Company hopes to capitalize on rising sea levels in Florida

Science Foundation, and Todd Stern, the chief negotiator for the U.S. on the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

The companies see a market in sea level rise consultation, but also other climate change-related challenges that traditional property inspectors and building codes don't consider — hurricane storm surge, flooding rains and extreme temperature changes.

When seas could rise 10 inches by 2030 and up to 26 inches by 2060 above 1992 levels, the basis of inquiries is often whether buying a beach house will be an asset or liability to future generations.

“I just think as a practical matter, this is something people should do,” said homebuyer Kevin Kennedy, who ordered four reports from Coastal Risk Consulting on Palm Beach County properties along the Intracoastal and on the ocean. “The results discouraged me from purchasing two of them.”

Kennedy said he was surprised to learn the Intracoastal homes were more vulnerable to sea level rise than a condominium he liked on the ocean.

“My instinct was absolutely wrong,” he said. “I started looking at properties on the ocean and I and got the same report done. Believe it or not, the prognosis was dramatically better.”

He bought the oceanfront condo.

Coastal Risk Consultants, which raised $2 million to develop software to evaluate individual parcels for flooding, is on the cusp of profitability, said President Albert Slap.

The Plantation-based firm has counseled myriad interests from individual home buyers to wellheeled island developers and entire towns. Property fixes can be as simple as self-inflating barriers available at home improvement stores to pricey permanent blockades against rising tides.

“Something like raising your crawl space vents could buy you another 15 years,” said Brian McNoldy, a senior research assistant at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Atmospheric Science, who is an unpaid advisor to Coastal Risk Consultants. “They try to give clients an idea of possible fixes, high-priority items, and recognize people don't have an endless supply of money.”

Although some have more wherewithal than others. The solution for one coastal homeowner was an elevated, curved sea wall hidden in landscaping that she insisted not obstruct the view from her infinity-edge pool.

“There's no one size fits all,” Slap said. “What one home needs may be very different than what the house right next door needs.”