Building storm safety standards

By Emma Peterson. 

Learn how IBHS raised the standard in storm protection with their FORTIFIED roofing program. 

In this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Megan Ellsworth spoke to Fred Malik of Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) and Ben Murphy of Ben Murphy Company. The duo came specifically to talk about how IBHS developed the FORTIFIED construction method and how it keeps people safe.  

Fred, who has worked with IBHS for 15 years, shared a bit about the process of developing this program. He said, “IBHS has been a research organization and an insurance trade association for 40 years. But in 2010, we had sort of a groundbreaking addition to our suite capabilities, and that was the opening of our research center in South Carolina.” This research facility features a wind tunnel that allows the organization to look at entire home and roof systems under the pressure of a variety of extreme weather conditions, like hurricane-force winds.  

After seeing these conditions in the wind tunnel, IBHS realized there were clear steps that could be taken to minimize risk in these events. Fred explained, “It turns out that roofs are the leading system that needs attention. And so, we focused a lot of our efforts there and packaged up our science into the FORTIFIED standard, which tends to go just a little bit above code in a few key areas, such as Alabama and North Carolina.” 

The standards they established pertain to things like nailing patterns and which products are used. Ben has worked in the contracting industry for almost two decades now and is currently specializing in the use of FORTIFIED roofing. Fred shared that Alabama, where he works, really led the charge in using FORTIFIED roofing and FORTIFIED has rapidly become a household name. Ben attested to that, sharing, “Everybody here, insurance agents, real estate agents, everybody knows FORTIFIED. When you're buying a house, if all things being equal, one's FORTIFIED, one's not, homeowners are going to go FORTIFIED all the time.” Today, there are five states that have mandated/regulated requirements for FORTIFIED discounts when it comes to homeowner property insurance. 

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to learn more about FORTIFIED and how it is saving both people and money.