preparation

 

Don't Miss The Boat
Ample Time A Must For
Hurricane Protection Planning
By Selena Chavis

Property owners along the gulf coast are keenly aware that hurricane season runs from the first of June until the end of November each year. Unfortunately, manufacturers and vendors of hurricane protection products said that planning around those dates can become a major pitfall to hurricane protection initiatives, putting many condominium owners and associations way behind the curve each year.

“They don’t buy in time,” said Tom Johnston, vice president of the Florida-based International Hurricane Protection Association, an organization dedicated to ensuring public safety through quality hurricane protection systems, information and education. “They need to be planning this now.”

Living By The Gold Standard Several years of active hurricane seasons have certainly increased demand for hurricane protection products, said Tom Johnston, vice president of the International Hurricane Protection Association (IHPA), cautioning buyers to research the products. “When [traditional hurricane protection] markets are consumed with backlog, new companies will flood the market with new products,” he said. “Some of them have been good. Some of them have been suspect.” The current “gold” standard in product testing is the Miami-Dade County hurricane impact test. The Miami-Dade Building Code requires that every exterior opening—residential or commercial—be provided with protection against wind-borne debris caused by hurricanes. The structures must pass the “large-missile impact test” and the “small-missile impact test.” Each test requires structures to be resistant to various impacts of pre-determined weight and speed. According to Jaime Gascon, product control division chief with the Miami-Dade Building Compliance Office, homeowners can confirm a product’s approval on the office website. Gascon also said proper installation is the key to ensuring products will perform to the Miami-Dade approval standards. For more information on products that meet Miami-Dade standards, visit www.miamidade.gov.

Each year, Johnston said, many owners wait until April or May to begin planning for hurricane protection and find that manufacturers of needed products are backed up for weeks, sometimes with wait periods of three months or more. “Every month, the lead times back up. [Manufacturers and vendors] have their lowest volume of business [and lowest prices] in December and January,” he said.

Johnston noted that condo associations in particular should plan early and make building-wide decisions about the types of protection that will be approved for use. “They need to use their strength to buy as a building,” he said, as bulk orders are usually less expensive than individual ones.

Making decisions early and getting buy-in from the association will also diminish disagreements that can result from unit owners going in different directions with hurricane protection. Johnston suggested association members should agree on more than one aesthetically pleasing option in different price ranges.

Donna Workman, associate broker with Gulf Shores-based Bender Realty, said that several associations have taken steps to upgrade their sliding glass doors and windows in recent months with “Miami-Dade rated” sliders and windows and have also installed roll-up shutters.

Referring to an approval standard established by Miami-Dade County (Fla.) in the wake of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the rating is generally thought to be stricter than that of some other national product-certification groups. “A lot of people are aware of the requirements and are moving in that direction,” said Jaime Gascon, product control division chief with the Miami-Dade Building Compliance Office. According to Gascon, if condo associations feel they must install hurricane shutters on their buildings, many select those that meet the more stringent requirements.

In the case of windows, the Miami-Dade certification requires windows resist a nine-pound 2x4 fired at 34 mph. Manufacturers must pay to have their products tested and approved for the certification.

Gascon said that he has seen many condominium associations choose products based solely on aesthetics only to become frustrated later when the products do not fare well in hurricane winds.

Hurricane shutters have traditionally formed the backbone of the hurricane protection product industry, Johnston said, estimating that 90 percent of the condominium associations he has worked with have chosen either roll-up or accordion shutters. “Accordion shutters are much less expensive and generally stronger. They fare better on the oceanfront,” he said.

Workman said that roll-up shutters offer convenience features as well because they are operated from inside the condominium—manually by a hand crank, or automatically by an electric motor. “When a storm is approaching, electric shutters can make the difference in the shutters being used or not,” she said. “The hand crank option enables the shutter to be raised after a storm when the power is not yet available.”

While choosing appropriate products in a timely fashion is key to effective hurricane preparations, attorney David Daniell said that the development of a solid pre- and post-hurricane communications plan by a condominium association is also essential.

“In the aftermath of recent storms, many associations reacted as a ‘deer in headlights,’” said Daniell, a partner with Daniell, Upton, Perry and Morris law firm in Baldwin County, Ala., suggesting that associations assign responsibility for insurance, storm preparation and reconstruction prior to the storm event. “Much of the stress and delay of rebuilding the condominium buildings could have been avoided with proper preparation.”

Likewise, Workman said she believes board members who are assigned responsibility should also be fully versed in their association’s condominium documents, which usually prescribe how reconstruction, insurance matters, loss assessments and related procedures should be handled. “It is not unusual for the documents to contain confusing language that may require clarification by an attorney,” she said.

Daniell said he has observed condominium associations face three major hurdles: lack of an effective chain of authority to address disasters, lack of financial preparedness, and lack of pre-arranged relationships with engineering professionals and contractors.

Workman agreed, adding that the process of choosing a contractor is often the single-most important decision the association can make in advance. “Do not wait until after a storm to look for a contractor,” she said. “The contractor should have the experience and the capacity to handle large and difficult reconstruction projects. Typically, board members and property managers have neither the experience nor the knowledge of construction issues to act as the general contractor.”

Workman also suggested that a good contractor should be able to put together up-to-date building specifications for insurance purposes, which the insurance adjuster can then use as the basis for working up loss estimates.  

Since insurance companies do not always pay out in a timely fashion, Workman said that financial preparedness is also key to effective planning. “The best way to address the funding issue is to establish a line of credit with a local bank,” she said. “Assessments can take too much time to collect, and it is usually not feasible to put a dollar amount on the initial estimate of damages.”

Click here to find out about hurricane history on the gulf coast and seven ways to get ready for hurricane season.