Orlando is a commercial market first. Downtown carries the region's office core, from the 35-story 200 South Orange tower completed in 1988 to the Citrus Center, the city's first modern high-rise, finished in 1971. Lake Nona has grown into a second office cluster with millions of square feet of commercial space, anchored by an eight-story Class A headquarters building of nearly 279,000 square feet in Lake Nona Town Center. International Drive holds one of the densest hotel corridors in the country, and the metro counts more than 130,000 hotel rooms. Every one of those buildings has a roof, a plumbing system, a policy, and a deductible, and when something goes wrong the claim is a commercial claim.
Coyne Commercial Group represents the people responsible for those buildings: property managers, condominium and HOA boards, and commercial owners. We are headquartered in Sanford, twenty-five minutes from downtown Orlando, so Orange County is home ground rather than a territory we drive into after the fact. We handle the claim from first inspection through settlement, across Orange County and its neighbors, Osceola, Polk, Lake, Seminole, Volusia, and Brevard.
The storms that matter here are not only hurricanes. Hurricane Ian in 2022 put nearly two feet of water in some Orange County homes without making landfall anywhere near the city. Hurricane Milton in October 2024 brought flooding, wind damage, and a tornado outbreak across East Central Florida. The 2025 season passed with no Florida hurricane landfall, yet repairs on some Ian-damaged Orange County homes were only beginning in December 2025. A claim in Orlando is decided by documentation of what happened to the building, not by whether the storm had a name.
What Orlando property owners have been through.
Hurricane Ian inland flooding
Ian tracked across the state after its southwest Florida landfall and dropped up to 16 inches of rain on Orange County, overwhelming stormwater systems. Orange County Fire Rescue performed more than 1,700 water rescues, some homes held nearly two feet of standing water for more than a week, and the county's Property Appraiser put the damage at more than $200 million, driven almost entirely by inland rainfall rather than coastal surge.
Hurricane Milton flooding and tornado outbreak
Milton left severe flooding and wind damage across parts of Orange County, notably around Riverdale Road and Buck Road, with multiple water rescues including a family of four pulled from a home in the Edgewater and Winter Park area. A sinkhole opened in Apopka after a water-main break during the storm. The National Weather Service confirmed tornado tracks over East Central Florida as part of an outbreak that produced 46 confirmed tornadoes statewide, three reaching EF3 intensity.
The 2025 season: no landfall, recovery still open
The 2025 Atlantic season was the first since 2019 with no tropical cyclone hitting Florida and the first in ten years with no United States hurricane landfall. That did not close the books in Orange County. Repairs on some homes damaged by Ian in 2022 were only beginning in December 2025, more than three years after the storm, a reminder that a claim's notice and supplemental deadlines run from the date of loss, not from the date repairs start.
The flood-insurance gap Ian exposed
Only 2,039 buildings in Orlando carried federal flood insurance out of roughly 130,000 households, a 1.5 percent coverage rate. The result was widespread wind-versus-flood causation disputes, with flood insurers calling the damage wind-caused and property insurers calling the same damage flood-caused. For associations and commercial owners, that fight plays out across the whole building, not one address.
Downtown Orlando's office inventory spans five decades. The Citrus Center at 255 South Orange Avenue was completed in 1971 as the city's first modern skyscraper, 200 South Orange, formerly the SunTrust Center, rose to 35 stories in 1988, and the Bank of America Center at 390 North Orange Avenue stands 404 feet. In the southeast, Lake Nona has built a second office market around its Town Center and Medical City, including an eight-story, 278,917 square foot Class A headquarters building. Older towers carry aging roof systems, original plumbing stacks, and mechanical equipment that a field adjuster rarely walks; newer campuses carry warranties and build-out questions that decide who pays for what.
International Drive anchors the hospitality corridor next to the Orange County Convention Center, with dense hotel inventory, active new development including a planned InterContinental Orlando, and a metro-wide count of 130,464 hotel rooms at occupancy near 72 percent. Orlando's housing stock, which includes the condo and HOA communities boards manage, has a median build year around 1992, with roughly 18 percent of homes built between 1940 and 1969. Buildings from that era commonly carry cast iron drain lines and original roofs, two of the most contested claim types in Central Florida.
Orange County carries 44,610 Citizens Property Insurance policies in force, a sign of how far the private market has pulled back from Central Florida. Farmers exited all Florida home, auto, and umbrella business in July 2023, AAA non-renewed bundled policies in the same window, Bankers Insurance and AIG-Lexington left in 2022, and Florida has lost more than 30 home insurers in recent years. The carriers that remain review every commercial and association file closely, and a claim that is not fully documented is the one that comes back short.
Downtown Orlando's office market is also under pressure. An ongoing downsizing trend has left a considerable amount of downtown office space vacant, and Orlando office sales in 2025 totaled $449 million, among the lowest investment volumes of the top 25 United States markets. For an owner or a manager, that means every dollar of a covered loss matters more, and a roof, plumbing, or fire claim that is scoped lightly becomes a capital cost the building cannot easily absorb.
