Homeowners Jeffrey and Alicia Duncan of Daphne, at left, will reduce their homeowners insurance by retrofitting their house against strong storm winds. At far right is Carl Schneider, founder of Smart Home Alabama, which is helping to retrofit the Duncan house. (Press-Register/Mike Kittrell)
DAPHNE, Alabama – Jeffrey and Alicia Duncan will save an estimated $1,600 a year on insurance costs after their Daphne home is retrofitted to be safer and stronger in storm winds.
That’s good news for the couple, who said they had paid $2,700 a year to protect their 2,100-square-foot home in Lake Forest before their insurer dropped them earlier this year as part of a larger withdrawal from the coastal market.
They found replacement coverage for $3,700 a year after consulting with the nonprofit Smart Home Alabama. They also got a bonus — an offer to make their home more storm-resistant at no charge.
With a grant from State Farm and donations of time and product from local engineers, builders and vendors, Smart Home Alabama will upgrade three local homes starting this month.
“Retrofitting these houses will get the word out about the Fortified existing home program,” said Carl Schneider of Schneider Insurance Agency in Mobile. He founded Smart Home Alabama, which seeks to educate people on fortified construction and develop partnerships to improve the insurance marketplace.
“We want the Fortified home program to be cost effective and accepted by the building trades and consumers,” he said.
Fortified for Safer Living is a program developed by the Institute for Business & Home Safety, or IBHS, a nonprofit funded by the insurance industry to advocate for stronger construction in both new and existing homes. It sets standards that, when met, will often qualify a home or business for discounts from property insurers.
The retrofits on the Duncan house — which will meet the silver Fortified designation — should cut the couple’s insurance cost to $2,100 a year or less, Schneider said.
Insurers typically provide discounts for three levels of strengthening work, according to Smart Home Alabama and Disaster Smart Inspection Consulting. A bronze rating, which earns a 10 percent discount, can normally be accomplished by retrofitting the roof to meet the standard. A silver rating, which qualifies for a 15 percent discount, addresses the load path from the roof into the wall system and openings such as the doors and windows. A gold rating, which earns up to a 25 percent discount, is most typical in new homes, not retrofits.
Most homes don’t have the kind of roof system that qualifies for discounts. What’s needed is a secondary water barrier, so that if the roof blows off in a storm, there is a back-up underneath to prevent water damage, according to IBHS.
Consumers often think that if their home is built to code that it automatically qualifies as a Fortified house, and that is not the case, said Darius Grimes, president of Disaster Smart Inspection Consulting in Cantonment, Fla.
“You have to do extra things such as have a sealed roof deck, and on a 2,400-square-foot house, that can average $400 to $500.”
Future stories in the Press-Register will look at the roof system, the installation of hurricane shutters and new construction methods. For more information go to smarthomealabama.org; ibhs.org or disaster-smart.com.
“We’re talking to builders now and trying to get every new house built in Mobile and Baldwin counties an automatic gold,” said Grimes. “We figure the impact to new construction costs are $500 to $1,500 depending on the house.”
Advocates say that building stronger homes can help the insurance marketplace along the Alabama coast, where more than 50,000 wind policies have been non-renewed since 2004′s Hurricane Ivan.
“If we can get 20 percent of the homeowners in the Mobile metro area to retrofit their homes, more insurance companies will come back into the market and rates will be more competitive,” said Dwayne Smith, an engineer and vice president of Waverly Restoration Services in Daphne.
Smith and Brad Vegas of Waverly are overseeing the work on the three houses chosen by Smart Home Alabama. Vegas is also building his new house in TimberCreek in Daphne to meet the gold Fortified designation.
“Right now, if you don’t do (Fortified) in new construction, you’re nuts,” Smith said. “The additional cost is minimal. And it will soon get to the point that if you don’t at least consider it for an existing home, you will get penalized by insurance companies.”
Alicia Duncan, a teacher at Roberstdale Elementary School, said that the hike in insurance cost added a big chunk to the couple’s monthly house payment.
“We bought in a modest-priced neighborhood and we expected to pay a modest mortgage,” she said.
Retrofitting the Duncan house will include a new roof with a secondary water barrier and fabric screens on all the windows and doors. Hardware is installed at window and door openings, and the homeowners will put the screens up before a storm hits. The screens are lightweight and can be rolled up and stored easily, according to Smith.
You can help by getting involved, to learn more please download our brochure
Darius Grimes of Disaster Smart Inspection Consulting [and Smart Home America] in Cantonment, Fla., did a report on the home of Anita Cannon, shown above, and her mother, Flora. The house in Spanish Fort, Alabama will get a new roof and other upgrades to earn a fortified for safer living designaton that will cut the Cannon’s insurance costs by half. (Press-Register/John David Mercer)