My Safe Florida Home
The state pays two dollars for every one of yours
Florida’s My Safe Florida Home program covers a free wind mitigation inspection and matches what you spend on hurricane protection — $2 from the state for every $1 from you, up to $10,000. Impact windows and doors are exactly what it was built to pay for.
What it is
A state program, not a sales pitch
My Safe Florida Home is run by the Florida Department of Financial Services. It does two things: it sends a certified inspector to your house at no cost to you, and — if you qualify and funding is open — it puts state money toward the improvements that inspection recommends.
It exists because a house that survives the storm is cheaper for everyone than a house that doesn’t. The same upgrades that keep the water out often earn a discount on your windstorm insurance, which is money back every year for as long as you own the home.
We don’t run this program and we can’t approve anybody for it. The state does both. What we do is the work it pays for — and we’ll give you a written quote you can take into the process with your eyes open.
The math
What the grant is actually worth
In plain numbers, so nobody has to guess at it.
- $2 state for every $1 you put in A matching grant, not a loan and not a rebate check to chase.
- $10,000 maximum from the state Your $5,000 is what unlocks the full amount — a $15,000 project.
- Low-income homeowners: no match required Up to $10,000 with nothing to match, and priority in the queue.
- The inspection is free either way You can take the free wind mitigation inspection even if you never take a grant.
Who qualifies
The state’s checklist
These come from the statute itself, not from us. Every one has to be true:
- Homestead exemption granted on the home.
- Site-built and owner-occupied, and either a single-family detached home or a townhouse. Townhouses count — with the wrinkle that a townhouse grant may only be spent on opening protection, which is exactly the work on this page.
- Built before 2008 — the building permit application for the original construction has to predate January 1, 2008.
- Insured value of $700,000 or less, going by the dwelling coverage on your homeowners policy.
- Active homeowners insurance, which you’ll be asked to prove.
On top of that, the current funding cycle is aimed at low- and moderate-income homeowners — low being at or below 80% of your county’s median income, moderate being above that and up to 120%. That part has changed between cycles before and can change again.
What it pays for
Opening protection is the big one
Your windows and doors are the openings. When one breaks in a storm, the wind gets inside and pushes up on the roof from underneath — that’s how houses come apart. The program pays to close those holes: impact-rated windows, exterior doors, garage doors, and skylights.
The catch worth knowing before you plan around it: if your openings are already protected by compliant hurricane shutters, replacing them with impact windows generally isn’t eligible for funding — the program pays to protect what’s unprotected, not to upgrade what already passes.
You are not required to do every opening. What’s eligible is what your inspection recommends, so a partial project can absolutely be funded. Two things to keep in view anyway: the department can make protecting all openings a condition of reimbursement, and the insurance discount is the thing that usually keys on whole-house protection — which is a different question from what the grant pays.
Your inspection report is what settles it for your specific house. Bring it to us and we’ll tell you straight what it means for the work — including when the honest answer is that the grant won’t cover what you were hoping.
How it works
Five steps, in order
- Apply at mysafeflhome.com — the state’s own site, free to apply.
- Take the free wind mitigation inspection; you get a report of recommended improvements.
- Wait on the award — the state approves grants against available funding. Do not start the work yet.
- Once you’re approved, get your quote and have the work done to the program’s standards, by any state-licensed contractor you choose.
- Submit the paperwork; the state’s share is paid on the approved work.
The order matters more than anything else on this page. The program’s homeowner guide is blunt about it: work you have already completed — or that was already under way when the inspector came — will be denied. If your windows are going in next week, the grant cannot pay for them. Get approved first, then build. We would rather tell you that now than after.
Call us at any step. Most people call us at step two, holding an inspection report they’d like translated into English.
Funding, honestly
It opens and closes
This is the part the ads never mention: My Safe Florida Home runs on money the Legislature appropriates, in rounds. It is not an entitlement — when the current round is committed, new applicants go onto a waiting list for the next one, and if no new money is appropriated the program pauses until it is. Homeowners have finished their inspections and waited a full cycle for a grant before. Check the current status at mysafeflhome.com rather than trusting any window company’s page, including this one, about what funding is open today.
So the honest advice is: don’t wait, and don’t count on it either. Apply early in a cycle, take the free inspection regardless, and plan the project so it still makes sense if the grant doesn’t land. Our 0% financing for 48 months exists for exactly that gap — and if the grant does come through, it goes against the same job.
Where we fit
We do the work the grant is for
Impact windows and doors are most of what we install, all year, in Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties. We’ll walk your house, read your inspection report with you, quote the opening protection in writing, pull the permits, and stand behind the install with our lifetime warranty on the products and the labor.
Yes, you can use us. That question comes up because a lot of window company websites still advertise being on the program’s “approved contractor list.” That list stopped existing on July 1, 2024. The program no longer keeps one and no longer requires you to pick from it — you choose any Florida contractor whose license is certified or registered with the state. Artisan is a Florida Certified Specialty Contractor, license SCC131151674 — certified statewide, which is one of the license types the program accepts. Don’t take our word for it: look us up, and anyone else you’re considering, at MyFloridaLicense.com.
What we won’t do is promise you a grant. Nobody selling windows can, and anyone who does is telling you what you want to hear.
My Safe Florida Home is a program of the Florida Department of Financial Services. Artisan Windows & Doors does not administer it, cannot approve applications, and is not the source of grant funds. Program terms — grant amounts, income limits, eligibility and available funding — are set by the State of Florida and change between funding cycles; the figures on this page were checked against Florida Statute 215.5586 and the program’s published materials in August 2026. Confirm current terms and apply at mysafeflhome.com before making decisions based on them.