Insurance agents from around the world, welcome to the Insurance Guys Podcast.
My name is Scott Howell, your fearless host and leader, insurance agents, the owner and insurance evangelist for iProtect Insurance and Financial Services based out of Huntsville, Alabama.
And before we get started on today's episode, please help me welcome.He is a six foot three sophomore from Mobile, Alabama.Parade first team All-American, Rivals five star recruit.He is a fantastic insurance agent and a great American.
Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together and welcome the incomparable Mr. Bradley Flowers.How are you, Bradley?
I'm great, Scott.How are you today?
Best I've ever been.Folks, I am in Mobile, Alabama today. Bradley, I have got to tell this story.I've been waiting weeks to tell this story on the podcast.
And I want to tell it for this particular guest, because today we're going to talk about fortified construction on the coast and the difference between that and normal building techniques, possibly in the Midwest and a lot of different things.
So for those of you that know, the last time I came down here to podcast, my beautiful wife and I stayed at a condominium on the beach.
Oh, I know what story this is.
And here's the part of the story that nobody knew.Thursday night, so we had been, I think we were finished podcasting maybe Tuesday or Wednesday.Thursday night, we'd come off the beach.
I'd been, as an expert beach shark fisherman, I had been shark fishing and she had been looking for rocks and crabs and we came in.It was about nine o'clock and she went and got in the shower.When we rented through Airbnb,
this condominium that was in just one of the condos along the Gulf Coast in Orange Beach, the very first thing I thought of when we got in that condo was, I have never gotten into a shower that is that high off of the floor, okay?
Yes, it was nine, well I ended up measuring it, it was nine inches from the ground. It was almost like they built up around whatever was there.Well, I had walked out on the back balcony, and I was sitting there.
And I knew she had gotten in the shower.And all of a sudden, I get a phone call.And it's her.And she goes, hey, can you come in here?I need some help.Something's happened.I turn around.I open the sliding glass door.
She is now laying in the kitchen floor, naked, And Bradley, there is a trail of blood that is a foot wide all the way from the bathroom into the kitchen.My wife stepped out of that shower, which was nine inches high.
And later on, I found out that through the International Building Code, there really is not.
a limit there's a there's a minimum there's a minimum but there's not a maximum height of how high a shower so they could build it so high you would have to pole vault to get in there they could because think about this and here's what they said when i called them i called the building inspection department for the city of orange beach to find this out and the building inspector head building inspector goes well think about it like this when you're in a bathtub
You know, like one of those old back-ups.How far are you having to step down?That's true.So, my wife slips getting out and she had left the bathroom door that swung inwards.It swung into the bathroom.She had left that door open.
And when she slipped out of that shower, her right foot slipped out from under her and she did the splits. And her big toe caught the door facing and exploded.
And that's how you said the doctor described it, right?
It exploded.That's the only way I can describe it.It just exploded.
it grace of god my wife is married to a man who has a ambulance level first aid backpack y'all that's the part i thought was the funniest is you had a full first aid kit no no no no no there's a first aid kit this is not a first aid kit this is a
Backpack, a big backpack, like you'd see an ambulance guy jump out of an ambulance and grab to a car wreck.I can stop blood.I've got the pellets that actually stop blood from a gunshot wound.I've got every type of gauze, everything, sutures.
I've got everything you need.I get that thing under control that night. We go to Baldwin County Medical Center the next morning, they unwrap it in the emergency room and they're like, oh yeah, we're gonna soak this and wrap it back up.
You need surgery. So we go back to Huntsville to TOC, which is a big surgical place, and they have an expert that does nothing but toe and foot surgery, almost like plastic surgery.
Bradley, they had to basically reconstruct her entire big toe. And we filed a claim because she had purchased accident insurance with Airbnb.
And it was through a company called, I can't remember that, it starts with a G, like Gia Barley or something like that. Gerania, I believe.
They still have not paid the claim.
Well, you have to keep us updated on that.
Yeah, I just wanted to tell you guys what happened.Anyway, we have got somebody on the show today that I am intensely interested in talking to for a lot of you people that don't know what goes on in Alabama.
We have Scott that lives in the north part of Alabama that doesn't have to deal with this as much.But for Bradley Flowers and all you coastal agents, this is a big deal.So I want to give her the introduction that she's always deserved.
She was born and raised in Hamden, Connecticut, and she currently resides in Fairhope, Alabama.She is partners with Kelly, and she's a graduate of Springfield College.
