Real estate professionals active in the L.A. market are bracing themselves for another wave of tariff-induced uncertainty following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling, which deemed the tariffs enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as illegal. “This is a very shifting landscape for (many) American companies,” said Ken Calligar, chief executive and founder of manufacturing firm RSG 3•D. “And that creates a huge amount of uncertainty which creates a disincentive to invest and grow your business.”

The wildfires that tore through Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other Los Angeles-area communities in early 2025 wreaked unprecedented disaster. If an upside exists in such a catastrophe, it may be the opportunity to explore how homes, commercial buildings and infrastructure might be rebuilt differently to avoid a future disaster.

Crashing home prices, stalled rebuilds and nightmare insurance red tape have been laid bare by homeowners whose houses were destroyed in the Los Angeles wildfires — with some now staring down the barrel of multimillion-dollar losses. Fire safety experts are sounding the alarm over Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s ill-thought-through order to “clear the way to rebuild homes as they were” — promoting “like for like” homes made from the same wood-frames that could portend further disasters. Ken Calligar, CEO of RSG 3D, a company that builds fire-resilient homes, said it’s not so much a matter of if the devastating wildfires could happen again.

A year after the Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed thousands of homes across Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena, rebuilding activity is showing clear signs of acceleration, with more homeowners transitioning from recovery planning to design approvals, permit issuance and early construction. With resilience becoming a baseline expectation, material selection is assuming greater importance, particularly for homeowners seeking to reduce their fuel load and enhance disaster resilience. For homeowners exploring fire-resistant construction, RSG 3-D an alternative to traditional building systems, balancing durability with practical considerations like lot constraints and overall project cost.

In the devastating Tubbs Fire that burned down over 36,000 acres of land in 2017, one of the many homes that burned down was a beautiful home in Santa Rosa, California. The homeowners had purchased the home just months before the fire had hit, and it was the centerpiece of their long-planned retirement. After the home had been unfortunately reduced down to ash, the homeowners knew that they needed to be a lot more critical with the materials used during the rebuild.

Disaster-resistant panel manufacturer RSG 3-D is finding clients in L.A.'s burn areas eager to use their product. Ken Calligar, founder and CEO of RSG 3-D, said the panels have withstood hurricanes and earthquakes as well as fires.

The house where actress Zooey Deschanel grew up, a classic 1920s Spanish-style home hidden behind a tall green hedge in Pacific Palisades, burned to the ground in last year’s wildfires—a risk the actress’s family is now fighting against as they rebuild. On the outside, the new structure will look very much like the charming red-tile roof home they lost, but the structure will be updated to be fully wood-free and fire resistant. “They’re rebuilding it to look exactly the same, but with RSG in the walls, floors and roof,” said Ken Calliger, CEO of RSG-3D, which is supplying the specialty panels for the project.

Recovery from the costly disaster is a long way away. So far, hundreds of new homes have been submitted for permitting, but it’s a process shaping out to be an uneven one, based on damage, insurance and wealth. Affected homeowners are grappling with the details of fire-resilient construction and landscaping techniques, along with some more fundamental questions about what their communities should look like.

“It’s such a comfort psychologically to be in that house. When people come in, they notice it’s a little noisier than maybe a traditional house because of all the concrete. But when you start to talk about the benefits in terms of heating and cooling, it dissipates heat so well,” Steen said. “Even on a 90 degree day in Northern California, it’s maybe 76 inside. That’s a 10 to 14 degree difference all the time, just because of the concrete. When you can actually sit down and explain the benefits, people get it right away and ask, ‘why aren’t more people doing this?’”

After the Tubbs Fire of 2017 tore through Northern California, destroying more than five thousand structures, one Santa Rosa family chose to rebuild, this time with resilience, simplicity, and a deep connection to nature at the heart of every decision. The result is a 2,785-square-foot, three-bedroom retreat that pairs modern design with fire-resistant innovation by RSG 3-D.

“The housing replacement cycle is slow. It upgrades every 50 years or so, with 2% of homes being replaced per year,” said Calligar, the chief executive of resilient building company RSG 3-D. “But large-scale incidents like fires or earth- quakes are an opportunity for a migration to a better system.” Calligar’s company creates insulated concrete panels that are made with fire-retardant foam sandwiched between two wire-mesh faces, which are, in turn, wrapped in concrete. The future of fire mitigation, he said, boils down to building with non-combustible materials.

Deep-seeded housing issues in the state, ranging from the impact on property from continuous wildfires and earthquakes to the shrinking of insurance availability are now being placed under a microscope once again in areas such as Altadena and the Palisades.RSG said about two-thirds of new builds using its materials are from first timers to panelized housing, with about 75 percent of the business client led from word of mouth.“People really understand the [homebuilding] challenges, especially in California now and of course in hurricane regions,” [RSG CEO] Calligar said. “The state of California is a massive risk in every direction. It’s just a giant geography of risk and it’s not reducing.”

