Communities on the north side of the storm path were basically unaffected (other than the shock value of having a hurricane hit this area - first time in 75 years.)
We have friends in Englewood and when we called to check on them were surprised to hear that they had no damage and hardly noticed the storm's impact even though they were very close to Charlotte Harbor, but like you mentioned they were on the north side of the storm.
As to rebuilding: we recently added an addition but had to meet Miami-Dade code (that's the code our county uses) and the cost of our addition was so much more than was originally projected. We called our State Farm Ins. guy and had them raise the replacement value on our home because we realized we simply were not insured for enough due to the new cost of complying with codes when rebuilding. I think (I'm working from memory here, so this might be wrong) they figure building costs with this code are about $100 per sq. ft.
Sadly, many stayed in their homes. The news services said that if you haven't evacuated by now then "hunker down you've made your decision". Should have been get out and run for your life. So far 1 refrigerated truck has arrived with 60 body bags. This isn't going to be enough. Everyone needs to contact the Salvation Army or Red Cross to see what you can do.
My aunt and uncle have a mobile home in North Port. They were informed that there was little, if any damage. My mom has an apartment in Venice. No problem there. Prayers for the people who were in the path of this storm.