Inside a new disaster-proof neighborhood in Florida, where million-dollar off-grid homes already survived two hurricanes and residents pay no electric bills

Cortez, Florida — where the Hunters Point development is located — is known for its white-sand beaches and historic fishing villages.

A tiny town of over 4,000 residents, Cortez is an hour south of Tampa, near Bradenton Beach, a popular vacation destination.

In the past, residential homes have been left behind in the push to build LEED-certified, sustainable developments, Gobuty explained.

"There's a lot of museums and commercial buildings, but residential is really like a step-sister. It's not been traditionally dominant for LEED," he told Business Insider.

LEED is a certification developed by the nonprofit US Green Building Council that verifies a building's sustainable design and efficient energy use, according to the Green Building Council. Net-zero means the the amount of energy a building consumes is equal to the amount of energy it produces through renewable means, according the federal government.

The team observed the prototype over 18 months in conditions that recreated the changing seasons before starting construction in the real world.

Gobuty decided he wanted the homes to use a mix of solar and battery energy, choosing the German startup sonnenBatterie to provide the units to power the homes.

"We're generating 35% more power than we modeled and we're consuming 25% less," Gobuty said.

Gobuty explained his team used 2×6 insulation boards for the Hunters Point homes instead of the typical 2×4.

"It creates resiliency, strength, and as well keeps this envelope tight," he said.

In fact, when Hunters Point conducted industry-standard "blower door" tests, a diagnostic tool to see how much air escapes the home, they tested tighter than the established rating system, Gobuty said.

Withstanding major storms was the project's intention from the very beginning, so the homes on Hunters Point start at 16 feet above sea level.

"We built these homes to be able to deal with the climate crisis," Gobuty told Insider.

In 2022, when only three homes were completed, Hurricane Ian struck Florida. A year later, Hurricane Idalia affected more than 20 Hunters Point homes.

"We had a king-size surge that completely covered the docks," Gobuty recalled.

"We woke up the next morning just like normal," Hunters Point resident William Fulford told the Wall Street Journal in late 2023 about living there during a storm. "It's a damn strong house."

"There are young families that have bought in that are very sustainability and resiliency-centric, and they love it," Gobuty said. "Then we've got some retirees that just love the fact that they don't have utility bills."

Gobuty explained that every homeowner has a battery specific to their home.

If their home is able to generate $150 worth of power and their utility bill comes in at $150, the state-run Florida Power and Light company issues them a credit that wipes away the cost.

"We haven't had a power bill yet," Fulford, the resident, told the Washington Post earlier this year.

Each lot is 3,300 square feet, and each single-family home has an interior space of about 1,650 square feet, according to Fox Business. Some have three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and one half-bathroom, and HOA fees are $450 a month, according to a Zillow listing. The ground floor of the three-story units has a garage with two spaces, per the listing.

Hurricane Ian alone destroyed nearly 5,000 homes in Florida in 2022, according to NPR.

Gobuty believes the solution to preventing that from ever happening again starts with intentional design and construction.

"You have to do better you can just do to build the code," Gobuty told BI. "There are responsibilities that you have to have now as home builders."