FAQ

Regardless of the status of your home, we recommend filing an insurance claim. Whether the home was destroyed or simply surrounded by the fires, there is damage that your insurance must cover. While total structure loss is simple and defined, smoke damage and ash pollution are highly toxic and require the appropriate mitigation.

This is a highly personal decision determined by each home owner’s current financial position and insurance coverage limits. Historically, areas composed of high-value properties which are severely impacted by wildfire events see a 20-50% decrease in property values within the first 12 months following the event. We have aggregated this data below to show the value trajectories of Malibu following the Wollsey Fire, and Napa Valley following the 2018 fire. Both areas saw a sharp decrease in property values immediately following the wildfire, followed by a slow rebound to 85% of the pre-disaster values which peaked 2 years following the event. On a longer horizon, these highly desirable areas eclipse their pre-disaster values within 5 years of the event. This rate of return is determined by the implementation of new fire mitigation measures in the construction of new homes and the rate at which homes are rebuilt. Given the unprecedented scale of the destruction, it is safe to assume home values will not return to their 2024 levels until 2029.

The first step in accessing how you want to move forward is to determine whether or not you want the same home or a new home. This decision is the most important and will determine the timeline for your entitlement process going forward. If you choose to replace what was lost, you as a home owner are entitled to an extremely expedited planning process intended to get homes back in place as soon as possible. If you chose to build something completely different, defined as over 110% of the prior floor area or beyond the massing envelope of the lost home, you will be required to pass through the standard entitlement timeline which existed prior to the wildfire event.

While this process is extremely fluid and has yet to be defined completely by the city, both the State and Mayor’s office have passed executive orders detailing their intent to provide coastal commission exemptions and expedited grading reviews for both homes within the Coastal Development Zone and hillside zone jurisdictions. The link detailing the exemption process can be found here.

This process can normally take years, and their intent to have permits issued in a matter of weeks or months. The city has published its guidelines. This document is live and will be continually updated as the city completes their review of the situation. Homes lost in hillside zones built prior to the most recent major update to the seismic code will likely be required to construct new conforming foundations regardless of their rebuild status.

As of now, the city is planning on partnering with insurance companies to provide cleanup services. Given the toxic nature of much of the waste, the city and state are extremely concerned about running this process personally to ensure the area is safe and the environment does not become contaminated with dangerous pollutants. The city, using licensed and approved contractors will perform the debris clean up on each individual property and send the bill to each home owner’s insurance company. Home owners will be provided with the ability to opt out of these services with a waiver should they be able to contract with an appropriately certified vendor. Additionally the cost of this process can be disputed through insurance, via a competitive bid analysis should the pricing provided by the city seem inappropriate. Noting, the scale of the disaster and the lack of fire containment still present, it is unlikely that clean up measures will begin until early to mid-February 2025. The timeline for this process is a complete unknown and all depends on how quickly the state can certify additional vendors and how the city choses to phase the clean up, some areas in hillside zones may take longer than others given the complex nature of access and landslide risks following the fires.

Notwithstanding the unknown clean up time controlled by the relevant government authorities, a typical new build process should take anywhere from 12-14 months once the site is completely free of debris. Homes in hillside zones can take up to 18 months due to the many complex factors which both limit access and hamper efficiency for working crews. Construction costs vary dramatically depending on finish, and commodity pricing for base building elements (Lumber & Steel) will also spike in light of the extreme demands likely to put strain on the current supply chains. Pre disaster pricing for homes varied between $450-700/SF for standard lots, and $500-1000/SF for hillside properties. This pricing delta is largely determined by overall finish quality. One can likely expect a 20-30% increase in commodity pricing to dive these numbers slightly upwards, although the state is looking at passing several price gouging restrictions to limit the impact this may have on those rebuilding.