About Rebuild & Repair
Practical advice, real-world guidance, and the tools you need to turn loss into a fresh start.
Your trusted Resource for Rebuilding After Disaster
When you lose your home to fire, flood, earthquake, or storm, you’re hit with a lot more than a construction challenge. You face an emotional journey that will test your strength at every turn. Rebuild & Repair is designed to help you navigate this journey with confidence, from dealing with your insurance company and planning department to working with designers and contractors so you can move back into a home you love.
The Goal
Why We Created Rebuild & Repair
Rebuilding after a disaster can feel overwhelming. Deadlines, insurance negotiations, permits, and construction decisions come at you all at once. We created this site to be your calm in the storm—a place where you can get clear, actionable advice without industry jargon or hidden agendas.
Our content is:
- Practical – Focused on real-world solutions you can use right away.
- Compassionate – Acknowledging the stress, uncertainty, and emotional weight of the rebuilding process.
- Well-researched – Drawn from credible sources and updated to reflect the latest programs, building practices, and recovery resources.
We hope that someday neighborhoods destroyed by earthquakes, fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, or landslides will again be communities where new houses sit together as beautifully as the ones that preceded them.
My Story
Created by Homeowners for Homeowners
As the daughter of an architect, I grew up with home building in my blood. Some of my earliest memories are of running around freshly poured foundations as my father inspected the contractor’s work. While I loved architecture, I chose to write about it rather than practice it.
In 1991, I was publishing a home improvement magazine for the San Francisco Bay Area when the Oakland Hills Fire destroyed more than 3,000 homes—just over ten miles from my own home. My co-publisher and I worked closely with local contractors to create a practical booklet to help wildfire survivors understand the complex process of rebuilding their homes. We hoped it was a one-time disaster—but it was just the beginning of more frequent and destructive natural disasters.
Nearly 30 years and several moves later, I was woken at 4 a.m. by a phone call from my son, asking if I was okay. Confused, I asked why. “Santa Rosa is on fire,” he said. The Tubbs fire was to become one of the most destructive urban wildfires in California history.
Between 2017 and 2020, Sonoma County suffered several critical fires. I lived within a mile or two of three of them. Like so many others, I packed my car, waiting for evacuation orders. Fortunately, each time, my neighborhood was spared. But many others lost everything. I saw their frustration, exhaustion, and determination as they rebuilt—one decision at a time.
Today, disasters strike with increasing frequency and in unexpected places—fires in the dead of winter, hurricanes far inland, floods in regions that never thought they’d see them. A rebuilding guide is, sadly, more needed than ever.
Rebuilding your home may be one of the hardest things you ever have to do. But, with the right information at the right time, the process becomes less overwhelming. I hope the guidebook and this website help you navigate your way back home.
— Lisa Stockwell
The Guide
Meeting You Where You Are
My experiences witnessing the rebuilding of entire communities revealed a critical need for a detailed, easy-to-understand resource for anyone dealing with home construction after disaster. Rebuild & Repair is that resource. It guides homeowners step-by-step through every phase of recovery, including how to:
- Secure FEMA disaster aid and file home insurance claims
- Understand zoning laws, permits, and building codes
- Select trusted contractors and design professionals
- Manage timelines, budgets, and construction challenges
The free guide—and this companion website—was developed so you won’t have to start from scratch. It draws from the experiences of others who have gone through what you are coping with now.