From Nonprofit Vision to AI-Powered Solution: The Future Proof Origin Story

How years of hands-on home protection work led to technology that transforms how Americans understand and protect their properties

The Future Proof story begins with a construction problem that wouldn’t go away. David Gilliland, Founder of Future Proof, had spent 25 years building and retrofitting homes, watching the same issues repeat across thousands of projects. Traditional houses, which fundamentally still use the same methods for the past 75 years, weren’t built to handle the increasing intensity of extreme weather events, and worse, homeowners had no practical way to understand what needed fixing.

The numbers tell the story: U.S. insurers paid $296 billion for natural disaster claims between 2020 and 2022 alone, and homeowners will invest nearly $7 trillion in weather-resilient improvements from 2024 to 2035. The challenge was delivering personalized guidance at scale.

The TPHA Foundation: Building Solutions

In 2018, David relocated to Hawaii with a mission that would shape everything that followed. Working with his Ex Machina Group, he began developing and testing construction technologies designed to protect homes against wildfire, extreme winds, and drought. By 2020, the first home using these techniques was completed on a piece of land carved into the side of an active volcano.

The home performed exactly as intended, demonstrating that new approaches to construction could dramatically improve resilience to extreme weather. This success led David and his wife to establish The Paulele Housing Association (TPHA) in 2022, a nonprofit dedicated to making these technologies accessible to families who needed them most.

TPHA became the testing ground for what would eventually power Future Proof’s AI. Over six years, the nonprofit developed fire- and wind-resistant exteriors, independent clean water sources, storm-proofing techniques, and construction methods. Most importantly, TPHA builds and remodels homes using these technologies, creating a database of real-world performance data.

“It’s not our first rodeo,” David explains. “We have renovated and upgraded many homes using this technology over the past six years.” This includes everything from 12 waterfront condominiums that were 50 years old to new construction designed from the ground up for extreme weather resilience.

The AI Solution: Why Now Matters

“This solution couldn’t exist five years ago because the AI wasn’t ready,” explains David Gilliland. The convergence of several technologies created Future Proof’s unique opportunity: advanced computer vision, predictive analytics, and processing power capable of handling one trillion data points about American homes.

This goes beyond simple pattern recognition. The AI performs what David calls “construction disassembly and reassembly”—virtually taking apart a house, comparing each component against building codes and best practices, then rebuilding it digitally to identify exactly what needs improvement.

Human Stories Behind the Data: Real Extreme Weather Impact

Consider the scale of what American families face today. In January 2025, the Los Angeles wildfires became the most expensive wildfires in world history, with families like those in Altadena watching their entire neighborhoods disappear overnight. Maria Santos, a nurse who lost her home in the Eaton Fire, told reporters she had no idea her property was at such extreme risk until flames were visible from her kitchen window.

Similarly, Hurricane Helene in September 2024 brought unprecedented flooding to western North Carolina. In Asheville, considered a safe haven from extreme weather, businesses like the River Arts District pottery studios were completely destroyed by floodwaters that exceeded even the historic 1916 flood. Small business owner Jake Mitchell watched 30 years of his pottery work wash away, later saying he wished he’d known about flood-proofing measures that could have saved his kiln room.

The Texas Hill Country floods of July 2025 claimed at least 120 lives in an area where many residents assumed their distance from the coast meant safety from extreme weather. These events, each causing billions in damage, represent thousands of families whose lives were torn apart by extreme weather.

We believe everyone should have access to the highest quality recommendations about how to prepare their homes ahead of the next big storm.

How AI Transforms Home Protection

Magic Window: Revealing Community Risk

Magic Window demonstrates AI’s power to make complex data accessible. Enter your address, and within about 13 seconds, the AI processes community-level risk data, building records, and environmental projections to deliver the “Seven Deadly Disasters” assessment for your zip code.

The AI pulls information from multiple sources—IBM Weather Company data, historical building records, local hazard maps—and synthesizes it into actionable insights. Users learn which risks they face, which insurance discounts they might qualify for, and what local programs could help fund improvements.

XHome Survey: AI-Powered Property Analysis

The real AI innovation happens with XHome Survey, launching in the first quarter of 2026. Using iPhone cameras combined with AI-guided image analysis, homeowners walk around their property while the AI builds a complete 3D digital twin.

The process combines multiple technologies: Eagle View’s aerial photography (with 30,000-pixel cameras that resolve details down to one inch), Apple’s augmented reality for ground-level scanning, and Google’s image analysis to identify materials and construction methods. “If you’ve got a stack of tires in the yard, we’ll see it,” David explains.

But seeing is just the beginning. The AI applies “construction best practices” analysis, recognizing that the vast majority of homes probably don’t meet building codes due to age, modifications, and corner-cutting during original construction. It identifies which non-compliant elements matter for specific risks, then generates detailed remediation plans.