She is also the very first person to build a fortified home in the state of Alabama. She's worked for the Insurance Institute of Business and Home Safety and is the Fortified Market Development Manager for the last 10 years, since 2014.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome first-time guest to the IGP, Ms.Alex Carey.How are you, Alex?
Oh, thank you for being here.I've got so many questions for you. You know, I live from my front door to Kid Rock's bar on Broadway Street in downtown Nashville.I can be parked and I can be inside his bar from my front door of my house in two hours.
Exactly two hours.For Bradley, he is six hours from me on the coast of Alabama.And having lived 52 years on this big spinning rock,
I know that the construction standards for coastal communities, and now that we have a hurricane every three weeks, it's somewhere in the United States of America.
Now more than ever, it is important for these insurance agents to understand what fortified construction is, how it differs from
You know, standard building code.
Joe Simpson building a house in Kentucky or somewhere, right?Talk to us a little bit about Fortified and kind of tell us how it got started and bring us up to the day.
Yeah, sure thing.So you are absolutely correct.It is becoming more important than ever.And we have more interest in the program today than we have ever had.So Fortified was developed by
Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety referred to ourselves as IBHS.
It was developed by IBHS to address losses from disasters like hurricanes, but also like, you know, severe convective storms and derechos and things that are really on the increase even in your neck of the woods in North Alabama and certainly in Kentucky to address some
really to address those losses and how can we make homes more resilient.It is a voluntary program.It is a set of standards that any builder or roofer or homeowner can access fully.It's all online.
It really addresses some very minor things that are somewhat above code in most cases to make homes really perform better in those types of storm events.The whole intent is to keep
people in their homes after disasters and to keep really communities intact and be better able to recover.
So talk a little bit about what brought the program on because I remember I got in the business in 2011 and I believe was that when it was just starting to roll out?
Yes, it was.I actually built the the first one back in around 2010-2011, so it's right around that time.
Yeah, so talk a little bit about what the ethos was behind the program.
Did you guys have the idea and how did that, because now it's like, for those of you listening, and I suspect this is going to be the case 20 years from now, it'll be the case in a lot of areas of the country, but
But if we insure 10 homes now, eight of them are going to be fortified, if not all of them.And back in 2011, obviously, it was not like that. We were like, oh, we got a fortified home.We finally got one.
Now it's like, man, we got one that wasn't fortified.But talk a little bit about the program and the rollout.Because obviously, I'm assuming it started a little bit slow and then took off like wildfire.
Yeah, it definitely started slow.The standard actually existed.It was a slightly different form back then when I was first engaging in the program.But it had been around for some time.
And the impetus was basically to just make a house more insurable, a better risk for insurance companies.
But even the companies were, even though it came out of the, you know, IBHS was funded by the insurance industry, even getting it out to all of the various layers to help people better understand and how to engage in it was really not something that was happening fast enough.
In Alabama, I'm gonna sort of backtrack to to Ivan and Katrina, actually, okay, when we had some serious losses here on the Alabama coast.
And, you know, people lost during Ivan, they started building back, and then Ivan, in some cases, just wipe those things away.And so the or Katrina did, I'm sorry.
And then you had Dennis as well, I believe, right after that, right.
And so it was just sort of back to back.And, and there was a small group of sort of spark plugs, stakeholders on the ground insurance agents, for sure, some code officials and
Some folks that just got together said, you know, we got to do something different.It's we're building back the same way and things are getting blown away again.So what can we do and what's out there?
And they came across the fortified program, which was already in place, you know, and they really thought that this was the thing.What can we do with this?How can we do that?
And it was actually a local agent in Mobile that came to me when I was a builder and with Habitat for Humanity.And he said, you know, let's let's do let's build this fortified thing. And I'll help find money and we'll build this house.
And then we will bring everybody and anybody in to see how it's done so that they can lay their hands on it.They can understand it better.
And so he actually founded a nonprofit called Smart Home America that we still to this day work very closely with.He founded around that time.And their message and their whole point of existence was to help communities become more resilient.
And so we sort of partnered with them and really did just that.And we ended up, you know, at the time insurance, I don't know if you recall, but insurance was horrible.
Lots of companies were just pulling out much in the way that is happening in Florida and Louisiana right now.So it was very hard to get insurance when you found it.It was very, very expensive.
And I know that a growing number of states are seeing this now.We had it back then.And so this was really the way that other things that were happening in Alabama, sort of this real amazing A bunch of things were happening at the same time.
We had some legislation that was passed to create some incentives and to ultimately create a grant program and tax credits.So all of these things were happening.
