Cam Fentriss, FRSA LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL
I recently attended the Florida Chamber of Commerce
Insurance Summit. It was a good program and a good opportunity
to show that the roofing industry wants to be part of
the solutions.
From this conference, here is the important takeaway for
us: the insurance industry recognizes that in the aftermath of
Hurricane Irma, stronger building codes work and work very
well. Insurance representatives spoke specifically about how
much better structures built after 2001 or 2002 performed.
They expressed conclusions that metal roofs are the best and
that they are less expensive than tile roofs (overlooking the
relevance and prominence of shingle roofs and the associated
costs). They even had comments from emergency management
veterans about the value of mitigation and improved
codes.
Okay great. What we would like to have moving forward is
recognition of three really important points:
■■ Our strong and successful building codes are not
thanks to the International Code Council (ICC).
■■ FRSA is the organization that promotes and fights for
the strong roofing provisions in Florida.
■■ No matter what these insurance representatives saw
or concluded, the roofing industry is and will remain
the best group to analyze the performance of any type
of roofing.
We want and need these points made because otherwise
ICC would jump in and take credit for provisions they likely rejected
when we and others put those before them. We should
be concerned that insurers could be too quick to conclude
that they and ICC are qualified to evaluate everything related
to roofing.
Why does it matter? Because we have something to lose if
we allow the insurance industry and emergency management
interests to control the narrative. They are not the roofing experts – we are the roofing
experts.
When they look at post-storm roof damage, they see only damage and draw conclusions based on an ignorant snapshot. When we look at post-storm roof damage, we see workmanship, installation methods, we want to examine the damage up close, and we want to have more information about permits, inspections, materials used and age of roof before we draw conclusions.
This is about more than making a statement. It is about making sure that these other interest groups do not have the opportunity to ignore science and instead pick their preferred types and methods of roofing for reasons beneficial to their own desires. If we or our government allow that, we will all be buying only the most expensive roofs and buying them every ten years or so just to qualify
to purchase property insurance. While that may be good for our business and especially good for the insurance industry, it will not work for the consumer and alternatives that involve cheating and stealing will pop up everywhere. Yes, the irony would be that the insurance industry would not even get what it wants even if it gets what it wants.
Anna Cam Fentriss is an attorney licensed in Florida since 1988 representing clients with legislative and state agency interests.
Cam has represented FRSA since 1993, is an Honorary Member of FRSA, recipient of the FRSA President’s Award and the Campanella
Award in 2010.