NEW ORLEANS – The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) recognized dozens of Louisiana companies during the 11th Annual FORTIFIED Awards held in New Orleans on June 22. The recognition coincides with the FORTIFIED program surpassing 100,000 designated homes nationwide and continuing to expand rapidly across the Gulf Coast.
FORTIFIED is a voluntary construction and re-roofing program that strengthens the most vulnerable parts of a home against high winds, heavy rain, hurricanes and severe storms. The program combines a research-based construction standard with third-party verification that the standard has been met and a network of certified professionals.
Louisiana has been one of the fastest-growing markets for FORTIFIED construction. In late 2025, state officials announced that Louisiana had surpassed 10,000 FORTIFIED roofs, the highest per-capita participation rate among states implementing the IBHS standard. The Louisiana Fortify Homes Program, administered by the Louisiana Department of Insurance, provides grants of up to $10,000 to help eligible homeowners upgrade roofs to meet FORTIFIED standards.
"New Orleans understands, better than most cities, the long-term impact a storm can have on families and businesses. The growing adoption of FORTIFIED homes reflects a community committed to building stronger for the future," said Fred Malik, managing director of the FORTIFIED program at IBHS. "Every FORTIFIED home represents an investment in protecting families, preserving neighborhoods, and helping this city withstand the storms to come."
"For more than a decade, the FORTIFIED Awards have celebrated the people and companies turning resilience into reality," Malik said. "Every day, service providers are helping homeowners take meaningful steps to protect what matters most, and in doing so, they are strengthening entire communities."
Southeast Louisiana Companies Recognized
IBHS highlighted numerous Southeast Louisiana providers among the 2026 honorees, including inspection, construction, roofing and development firms.
Inspection and Evaluation Firms
- HDMK Inspection Services – NOLA (Elmwood)
- Michael J Turner Home Inspections (Montz)
- Accurate Property Inspections (Covington)
- AES - Asset Evaluation Services, LLC (New Orleans)
- AmeriSpec (Harahan)
- Arcane Inspection Services (Mandeville)
- Compass Inspection Services (Metairie)
- Red Line Home Inspections LLC (Greater New Orleans)
- Total Home Inspections (New Orleans)
- Terry Moran & Associates, PLLC (Thibodaux)
- 21st Century Home Inspections (New Orleans)
Roofing and Construction Companies
- Aiku Construction (Harvey)
- Bergens Roofing (Southeast Louisiana)
- D.G. Diaz Roofing Services, LLC (Greater New Orleans)
- Dat Jazz Services, LLC (Terrytown)
- Fortified Gulf Coast (Northshore)
- Garcia Roofing (Metairie)
- Gulf Coast Construction and Restoration (Southeast Louisiana)
- Perdomo Roofing and Sheet Metal LLC (Kenner)
- Premier Construction Enterprise, LLC (Larose)
- Rocket Restorations (Mandeville)
- Roof Management Solutions (New Orleans)
- Storm Guard Roofing & Construction NOLA (Metairie)
- Sunbelt Roofs (Southeast Louisiana)
- Taylor Made Services (Southeast Louisiana)
- Wall2Wall Roofing & Construction (Southeast Louisiana)
- River Road Partners, LLC (Southeast Louisiana)
Pioneer Award Winners
IBHS introduced expanded recognition for industry leadership through the 2026 FORTIFIED Pioneer Awards, honoring organizations advancing resilience in unique and transformative ways.
- Hecker Ridge Tiles (Hammond) was recognized for proactively securing independent testing that enabled its tiles to meet FORTIFIED requirements, allowing homeowners to incorporate a distinctive Louisiana style of using tiles on the hips and ridges of otherwise shingled roofs.
- HRI Properties (New Orleans) became the first multifamily developer to receive the award. The company was recognized for its continued commitment to incorporating FORTIFIED upgrades across its portfolio and for its behind-the-scenes work promoting resilient construction in low- to moderate-income developments.
- GAF was recognized for its first-of-its-kind alliance with IBHS. Through the collaboration, GAF has trained more than 1,100 roofing professionals from more than 600 companies, rapidly expanding the national workforce capable of delivering FORTIFIED roofs. These companies accounted for one-third of all designations produced in 2025.
National honorees also included contractors, evaluators and service providers from Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina and other states participating in the FORTIFIED program.
Evaluator Efficiency Awards
Every FORTIFIED project must have third-party verification that the standard was met. As part of this process, FORTIFIED evaluators collect documentation and submit their evaluation to IBHS for review.
For the first time, IBHS presented Evaluator Efficiency Awards, highlighting the importance of this third-party verification process. Nine evaluators — three in each company size category — were recognized for having the lowest percentage of projects requiring additional documentation.
Honorees included AES - Asset Evaluation Services, LLC, Michael J Turner Home Inspections, Integrity Building Companies, LLC, Peak Evaluations LLC, Property Loss Consultants LTD, Disaster Smart Consultants, H&H Adjusters Inc., Charles Brown & Associates and Darienne Breazeale.
Social Media Awards
IBHS also recognized providers who are building awareness and trust with homeowners in new ways. Ten companies received FORTIFIED Social Media Awards, honoring service providers who effectively connect homeowners to the science behind FORTIFIED through engaging and educational content.
Louisiana recipients included Gulf Coast Construction and Restoration, Perdomo Roofing and Sheet Metal LLC, Sunbelt Roofs and Wall2Wall Roofing & Construction. Other honorees were Alliance Construction, Hermetic Roofing, Novare: The Roofing Professionals, Solid Roofing, Stublen Roofing and Wise Builders Roofing and Renovations.
The continued growth of the FORTIFIED program is supported by strong, real-world results. A study by the University of Alabama's Center for Risk and Insurance Research analyzing more than 40,000 properties impacted by Hurricane Sally found that homes built to the FORTIFIED standard were significantly less likely to file an insurance claim and experienced substantially reduced losses.
"These award recipients are not just meeting a standard, they're raising it," said Malik. "By improving quality, efficiency and homeowner understanding, they are helping more families return to stronger homes after a storm."