And so when we built Fortified for these homes, the insurance was more affordable and more attainable.And that's where it sort of all started and really has grown over the years from that.
I have a question for both of you.Where is the Mendoza line down here?Is there a landmark or a road where everything south of, say, this area has to be fortified by the mobile?
I don't know that it has to be fortified anywhere.Now, a lot of the carriers use ITN.The joke is the carriers think the wind stops blowing north of ITN.Yeah, right. I don't know that there is a line.And you don't have to fortify your home.
If you want to get insurance discounts and have the home be better protected to withstand strong winds, obviously you need to do it.
And one thing that's interesting is a lot of the builders now, and I'm curious if you've noticed this too, a lot of the builders now already build the fortified.
And we've even had some carriers, we've got one carrier that if your roof is newer than say X number of years, they give you the fortified discount even without the certificate.But talk a little bit about the different levels of fortified.
I'm sure you know these really well.Talk a little bit about the different levels of fortified and sort of what the parameters are to qualify for that.
Yeah.So it all starts with the roof.The roof is really the first line of defense.That's the first level of fortified is roof level.And that involves just a few minor details.
One is just using ring shank nails, which is a nail that has rings all the way down the shaft instead of a smooth shank nail, which doubles the strength of the attachment of the roof deck.And then going into sealing the roof deck.
So, you know, those cracks are there between your roof boards for expansion and contraction, but that is a place where water can come pouring in if you lose your roof cover.
And so that sealing the deck with either a flashing tape, we have a few different methods to get there. But a flashing tape and then a thicker or a better quality roofing underlayment, which is much harder to tear off with the wind.
So that is the sealed roof deck piece.And then the last one is what we call locking in the edges with like a drip eave.And that drip eave becomes sort of an anchor point for
the additional other layers of the roof like the shingles where it sticks to that drip even, you can't get water and wind up under there.It makes a really tight bond that it can't access.Then after the roof level, we move into the silver level.
That's where we address things we call damage amplifiers.Those damage amplifiers are things like garage doors, porches and carports that are attached to the house, even gable ends are particularly vulnerable.
What I mean by that is that when those things fail, it causes a lot more damage.
So if you think about a garage door, and particularly in the north part of the state even, because it's less common up there, but that's a stronger garage door that can withstand the wind pressures, can really, in some cases, keep a house intact, like be the thing that keeps a house intact.
So that's really important is addressing those damaged amplifiers.And then the last level is gold. And in the gold levels, largely for new construction, because it's a little more invasive components we're talking about here.
When you say gold, is that the bottom level or the top level?Top level.
That's actually the top level.So it all builds off of one another, starting with the roof. and then get the silver and then gold.You can't get the gold if you haven't done the other stuff first.
And gold, we're addressing what we call continuous loaded path is the larger piece of it, which is the roof is tied to the walls and the walls are tied to the foundation with hurricane clips or ties so that all those wind loads are tied to the ground and keep the house on its foundation.
So Alex, I do a lot of self-performing construction at my house.This Saturday, this past Saturday, I was at a building supply store because
I was going to brace up some two by fours on some stuff I had built myself, just from a wind load perspective, because we still get a lot of straight line winds, tornadoes in North Alabama.
And it's so funny that we're on this podcast right now talking about fortified homes, because as I'm going down looking at what I needed, I get to the boxes of hurricane straps.And for some reason,
I'm that guy, you know, I'll wander around like, you know, Mr. Magoo for 20 minutes looking at one thing.I start doing research standing there on hurricane straps.
And I just find those things, you know, that's part of that piece of the puzzle, right?Where you're anchoring the two-by-fours to the roof joists. with those hurricane straps, utilizing those ring shank screws, which are unbelievable.
And I just find all this wildly, you know, interesting to me because I do a lot of that kind of stuff.So I just found it odd that I'm sitting there like studying hurricane straps this weekend and now we're talking about fortified homes.Very timely.
I'll tell you one thing interesting.So we built a house, me and my wife did, this year.And they wait for the inside until the roof is done.And my wife was pregnant, and we were trying to get the house done before the baby.
We missed it by a week, or less than a week.So the baby was born on the 22nd, and we moved into the house on the 24th.Not a busy week at all. And so my contractor was like, look, we can go ahead and start working on the inside a little bit.
And he said, let me show you.So obviously he knew I was familiar with Fortified, but he took me up to that.
We have a second story balcony and he pointed at the roof and it had that, I don't remember what you called it, but that like membrane that goes on top of the roof deck.And he said, that's a roof.He's like, that's,
That'll withstand almost anything, even before we put shingles on.He's like, so you don't really have to worry about water or anything getting in here.
