Up on the Roof

Even though a major hurricane hasn't pounded the Gulf Coast since 2004, weather prognosticators and emergency management experts are fond of saying “it only takes one.”

Bob Stobaugh, a former Gulf Coast mortgage-banking executive, is probably uttering those words in his sleep these days. That's because Stobaugh, past president of the Gulf Coast Mortgage Bankers Association, recently left mortgages for a new business, hurricane fortification products.

Specifically, Stobaugh's firm, Bradenton-based Building Performance Americas USA, developed a pair of patented products for roofs of commercial and residential buildings designed to mitigate water damage. Both the Miami-Dade Product Control and the Florida Building Commission, top-tier Sunshine State building standards, approved the parts.