I watched “Built to Last: Buyer Beware” today at the FAPIA Fall Conference, and it stirred something deep in me. The documentary exposes a truth that those of us working in property insurance have long understood, but that the public rarely confronts and probably avoids because of discomfort from facing the truth. Most people do not fully appreciate the level of risk they carry by owning property in areas exposed to hurricanes, floods, wildfires, or other natural disasters. They believe their structures are safe because they were “built to code,” and that their insurance will make them whole after a loss. The reality is far more fragile.
The film’s central message is that “built to code” does not mean “built to endure.” Building codes are typically designed to save lives, not to guarantee that a home or business survives a major catastrophe. Codes set minimum standards, not true measures of resilience. I have written before that enforcement of building codes and manufacturer specifications is not a bureaucratic detail but a matter of public safety and insurance integrity. When structures are built or repaired without genuine adherence to standards, families and business owners pay the price. They find out too late that what they thought was secure was actually vulnerable to destruction.
The other message from Built to Last involves the gap between what property owners think their insurance covers and what it actually does. Many discover this only after disaster strikes. The film shows the heartbreak that follows when a family or business owner learns that their coverage excludes critical perils, limits recovery, or denies payment altogether. I have discussed this issue before in “Are Leaders Supporting Insurance Affordability and Structural Resilience Honestly?”
I observed that the cost of insurance is rising not only because claims are increasing, but because the buildings themselves are not strong enough to withstand the hazards they face. We are asking the insurance mechanism to bear the financial burden of structural weakness without taking more aggressive steps to prevent or reduce loss before it occurs. That is not sustainable.
If we want insurance that is both available and affordable, the foundation must be property that is built to resist the damage we know will come. That is why I called for a National Plan for Structural Resiliency. Watching this film only reaffirmed that belief. Without a deliberate and coordinated plan to strengthen our homes, businesses, and infrastructure, the costs of disaster recovery will continue to grow, and more people will be left financially devastated after each event. This is more than just a one-state issue.
What makes Built to Last so powerful is that it turns statistics into stories. It shows homeowners and business owners who did everything they thought was right, only to find their most important investment shattered. The lesson applies equally to the places we live and the places we work. A community cannot recover if its homes are gone, but neither can it recover if its businesses are destroyed. Every property owner in a high-risk area, residential or commercial, should see this film, as should every public policy leader and insurance professional involved in shaping the future of our built environment.
The first step toward change is awareness. As I have written before, awareness is the seed of prevention. When people understand their true exposure, the limitations of their insurance, and the condition of their structures, they can take steps to improve their resilience. Education is as critical as engineering or finance. Public adjusters, responsible insurers, contractors, and civic leaders all have a part to play in making that education possible.
The second step after awareness is action. Once we understand and acknowledge the risk structures face in high-risk areas, we must use that knowledge to strengthen what we own and how we insure it. Resilience is not built on good intentions but on practical choices and rules we must follow. Retrofitting roofs, securing openings, elevating structures, making new building codes and regulations, enforcing those codes, and only selling and purchasing insurance that truly reflects the exposure at hand are the hard steps that need to be accomplished, or awareness is simply wasted.
Action also means demanding accountability from builders, local officials, and insurers to ensure that safety, resilience, and integrity are not compromised for convenience or short-term savings. Every home fortified, every building raised to resilient standards, and every policy written with honesty and without protection gaps brings us closer to communities that can withstand disaster rather than crumble under it or seek public welfare assistance.
This type of action requires a change in our cultural mindset. We must move away from the “cheap as possible” philosophy that has guided too much of our building and insurance behavior. We all learned the lesson of the “Three Little Pigs” as children. Yet, we seem to have forgotten it as adults. The moral is simple: if we build stronger from the start, we won’t be left picking up the pieces when the winds begin to blow or the fires start to spread.
Watching “Built to Last” reminded me that resilience is not just an engineering problem. It is a moral issue that speaks to the very purpose of insurance and construction. We cannot continue selling the illusion of safety while our homes, businesses, and communities remain structurally unprepared for the disasters we know will come. The goal must be to ensure that when disaster strikes, families and employers alike have something left to return to.
I want to thank FAPIA for its leadership in showing this important film. It takes courage and foresight to present these issues to an audience that can actually help change the outcome for policyholders and property owners across Florida and the nation.
Thought for the Day
“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
— John F. Kennedy