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Property insurers are under growing pressure to do more with less. The risks are increasing, regulatory expectations are rising, and the margin for error keeps shrinking. In regions where wildfire, hail, and wind are intensifying, the question becomes even more urgent: how can carriers continue writing business in high-exposure areas while managing loss ratios and navigating compliance?
The challenge becomes even more complex when the homes involved are in remote locations. These properties are often far from city infrastructure, difficult to inspect, and lack consistent, structured data. That’s the reality one regional carrier faced.
Their book included thousands of rural properties, many of them manufactured homes on private land across states like Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, as well as other regions they serve nationwide. Each presented its own underwriting hurdles, from ambiguous fire protection data to increased storm exposure and aging roof systems.
To remain active in these areas and grow responsibly, the team knew they needed a more precise way to evaluate risk at the individual property level. Broad rules were no longer enough, and legacy models designed for urban density offered little support.
The Manufactured Home Challenge: Rural, Exposed, and Hard to Inspect
Standard Casualty has specialized in insuring manufactured and modular homes for decades, serving policyholders across a wide range of states, including Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. It’s a segment that brings unique challenges, particularly when it comes to visibility and data.
“Many of the properties we insure are located in rural areas with little to no street-level data,” said Rick Smith, Underwriting Manager at Standard Casualty.
“Some are difficult to geocode. Others are so remote that a physical on-site inspection can be challenging or expensive.”
In states like Arizona and New Mexico, many homes fall within or near the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where wildfire exposure is increasing. In Texas, hail and wind are persistent threats. And across all markets, aging structures and outdated roof data complicate rating and eligibility decisions.
The team recognized they couldn’t rely solely on fire zones or broad peril maps. They needed more nuanced, property-specific data to support confident decision-making at scale.
Getting the Full Picture, Even Without a Site Visit
“One of the big innovations for us is the availability of aerial photography,” Smith explained. “We’re seeing a lot more of our risks located in remote areas. They’re either very difficult to find or it’s very expensive to do an on-site inspection. Aerial photography really solves that problem for us.”
Using ZestyAI’s platform, the team now accesses high-resolution aerial and oblique imagery, property-specific peril scores, and roof condition insights, without always requiring physical inspections.
ZestyAI works with all the major aerial imagery providers, giving underwriters access to a broader range of coverage and more recent images than any single source could offer. That means more properties are visible, more clearly, and more often.
“We can actually accomplish through aerial photography what we can do through an on-site inspection, at a fraction of the cost, which is really important for us."
If a structure is misidentified or not aligned, underwriters can reposition the property tag themselves.
“With the ZestyAI platform, it’s very easy."
We can simply move the identifier tag with our mouse onto the correct building, click a button, and it automatically reruns the scoring and the evaluation,” Smith said.
Aerial views also improve their ability to assess roof condition and wildfire vulnerability. “Sometimes the current photo may have been taken late in the day, and there are shadows on the roof. We can back up to a photo taken six months earlier and get a clearer picture of what’s going on.”
Risk Differentiation at the Parcel Level
ZestyAI’s approach stood out by combining hazard probability with structure-specific vulnerability.
“For every peril — wildfire, hail, or wind — we now get two things,” said Smith. “First, the probability of the event occurring at that location. Second, the expected severity if it does."
"That allows us to say: these two homes are in the same neighborhood, but only one is truly high-risk.”
This dual scoring model, based on climate science and property characteristics, allows the team to evaluate each property on its own merits. “That kind of granularity is really a game changer for us in terms of underwriting,” Smith added.
Beyond Underwriting: A New Frontier in Rating and Renewal
ZestyAI’s insights also support dynamic pricing and renewals. Rather than relying on static or annual updates, risk scores adjust continuously based on the most recent information available — from new aerial imagery and roof condition changes to building permits and property improvements.
“We’re not just using the model once and forgetting it,” Smith said. “The scoring gets augmented, and as a result, the premium gets augmented as well. That means our pricing reflects current risk — not just what we assumed at inception.”
Because the models are approved for use in both underwriting and pricing, Standard Casualty can incorporate granular risk insights into its rating approach, streamlining the process of keeping rates aligned with actual conditions.
“It would take months of actuarial and analytical work to try to get to that level of granularity. And this is happening instantaneously as we renew our business.”
Retention Through Mitigation: A Smarter Approach to Non-Renewals
While many insurers are pulling back or issuing non-renewals in high-peril regions, Standard Casualty has taken a different approach: empowering policyholders to reduce their risk and stay insured.
“We can run the property eight months ahead of renewal,” Smith explained. “If we see wildfire vulnerability, we don’t just cancel. We notify the policyholder, show them what needs to change — defensible space, roof repairs, vegetation removal — and give them a chance to improve. That’s how we retain the risk and still operate responsibly.”
This proactive strategy improves retention, builds customer trust, and advances the company’s mission: improving lives by providing affordable coverage.
“This is the direction we need to go as an industry,” Smith emphasized. “We need to help policyholders understand the importance of mitigation and give them guidance so their costs — and everyone’s losses — are reduced.”
Built to Scale: Regulatory Readiness That Grows With You
One often overlooked barrier to adopting new risk models is regulatory complexity. For Standard Casualty, this was a key factor in choosing ZestyAI.
“We looked at a lot of vendors,” said Smith.
“But ZestyAI stood out because they were already approved in the states we care about and had a clear filing strategy for others.”
That alignment means the team can expand into new markets without rebuilding processes from scratch. The same tools and workflows that support Texas can be applied in Arizona, New Mexico, or future states, streamlining both operations and compliance.
“The Right Tools. The Right Decisions. The Right Time.”
As carriers navigate mounting loss pressure, tighter margins, and rising expectations from regulators and policyholders alike, Smith believes one thing will separate those who retreat from those who adapt:
“ZestyAI gives us the right tools to make the right decisions at the right time. That’s what allows us to write in places other carriers are leaving. That’s how we grow profitably, even in high-risk territories.”