And that's, I mean, that's a huge benefit to builders for new construction in particular, because you are really drying in the house and in much bigger of a way than, than the traditional dry in occurs because you're keeping that water out and that's what it's designed for.
So talk a little bit about the process to, we've talked about the construction components, but if I'm a homeowner and I want to fortify my roof, outside of the construction components, what is the process?
So a really critical element of Fortified that is non-technical is a third-party verification piece.And so we have what we call evaluators.We train and certify them.Once they're trained and certified, they are independent contractors from us.
We do kind of keep an eye on them, make sure they're minding their Ps and Qs and carrying out the standard appropriately and all of that.But we maintain a list of them.So once people are trained and certified, they can be found on our website.
And then they come out during the process.They work with the contractor, be it new construction or the roofer, if it's existing home that's re-roofing. And they're gathering what we call documentation, which is a step above code.
Code is checking boxes to make sure things were done appropriately.But the documentation comes in the form of photographs and making sure that the materials that are being utilized meet certain testing standards that we require.
Nothing super complicated, nothing that isn't readily available. but we just are verifying that it has actually met those standards.And then they actually submit all of that to us at IBHS.
We have an audit team in Tampa where all they do all day is look at these files.So if you see a fortified certificate, you can be sure that not only were the standards followed, but it was verified and documented.
And that's one of the reasons why insurance companies really value that risk reduction because they know and can,
with pretty good surety that if they see a certificate, that means it's been looked at multiple times and that it really has a better chance of performing.
And what's the typical cost of that outside of the construction cost?
Yeah, I was about to ask, is the juice worth the squeeze?
In my opinion, it's not very expensive, but I know some of the listeners are thinking, man, this sounds expensive.I bet it adds 20% cost.
No, actually not.So for a roof level, because we're talking two different things, right, the roof level is again all about the roof can be done to an existing home.
And so that is a lesser expense of an evaluation and that tends to run on the low end around $400. Um, for a really small roof where it's, you know, not, not very complicated, um, as far as the evaluation piece only.
Um, so 400 low end 600 on the, maybe a little higher, depending on the size house.Cause if you can imagine a 1200 square foot house is going to be much different to evaluate than a 10,000 square foot house.So the cost.
Alex, we're talking about the evaluation process to get the certificate.That's the cost of that.Okay.Gotcha.Gotcha.Gotcha.Correct.
And that is the evaluator that most of that is the evaluators fee again.Yeah We have a very small submittal fee, but that they bake that into their cost then for gold it
tends to be on the lower end, probably around 700, 800, and then it can go upwards of 15 again, depending on the size house, depending on how complicated the design is and that kind of stuff and how much time it takes.
And frankly, whether the contractor is good, easy to work with, because if they're, you know, if there's a good flow and they're moving along, it'll be less expensive for sure.
So I'm asking this question, I know the answer to this.I'm asking this for Scott and the listeners.You talked about the nails and the roof decking and the ceiling and all that stuff.
How do you guys test these certain things are going to perform better than maybe other components?
Some of it, we're relying on existing entities that already have tests in place.And so they're a wide array of different, you know, ICC does some testing, Miami-Dade, they have their own.
Do you do the wind tunnel that shows the power of like a hurricane force wind versus the fortified structure kind of stuff?Do you do that?
Yeah, so outside of the testing centers we point to, we also do a wide variety of research in our research center.If you're seeing the video, you can see behind me the fans that are part of that.
And we do, we have a facility in South Carolina where we can do all kinds of cool stuff and destroy buildings and blow winds at roofs and then introduce rain even into those
into those wind streams and see how that interacts with the built environment.So, and this is all on full-scale structures.So there's a lot of wind tunnels that really are tunnels and they do component-based stuff.We are able to test.
And you guys have, you can pivot them too, right?And test different angles.
And what level of hurricane force winds can you generate in there?
Up to 130 miles per hour in the facility.
Alex, I have a question for you and Bradley.And I just, you know, I'm just like all these other agents out there that maybe aren't on coastal, in coastal areas.Okay.And I just want to know the answer to this.
So if you take, if you, if you, if you jog the coastline all the way around the United States of America, okay.The, you know, we in Alabama, we, we kind of know about the fortified home, uh,
stuff and what it is and that a lot of people in coastal communities want to build their home using fortified standards of construction for obvious reasons.
