Houzz Stat: The Cost of Hurricane Damage

The greatest tragedy exacted by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, which hammered the Southeastern United States and the Caribbean in August and September, was the number of people who lost their lives — at latest count at 77 due to Harvey, 132 stemming from Irma and 48 so far in Puerto Rico related to Maria.

And in the aftermath, survivors have been hit with a financial wallop. As part of its latest Houzz Renovation Barometer report, Houzz asked a panel of renovation industry firms about the financial effect of these disasters.

The Houzz Renovation Barometer survey was fielded September 28 to October 12, 2017, and responses were received from 2,241 professionals. Companies in the Houston area estimated the average cost to homeowners to fix damage from Harvey at $111,000 per household, the survey found. One in 10 companies in the Houston area is estimating the total repair and/or renovation costs due to Harvey to be greater than an average of $200,000 per household.

For Irma, renovation companies on the Southwestern Florida costal mainland, where the flooding was less severe, estimated the average cost to homeowners to fix damage at $13,000, the survey found.

The professionals on our panel who provided these numbers have businesses in the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas, metro area for Harvey; and for Irma the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Naples-Marco Island, and Punta Gorda, Florida, metro areas. Our panel did not include renovation professionals with offices located in Key West, but businesses in other metro areas on the Florida coast may have served the island.