’s inaugural open-market insurance product in Florida, building on its previous involvement in the Citizens depopulation program. This program reallocates policies from the state-backed insurer to private carriers, with the new product aiming to broaden insurance options for eligible homeowners.
Florida's property insurance market continues to face challenges due to frequent hurricane-related losses, which have impacted both insurers and policyholders. The state has increasingly relied on Citizens over the years due to rising claims costs and insurer insolvencies. Dan Preston, Stand’s co-founder and CEO, noted the company's application of aerospace engineering insights on structural resilience, stating: “We’re bringing that same rigor to Florida by working with homeowners to understand what makes their homes stronger and rewarding them for taking action.”
Stand’s operations in Florida are supported by a team with extensive experience in the state’s insurance sector. Their applied physics division leverages expertise from aerospace engineering, machine learning, and 3D modeling to assess individual home risk levels. Insurance policies in California are issued by Concert Specialty Insurance Company, rated A- by AM Best, while Stand Insurance Exchange, rated A by Demotech, underwrites in Florida. The insurance programs are reinsured by top-tier providers such as Arch, RenaissanceRe, Hannover Re, Nephila, and Hiscox, and investors include Eclipse, Inspired Capital, and Lowercarbon.