Skanska was recently awarded a $294,100 Wood Innovation Grant from the U.S. Forest Service for a two-year program designed to help advance the mass timber industry.

The grant, to create the “Tall Mass Timber Insurance Case Study & Project Guide,” covers a 2.5-year program designed to address critical knowledge gaps related to insurance for mid- and high-rise mass timber buildings.

Skanska will collaborate with insurance carriers and brokers to strengthen water and fire mitigation plans, builders risk applications, and post-occupancy guidance for mass timber buildings.

“Today, the cost of builders’ risk insurance is significantly greater for mass timber projects than for those with traditional building materials, and that’s impacting the ability to move forward with many mass timber projects,” said Dean Lewis, director of mass timber and prefabrication, Skanska USA Building.

"That higher cost is driven by the misunderstanding of risk exposure of mass timber vs. traditional building materials, and this grant will allow us to develop a case study and guide to help inform and hopefully recalibrate the entire industry,” added Lewis.

Multiple industry reports and Skanska’s experience found that builders risk insurance for mass timber can be 25% to 65% higher than traditional concrete and steel construction.

Although building codes now permit taller and more exposed mass timber construction, the gap between code acceptance and insurance readiness introduces late‑stage financial risk.

This project will address this challenge by bringing together experienced mass timber professionals and industry partners to create standardized, insurer‑ready documentation and tools that reduce underwriting uncertainty, improve premium predictability, and enable repeatable mass timber project delivery.