In a major effort to protect homes from future storms on Sanibel, crews are busy lifting 11 units off the ground on Sanibel. Soon, each one will be raised 11 feet into the air.
Nine duplexes and two cottages at Donax Village are slowly inching up from the ground.
The property was hit hard by hurricanes Ian, Helene and Milton. To prevent this from happening again, the owners brought in Davie Shoring to elevate their homes on stilts.
"I don't think there's anything been done like this before, because what we're going to do here is prepare all these buildings for listing. On one designated day, at the press of a button, we're going to list all these," said the project supervisor with Davie Shoring, Chris Ellis.
So far, the units are only about 3 feet up, but this is just the beginning.
"So one day, these whole 11 buildings will be up at their true height, 11 feet finished, ready to have foundation start being stored under them," Ellis said.
A project of this size is expected to cost about $2.5 million. However, those who've bought in believe it's worth it, to be safe and dry for the next storm.
"We've been out here elevating houses on Sanibel Island now for a while, and word kind of gets around, and a lot of people don't know you can do this. You're seeing it more often here now," said head lift supervisor, Vernon Harvey.
The system works like a giant forklift, sliding under the home's foundation and gently lifting it.
"You can see these steel beams that were starting to slide under the building. We're going to get all of our beams in place. We're going to have crib piles underneath the beams. We're going to pressurize the beams. And just until they're touching the house, we'll get just a little bit of pressure on it. We're going to cut the house loose from its original foundation, and then we're going to run all of our hoses out to a unified jack and machine," Harvey said.
This isn't the only project Davie Shoring has worked on Sanibel, making buildings more durable is the new normal here.
"This is really paramount. They can get back reopen much quicker after a storm or a flood event. Having the services and goods available to the consumers immediately after the storm event is key to getting back to successful businesses right after," said John Lai with the Sanibel-Captiva Chamber of Commerce.
"It's necessary. And in the long run, you're going to save money over it because you're going to keep on going through storms and losing and losing and losing a lot of people. It happens to them a few times, and they just give up, and they just abandon their property and then just leave. They just can't take it anymore, you know?" Harvey said.
Ellis said the project is expected to take about two months to complete.
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