FEMA P-784, Substantial Damage Estimator Best Practices

FEMA P-784 provides best practices for officials using the Substantial Damage Estimator (SDE) tool to support Substantial Damage determinations under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The document details strategies for planning and managing data collection, conducting field assessments of residential and non-residential buildings, and ensuring data quality assurance. It addresses challenges such as pre-populating databases, mapping property data, handling structures without posted addresses, and recording non-standard building information. Guidance is organized by phases of SDE data management and is intended for use after disaster events affecting buildings in flood-prone areas.