Hurricane Preparation for Southwest Florida Homes
Storm Protection Before the Season, Repairs After It
CR Benge Construction helps homeowners in Bonita Springs, Naples, Fort Myers, and across Lee and Collier County get their homes ready before hurricane season, and put them back together after a storm. A lot of storm damage starts at a weak point: an unprotected window, a door that lets in wind-driven rain, or a stucco crack that’s been growing for years. Hurricane preparation is about finding those weak points and fixing them while the weather is calm. As a licensed general contractor with our own stucco and drywall crews, we handle the openings and the walls around them.
Call (239) 948-2125 or request an estimate to plan your home’s storm protection.
How We Help You Prepare
- Impact window and door upgrades. We replace standard glass with impact-rated windows, sliders, and entry doors, so there’s nothing to install when a storm shows up in the forecast. See our window and exterior door replacement page for the details.
- An exterior check during your estimate. When we come out for your free estimate, we walk the outside of your home and point out stucco cracks, failed sealant at windows and doors, and gaps around pipes, vents, and light fixtures where wind-driven rain gets in.
- Stucco and sealant repairs. Our stucco crew patches cracks, reseals openings, and repairs damaged sections so the wall sheds water the way it was built to.
- Remodels already underway. If we’re in the middle of your remodel when a storm approaches, we close temporary openings, move staged materials inside, and protect finished work.
- Storm damage repairs. After a storm, we repair stucco, drywall, framing, windows, and doors, and rebuild to current Florida Building Code standards.
You don’t have to do all of it at once. Most homeowners start with the openings, since that’s often where a house is most vulnerable, and work through the rest over a season or two.
A Pre-Season Checklist for Your Home
Hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30, and the busiest stretch is usually August through October. The easiest time to handle construction work is winter and spring, before contractors and window manufacturers get backed up. Here’s where we suggest you focus:
- Openings. Windows, sliders, entry doors, and garage doors are common entry points for wind and water. Know which openings are impact-rated and which ones rely on shutters.
- Shutters, if you have them. Make sure every panel is labeled, the hardware is complete, and the tracks or anchors on the wall aren’t corroded.
- Exterior walls. Hairline stucco cracks, rust stains, and gaps in the sealant around windows let wind-driven rain into the wall. Our stucco inspection checklist covers what to look for.
- Photos of your home. Photograph the exterior on a calm day so you have a baseline if you ever need to file an insurance claim. Here’s how to document your home’s exterior before a storm.
- A plan for afterward. Know who you’ll call for repairs before the storm, not after, when every contractor in the region has a waiting list.
Why Storm Prep Is a Construction Job
Plenty of hurricane prep is a shopping list: water, batteries, and fuel. But the things that decide how a house holds up, like the openings, the exterior walls, and the seal between them, are construction work. They need permits where required, they need to meet the Florida Building Code, and they need to be finished so they don’t create new leaks.
That’s where a general contractor helps. Instead of coordinating a window installer, a stucco crew, and a painter separately, you have one team responsible for your windows, doors, and exterior walls, and one point of contact from the first walkthrough to the final inspection.
After the Storm
If your home is damaged, call us once it’s safe to do so. We’ll assess the damage, give you photos and a written repair scope you can share with your insurance company, and plan the repairs. We’ve rebuilt storm-damaged homes in Fort Myers to meet today’s code, handling the permits and inspections along the way. If you’d rather catch problems before the next storm, our pre-storm stucco walkthrough shows what we check.
Hurricane Preparation FAQs
When should I start preparing my home for hurricane season?
Winter or early spring is ideal. Impact windows and doors are usually built to order, and permitting adds time, so work that starts early in the year is far more likely to be finished before peak season.
Is it worth upgrading to impact windows if I already have shutters?
Many homeowners decide it is. Impact windows protect your home even when nobody is there to put shutters up, and they cut outside noise year-round. Shutters still work well when they’re kept in good shape and installed in time. We’ll walk you through both options.
Can you look over my home's exterior before storm season?
Yes. Schedule an estimate and we’ll walk the exterior with you, point out cracked stucco, failed sealant, and openings that need attention, and put any recommended repairs in writing.
Do you repair storm damage?
Yes. Storm repairs cover everything from cracked stucco and wet drywall to damaged framing, windows, and doors, and we handle the permits and inspections the repairs require.
Which areas do you serve?
We work throughout Lee and Collier County, including Bonita Springs, Naples, North Naples, Estero, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Marco Island, Lehigh Acres, and San Carlos Park.