Putting forth a stronger case this year than it did in 2005, the National Institute of Building Sciences recently published a report that bolsters its support of investments to mitigate the effects of four natural hazards. For example, society saves $6 for every dollar spent through federal grants funded to the private sector for damage reduction in the event of river flooding, storm surge, fire at the wildland-urban interface, and strong winds and earthquakes, says NIBS. In 2005, that benefit-to-cost ratio was 4:1.
NIBS also says society saves $4 for every dollar spent on exceeding certain provisions of the 2015 model codes for commercial and residential buildings, published by the International Code Council. But the highest benefits go to building tenants, not building developers, which is not a big incentive for developers to invest the extra dollars required for buildings to exceed the code, says NIBS.