Rebuilding after wildfires: Factors influencing sustainable, resilient, expedient, and cost-effective housing recovery

The increasing frequency of destructive wildfires, fueled in part by climate change, creates an urgent need to understand how homes can be rebuilt in a post-fire context to produce rebuilding outcomes that balance sustainability, fire resilience, expediency, and cost. We analyzed these outcomes for 679 homes destroyed in Colorado during the Marshall Fire using permit data and field observations. Through descriptive exploratory analysis and multivariable linear and logistic regression, our study examined how factors such as builders, jurisdictions, homeowner decisions, building codes, home size, and housing design choices, influence these rebuilding outcomes. Results show that sustainability and fire resilience outcomes were strongly shaped by jurisdictional building codes and policy enforcement, whereas expediency and cost outcomes were more strongly influenced by builder type and home size. Homeowner decisions regarding heating systems and solar installations further affect sustainability, and homeowner association policies influence fire resilience. Production builders consistently delivered faster and less expensive homes, though their sustainability and fire resilience outcomes varied more than outcomes for custom builders. Contrary to common concerns, more advanced energy codes, wildfire codes, and energy systems were not associated with higher costs per square foot and often resulted in lower energy use, increasing long-term cost savings, highlighting that resilient and sustainable rebuilding can be achieved without compromising affordability. These findings offer valuable insights for future policy development and disaster recovery practices. • We analyze 679 post-wildfire rebuilds across three Boulder County jurisdictions. • Outcomes assessed: sustainability, fire resilience, expediency, and cost. • Builder type and jurisdiction strongly shape rebuilding pathways and outcomes. • Energy codes and system decisions drive more sustainable rebuilding outcomes. • Home fire resilience linked to codes and policy, and homeowner design choices.