CEO Ken Calligar has spent the past decade trying to get people to build differently after quitting his Wall Street banking job.
The country—maybe even the world—is at a crossroads in building construction due to climate change, and one CEO is disappointed about where things are going.
"Ninety-nine percent of this community is rebuilding with wood," Ken Calligar says of Los Angeles County, which still trying to rebuild after the devastating 2025 Palisades and Alatadena wildfires. "It's insane."
"Unfortunately, that means they have designed in the next disaster," the founder and CEO of building technology company RSG-3D tells Realtor.com. "Builders say 'If we have to design in resiliency into a house, then no one can afford the house.' That's just baloney."
A former Wall Street investment banker who acquired disaster-resilient technology manufacturer Insteel Panelmex in 2018, Calligar has spent the past decade trying to get people to build differently. (The difference between "resilient" and "resistant" is complex, but Calligar prefers the term "resilient.")
Renamed RSG 3-D, his company manufactures framing panels made of steel wire and expanded polystyrene wrapped in concrete skins that can be molded into any shape and are practically indestructible—impervious to hurricanes, earthquakes, and fires.
Homes made with RSG-3D panels are resilient to many types of natural disasters—and look good, says the company's founder. (RSG-3D) Unsurprisingly, Calligar's firm has been busy in Los Angeles since the fires—but not busy enough as far as he is concerned.
He points out that not only are most destroyed residential buildings in the area being rebuilt with flammable materials—but they are now larger and closer together, increasing the chances that a conflagration can spread from one home to the next.
"A six-year-old could have said this wasn't a good idea," he says. "These towns are so vulnerable, they have no idea. To me, it's so obvious what the solution is."
The solution: Disaster-resilient framing panels
In 2011, Calligar was doing a deep dive into building technologies for a start-up he was advising. The start-up didn't last, but Calligar's intense interest in creating buildings that could survive disasters did.
"Since the 1980, we have had decades of increasing frequency of natural disasters and the costs have gone up dramatically," he says. "In the 1980s, there averaged about four natural disasters a year. In the 2020s, we’re averaging about 23."
Beyond fires, there is an increasing frequency of other types of natural disasters—hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, shoreline erosion, extreme heat and cold. According to the 2026 Realtor.com Housing and Climate Risk Report, 23.1% of U.S. homes are vulnerable to severe or extreme climate risk from wind, flood, or wildfire, culminating in $11.2 trillion in risk exposure.
Then there is the human compulsion to build in risk-prone zones. "We like our views, our mountains and our seashores, and the population has been building in more vulnerable areas," says Calligar.
Homeowners are already paying the price in higher HOA fees, rising insurance premiums, elevated mortgage delinquency rates, and even in the inability to find insurance coverage at all.
The building's "envelope" is made of a steel truss cage and an expanded polystyrene core that is sprayed with concrete. (RSG-3D) 
RSG-3D CEO Ken Calligar oversees one of his home projects in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. (RSG-3D) Yet—people keep doing the same old.
"When disaster strikes, shoppers retrench, but the effect is short-lived," says the report. "Following the January 2025 LA wildfires, buyer interest in high-risk homes dropped 10%, yet fully recovered within one month."
"Waterfront access, mountain views, and river retreats matter more than the risk that comes with them."
Another alarming report says that California could lose up to 75% of its beaches either seasonally or permanently by 2100. Highly developed areas face "especially severe losses."
Calligar agrees—not only that homeowners want what they want and what they want isn't always good—but that builders keep making the same builds that have proven ineffective and even downright dangerous.
He notes one destroyed home in L.A. that burned down again during its rebuild. Someone had broken into the construction site to steal copper wire and sparked a fire. According to Calligar, the home was "all wood framed."
"The U.S. residential world is the only technology that hasn’t changed in the last half century," he adds. "It's actually gone backwards. The wood is worse, the productivity of the workers is worse, the quality of the builds is worse."
"If you refuse to learn, you're going to get the lesson again."
Some people, however, have learned. Jonathan Scott of the Property Brothers led the rebuilding of fiancée actress Zooey Deschanel's childhood home in Pacific Palisades. The 100-year-old Spanish Revival house was rebuilt to look exactly as it had before the fires—only this time it's using RSG 3-D technology.
"When Zooey’s parents walk in, this will feel like the original home," the HGTV reality star told KTLA. "All of these things we’ve thought about to make sure this house never ever burns down again. They’ll never have to go through what they went through last January."
"He is not connected to us financially," Calligar stresses of Scott's plentiful touting of RSG-3D technology in the press. "He's just a very happy client."
Homes built with RSG-3D panels are not only disaster resilient but architecturally flexible and can be curved. The effect can be just as beautiful as a wood framed home, says the founder. (RSG-3D) Calligar, who is currently working on about a dozen Los Angeles building projects, has three times that number scheduled for next year. "The demand is off the charts," he says. "It's a question of how much we can handle. We're still a small company, we can’t be everywhere."
Nor are his projects limited to L.A. Partners are using the technology in six states and in 20 international countries.
He says the notion that it costs significantly more to build a resilient home are a myth—and that using RSG-3D is "cost competitive against inferior building systems." Plus, additional costs can usually be absorbed with savings in energy and operating costs, and lower insurance premiums.
"You pull out way ahead, we've done the math," he says.
Another bonus? Homes can be built faster using the technology, since the panels are easy to erect, and don't require heavy machinery. Those concerned about aesthetics need not be, says Calligar. The panels are architecturally flexible, and can be curved or domed for any shape.
"Because of the strength of the system, you can do a lot more architecturally than you can with wood," he says. "We've got a lot of cool architecture."
Those sold on the idea of a disaster-resilient house can get it done with the firm's "trained ecosystem" of builders, architects, and engineers.
He compares RSG-3D technology to vaccines, and how they extended the human lifecycle.
"What we're trying to do is eradicate the diseases that are harming everyone," he says. "And extend the [building] lifecycle by centuries, by selecting the right materials."
He points to the Egyptian pyramids, erected with practically indestructible limestone and granite, and still standing tall after 4,500 years.
"If they'd done that with wood, we wouldn’t even know about them, they'd be muck in the sand," he says. "It's a good lesson in doing things right."