5 Homebuilders, 4 Evaluators Honored

TAMPA, Fla., July 11, 2018 – Stronger, resilient homes are edging into the mainstream across America and more homebuilders are embracing construction techniques that are proven to withstand Mother Nature’s severe weather events.

In recognition of the homebuilders who have voluntarily embraced FORTIFIED Home™ building standards for their valued customers, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) is honoring the nine recipients of its third annual FORTIFIED Home Volume Awards. This year’s award winners include five homebuilders and four certified FORTIFIED Home Evaluators.

“The award recognizes our honorees’ commitment to building stronger, safer and more durable homes,” said Fred Malik, vice president of IBHS’s FORTIFIED Home program. “It also demonstrates that this construction standard is readily available, affordable and absolutely the most prudent decision for consumers either building new homes, or retrofitting existing homes, in areas that are at risk for high-wind weather events such as hurricanes and tornadoes.”

Malik added, “All of our award winners are making a real-world impact by enabling local communities to be more resilient to severe weather and setting a benchmark for their industry peers to follow.”

This year’s FORTIFIED Home Volume Award honorees received either a Crown Award, Crystal Award or Spotlight Award. The threshold for earning a Crown Award is to build or evaluate 1,000 or more FORTIFIED homes in a single year. The threshold for earning a Crystal Award is to build or evaluate 500 or more FORTIFIED homes in a single year while the Spotlight Award is building or evaluating 100 or more FORTIFIED homes in a single year.

Winners of the third annual IBHS FORTIFIED Home Volume Awards, based on the number of FORTIFIED homes built or evaluated in 2017, are:

Homebuilders

• D.R. Horton Inc. – Mobile/Baldwin County, Ala., Division, Crown Award, 1,130 homes

• Truland Homes, Daphne, Ala., Spotlight Award, 278 homes

• Ben Murphy Company, Foley, Ala., Spotlight Award, 262 homes

• DSLD Homes, Daphne, Ala., Spotlight Award, 240 homes

• Foster Contracting, Mobile, Ala., Spotlight Award, 228 homes

Certified FORTIFIED Home Evaluators

• Bethel Engineering Inc., Mobile, Ala., Crown Award, 1,969 homes

• Knockout Home Inspections, Fairhope, Ala., Crystal Award, 538 homes

• Disaster Smart Consulting Inc., Cantonment, Fla., Spotlight Award, 283 homes

• Gulf Coast Home Inspections Inc., Fairhope, Ala., Spotlight Award, 152 homes

Bethel Engineering, Disaster Smart Consulting, D.R. Horton and Truland Homes earned a FORTIFIED Home Volume Award for the third consecutive year, while the other five honorees are first-time award winners.

“As the national standard for resilient construction, our FORTIFIED Home program is based on extensive science-based testing of engineering and building standards designed to make new and existing homes stronger, safer and better able to withstand severe weather impacts,” Malik said.

He continued, “An additional benefit of our program is that independent third-party evaluators, trained and certified by IBHS, inspect every FORTIFIED home before, during and after construction to ensure it is compliant with our program requirements.”

Please visit fortifiedhome.org to learn more about IBHS’s FORTIFIED Home program, future training opportunities, how to begin the designation process, how to identify a certified FORTIFIED Evaluator, and other valuable resources. Video testimonials of Alabama homeowners discussing their positive experiences with FORTIFIED homes are available to media members upon request.