You don't, you know, it's the three little pigs, you don't want your house to blow down, but also you get a break on insurance and that's a question I'm going to ask Bradley in just a minute. but like around the rest of the country.
So if you're jogging the coastline of the United States, is fortified a thing everywhere or is it just the Gulf Coast?
And can I add to that, what percentage of fortified homes are in Alabama?I know it used to be higher than it is now, but it's a lot.
But like, is fortified a thing in Tampa, Florida, Corpus Christi, San Diego, you know, anywhere where there's coastline, Is it, are the residents there like, oh shit guys, we got to build this fortified or is it like just here?
So not yet.Um, there are certain pockets of activity in various parts.And again, this is just a matter of getting the word out, which is what we're, that's what we're trying to help with.
Um, we do have Gulf coast is really where a lot of it has happened thus far.Alabama certainly. Louisiana has just really picked up steam recently.
North Carolina is another one that's really, they've had a program up there for some time where their coastal wind pool has been contributing a lot of funds to mitigating existing structures.
So that's really created quite a volume up on the North Carolina coast.And we have other states that are gaining some interest.And in some cases, this is
happened, you know, really started at the ground level, but it really takes a state commitment to provide some incentives or to create, you know, a grant program when a grant program exists, like we have here in Alabama, that really ripples out because now roofers know how to do it, they're able to sell it.
Builders, homeowners start hearing about it.They ask about it.
It offsets some of the cost of doing it.So it's not as painful to do it.I get it.Yep.
Yeah, absolutely.And I will.So two things.One, let me go back for just a second.One thing in particular that the base code matters.
So areas where there is a code, like, for example, in Louisiana, they just adopted the 2021 International Residential Code.And in coastal areas, if you're building to that or higher code,
you're actually already doing a sealed roof deck, which really narrows that gap.So they're very, very close.Here in our coastal counties in Alabama, it's been in code for 10 years.
So, and not the fortified standard necessarily, but the components, right?So it makes it a lot easier and the cost gap really shrinks.In areas in the inland parts of the country where there's no code, the gap will be greater.
So when we talk about costs, I just want to sort of do a level set and that it is going to vary depending on where you live and what the code is.
To go back to your question, Bradley, about how many are in Alabama, we have right, we're just over 50,000 here in Alabama, and we have just over 70,000 nationally.So Alabama is absolutely still really leading the country in that.And
And just for the sake of the North Alabama folks, there's over 2,000 of those right now that are in that are north of Montgomery.So that's exciting because we're having some growth in the inland parts of the state.
It's these two counties where I have two offices at.Is your house built fortified? We are a fortified roof.We didn't fortify the whole house.Got you.And that's because of cost, right?I mean... Construction cost, yeah.
We were... So Alex... We went over budget on the dumbest thing ever.We went over budget on the grass.Well, no... And the grass looks great.But we were like... Usually it's countertops.Yeah.
We need to figure out... And so we decided just to go with the roof, which I may regret one day, but it was just a roof.But let me ask... So... Go ahead.Sorry, my question is going to be a long answer.
No, no, no, Alex.You know, going back to my question for all these agents, it looks like to me that the fortified program would have, because I remember hearing about this after Hurricane Ivan, Hurricane, what was the big one that hit New Orleans?
I remember I started hearing these rumblings of this fortified home program.I would have thought by 2024 this thing would have caught.
uh, more national attention because of the influx of, it seems like every 10 days we've got a hurricane blowing through the Gulf coast.
Like for instance, that area that I call the armpit of Florida, that Tallahassee, you know, Panama city beach, Mexico beach.
That's a great name for that area.
I call it the armpit of Florida.Cause it's kind of that, you know, it looks like the armpit, right?
A lot of people will be like, well, Florida is the armpit of America.Sorry to our Florida listeners.
Going back to what I said earlier, you know, you mentioned that like for a small house, it might cost $400 for the fortified inspection, which then gives you the certificate.
From a construction cost standpoint, to get from the basic to the gold, what are we talking about?Let's just go to the basic.So starting with the basic, that would increase your construction costs by what?
percentage wise new construction to get the gold would be, that ranges from usually from like one to 3%.And again, it depends on the decline.There's a myriad of things.It's not 20%.
I think they told us 10 grand is what it was going to cost us.To get all of it done.But the roof is the most important thing.So it's like, at least do the roof.
Bradley, I'll tell you that you have, you actually can upgrade over time.Like one of the larger expenses for coastal areas is going to be hurricane shutters. And so that is a really big chunk of that 10,000 is going to be hurricane shutters.
