East Naples nurse raises flood-damaged home herself after Ian

EAST NAPLES, Fla. (WINK) — An East Naples woman has been trying to lift her home since it flooded during Hurricane Ian, and after contractors and programs like Elevate Florida didn't work out, she decided to do it herself.

Valeri Acierno calls her East Naples home "the guinea pig," but she's hoping to become the blueprint for lifting homes in her neighborhood. She founded Home Lifters of Southwest Florida after taking matters into her own hands.

"We are going to lift it up because it just keeps flooding," Acierno said. "We purchased the unified jack from Buckingham ourselves because we just couldn't seem to get it lifted."

After contractors didn't work out and she was denied from Elevate Florida, she says she took matters into her own hands for herself and her neighborhood. Many of her neighbors faced similar challenges with the program.

"They've all been kicked out of Elevate Florida," Acierno said. "I think we have two that might still be in the running, but everybody's having a hard time, and we decided we would try to fill the need and help my neighborhood, as well as myself."

The full-time nurse teamed up with her trusted contractor friend, Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk says he was skeptical about the idea at first, until his team did some research and met engineers in Pennsylvania who have done similar projects.

"They did the training for us," Kovalchuk said. "We purchased the equipment, and we start the company with Valeri."

Together they purchased the multi-thousand dollar unified jack and are using Acierno's house as a trial run. Several yellow jacks placed under the home will raise the structure inch by inch, with Acierno hoping the home will be raised 4 feet in the first two days and an end goal of 10 feet.

According to Collier County's Floodplain Management website, to retrofit an existing building with flood prevention measures, the lowest living floor must be base flood elevation for the area plus one foot. Acierno says her home started two feet below base flood elevation for her neighborhood.

The lift process also reminds Acierno of how much water her home took during Hurricane Ian, when storm surge flooded the Brookside neighborhood. Acierno and her dogs barely escaped.

"There's definitely a little bit of PTSD," Acierno said. "We left my house on a paddle board."

Her single-story slab home, built in the 1960s, took on three feet of water, as did many of her neighbors. Neighbor Benny Krick says he's waiting to see the final product of his neighbor's trial run house lift and the final price tag.

"We had water up to my doorknob in my house," Krick said. "I don't know if I'm going to elevate or not. I'm going to see how this goes."

Krick says he's uncertain about the costs involved. The final price tag remains unclear for neighbors considering the same project.

"Once you lift the house up, what does that cost?" Krick said. "I don't even know that yet."

Acierno estimated that lifting a home, with plumbing and electric included, starts around $195,000. However, each house will be a case-by-case basis and other costs could be discovered in the company's inaugural lift at Acierno's home.

"I'm willing to be the experiment so that we know what we're doing going forward," Acierno said.

Acierno says she plans to start lifting the home on Monday and expects the full project to take several months. Meanwhile, she and her neighbors are waiting to see how the project turns out.