Reality check: Does increasing home resiliency really make (dollars and) sense?

Two homeowners in the heart of hurricane zone say their home is living proof.

In the home improvement and construction industry, the buzz is all about home “hardening” and making homes more resilient in order to better withstand climate extremes. 

That’s especially true in places like Florida and the Gulf coast, where the costs of having to repair, rebuild and replace after monster storms and hurricane seasons now total in the tens of billions of dollars. It’s an issue that’s causing massive spikes in insurance premium costs and making some officials question whether traditional materials such as asphalt roofs are even appropriate in places like Florida, given their substandard performance in severe climate conditions. 

But does using stronger and better materials and building practices really pay off? For homeowners such as David and Rita Daniell who have lived for 40 years on the Gulf coast in Fairhope, Ala., the answer is unequivocally yes. And they should know. Having not only lived through multiple hurricanes and been forced to repeatedly replace the asphalt shingle roofs on previous homes; David Daniell also is a lawyer who works in construction and condominium law.

“I’ve worked after every hurricane since 1985. I’ve looked at a lot of different types of failures of roofs after severe storms and hurricane events,” he said.

Undoubtedly, David has plenty of both personal and professional experience with how asphalt roofing shingles simply don’t hold up in severe storms and hurricanes. So the last time David and Rita needed to replace the roof on their Mobile Bay home, they decided to install a quality metal roof from MRA member Metal Roofing Headquarters. By doing so, their new roof has helped them mitigate risk and saved their home from damage, replacement and repair costs. It’s even reduced their ongoing maintenance costs, making it an even better value. See the Daniell’s story here https://metalroofing.com/why-metal-roofing/testimonials/

“We replaced with metal and never had trouble again,” said David. “High hurricane winds represent a serious threat, so anything a homeowner can do to minimize that risk, such as installing a metal roof, is worth the time and effort. The only thing I would have done differently is gone with the metal roof originally.”

For complete details and more information about resilient, long-lasting residential metal roofing, the free MRA Residential Buyer’s Guide is available at https://metalroofing.com/wp-content/uploads/MRA-Buyers-Guide-v2024-05.pdf.

About the MRA

Representing the residential metal roofing industry in the United States and Canada, the Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA) was formed to help educate consumers about the many benefits of metal roofing. For more information about MRA membership, residential metal roofing resources and tools, visit MRA at www.metalroofing.com.