And those are requirements in coastal areas.
So I've been going to the beach.I've been going to the Alabama Gulf Coast since I was probably 10 years old.I'm a water baby.And I've been going since I was in high school to different condos.And I remember distinctly.
After Hurricane Ivan, when you would go to the Gulf Coast to a condo, doesn't matter which one, you open the door to go in and you're going out.The first thing you want to do is put your bags down, walk out on the balcony and see the ocean, right?
Because it's so beautiful. And I remember after Ivan is when I started walking in and seeing the automatic shutters.And so my question is, I've been in a couple.
I think the one where my wife's toe was exploded a few weeks ago did not have hurricane shutters in it.So I'm wondering, like, why doesn't every single
condo, whether it's, or house, whether it's one story, 15 stories, it looks like everyone would have to have, by code, those hurricane automatic shutters that they can just hit a remote control and they come down over the windows.
No, there's a variety of options there too.So for code actually, for especially new construction right now, you can use plywood or OSB to protect your windows.We do not allow that.Additionally, you can also use impact rated openings.
So that big slider you could have been operating may be impact rated, meaning that you, it would be really hard to tell that it was necessarily rated or not.
That goes on a lot in Florida where they have the impact rated windows.
Yeah, exactly.And so older homes may not have those things and that's really up to the homeowner obviously to invest in such things. But a lot of the newer homes will have something.
So a lot of those newer gold homes you see will have, most of them have shutters just because it's less expensive than an impact rated window or door.
So I had a question, and I called you guys about a year ago.I don't remember who I spoke with at IBHS.
When Hurricane Sally hit, which was the first direct hit that Mobile had had in 16 years, do you know how many claims there were on fortified homes?
So we had, just to give you a sense of numbers of fortified homes at that time, we had around 17,000 fortified homes. we had about less than 1% of them had any fortified related damages.
I was told 500 homes.And I called an agent, two agent friends of mine.So we had two fortified claims, and we insure a lot of fortified homes.We had two.
And one of those- You got a dogfight going on in the lobby right now, Bradley, just so you know.
Nobody can hear it. So we had two.One of those was the very first claim we filed.Single lady called me at 3 a.m.Tree fell on our house.We filed the claim and then by 8 a.m.
that morning she got to walk outside and realized, oh this actually isn't bad at all and we withdrew the claim.We had another one
That was very very that ended up getting paid out was very very very minimal I've called three or four friends No, we didn't have any no we didn't have any no we didn't have any and so for a while I was thinking man this
Like, hopefully that's reflective of everything else.So I tell customers, because customers call me all the time and ask, you know, should I fortify my house, whatever.And I always tell them, don't do it for the insurance discount.That's a bonus.
Because that insurance discount's going to change.It's going to have to be, you know, your rates are going to be offset by other claims and reinsurance and all that.Do it because it protects your house.
The worst part about a storm is being displaced from your house and going without power.Everything else you can handle.So moving forward a little bit, if I'm an agent in, let's say, a state that has coastal exposure but fortified is not there,
And I want to get with IBHS and get this going in my state like the agent here in Mobile did.Would be a great value add.How do I... What do I do?What are the steps?Who do I need to contact?Who do I need to talk to?Et cetera.
Or if I'm a contractor, because if guys, if you're listening to this and you're a contractor, and you're worried about sales and marketing growing your business, being the first fortified approved contractor in that state might be
What are the steps to get this started?
Because I'm going to tell you guys, if I'm in South Carolina or Georgia and I'm coastal and I'm an agent and you're listening to this podcast so you want to improve your business, this is something you need to do.
Yeah, for sure.So there's two different paths.Start with contractors, that's pretty easy.We do have a website, actually anybody can go to that website, fortifiedhome.org.That's the place to start. professional technical resources page.
And you can actually find there, if you're a contractor, you can access the training there.It says become a Fortified Pro.And you click on that, it'll take you through the prerequisites.We do have some.We have a roofer training for builders.
We have a professional training, engineers, architects, et cetera.So that's the path for them.And that's reasonably easy.We have all of our trainings online now.They're in self-paced modules.We have a certification exam at the end. So that's them.
For anybody that really wants to start growing their business or program as far as agents are concerned, we also have on that very same training page, you can go to fortifiedwise.com, we have a Fortified Fundamentals.
So I'd say for starters, that's a free course, you register, take the free course, that's gonna take you through, it's about 15, 20 minutes, it'll give you sort of the quick summary of Fortified, so it gives you a basic knowledge of what it is and what it means.
