I was listening to this week's All In podcast, and there were some armchair quarterback ideals and posturing being thrown around. Free market this, price control that, permit regulations here, rebuilding speed there. A lot of stuff to unwind from people who have never gone through any kind of rebuild after a natural disaster. Without casting aspersion or hot takes, here's what I remember about my father rebuilding post Katrina.
Background: my father owned by grandmother's house when Katrina hit. He wasn't living there, but he owned the house -- basically pre-buying something he would receive by inheritance and gave her money to live on. I guess sort of like a familial reverse mortgage. Katrina hits, the house is destroyed, the city is in shambles, the region takes a toll. My father's townhouse escapes relatively unscathed. It was at the top of the Metairie ridge, not far from the 17th Street canal (upstream from the breach). He had a safe place to live and assess the situation, while grandma moved to my aunt's in Tennessee. My father wasn't rich, but he had money. Definitely not baller, but not hurting either. Post destruction, he was in the position to rebuild that home without waiting for insurance money. Most people (myself included) would need to wait for an insurance check and OK before proceeding with even clearing the lot. He paid to have the lot cleared and prepped for construction while an architect started working on plans. He wasn't going to rebuild the same home from the 1950's; he was going to build a new home. Keep in mind that this is not how normal home insurance works. If your home burns down, you generally don't get a payout and freedom to do what you want. You get your old house rebuilt exactly how it was. Yes, there are caveats for code upgrades but overall you'll get the house you had. The local planning department put a freeze on permits while they drafted new regulations about lot height, drainage, utility entrances, etc. Waiting waiting waiting. Meanwhile there are construction crews leaving flyers and mail about offering services. Once he does finally get approval to build to the new regulations (I think he was the first in Old Metairie), there were no shortage of people ready to work. Finally, the house is built. The plumbers and electricians were from Mobile (Mississippi was moving even slower on rebuilding there). The roofers were from Texas. The framers were from Israel. Yes, Israel. They all came in to work, following their own economic incentives. As such, my dad actually got a good deal because he had a permitted job and the means to pay, whereas everyone else was waiting and waiting and waiting. Over the next 4-5 years, folks in his area rebuilt and things now look like a hurricane never came (unless you look at how raised the lots are now). So a couple of lessons learned here:
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AuthorA NOLA native just trying to get by. I live in San Francisco and work as a digital plumber for the joint that runs this thing. (Square/Weebly) Thoughts are mine, not my company's. Archives
January 2025
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