FEMA Substantial Damage
Estimator (SDE) Tool V2.0
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Agenda
1. SDE Definition
2. SDE Tool Objectives
3. SDE Tool Functions
4. Interactive Overview of the SDE Tool 2.0
5. Field Preparations
6. SDE Inspections
7. Recent SDE Tool Updates
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Substantial Damage (SD) Definition
Damage of any origin sustained by a
structure whereby the cost of restoring the
structure to its pre-damaged condition
would equal or exceed 50% of the market
value of the structure before the damage
occurred.
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Damage of Any Origin
• “Any” refers to almost all sources of
damage, including those unrelated to
the current disaster (i.e., fire, termites,
previous flood damages, etc.)
• Exceptions include damage associated
with poor maintenance (i.e., peeling
paint)
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SD Equation
Percent Damage = Cost of Repairs x 100
Value of structure
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SDE Tool Objectives
1. Assist state and local officials in rapidly
estimating structure values and
damage costs for structures based on
visual inspections
2. Allow users without appraisal, cost
estimating, or design backgrounds to
develop reasonable estimates of
structure values and damages
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SDE Tool Objectives
3. Determine substantial damage in
accordance with the requirements of the
NFIP
4. Use for multiple types of structures
•
Single and multi-family structures
•
Manufactured homes
•
Non-residential structures
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SDE Tool Objectives
5. Meet requirements for ICC claims
6. Minimal user judgment (3 primary areas)
a) Initial construction quality
b) Depreciation
c) Percent damage by building element
7. SDE Tool use is optional (but highly
encouraged)
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SDE Tool Functions
1. The SDE tool is based using damage
estimates for individual building elements to
determine whether the structure as a whole
is substantially damaged.
2. Depending on the type of structure and
specific attributes of the structure, the tool
calculates the value of each building element
as a percentage of the total building.
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SDE Tool Functions
3. Enter structure attributes – foundation
type, roof covering, etc.
4. Enter size (and unit cost data and
geographic adjustment factor) or
structure value (adjusted tax data or
appraisal amount for the structure only)
5. Enter cost adjustments
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SDE Tool Functions
6. Enter initial construction quality
7. Select depreciation rating
8. Record percent damage by building
element
9. Add photos & files
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Building Elements
1. Construction components that are
evaluated to make a SD determination
• 12 elements for residential structures
• 7 elements for non-residential structures
2. Elements include:
• Foundation
• Roof covering
• Exterior finish, etc.
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SDE Records vs. Assessments
Records – involve only property data
(SDE Tab 1 – Address data, can be preloaded using SDE Enterprise Import
function)
Assessments - involve both property data
and field recorded data (SDE Tabs 1 – 4)
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Populate the Database
Tab 1 - Address information
 Tab 2 - Site, Damage, and NFIP information
 Tab 3 - Base Cost
 Tab 4 - Percent Breakdown
Tab 5 - Output Summary
Tab 6 - Files & Photos
Note: Tab 7 – Used only if user has multiple assessments
for the same record (i.e., the same address)
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Interactive Overview
of the
SDE 2.0 Tool
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15 Minute Break
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What SD Determinations Mean for
Local Officials
1. Required under the NFIP and the local
floodplain management ordinance
2. Requirements apply only to structures
within the 100-year floodplain
3. May also be required under a local
building ordinance
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What SD Determinations Mean for
Local Officials
4. Substantially damaged structures
must either be elevated above the
BFE, demolished or removed from the
SFHA
5. Non-compliant construction may
result in daily fines and removal of
non-compliant repairs or
improvements
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Flood Insurance Issues
Substantially damaged structures rebuilt in
violation of the community’s floodplain
ordinance and not elevated above the BFE
will have significantly higher flood
insurance premiums
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Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC)
1. An additional claim payment to help
cover the cost of bringing a substantially
or repetitively damaged structure into
NFIP compliance
2. The claim must be a direct result of a
flood loss
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ICC
3. ICC claim can be used for elevating,
demolishing, or moving a structure
outside the SFHA
4. Owners can only receive ICC claims if the
local floodplain administrator has
determined that the structure is
substantially damaged due to flooding
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ICC
5. The 1-page or 5-page SDE reports are
sufficient documentation for the ICC
claim (suggest using 5-page report)
6. Refer to FEMA 301: Guidance for State
and Local Officials, Increased Cost of
Compliance Coverage (search on “ICC
FEMA 301”)
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General Guidance
Consider the repairs necessary to get the
structure up to local building code
requirements and to make it marketable
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SD vs. Uninhabitable Structures
• A SD structure is usually uninhabitable due
to damages of 50% or more
• However, structures may be uninhabitable
due to health reasons or a lack of utilities
• Damages for uninhabitable structures may
be considerably less than the 50%
threshold needed for SD
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Basics for SD Determinations
1. Primary concern are structures with
damages in the range of 40% to 60% –
these are the SD assessments that are
most likely to be appealed
2. The target is to determine if damages are
50% or greater (not concerned with 57% vs.
