Florida Risk

Addressing Property Losses

A building code is a document containing standardized requirements for the design and construction of most types of buildings.

Benefits of Modern Wind-Resistant Building Codes
This Institute for Business and Home Safety study, which focused on losses in the area of Florida hardest hit by Hurricane Charley in August 2004, illustrated the effectiveness of modern, engineering-based building codes and the need to strengthen the wind resistance of homes built before 1996.
Florida Building Code
Access the Florida Building Code online.
Florida Building Commission
See meeting dates, issues, and other information about the commission that regulates Florida's building codes.
International Code Council
The International Code Council, a membership association dedicated to building safety and fire prevention, develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes and schools.

Building Officials Association of Florida
Dedicated to the building code enforcement profession, this association fosters communication between all groups associated with the construction industry.
Training for Building Professionals
This Institute for Business and Home Safety site, which focuses on Gulf Coast states, features video presentations to guide local governments through the procedures for training building inspectors, setting up building code departments, and other duties associated with code enforcement.

Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction (President's National Science and Technology Council)

Florida Division of Emergency Management
Click on the 'Strengthen Your Home' icon to learn about protecting your home as well as potential insurance savings. There is a special section for building contractors.
FLASH (Federal Alliance for Safe Homes)
FLASH's website tells you how to better protect your home and family from hurricanes, floods, wildfire and other threats.
Institute for Business and Home Safety, (IBHS)
The institute's newly designed site provides step-by-step information for mitigation of both homes and businesses, as well as links to their research, annual conference, and other programs.

My Safe Florida Home
This program provided free home wind inspections along with mitigation grants to qualifying homeowners.
Residential Construction Mitigation Program
This grant program works to improve the wind resistance of residences, and educate people about efforts to prevent or reduce losses or reduce the cost of rebuilding after a disaster.
Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program
This is a nationwide competitive federal grant program that was created to assist state and local governments, with the implementation of cost-effective hazard mitigation activities prior to disasters.

Florida International University
Learn about the Wall of Wind project and view an ABC News video.
University of Florida
See Inside the Hurricane Lab Video from Bloomberg Business Week.

Institute for Business and Home Safety Research Center
This state-of-the-art, multi-peril training and research facility is in Chester County, South Carolina.
University of Western Ontario
Insurance Research Lab for Better Homes is the first research facility of its kind in the world to subject full-scale houses to up to 200 mile-per-hour winds.

Texas Tech University Wind Science and Engineering Research Center
The Center focuses on developing information on windstorm disaster mitigation and other wind-related subjects.
University of Florida Florida Coastal Monitoring Project
This unique joint venture focuses on full-scale experimental methods to quantify near-surface hurricane wind behavior and the resultant loads on residential structures.