The group calling for tougher, fire-and-wind-resistant homes sells the stuff those homes get built from. It’s the Concrete Masonry Checkoff, and in a July 31 release they point at the 2026 hazard season (smoke over the West already, the Atlantic starting to stir) and ask whether America is building the right way. Their answer, if you can believe it: more concrete and masonry.
I’ll tell ya, the case for concrete against fire and wind isn’t wrong. Block walls don’t burn. But a checkoff program is an industry marketing arm funded by producers, and the producers make block. So when the pitch is “the country should rethink how it frames houses,” follow the money to who benefits when the rethinking lands on their product. That’s the whole trick here.
The group pushing “resilient building” is a concrete industry checkoff program, which means the message is paid marketing before it’s news. That doesn’t make it wrong. But the real thing to watch isn’t the ad campaign, it’s your insurer and your building code: in fire and hurricane zones, premiums are already climbing and codes are tightening toward concrete, steel, and fire-rated exteriors that cost more up front.
If you’re buying or building in one of those zones, price the resilient version anyway. Cheaper premiums and a house still standing after the next season can pay back the extra outlay faster than you’d think.
The group telling you America builds homes wrong sells concrete blocks. Funny how that works. The resilience case is real, wind and fire don’t much care about your stick frame, but a checkoff program exists to move product, and every “new question” it raises has the same answer sitting in a masonry yard. Worth knowing who’s asking before you decide the answer.
Sources: prnewswire.com
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