The Malibu Times follows the recovery and rebuild process of locals who lost their homes due to the Woolsey Fire in the “Rising from the Ashes” series. This week, we spoke to Guy and Jana Blake, who lost their home on Harvester Road in western Malibu. And if you recognize their names: Guy and their oldest son, Connor, are members of Volunteers on Patrol. They both made patrols and assisted during the Woolsey Fire. TMT spoke to the Blakes in a previous article about their fire experience.
We met the pair on their property, which had recently undergone debris removal.
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“Well, it hasn’t really been a build process,” Guy explained. “… It’s been kind of in reverse of building. It’s been taking out the old building.”
The Blakes opted for private debris removal—a complicated choice that he calls “a mathematical process.”
“The reality of what happens in real life is the insurance company, at least in our regard and I think most people, will move to pay you what they call nondisputed amounts,” he described.
This amount is an estimate of what the company believes its client’s rebuild will cost—in total, meaning the debris removal money is pooled together with the rest. A homeowner could potentially use money saved from debris removal for later steps in the rebuild process.
Guy said, “At the end of the day, after doing all of the math, the answer was we don’t know which one’s going to be cheaper because you have asbestos issues and so forth.”
They decided to go with Thomas Brunsing, Brunsing Associates, Inc.’s president and principal engineer, who met with the Blakes’ building team—the two groups meshed well, and so they moved forward.
As for recovering things from the burned property, both said it was a lost cause due to the frequent rainfall. However, during the immediate days after the fire, they found a ceramic Christmas tree.
The small tree was completely intact, and for Jana, it became a beacon of hope.
“Even now, in almost March, it is on our kitchen counter, lit up,” she said. With their sons in college, the couple currently lives at a rental property on Point Dume.
Now, the Blakes are focused on completing the rebuild process within two years—the amount of time their insurance company will pay for additional living expenses.
“We have two years from the date of the fire, which leaves us a year and nine months more to get into this; otherwise, we’re homeless,” Guy said.
They are planning to build within a similar footprint of their previous home—a three-bedroom, two-bathroom property on one level with a garage beneath—plus an additional extra 10 percent.
City of Malibu residents can rebuild with the benefit of an expedited permitting process, so long as the new rebuild is only 10 percent more than the original house’s square footage.
Insurance most likely will not cover all expenses. The Blakes’ builders initially quoted $400 per square foot, while others say the cost will go up to $500-$600. Anything north of the initial quote will come out of pocket for the couple.
In a way, they are happy to rebuild—the home, built in the 1970s, was sitting on cement pillars, known as a pier foundation. In those days, properties were built to serve as weekend homes so, Guy explained, “people didn’t put a whole lot of time and energy in them.” The new home will have a more solid foundation.
“I’m just learning this as we go,” he said, while explaining the home’s previous foundation. Like most residents, Guy and Jana have had to learn the jargon associated with insurance and home building fairly quickly.
While speaking about the numerous meetings held since the fire, Guy said he was not interested in the ongoing investigations and anger toward the city.
“I’m more interested in anything that will help me rebuild … and that’s what I ask of my city,” he said, adding, “You just knock down anybody who’s in our way. That’s all I want my city doing right now.”
Last week, the couple met their builder and architect to see the architectural sketch for their new home for the first time.
“It was an exciting time, because that was the first positive movement,” Guy said.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story stated fire-rebuilt homes within 10 percent of the original footprint would not have to go through a “new permitting process.” The story has been updated to clarify the process is expedited for those homes that fall within 10 percent of the old home’s footprint.
