Fire Rebuilds

It is one thing to work with highly motivated clients who have made the decision to build their dream home and, after doing their due diligence, put their trust in you to deliver that dream. That is the scenario most architects encounter on each project. Fire rebuilds are nothing of the sort. Imagine a client who is in shock and denial, did not voluntarily decide to build a new house, does not necessarily want to build a new house, does not know how much money they have or what they can afford, and is screaming to get their house rebuilt in less than half the time that the status quo would suggest. In the fire rebuild scenario, an architect must be able to turn up the volume on their process, knowledge, talent, and advocacy. In addition, they must have a sympathetic streak a mile wide. At Tobias Architecture Malibu, we are battle tested with over 20 projects either successfully completed (Woolsey Fire) or in progress (Palisades Fire). In most of our projects, we either convinced or signed on to clients wanting a much improved home, and worked against a regulatory environment that couldn’t see past a “like-for-like” recreation of a fifty to seventy year old house. In addition we successfully advocated for our clients who all received the maximum payouts from their insurance agencies, as well as provided support to the legal teams that sought to maximize the negotiated payouts from SoCal Edison, who it was determined started the Woolsey Fire.