What is different about repairing damage in Orlando.
Insurance policies are statewide. The rules that govern the repair are not. These are the local requirements that change what a Orlando property owner can do, and what a claim has to cover.
Storm-repair permits are issued within 24 hours, but they are still required
Orange County's Division of Building Safety processes the permit types tied to storm damage, roofing, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, within 24 hours when the application is complete. Roof repairs and replacements including shingles, sheathing, and structural components require a permit. Work completed without a permit that is later discovered by an inspector or title company may affect the ability to obtain insurance or sell the property.
Orange County, Storm Repair and Permit InformationWhere the permit comes from in unincorporated Orange County
The Division of Building Safety sits at 201 South Rosalind Avenue, first floor, Orlando, and answers at 407-836-5550. Permits are applied for online through FastTrack. Property inside the City of Orlando or another municipality permits through that city instead, so confirm which jurisdiction the building sits in before repairs start. The permit record is also the document that proves code-required upgrades were mandated, which is what an ordinance-or-law claim rests on.
Orange County Division of Building SafetyThe deadline runs from the date of loss, not from when repairs begin
Some Orange County homes damaged by Ian in September 2022 were only being repaired in December 2025. Florida's notice deadlines do not wait. Notice of a new or reopened claim is due within one year of the date of loss and notice of a supplemental claim within 18 months, and for weather losses the clock starts on the landfall date or the date NOAA verifies the event. Check the deadline before the repair schedule.
Spectrum News 13, December 10, 2025What decides a commercial, condo, or HOA claim in Orlando.
Wind and roof claims on office and hospitality buildings
Downtown towers from the 1970s and 1980s and the hotel inventory along International Drive carry large, aging roof systems. After Milton, a carrier will often scope a roof for repair when the membrane, insulation, or decking calls for replacement, and will leave off code upgrades the Orange County building official requires on a re-roof. A full roof scope, with core samples and moisture mapping where needed, is the difference between a patch and a roof.
Plumbing and cast iron failures in older buildings
Roughly 18 percent of Orlando's housing stock was built between 1940 and 1969, and many commercial buildings from the same era still run original cast iron drain lines. When a stack fails, the carrier will often argue wear and tear, or deny for long-term seepage. Camera inspection, dated photographs, and plumber invoices establish whether the loss was sudden, and a documented sudden failure is a different claim than a maintenance issue.
Fire and smoke in hotels, restaurants, and mixed-use buildings
A hospitality corridor with more than 130,000 hotel rooms sees kitchen, electrical, and mechanical fires. The visible burn is the small part of the claim. Smoke and soot migration through HVAC, water damage from suppression, code-required upgrades, and the days the property could not operate are the lines that need documentation before cleanup erases the evidence.
Business interruption is a separate, documented claim
While a hotel, restaurant, office, or retail space sits closed for repairs, the income it stops earning is generally a separate covered loss with its own records requirement. In a metro this dependent on hospitality and tourism, it is frequently the largest and most under-claimed line on the file. Booking data, lease records, and payroll documents build it.
Building-wide causation protects an association claim
Carriers routinely scope the units or rooms with visible water and stop there. A properly documented association claim traces the water's path and the wind's path across the entire structure, including common elements, mechanical rooms, and areas that took water from the same event without obvious surface damage. Boards also carry a fiduciary duty, and minutes should show what the board did and when.
Repairs run through Orange County's Division of Building Safety
Roof repairs and replacements, including shingles, sheathing, and structural components, require a permit in unincorporated Orange County, and storm-repair permit types are issued within 24 hours with a complete application through FastTrack. Work done without a permit can affect insurance and resale. Code-required upgrades the permit triggers are exactly what ordinance-or-law coverage exists for, and they belong in the claim.
What decides a homeowner claim in Orlando.
Inland flooding is Orlando's real risk, and few homes are covered for it
With only 1.5 percent of Orlando households carrying flood insurance when Ian hit, most homeowners who took on water were relying entirely on their standard property policy, which excludes flood. Documenting whether wind drove water into the structure before the flood line rose, with weather data and a room-by-room damage record, is often what separates a paid claim from a denied one.
The wind-versus-flood fight is won with evidence, not opinion
After Ian, flood insurers routinely called Orlando damage wind-caused while homeowners insurers called the same damage flood-caused, leaving owners caught between two denials. Establishing the sequence, wind first, water second, or the reverse, with documented timelines and damage patterns is usually the entire claim.
Tornado tracks add a second wind claim on top of flooding
Milton's October 2024 outbreak confirmed tornado tracks across East Central Florida on top of flooding and standard wind damage in Orange County. A tornado claim is a wind claim under a standard homeowner policy, but it needs its own documented record separate from any flood dispute running on the same file.
