Home Hardening
Defensible Space Snapshot
Your home’s wildfire compliance requirements.
No guessing. No waiting. No commitment.
You want to protect your home.
- Your Problem
Wildfires, upcoming Zone 0 rules and mass insurance cancellations are all over the news. You know your home could benefit from upgrades. You want the project done right without becoming a wildfire expert yourself.
- The To-Do List
ResearchWade through rambling videos, countless clips of homes on fire and unabridged academic studies, just to figure out what home hardening options exist, which ones are backed by wildfire science and which ones apply to your home.
PrioritizeWeigh each upgrade’s expected cost, its proven effectiveness and whether it may qualify for an insurance discount. Then build a target scope that fits your own balance between cost and effectiveness.
CompileBuild a spreadsheet of vendors who may be able to complete all or some of the mitigation work you researched.
ShopCollect disparate quotes from contractors, handymen and gardeners from your spreadsheet.
HireNegotiate the scope of work to match the upgrades you chose, coordinate a schedule that works with your busy life, clarify guarantees and make sure the vendor can provide reliable documentation for your insurance carrier.
- Common Solutions
Do nothingSkip the upgrades and accept the status quo, hoping your insurance carrier never sends a mitigation request and the next wildfire stays far away.
Do-it-yourselfSpend several weekends with newly purchased specialty tools, a pile of Home Depot materials you aren’t sure are the right spec, and DIY YouTube videos streaming on your iPhone.
Become a Project ManagerHire a general contractor or local handyman for each part of the project. You may need to spend several afternoons double checking their work and cleaning up after them, and a couple of evenings chasing proper documentation for your insurance carrier.
- Common Failures
Overlooked OpportunitiesNon-specialized contractors may not know mitigation best practices, so the completed scope may not be the most efficient way to reach your goal. For example, Zone 0 rules are on the way, and designing with them in mind now helps you avoid doing the work twice.
Poor DocumentationNon-specialized contractors may not know mitigation regulations or insurance discount programs, so they may not provide reliable documentation of the work.
Opportunity CostHomeowners often undervalue their own time when taking on projects.
Your home hardening project. Done.
Bring us your home hardening goals. Mustard Construction assesses your home, tailors a scope of work, completes that work promptly and leaves you with reliable documentation of the work that was done.
The Mustard Process
Assess
We start with your home, your goals and California’s Safer from Wildfires standards. We thoroughly document the current condition of your home and assess it against those standards.
Scope
We turn the assessment into a scope tailored to your goals. We flag the low-cost upgrades CAL FIRE and IBHS rank as high-value and note which ones may count toward an insurance discount. Mustard Construction’s Wildfire Compliance Scope gives you a clear path forward so you know what work, timeline and guarantees you are approving.
Mitigate
We promptly carry out the approved scope to harden your home. We own the project from start to finish. One contract, one point of contact.
Document
We close the project with Mustard Construction’s Done Report, a thorough documentation of the completed mitigation work at your home. It gives insurance brokers and underwriters a reliable record to review.
What homeowners say
“My insurance company sent a notice requiring repairs to my eaves and roof. Mustard Construction made the process clear, completed the work, and gave me exactly what I needed to send back to my broker.”
Explore your options
You start the consultation with a compliance problem.
You finish the consultation with a clear path forward.