61% damage)
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Acceptable Methods for Structure Values
1. Computed Actual Cash Value (ACV) based on
unit costs and depreciation (developed within
SDE)
2. Professional Appraisal
3. Adjusted Tax Assessed Value
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Structure Quality
1. Refers to the initial construction quality as
defined in an industry-accepted cost
estimating guide
2. There are 5 quality levels in SDE – low,
budget, average, good, and excellent
3. Quality does not directly impact the SD
determination. It is used to select the
appropriate unit cost value for the base cost
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Structure Quality
Refer to a cost estimating guide for
descriptions of the various qualities of:
Foundations
Interior Finish
Floors
HVAC
Exterior walls
Electrical
Roof
Plumbing
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Unit Cost Data
•
Unit cost data is required if you want to
develop the computed ACV using the SDE
tool
•
Verify that proposed unit costs are valid
for your community
•
Record the source and date of the unit cost
data in SDE (bottom of Tab 3 – Cost)
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Sources of Unit Cost Data
1. Industry-accepted cost guides
2. Building permit data
3. Adjusted tax data
4. Professional appraisals
5. Shared data from near-by communities
6. Discussions with contractors or realtors
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Sample Unit Cost Table
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Depreciation
• In SDE 2.0 - based on structure condition
(no longer based on the year of construction)
• Assessments previously developed within
SDE 1.0 will retain their original depreciation
values when imported into SDE 2.0
• Only assessments developed in SDE 2.0 can
use the new depreciation methodology
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Damage vs. Poor Maintenance
• In separating damage from poor maintenance
(i.e., peeling paint, rotted eaves), consider the
repairs necessary to bring the structure up to
local building code and to make it marketable
While peeling paint may affect the selling
price, it will not be the deciding factor in
whether or not the structure sells
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Acceptable Methods for Cost of Repairs
1. Computed Damages based on a “percent
damaged” (from SDE)
2. Contractor’s cost estimate of repairs – need
to review to verify that it’s reasonable and
complete
3. Community cost estimate of repairs
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Caution for Damage Estimates
Donated or discounted labor and materials
must be evaluated at fair market value
because a substantial damage
determination requires use of the true cost
of repairs
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Consistency and Equity
To ensure consistency and equity for all
structure owners, officials are strongly
encouraged to select only one method each
for the initial structure values and repair
costs and to use the selected method for the
entire community
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Field Preparations
1. Encourage use of two-person inspection teams
2. Alert police, EMA, and other community
departments of target inspection areas prior to
field deployment
3. FIRMs, Flood Recovery Maps, or Tax Maps
If possible, transfer SFHA boundaries to a local
address or street map so that teams don’t inspect
more structures than needed
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Field Preparations
4. Field supplies (100-ft tape measure, clip board,
pens, etc.)
5. A laptop with the SDE tool installed
6. Blank SDE Damage Inspection Worksheets
(either for data collection or backup for a laptop)
(Found in App. B of the SDE Field Workbook)
7. Boundaries (by street) for the target inspection
areas for the current day
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Field Preparations
8.
Letter of Introduction, on community
letterhead, with name, phone & e-mail of
someone that residents can call
9.
Camera, batteries, photo cards, cable, etc.
10. GPS units, with instruction manuals
11. Cell phones or two-way radios
12. List of Contacts – police, community EMA,
other departments
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Field Preparations
13. Mark completed areas on a project map at
the end of the day for all field teams
14. For large inventories, consider using one
physical file folder per structure to hold:
• Address and tax information prior to inspections
• SDE 1- or 5-page structure reports, appraisals,
photographs, and estimates or repair after
inspections
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SDE Inspections
1. Review SFHA boundaries with
respect to inventory areas
2. Obtain and record structure photo
and GPS coordinates
3. Walk around exterior inspection
4. Verify that structure is safe to enter
5. Room-by-room interior inspection
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SDE Inspections
6. Record on either SDE Damage Inspection
Worksheets or on a laptop computer:
a) Building dimensions
b) Initial construction quality
c) Cost adjustments
d) Depreciation
e) Percent damage by structure element
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Estimating Structure Dimensions
1. Exact dimensions are not required
2. Consider structure shape as a rectangle or
a series of rectangles
3. Ignore small changes in shape (bay
windows, pulled out entrances, fire place
pads, etc.)
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Manufactured Housing
Where 1 inch can = 5 feet
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Updates from SDE 1.0 and 1.1
1. View/Search All Records – facilitates
review and editing of individual
assessments
2. Bulk Property Editor – facilitates large
scale data editing
3. Delete All Data Function – Tool submenu
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Updates from SDE 1.0 and 1.1
4. Default Data Function – pre-enter data
for 22 of the most commonly used fields
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Speeds up data entry, reduces errors
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User prompted to use it for every new assessment
5. No Physical Damage checkbox – Tab 2
6. Direct entry of square footage
7. Revised depreciation methodology
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What the SDE Provides:
1. A formalized approach for collecting and
estimating substantial damage
2. Reasonable and defensible structure
replacement costs and damage estimates
3. A method acceptable for NFIP
compliance
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What the SDE Does Not Provide:
1. Exact answers
2. Consistent approach on a communitywide basis (this is up to the local official
using the tool)
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FEMA 213
• Title: Answers to Questions About
Substantially Damaged Buildings This
provides official NFIP guidance on
determining substantial damage and
substantial improvement
• Also provides guidance on post-disaster
permitting
• www.fema.gov – search on: “FEMA 213”
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Contacts:
IL DNR
Paul Osman 217-782-4428
Paul.Osman@illinois.gov
Brian Eber - NE Area Administrator
847-608-3100 ext. 3-2059
Brian.Eber@illinois.gov
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Questions ?
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