A unique home-building design is gaining popularity in regions prone to natural disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, or earthquakes, as has been the case this year in California.The Restructure Group’s RS 3-D home-building method primarily supports new construction, utilizing the Resilient Panel Building System, which is engineered for ground-up projects. This system delivers a non-combustible, high-strength shell that withstands the most extreme conditions.

en Calligar, CEO of RSG 3-D, believes homes should be built once, built right, and made to last.The company’s panel building system is multi-disaster resilient; energy efficient; low maintenance; and mold, insect, and vermin resistant. Calligar says change is good when it comes to building better homes that ultimately hold people’s lives.“Resilient homes are not just about better technology. They’re about honoring the people who live in them and assuring their future. Families and homes make up a community, and a future-proof community is where people can thrive,”

RSG 3-D’s Founder and CEO is Ken Calligar, investment banking veteran and former CEO of Sionix, which designs and constructs water treatment systems. It was through Calligar’s investment work that he came across Insteel Panelmex, RSG 3-D’s Mexico-based predecessor that had quietly hummed under the radar for more than two decades. Insteel Panelmex has provided the material, which it dubbed TridiPanel, to thousands of homes and commercial developments since its founding in 1991. Realizing its potential, Calligar acquired the company and formally launched RSG 3-D in 2018.

Whether you’re building or investing in a healthcare facility, an office building, a warehouse, a school, a data center, a cultural building or a mixed-use development, safety and durability are at the top of the list of necessary attributes. In the face of increasing threats from hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, floods and extreme temperatures, building scientists and architects employ design practices and new technology that demonstrate how human ingenuity can keep these significant real estate investments profitable and businesses operational.

Smarter materials and fire-conscious design offer a path to long-term resilience When the Tubbs Fire tore through Northern California in 2017, it left behind a grim picture: more than 5,600 structures gone, entire neighborhoods in Santa Rosa reduced to rubble. And yet, amid the scorched earth, a small handful of homes still stood—almost miraculously intact. Their secret? Not location, not luck, but the way they were built.

When the smoke cleared after the devastating Tubbs Fire of 2017 in NorthernCalifornia, what remained was a haunting silence, and a pressing question: How can webuild homes that survive the next one? More than 5,600 structures were lost in thatfire, many in Santa Rosa, where entire neighborhoods were reduced to ash. Yet amidthe devastation, a handful of homes built with fire-resistant technologies stood firm.These were not futuristic bunkers or luxury compounds, they were normal homes, builtintentionally with abnormal resilience.

As climate change leads to more frequent and widespread wildfires, homebuyers, builders, and insurers are urgently seeking wildfire-resistant homes and climate-resilient construction strategies. Here’s how innovators are building safer, more sustainable communities in high-risk areas.

While many companies are looking at how best to expedite the rebuilding process, New York-based building technology firm RSG 3-D is instead focused on long-term durability when it comes to reconstructing Los Angeles.

While many companies are looking at how best to expedite the rebuilding process, New York-based building technology firm RSG 3-D is instead focused on long-term durability when it comes to reconstructing Los Angeles.

Ken Calligar, CEO of RSG 3-D, discusses a groundbreaking approach to fire-resistant and disaster-resilient construction. Their innovative system, which uses concrete sprayed over steel mesh surrounding insulation, has already proven its durability in real-world scenarios, including California’s Tubbs Fire. Could this technology redefine the future of construction in extreme environments like Dubai?

Calligar’s company built a home in Santa Rosa that survived the Valley Fire, a 2015 fire in Northern California, using the concrete panel system. It's featured prominently in marketing material. The only damage: The wood deck on the back of the house burned off and the garage doors melted.

Two homes in Napa County's Silverado area that are being rebuilt from the ashes of 2017 Atlas Fire have a secret weapon against destructive blazes of the future.

“Clearly, building products is not an emerging industry, but the shifting demands of customers, regional resilience needs, and upgrading codes is creating a giant disruptive phase”

Ultimately, the exceptional collaboration between the owners, the architects, and the design team shines through at Costa Palmas. “The inside and outside of the house are kind of seen as one, and that was the intention,” Guerin says. “In general, I think our architecture is clean and refined, and the pairing with JB was able to soften our work a little bit. Conversely, we added architectural rigor to some of his work. And I think it’s all a nice complement.”

In January 2020, we won an NAHB Global Innovation award, and it wasn’t really for the panel. It was for using the panel for affordable housing.

The fire consumed the hillside, charring trees and bushes and homes on its way to devastating 70,000 acres in northern California. But Sean Jennings’ house did not burn. Jennings says his house survived the Valley Fire of 2015 because it was not made of wood. When he’d built it five years earlier, Jennings instead used something called RSG 3-D panels

"RSG 3-D RESILIENCE ADU is a winner of the 2019 National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Global Innovation Award. Representatives for all three products were honored yesterday at the NAHB International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas."

"A futuristic building material is being touted by its manufacturer as the environmentally friendly and fire-resistant material California needs for a sustainable future."

"But another answer to the looming threat of wildfires is to construct homes that are resistant to flames, said Ken Calligar, the CEO of RSG 3- D, a company that manufactures building panels made of concrete and steel, which are noncombustible."

"When the panel system is used for a total building, its potential for fire safety, hurricane and seismic resistance si sumerior to virtually any otherstandard building system."

"Harrison Woodfield is one of a handful of Wine Country architects who refuses to design wooden homes in areas vulnerable to wildfire. Instead she favors noncombustible materials like RSG-3D, a thick fire-retardant foam panel sandwiched between wire mesh and coated on both sides with concrete."

"A traffic noise barrier along a thoroughfare in Santa Rosa, Calif., gives one glimpse of residential America’s fire-resistant future. The 8-foot-high wall stretches 1,550 feet along the Coffey Park subdivision, where embers from the 2017 Tubbs Fire jumped Highway 101 and destroyed 1,200 homes. The old wooden barrier went up in smoke too, replaced in 2019 by a more fire-resistant one consisting of polystyrene encased in stucco-covered concrete. Besides helping block traffic noise, the new wall will serve as a fire break that protects nearby homes from future infernos, says David Shew, former staff chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection."