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Resiliency Benefits: Why Resilient Construction Pays Off

The Financial Value of Building for Survivability and Insurability 

Resilient construction isn’t just about safety – it’s about breaking the costly cycle of build-damage-rebuild. In hurricane, tornado, hail, and wildfire areas, building stronger from the start saves money, reduces losses, and speeds recovery.  

Resilient standards like FORTIFIED and Wildfire Prepared deliver proven economic benefits for homeowners, businesses, insurers, and entire communities. 

Increasing Severe Weather Costs 

Severe weather is becoming more frequent, more catastrophic, and more expensive. Sixty percent of the ten costliest U.S. disasters occurred between 2016 and 2025, including the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. 

Why It Matters 

Proactive resilience for our homes and businesses reduces devastating economic impacts that affect individuals and families, small and large businesses, local economies, local and state government budgets. 

The Case for Survivability and Insurability 

There is strong evidence for the economic benefits of resilient construction and retrofit practices that enhance the survivability and insurability of homes and commercial buildings. After disasters, these practices help: 

  • Keep families housed 
  • Keep small businesses open 
  • Keep workers employed 
  • Maintain local economic activity 
  • Protect local and state budgets through a stable tax base 

These are outcomes every community wants—and deserves. With smart, science-based policies and investments, they are also achievable. For more economic data and research on resilient construction practices, check out our Wildfire Policy and Wind Policy pages.  

How Individuals Benefit from Resilient Construction 

Homes must be built or upgraded to withstand severe weather and wildfire. Proven solutions—like FORTIFIED and Wildfire Prepared standards—are both affordable and effective.  

  • Cost: New single-family homes can meet FORTIFIED Roof or Wildfire Prepared standards for only a few thousand dollars more.  
  • Benefits:   
    • Better durability & long-term financial benefits 
    • Reduced damage from severe weather 
    • Lower repair costs and fewer insurance claims 
    • Fewer deductibles paid
    • Quicker return to livable conditions after disasters  

Research shows homeowners in resilient homes built to modern building codes are less likely to fall behind on mortgages after disasters. 

Insurance Access and Affordability 

Resilient homes are also more likely to qualify for property insurance—often within the admitted market—avoiding more expensive and limited options like FAIR plans or other insurers of last resort. In many states, insurers may offer price considerations for homes built or retrofitted to withstand severe weather.  

  • Click here for a list of insurance price considerations by state 


Higher Resale Value 

Homes built to the FORTIFIED standard have been shown to sell for more than comparable homes built with typical construction standards—providing a direct return on investment from resilience.  

  • Check out the University of Alabama’s resale value assessment of FORTIFIED homes 

How Small Businesses Benefit from Resilient Construction 

Small businesses are often the hardest hit in disasters—facing closures, layoffs, and long recovery times. The Small Business Administration (SBA) estimates 90% fail to reopen after being struck by a disaster. 

  • Resilient construction helps essential businesses—like grocery stores, pharmacies, laundromats, delis, and food banks stay open when communities need them the most.  
  • Each day these essential services are closed after a storm put residents at risk: 
    • Seniors without access to prescriptions 
    • Families are unable to reach local food banks  
    • Communities lose access to trusted, local resources  
  • Example: Resilient workforce housing plays a critical role in small business recovery. If workers lose their homes, businesses lose their employees.  
    • During Hurricane Harvey, Port Aransas, TX lost all workforce housing, forcing residents out, crippling school enrollment, and businesses struggled to recover. As the mayor explained, a new housing project was vital: “It helps our businesses. It helps our schools. It helps us all around.”  

 

  • Read how proactive investment in resilience can save communities money in this U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation report 

 

The Role of Resilient Commercial Construction  

By investing in resilient construction and retrofits: 

  • Commercial buildings can survive and reopen quickly 
  • Essential goods and services remain available during and after disasters 
  • Workers have homes and keep jobs  
  • Local economies stay active and stable. 

Resilient construction isn’t just about protecting buildings – it’s about keeping communities functioning when it matters most.  

How Communities Benefit 

Resilient buildings help preserve local and state tax bases, which fund schools, libraries, emergency response, trash/recycling services, public transit, and parks. Without resilience, disasters cause: 

  • Widespread displacement: residents are driven from their homes 
  • Workers lose jobs and businesses shut down
  • Shrinking tax revenues: typically funded through sales, property, and income taxes. As a result, local and state governments may struggle to deliver the services people rely on every day.  

Resilient construction (new and existing) keeps:  

  • Homes and businesses intact 
  • People and jobs in place 
  • Government services operating (preserving the tax base) 
  • See this study on how hurricanes impact local tax revenues and public services.  

 

Examples: The Economic Case for Survivable Housing 

A selection of studies shows that resilient construction delivers strong financial returns for homeowners, businesses, communities, insurers, and governments: 

Wildfire-Resistant Construction 

  • IBHS + Headwaters Economics (2022) – Examined the cost of building more wildfire-resistant homes in California and found vulnerable areas of the home can be mitigated for less than $3,000 during new construction. 
  • Application of Wildfire Mitigation to Insured Property Exposure (2020) – A study by NAIC, RMS, and IBHS found that structural modifications can reduce wildfire risk up to 40%, and structural and vegetation modifications combined can reduce wildfire risk up to 75%. 
  • Building a Wildfire-Resistant Home: Codes and Costs (2018) – A study by IBHS and Headwaters Economics found negligible cost differences between typical homes and those constructed with wildfire-resistant materials and designs. 

Hurricane & Wind Resilience 

  • Performance of IBHS FORTIFIED Home Construction in Hurricane Sally (2025) – A study by the Center for Risk and Insurance Research (CRIR) at the University of Alabama examined over 40,000 properties affected by Hurricane Sally. Found FORTIFIED homes outperformed by more than 50%, were 70% less likely to have an insurance claim, and saw 22% less severe damage. 
  • Making Section 8 Housing FORTIFIED (2024) – An IBHS study explores opportunities to enhance the resilience of Section 8 multifamily and single-family housing in the Atlantic and Gulf coast regions. It estimates that retrofitting these properties with a FORTIFIED Roof could reduce losses by 30-50%. 

 

Broad Economic Impacts 

  • The Preparedness Payoff: The Economic Benefits of Investing in Climate Resilience (2024) – A joint study by Allstate, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that every $1 spent on climate resilience and preparedness saves communities $13 in damages, cleanup recovery costs, and lost economic impact. 
  • Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2019 Report (2019) – A National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) study found that adopting the latest building codes is affordable and saves $11 per $1 invested. While building codes set minimum requirements to protect life safety, NIBS also found stricter requirements can cost-effectively boost life safety and speed functional recovery. For example, beyond-code designs, like IBHS’s FORTIFIED program, can result in savings of $4 per $1in cost. In the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, building to FORTIFIED standards could save $3.8 billion per year, with some benefit-cost ratios over 16:1. In the manufactured housing context, the study also found that private-sector retrofits for hurricanes could save society $140 billion at a cost of $24 billion—a 6:1 benefit-cost ratio from retrofitting 3 million single-family dwellings and 130,000 manufactured homes.