FORTIFIED Commercial™ is a voluntary, beyond-code construction standard developed by the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) for light to moderate commercial structures. It reduces damage from severe weather and helps businesses reopen faster after a storm. Like FORTIFIED Home, it has three tiers: Roof, Silver, and Gold.
What buildings qualify?
FORTIFIED Commercial applies to community-based and light to moderate commercial structures including:
- Stand-alone retail and franchise buildings
- Quick-service restaurants
- Hotels and hospitality properties
- Convenience stores and gas stations
- Pharmacies and retail stores
- Schools and municipal buildings
- Mixed-use developments
The three levels
Roof: Strengthens the roof deck attachment, seals the deck against water intrusion, and locks down the roof edge. The roof is the most common point of failure in commercial storm damage.
Silver: Includes everything in Roof and adds protection for openings, including windows, doors, and other vulnerable components that allow wind and water inside when they fail.
Gold: Includes everything in Roof and Silver and requires a continuous load path that ties the roof, walls, and foundation together so the entire structure performs as a system under wind loading.
Proven in the field
When Hurricane Ida made a direct hit on Lockport, Louisiana, two apartment complexes sat half a mile apart. One was built to the FORTIFIED Commercial standard. It sustained minor damage and reopened three weeks later. The other was destroyed. Families displaced from the destroyed building moved into the FORTIFIED one.
SHA provides technical assistance to commercial and multifamily developers pursuing a FORTIFIED Commercial designation. Contact us if you are working on a project.
Learn more
For full technical specifications, standards documentation, and evaluator resources, visit FORTIFIEDcommercial.org.