Underpaid Ian or Milton claims may still have options
Florida's notice and supplemental-claim deadlines are strict, and for most Ian and Milton losses those windows are closing or have passed. But if your claim was reported on time and remains open, underpaid, or disputed, avenues such as appraisal or referral to a property insurance attorney may still be available. A review tells you where you stand.
Orlando owners, boards, and managers: what they ask us.
Does the association or the unit owners file after a loss?
Generally both. The association claims the building, common elements, and shared mechanical systems under the master policy; owners claim their unit interiors under their own policies. Where water tracks unevenly through a building, coordinating the two claims and documenting exactly where water entered is what keeps either side from being shortchanged.
Can we recover the income we lost while a hotel, office, or commercial space was closed for repairs?
Generally yes, when the policy carries business income coverage. Loss of business income and, for a hospitality property, lost room revenue are typically covered for the reasonable period the property is being restored. If the closure stems from a loss the carrier disputes as excluded, the income claim gets pulled into the same fight, which is one more reason to nail down the cause before the revenue math is argued.
Our carrier says the cast iron pipe failure was wear and tear. Is that the end of it?
Not necessarily. Many policies exclude gradual deterioration but cover the sudden failure and the resulting damage, and some cover the cost to tear out and replace the part of the building needed to reach the failed pipe. Camera inspection footage, dated photos, and the plumber's report establish what failed and when. Read the exact exclusion the carrier cited before accepting the denial.
What does a presentation for our board or management company look like?
Thirty to forty-five minutes, in person or over lunch: what a public adjuster does, what Florida law requires of carriers, how associations protect themselves before and after a loss, and what proper documentation looks like. No cost and no obligation, and boards are welcome to bring their property manager and counsel.
Our flood insurer and our homeowners insurer are each blaming the other. What do we do?
This is the single most common dispute Orlando homeowners run into after Ian, and it is resolved with evidence, not with either carrier's opinion. Weather data, the sequence of wind and water, and a documented damage pattern establish what actually happened. Without that record, both carriers have an incentive to point at the other policy.
We did not have flood insurance. Is there anything we can claim?
Possibly. If wind drove water into the structure before flooding set in, or if wind alone caused separate, documentable damage, that portion may be covered under a standard homeowner policy even without flood coverage. It depends entirely on being able to show what the wind did on its own, which is why documentation matters more here than almost anywhere else in Florida.
We think our Ian or Milton settlement was too low. Is it too late to do anything?
It depends on when the claim was reported and where it stands now. Florida law set strict windows for new and supplemental hurricane claims, and for most Ian losses those have passed, with Milton windows closing. If your claim was timely reported and is still open or in dispute, options such as appraisal or a referral to a property insurance attorney may remain. We review it and tell you honestly whether anything can still be pursued.
Do you handle claims outside the city of Orlando, in Orange County?
Yes. We serve all of Orange County, including Winter Park, Apopka, Ocoee, Winter Garden, and the surrounding communities, plus neighboring Osceola, Polk, Lake, Seminole, Volusia, and Brevard counties. We are based in Sanford, minutes from most of Orange County.
General information only, not legal advice or a coverage determination. Coverage depends on your specific policy, the facts of your loss, and current Florida law.
General information only, not legal advice or a coverage determination. Coverage depends on your specific policy, the facts of your loss, and current Florida law.
Who we represent in Orlando.
Homeowners
Hurricane, wind, water, mold, and fire claims on Orlando homes, documented and pursued for full value.
Residential claims →Associations, Boards & Operators
Master-policy, common-element, and large-loss commercial claims for Orlando condominiums, HOAs, and multifamily operators.
Commercial claims →Claim types we handle in Orlando.
Claim guides for Orlando property owners
Plain-English answers from a Florida licensed public adjuster on the claim questions Orlando homeowners, boards, and commercial owners ask most.
Second Opinion on Your Insurance Settlement in FL | CCG
A second opinion on your Florida insurance settlement can confirm you are getting what your policy owes, or show you what the insurer missed. Get a free review from Coyne Commercial Group before you sign.
Read the guide →Emergency Mitigation After a Loss: Duties Clause | CCG
Your insurance policy requires emergency mitigation after a loss, but there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. Here's what Florida's duties clause actually asks of you, and how to protect your claim while you protect your property.
Read the guide →Insurance Bad Faith in Florida: What It Means | CCG
Learn what insurance bad faith means under Florida law, the warning signs after a denied or underpaid claim, and how a well-documented public adjuster claim file supports you either way.
Read the guide →A CAM's Guide to Proof of Loss in Florida | CCG Sanford
A community association manager carries real responsibility for the proof of loss form. Here is what every Florida CAM needs to get right.
Read the guide →Hurricane and wind claims/Plumbing and water damage claims/Condo and HOA boards/Property managers/Public adjusters in Lake Mary/Public adjusters in Sanford/All claim guides/Public adjuster FAQ
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Serving Orange County and the surrounding Osceola, Polk, Lake, Seminole, Volusia, Brevard county area.
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