Hurricane prep for Skye Ranch homeowners — a new-construction checklist

Skye Ranch is inland, but "inland Sarasota" still means Category-3 winds, 8+ inches of rain in a night, and 72-hour power outages. Your new-construction home is built to 2020s Florida Building Code — the strictest in the country — but code-compliant is not the same as storm-ready. Compliance gets you a house that stays standing. Ready gets you a house you can live in the day after landfall.

This is the checklist every Skye Ranch neighbor wishes they'd worked through before their first named-storm cone appeared over Sarasota.

Why "new construction" isn't the same as "storm-ready"

A brand-new Skye Ranch home has real advantages: hip roofs, hurricane clips or straps at every truss, impact-rated windows or shutters depending on your section, and a garage door engineered for design wind pressures. That's not the problem.

The problem is what's not installed by the builder: whole-house surge protection, a portable generator interlock, gutter guards, a water alarm, a sump for the lanai deck drain, and — critically — the paperwork you need to file an insurance claim without losing three weeks of your life. All of that is on you, and none of it is expensive if you do it before June.

Your 2-week-out checklist (do this in April)

Don't wait until a storm has a name. Two-week-out prep should be finished by the last week of May every year.

• Wind mitigation inspection on file with your insurer. Your new build qualifies for the biggest wind-mit credits in Florida (new roof, hip shape, hurricane straps, impact glazing). If your carrier doesn't have the OIR-B1-1802 form, you're paying more than you should. See Florida homeowners insurance for new construction for the full breakdown.
• Video walkthrough of every room. Narrate what's in each drawer, closet, and cabinet. Put it in cloud storage. This is the single most valuable claim-support document you'll ever record.
• Photograph the roof, gutters, and lanai screen from every angle. Save the date-stamped copies. If a claim ever gets denied for "pre-existing damage," this is your defense.
• Locate your water shutoff, gas shutoff, and main breaker. Put tags on them. Show every adult in the house.
• Check the garage-door bracing. Newer Skye Ranch homes have engineered doors, but bracing kits still exist for a reason — a garage-door failure is how most Florida homes get destroyed from the inside out.
• Trim the oaks and palms. Anything overhanging the roof, the pool cage, or the driveway. This is the job Sarasota tree services book solid the week a storm forms.
• Clean the gutters and downspouts. Six inches of rain in an hour will find every clog you have.

The paperwork to confirm now — not during the cone

Every Skye Ranch owner should have all of the following in one folder — physical, and mirrored in cloud storage:

• Homeowners policy declarations page (current)
• Flood policy declarations page (if you have one — Skye Ranch is Zone X but this is not the same as "no flood risk")
• Wind mitigation form (OIR-B1-1802)
• Four-point inspection report (usually unnecessary on a new build, but keep it)
• Closing documents and title policy
• Builder warranty terms (Taylor Morrison 1-2-10 details — see warranty vs your own pro — coming Month 3)
• Photos and receipts for major purchases

If your carrier can't cover Skye Ranch after a rate hike (this has happened to neighbors), have quotes on file from two backups. The insurance category page lists local independent agents who write in all major FL carriers.

Who to have on speed-dial

The pros who answer their phone at 6am after a storm are almost always small local operators — not the 800-number franchises. This is where being on a first-name basis with a Skye Ranch neighbor matters.

• Roof: Riley Roofing (resident-owned, insurance-familiar).
• Gutters and soffit: SOFlo Gutters of Florida for repairs and re-hanging after wind damage.
• Water mitigation and restoration: Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration for water intrusion, mold, and drywall repair. Call them within the first 24 hours; insurance drying-time requirements are strict.
• Handyman for punch-list damage: Board-ups, drywall patches, minor exterior repairs.
• Electrical: Jolt Electrical Services for surge damage, panel inspections, generator interlock installs.
• Insurance: State Farm — Andrew McConville and The Health Insurance Guy both handle FL homeowner claims and can walk you through the claim workflow live.

After the storm — what to inspect and document

Do this before you file anything and before you touch the roof:

1. Photograph everything, twice. Wide shots and close-ups. Every side of the house, every window, the roof (from the ground and, if safe, the second story). Every ceiling in every room. 2. Do not tarp until you've photographed. Yes, mitigate to prevent further damage. But photograph first. Insurance adjusters are trained to look for original-damage evidence, and a tarp buys you time but hides your claim. 3. Log every expense. Hotels, meals out because you have no power, ice, generator fuel, chainsaw rental. "Additional Living Expenses" (ALE) coverage is one of the most under-claimed pieces of a Florida policy. 4. Call your adjuster before your roofer. Not to file the claim yet — to timestamp the notification. Some carriers require notification within a set window even before the estimate comes in. 5. Get two independent estimates. If your first estimate is from a roofer who knocked on your door post-storm, get a second one from a resident-owned Skye Ranch pro.

The truth about generators, EVs, and your Skye Ranch power grid

FPL's Skye Ranch grid is newer than most of Sarasota — the neighborhood was built during the transition to hardened lines. That's good news: outages tend to be shorter than in older Palmer Ranch neighborhoods, and undergrounded distribution helps.

That said: any storm strong enough to knock out substations will still take Skye Ranch down for 24-72 hours. What that means practically:

• A portable generator with a transfer switch (or interlock kit on your panel — must be installed by a licensed FL electrician) is the sweet spot for most new-build owners. Whole-home standby generators are wonderful, but $12-18k installed, and payback in Sarasota is longer than most people expect.
• If you own an EV, the F-150 Lightning / Ioniq 5 / Kia EV9 can back-feed your fridge and internet for 2-3 days on a full charge with the right hardware. Not a substitute for a generator, but a useful bridge.
• Never run a generator inside the garage. Not "with the door open." Not "for just a minute." This is the leading cause of hurricane-season fatalities in Florida every single year.

Common myths — quick corrections

• "Skye Ranch is inland, we won't flood." Zone X means the FEMA statistical risk of a 1-in-100-year flood is under 1%. It does not mean water can't stand in your lanai or intrude through a failed door seal.
• "Taylor Morrison's warranty covers storm damage." No. Storm damage is an insurance claim, not a warranty claim. The 1-2-10 covers workmanship and structural — not acts of God.
• "I don't need shutters, I have impact glass." Check every opening. Some Skye Ranch elevations have a mix; a single non-impact opening (usually a garage entry door) is the weakest link.
• "The HOA will send someone." The HOA covers common areas. Everything from your lot line inward is you.

FAQ — what neighbors ask most

See the FAQ block below for the specific questions we get every June.

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