Hurricane Sandy spurred the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to release new flood maps, a move that has been met by outspoken resistance from Boston (see the December report in the Insurance Journal and the more recent related Opinion in the Boston Globe by Congressman Bill Keating) to New Orleans (see Time-Picayune article by Adriane Quinlan).
Despite the controversies, contractors along the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast have seen a flood of new work elevating houses. Many have jumped in, only to meet with disastrous results (see "House-lifting – and Dropping – Puts Spotlight on Home Elevation Contractors" by Ted Cushman, and his earlier report "Home Elevation Job Goes Bad as Wind Blows House Down").
There is a right way to do it, however, as we learn from Long Island builder Rich Sangiorgi, who got the opportunity to learn about lifting his own home after it was flooded out in Hurricane Sandy. Sangiogi was lucky to have the assistance of Joe DeNicholas, a sixth-generation house mover who pulled off the job without cracking the brick-veneer and stucco exterior on the 250-ton custom home.