So I would start there just for your own knowledge sake.Then I would say through that same page, you can access a contact us page, reach out to us.We have a couple of folks.I'm one of three that work the field.
So we have a roofing director based in Florida.We have me and then I have a colleague, her name's Mary Yorsh.We all work the ground, so to speak.And depending on where it is, we can help you.We do a lot of times we'll do,
CEs, trainings for agents online, on a Zoom.We can do the same thing for just high-level overview.So I highly, you know, reach out and we'll be very willing to help you wherever you are.
Hey Bradley, one second, I want to ask Bradley a question before we jump off this podcast.What is percentage-wise with carriers, what
What kind of discount would you get if you just had the basic versus what would the discount be if you could present to a carrier that gold certificate?It varies.Do they all recognize it?
Most of them do.We have very few that don't, if any, I don't think. Some of the newer carriers, we've even had, Alex, some newer carriers that have come into the area that I have personally like educated on the program.Hey, this is a thing here.
And from their standpoint, it's like, hey, every other carrier is doing this.You're going to have to do this too.But it varies between, I mean, three to $500 probably a year, sometimes more.
I will say it seems like the discounts have gotten smaller dollar-wise since, you know, I mean, 2019, we started Portal.I mean, you got a fortified home.The rate, it was brand new, the rate might be 700 bucks, like total.
That same house now is going to be $1,800.So some of it has been offset.And I don't know if you have anything to add to that, Alex.But they're kind of all over the place, honestly.It just depends on the carrier.
There's some that give a heavier discount.
Part of my reasoning, and I still want to do this if anybody listening can help me with this, part of my reason for reaching out to you guys after Sally is, hey, I want to build a program that we're the administrator for that only does fortified homes.
because to some degree, the people who have fortified homes in terms of their insurance rate are being punished a little bit for the people that aren't fortified because the carriers have to make the ratings work and all that.Sure.
Yeah.I will say just to give a broader, you know, cause Alabama is one of, again, was doing things over a decade ago that made a big difference.And they actually have what we call benchmark discounts where they've set the minimum.
And so Alabama is a little bit different in that respect.That has, I will say, we seem to be in a projective bubble.As far as insurance goes, our rates are up, but they're not as catastrophically up as they are in our neighboring states.
And I think a lot of that is because of our fortified inventory and the lower risk.In other states, they don't have that, but there's a growing number of states that have passed legislation for some sort of discount.So Mississippi, Louisiana,
Even Oklahoma, Kentucky just passed it.So where there's something that the carriers have to provide some sort of discount for fortified.
Now that ranges from 3% could be upwards of 50%, depending on, again, depending on the state and what the carrier does.A lot of them are doing it voluntarily in states.
So I would say agents out there should definitely check with the carriers that they're insuring in your state. And find out, are they doing something?Because we do have, again, lots of voluntary stuff going on nationally.
And then we have a growing number of states that are passing legislation.
And that is, I mean, growing, literally, we have multiple states every year that are sort of signing on to some sort of incentive, be it grant or legislation requiring discounts.
And commercials coming as well, right?Commercial buildings.
Yeah, that's right.We do have a commercial and a multifamily program. And that one right now, because the market is so hard, is really all about just attainability.
And in some cases, maybe affordability, but it's more just attainability at this point for commercial and multi-family for sure.
Bradley, it looks like carriers would really want to champion this.
You know, how's about we take a couple of million off the table to run our stupid Emu commercial that nobody cares about or watches, and we champion something that ultimately is a proactive way to reduce the total claims.
I think that's happened a little bit.
In my opinion, it needs to happen more.I mean, I don't understand why carriers aren't championing this. Because they could.They could put some resources.
They have the resources financially to put towards this to really champion the fortified program on a national basis.
Let me jump in on that a little bit because they're one of the things we're starting to see a trend that's again growing. is some of the companies are offering a fortified endorsement.
And that is something that is required to in some states is required to be offered.
So that means that either renewal or new policy, you have to offer your customer fortified endorsement, meaning that when they have a claim for a roof, they'll actually get a fortified roof installed.And so that's something just to be aware of.
And again, find out from the companies if you're
That's one we add and almost don't give them the option not to have it on there.Obviously, if they don't want it, they don't have to have it.
Is Alabama one of the states that requires carriers to offer a fortified endorsement?
Yeah, it sure is.And I believe Mississippi and Louisiana now are also doing the same thing.So that's another piece of that incentive legislation out there is that.
