Elevation Certificates on Long Island: Optional for Rating, Not Risk-Free

Last reviewed: July 2026

TL;DR

An Elevation Certificate (EC) is no longer required to buy NFIP flood coverage under FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0 methodology. FEMA estimates your building's elevation itself. You can still submit an EC to see whether it changes your rate, but FEMA's own FAQ language stops short of guaranteeing it can only lower your premium, so confirm with your agent before you spend money on one. A lesser-known FEMA option, Section E of the same form, lets a property owner or agent determine First Floor Height without hiring a licensed surveyor in some cases. Separately, your town's building department may still require a current EC for a permit on new construction or major renovation in a flood zone, regardless of what NFIP rating requires.

Optional

An Elevation Certificate is no longer required to purchase NFIP coverage under FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0

$400-750

Typical market cost for a licensed elevation certificate, per general cost data (not Long Island-specific)

Section E

A self-service FEMA option that can skip the licensed-surveyor requirement in some cases

You probably don't need one to buy coverage

Before Risk Rating 2.0, an Elevation Certificate was often the difference between a rough premium estimate and an accurate one. That changed. Per FEMA's own Risk Rating 2.0 FAQ, "an Elevation Certificate (EC) will no longer be required to purchase coverage." Instead, FEMA uses its own mapping data, models, and tools to estimate a building's elevation and price the policy from that.

You can still choose to get one. FEMA's FAQ describes a property owner submitting an EC to their NFIP insurer "to determine if it will affect their rate." That is a real option, not a requirement, and it's worth understanding what it actually promises before you pay for it.

How FEMA actually uses elevation data

Under Risk Rating 2.0, elevation feeds three separate rating variables: elevation relative to the flooding source (your building's lowest adjacent grade compared to the average water surface elevation of the nearest flood source), Local Relative Elevation (your lowest adjacent grade compared to the surrounding ground within roughly a 500-meter square), and First Floor Height, the height of your lowest floor above that adjacent grade.

To determine First Floor Height, FEMA's rating engine first looks for a licensed-professional-certified EC (the form's Section C). If none exists, it falls back to a proprietary CoreLogic elevation tool, and if that has no data either, it falls back further to conservative assumptions based on your foundation type. If you do provide an EC, FEMA compares it against whichever of the other two methods would apply and uses whichever produces the highest First Floor Height for you.

Here's the part most consumer guides skip: Section E of the same Elevation Certificate form can also be used to determine First Floor Height, in any flood zone, without a licensed surveyor. It can be completed by the property owner, an insurance agent, or a community official, as long as the same person also completes Section F, and photographs are still required. This exists specifically to reduce the time and cost of getting elevation data into the system when a full survey (Section C) isn't available or worth the expense.

The honest tradeoff: it might not be risk-free

A lot of what's written about elevation certificates online describes submitting one as a one-way bet: it can only lower your premium or leave it unchanged, never raise it. We went looking for that guarantee directly in FEMA's own Risk Rating 2.0 FAQ and couldn't find it. FEMA's actual language is narrower: a policyholder "may acquire an Elevation Certificate... and submit it to their NFIP insurer to determine if it will lower their premium." That's a description of a possible outcome, not an explicit promise about what happens if the data comes back worse than FEMA's own estimate.

This matters because FEMA's own estimate, using its models and the CoreLogic tool, might already be more favorable to you than a survey would show. If your home sits lower relative to the base flood elevation than FEMA assumed, a certified EC could reveal that. We are not telling you this will raise your rate. We are telling you we could not confirm it won't, and you should ask your agent that exact question, in writing, before paying $400 to $2,000 for a survey you don't need to buy coverage.

What it costs

We don't have a Long Island-specific cost figure. General market data puts a professionally completed elevation certificate (the full, licensed-surveyor Section C version) at roughly $400 to $750, averaging around $600, with more complex sites or larger buildings running up to $2,000. A licensed land surveyor, professional engineer, or certified architect authorized to certify elevation information can complete one. Get quotes from a few local surveyors, since site access, distance, and building complexity all move the price.

The Section E self-service option described above has no licensing fee, since it doesn't require a licensed professional, but it only applies to determining First Floor Height in the absence of surveyed elevations, not as a general substitute for a full survey.