Visionary: The AI Engine That Powers Everything

Visionary serves as Future Proof’s central intelligence platform, pulling together data from major technology partners. The system combines IBM Weather Company’s real-time weather feeds, Eagle View’s daily aerial imagery from 132 aircraft, and Apple’s augmented reality for property scanning.

Additional data flows through Google’s image analysis, OpenAI for report writing, and Perplexity for finding local grants and programs. This creates what David calls “approaching one trillion data points” about American homes.

The platform applies construction engineering analysis to understand how building components perform under stress. This enables Future Proof to deliver insights that would normally require multiple specialists.

Why Traditional Methods Fall Short

Before AI, property risk assessment required sending inspectors to individual homes, which was expensive, slow, and limited in scope. Even comprehensive inspections only captured a snapshot, missing the dynamic factors that determine resilience to extreme weather.

AI changes the fundamental economics. Instead of assessing homes one at a time, Future Proof can analyze properties at scale, providing insights that would be impossible through traditional methods. The AI considers factors human inspectors might miss: subtle structural modifications, material degradation patterns, neighborhood-specific risk factors, and the complex interactions between different building systems.

The AI connects assessment to action. Traditional risk reports tell homeowners they have problems but offer no solutions. Future Proof’s AI identifies issues, provides specific remediation plans, connects users with contractors, and helps them qualify for insurance discounts.

Building America’s Home Intelligence Database

Every Magic Window report and XHome Survey feeds Future Proof’s growing database of property intelligence. Each assessment creates what David calls a “dossier” containing high-resolution photography, 3D models, construction analysis, and risk profiles.

This data becomes incredibly valuable to insurance companies seeking to understand what they don’t know about properties they’re covering. The AI reveals field modifications, actual construction conditions versus original plans, and real-world resilience factors that traditional databases miss.

The result is what David describes as building “the Experian for home risk,” a platform that provides dynamic property intelligence that improves as homes get stronger, rather than static assessments that quickly become outdated.

The innovation addresses the core frustration David identified through years of construction work: homeowners knowing they have problems but not knowing what to do about it. The AI guides people towards truly actionable solutions. Think of the difference for example between being told you’re at risk versus receiving a specific, achievable plan to reduce that risk.

The Future Proof Mission: Technology Serving People

As a Public Benefit Corporation, Future Proof must demonstrate that its mission to help people is being fulfilled, alongside generating profits. The AI technology serves this mission by democratizing access to expertise that was previously available only to those who could afford individual consultations.

“We’re trying to get ahead of it,” David explains, referring to the mounting insurance crisis affecting millions of homeowners. The AI enables Future Proof to provide sophisticated property intelligence at a scale and price point that impacts the broader housing market.

Looking Forward: AI as the Foundation

The Visionary AI infrastructure positions the company to expand beyond individual property assessment. The same engine that powers Magic Window and XHome Survey can serve contractors seeking project leads, insurance companies needing risk intelligence, and government agencies planning resilience initiatives.

This scalability reflects a fundamental insight: the most valuable technology companies create platforms that enable solutions across entire industries. Future Proof’s AI transforms property resilience from a custom service to a scalable technology platform.

As extreme weather events become more frequent and insurance costs continue rising, the need for advanced property intelligence will only grow. Future Proof’s early investment in building comprehensive AI capabilities positions it to capture value from the $1.2 trillion in market opportunities across homeowners, contractors, and insurance companies.

From Volcano to Platform: The Journey So Far

When David first broke ground on that volcanic slope in Hawaii, the goal was simple: build one home that could withstand whatever nature might throw at it. The house worked, and they got an insurance discount based on home hardening techniques: a single family’s solution to a problem affecting millions.

TPHA’s six-year journey from that first home to today illustrates how innovation happens. What started as developing fire-resistant exteriors for individual properties evolved into a comprehensive understanding of how homes fail under extreme weather conditions. The 12 waterfront condominiums that David describes as “basically like a table sitting on a concrete floor” became testing grounds for techniques that could be applied across different building types and ages.

The transformation from TPHA’s project-by-project approach to Future Proof’s AI-powered platform represents the democratization of expertise. The construction insights that once required hiring David personally are now accessible to any homeowner with a smartphone. The same analysis that TPHA performed for individual clients can now be delivered to millions of properties simultaneously.

Today, as Future Proof prepares to launch its first consumer application, the foundation remains the same real-world construction experience that started on a Hawaiian volcano. The AI may process approaching one trillion data points, but every recommendation it makes traces back to lessons learned from homes, real materials, and construction challenges that David and his team solved with their own hands.

That progression from one resilient home to a platform serving millions captures what Future Proof represents: taking proven solutions and making them accessible to everyone who needs them, exactly when they need them most.