James Hardie's Amanda Cimgalia explains how insurance companies have become a new stakeholder in home building, and why non-combustible materials like fiber cement siding and ignition-resistant decking are central to resilient construction. She argues the industry must raise homeowner awareness of resilient options and pursue resiliency and sustainability together, not in isolation.
00:00:01:17 - 00:00:21:01
Amanda Cimgalia: Are having us be part of today's discussion. I'm really excited to, to be here and share in the puzzle that we're trying to put together for everybody. So as I'm here in the chat about the manufacturers perspective, I want to take a step back. You think about how homes are traditionally built. That was a loner. The little house you want.
00:00:21:02 - 00:00:50:03
Amanda Cimgalia: You have a builder that builds that house, and then you have the, government codes and regulations that dictate how and when and where and maybe sometimes why those homes are being built. But over the last decade or so, as we've seen, we've heard in from some of our speakers already, the increasing severity and frequency of climactic weather events like fires, like floods, like hurricanes, and where I live in the Mid-Atlantic.
00:00:50:03 - 00:01:28:12
Amanda Cimgalia: So also be very familiar with, the impacts of hurricanes, hailstorms. There is a new stakeholder that's part of this building conversation, and that is insurance companies. They are also part of the material selection process when it comes to building or rebuilding us. So as we think about places like Florida and places that are in things that are suffering from these increasingly severe weather events, insurance premiums are so high for homes that are not fortified, not built or rebuilt, rebuilt.
00:01:28:12 - 00:01:58:09
Amanda Cimgalia: Resiliently, if coverage is even available at all. And that's the unfortunate truth that we're facing in many areas. Of the US and of the country. So as we think about the, the materials that do exist to help homeowners fortify their homes to build more resiliency. Yes. Sarah mentioned that from James Hardie Homes with Timber Tap and Isaac before the acquisition by James Hardie, a little less than a year ago.
00:01:58:11 - 00:02:27:02
Amanda Cimgalia: And so James Hardie has a fiber cement siding products that is not combustible. So it does not ignite like wood siding does. It does not burn out. Sorry. It does not melt, like vinyl siding does. And so in wildfire, those regions, that's really important. We think about the outside of your home and the perimeter. A lot of us really have a deck in the backyard, or a deck that's going off the back of your house.
00:02:27:04 - 00:03:01:05
Amanda Cimgalia: We shouldn't always think that wood is the default option for that. There are new and innovative solutions, like to protect decking. And our advanced products that it's classic flames. Red rated is ignition resistant certified by the state marshal. While our state fire marshal does it. All of those where it's there, and is really compliant. So if you think about there's 60 million decks in the US, currently today, and 75% of those decks are still made from wood.
00:03:01:10 - 00:03:39:14
Amanda Cimgalia: Traditional wood materials, only 25% from high performance products like so there again, there are solutions. There are durable, resilient building solutions that exist. The problem is homeowners don't have the awareness. They don't know that there are resilient options that they can specify to either build or rebuild their homes. And maybe present company excluded. Because I know a lot of you here are in this and passionate about this space, but builders and specifiers and architects, they're not talking enough about resiliency.
00:03:39:16 - 00:04:15:15
Amanda Cimgalia: They're just not talking enough about resiliency, driving that awareness. So as a brand, as a manufacturer, we have started to think about our piece of the puzzle and engaging specifically with insurance companies to drive awareness to help drive down premiums for homeowners that are selecting more resilient, going to help to fortify their homes. And seven and ten insurers actually offer premium discounts for those that are selecting buyers in that citing and including that and installing that on their homes.
00:04:15:17 - 00:04:43:29
Amanda Cimgalia: But there again, like I would never before, I work for James Hardie. I would never have known to even ask that question. And so building this awareness, building this education, we have to come together. It's going to take all of us doing that from across the value chain, from the architects. Obviously, Peter. So I we had a conversation about this yesterday because you're such a champion in this area.
00:04:43:29 - 00:05:09:05
Amanda Cimgalia: We need more people like you that are out there talking about the, you know, the opportunity that we have to build more sustainably and build more resiliently. And as we think about sustainability in isolation, it can't be like we have to in resilience to that. It can't just be sustainability or sustainability alone and resiliency can't be in Jesus has to be.
00:05:09:07 - 00:05:32:24
Amanda Cimgalia: So my call to action is, please, let's all continue to band together to drive. We all play a part in this, creating a more sustainable, a more resilient future. So we all have to band together and engage with stakeholders across the value chain. Because otherwise we're going to be rebuilding and on resilient housing inventory here in the US.
00:05:32:27 - 00:05:34:23
Amanda Cimgalia: That's sort of that. I don't think any of us.