I've got something I need to ask that my fellow independent agents will be really mad at me if I don't ask it.You guys have a fortified database that you give access to.You have partner carriers, State Farm, Allstate, etc.
that pay into that and they get access to this database.It's sort of by default happened where some independent agents are excluded on that because they may not be associated with a carrier that's a member.
What do we got to do to get independent agents access to that database?
So right now, for independent agents, anybody that wants to find out if a home has a certificate, they need to reach out to us directly, and we will look up the certificate.
And in some cases, it's really the homeowner's the one that can actually obtain a copy of that certificate.But for now, we have member companies that pay dues to us annually, and their captive agents have direct access to that database.
But because we don't have all of the companies as members right now, the other companies don't have access.And so for independents reaching out to us, we will make sure to get you that as soon as possible.
What's the turnaround time on that?
Um, it varies in some, it depends on our flow of RFIs for the day requests for information or certificates.So it could be, um, it could be within 24 hours, but it could be also up to a week depending.
And I'll apologize ahead of time if that's your experience, but we're trying to improve that right now.We've got some more staffing coming on to help handle those.
Yeah, and I know from my perspective, and I'm sure you can see this, if I'm competing against a state, because here's the thing, and I've told a ton of realtors this, they don't advertise fortified enough in their listings.That's a selling point.
And they've started doing it a little more, but a lot of times we are insuring homes that the buyer or the agent doesn't know, the real estate agent doesn't know if it's fortified or not.
And we've even had some that have come to us and told us it wasn't, and turns out it was, and vice versa.You have some bad eggs out there that'll say, oh yeah, it's fortified when it's not.
Or it very well may be, but they don't have the certificate, they didn't go through the process.
And so from the independent agent standpoint, if we're competing with a state farm agent and they're able to pull it up instantaneously, but we're not, it's a little bit of a competitive disadvantage.
Personally, I think a good solution would be to have the Big Eye join as a member partner and then give all the Big Eye members access to that.That's just my suggestion.
I was just saying that the director for the Alabama Big Eye, who I know is going to hear this, needs to join and to enable agents, independent agents like Bradley, to play on a level playing field with his competition down here.
I don't understand why, unless the cost is so astronomical, which I doubt it is, to be a sponsor.Anyway.
I will definitely pass that along.I know that the interest is out there, so I appreciate you sharing that with me, and I'll for sure make sure that gets shared.
Absolutely.You want to close us out, Scott?Thank you so much for coming on.
Hey, Alex, thank you so much.
I really appreciate you coming on today.If I'm an agent, guys, I think my big takeaway from this, and Bradley said it earlier, if you are an agent in a coastal community,
If you jog the coastline all the way around the United States of America, and you're an agent in any of those coastal communities, this fortified program, which was introduced in the state of Alabama, has always gained traction slowly, in my opinion, slower than it should have.
should be something that maybe you put as your North Star in terms of how to create value not only in your community, but with contractors, working with banks, working with contractors, working with a fortified program to bring it to your coastal community, not only to help,
the residents of that community, but also it gives you kind of a leg up on your, you know, everybody's always looking for this leg up on the competition.How can I differentiate myself? Well, here it is, guys.
We just handed it to you on a silver platter.You become the agent that's the expert and fortified in your community and champion that for places like Corpus Christi, Texas, or San Diego, California, or the armpit of Florida down there, Tallahassee.
I love that so much.And Mexico Beach and those areas. Alex, thank you so much for being here.
I'm gonna shut this thing down guys You were listening to the insurance guys podcast and as I end every episode Rewards come from action not discussion get your ass out from behind that desk today Go out into the big bad world build relationships with people become the mayor of your village and go make money for your wife or your
for your husband, for your kid's college fund, for your parents and your in-laws that are struggling out there today.Go make money for them.
Write good business for the companies that you represent and write good business for the agencies that you represent.Bradley Flowers, I love you.Thanks, man.Thanks, Alex.Alex, thank you so much.
Guys, you are listening to the Insurance Guys podcast and we love each and every one of you.Thank you so much for being a part of our family.We'll see you back here real soon.Take care.
Thanks for listening to the Insurance Guys podcast.If you need to know more about me or you need to get in touch with Scott, you can always reach me at theinsuranceguyonline.com or email me at scottatiprotectinsurance.com.
And if you need to get in touch with Mr. Bradley Flowers, go to portalinsurance.com or email him at bradleyatportalinsurance.com. Guys, we love you.Thank you so much for listening to our show and being a part of our family.
And we look forward to seeing you again next week on the next episode of the Insurance Guys podcast.Take care.
Sign in
