(CNN) Flooded homes. Destroyed roofs. Debris strewn everywhere.

Mexico Beach, Florida, was flattened by Hurricane Michael last week. But amid the incredible destruction, one home stood high on stilts above the wreckage, appearing largely untouched and gleaming in the sun.

The home, known as the Sand Palace, is a three-story, four-bedroom, 4½ bath vacation rental that has its own Facebook page . And its owners, Lebron Lackey and his uncle, Russell King, say it's no coincidence the place survived -- they designed it to do just that.

"At every point, from pilings to the roof and everything in between, when it came time to make a decision about what level of material or what to use, we didn't pay attention to code," Lackey told CNN's "New Day" on Tuesday. "We went above and beyond code, and we asked the question: 'What would survive the big one?' And we consistently tried to build it for that."

Construction started in 2017 and ended this year.

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