When a certificate is still required, even if rating doesn't need one

Insurance rating and local floodplain management are two separate systems that both happen to use the same document. FEMA's FAQ notes that Elevation Certificates "will also continue to be used for floodplain management building requirements," which can affect eligibility for Community Rating System discounts in participating communities.

In practice, this means many NFIP-participating communities still require a current elevation certificate as a condition of a building permit for new construction or a substantial improvement inside a mapped flood zone, entirely apart from whether NFIP rating requires one. That requirement comes from local code, not from FEMA's insurance rules, and it varies town by town on Long Island. If you're building, raising, or substantially renovating a home in a flood zone, check with your local building department before assuming Risk Rating 2.0's "optional" rule applies to your permit.

What this means for your policy

Flood coverage itself doesn't depend on this. A homeowners policy excludes flood everywhere on Long Island, and a separate NFIP or private policy is mandatory in mapped AE/VE zones with a federally backed mortgage, regardless of whether you submit an elevation certificate. Start with our flood insurance guide.

Get the rate answer before you pay. Ask your agent in writing what would happen to your specific premium in both directions before ordering a survey. Our flood zone map shows your ZIP's mapped zones and claims history as useful context, though your address-level determination always comes from FEMA's own lookup at msc.fema.gov.

If the market says no. An elevation certificate affects rate, not eligibility. A non-renewal or decline routes through C-MAP if you're in the eligible coastal band, then NYPIUA as the fallback. Our non-renewal action plan and C-MAP and NYPIUA guide cover the sequence and deadlines.

Carriers. Appetite varies by property, elevation, and claims history, and it shifts often. We do not publish carrier lists because they go stale. An independent agent who writes flood coverage regularly can tell you what an EC would actually mean for your specific address.

Weighing whether to get an elevation certificate?

Tell us your flood zone, whether you're buying, building, or already insured, and what prompted the question. Insurance Guide NY is not an insurance agency or carrier. We don't sell policies or provide binding quotes.

Check your coverage options

Tell us about your situation. We'll follow up with information relevant to your property and ZIP code. We don't sell policies or provide binding quotes.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an elevation certificate to buy flood insurance?

No. Under FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0 methodology, an Elevation Certificate (EC) is no longer required to purchase NFIP coverage. FEMA uses its own tools and resources to estimate a building's elevation data instead. An EC becomes relevant only if you choose to submit one to see whether it changes your rate.

Can an elevation certificate raise my flood insurance premium?

We looked directly at FEMA's own Risk Rating 2.0 FAQ for this and could not find language that explicitly guarantees a submitted EC can only lower your rate and never raise it. FEMA's own wording says a property owner may submit one "to determine if it will affect" or "lower" the premium, which is more cautious than the flat "can only help, never hurt" claim you'll see repeated on some industry sites. Ask your agent directly what happens to your specific rate before you submit one, rather than assuming the outcome.

Do I need to hire a surveyor to get an elevation certificate?

Not always. A fully certified EC (Section C) requires a licensed land surveyor, professional engineer, or certified architect. But per FEMA's own technical guidance, Section E of the same form, used to determine First Floor Height in the absence of surveyed elevations, can be completed by the property owner, an insurance agent, or a community official, with no license required, as long as the same person also completes Section F. Photographs are required either way.

What does an elevation certificate cost on Long Island?

We don't have a Long Island-specific cost source. General market data puts a professionally completed elevation certificate at roughly $400 to $750, averaging around $600, with complex sites or larger buildings running higher, up to $2,000. Get quotes from a few licensed local surveyors before committing, since site complexity and travel distance both affect the price.

If Risk Rating 2.0 doesn't require an elevation certificate, why would I still need one?

Insurance rating and local floodplain management are two different systems. Many NFIP-participating communities still require a current elevation certificate as a condition of a building permit for new construction or a substantial improvement inside a mapped flood zone. That requirement comes from local floodplain management code, not from NFIP's rating rules, and it varies by town. Check with your local building department before you assume either way.

What if a carrier won't write my Long Island home?

An elevation certificate doesn't change your eligibility for coverage, only potentially your rate. If a carrier has non-renewed or declined you, work the standard sequence: an independent agent who writes flood coverage regularly, then C-MAP if you're in the eligible band with a non-renewal or cancellation notice, then NYPIUA as the fallback for wind. Suffolk and Nassau County NYPIUA policies carry a 2% hurricane deductible under current product information. Our non-renewal action plan lays out the deadlines.