Florida Allocates $200 Million To Expand "Home Hardening" Program
With only a few days until the official start of the 2024 hurricane season, Florida homeowners received some good news in the form of a state program that offers incentives to harden their homes from deadly storms.
Senate Bill 7028, drafted earlier this year during the Florida Legislative Session, has now been approved by the Governor. The bill proposed a number of revisions and improvements to the My Safe Florida Home Program which should help Florida homeowners “Get Readier” for hurricane season which begins June 1 with 2024 storm activity expected to be “above average.”
One of the most significant revisions which is great news for both homeowners and Florida impact-resistant window and door installers is the inclusion of windows and skylights on the list of grant eligible home improvements.
According to the official website, My Safe Florida Home program grant money has been made available for the following home strengthening improvements:
Openings
- Exterior Door Upgrades
- Garage Door Upgrades
- Window Upgrades
Roofs & Structure
- Reinforce Roof-to-Wall Connections
- Install Secondary Water Resistance for the Roof
- Upgrade Roof Covering
- Improve the Strength of Roof Deck Attachments
At a time when insurance premiums and property taxes are surging statewide, the My Safe Florida Home program was created to strengthen Florida homes against hurricanes and hopefully save Florida homeowners some money in the process. Potential benefits for approved applicants include:
- Matching Grants: For every $1 the homeowner spends toward the actual cost of an authorized wind mitigation project, the state will provide $2 (or 2/3s of the project cost up to $10,000
- Tax Exemption: No state sales tax (6%) on retail purchases of impact-resistant doors, impact-resistant garage doors, and impact-resistant windows through June 30, 2024.
- Lower Premiums: Wind mitigation upgrades tend to lower home insurance premiums for those participating in the My Safe Florida Home program.
Campus Security Fears Present Golden Opportunity For Installers
With rising tensions and more frequent protests on college campuses nationwide, more school administrators are voicing concerns over the need for beefed up perimeters for campus facilities, especially windows and doors which can be decades, and in some cases, over a century old.
Campus Safety Magazine has just released the findings of their 2024 Campus Safety Glass Security and Safety Survey, and the numbers present a golden opportunity for impact-resistant window and door installers looking to diversify revenue streams and enter the lucrative education arena at the K-12 level, the college level, vulnerable school district facilities, or all of the above.
51% of the nearly 300 survey respondents said glass windows and doors were the perimeter security feature most likely to fail and allow an intruder to gain campus access. And on a scale of 1 to 5 with “1” being weak and “5” being strong, administrators gave their current glass windows and doors a score of 2.5, down from 2.6 last year.
For more information and a link to the full 2024 Campus Safety Glass Security and Safety Survey, see the new issue of Campus Safety Magazine.
When Florida Condo Owners Hold Out On Impact Window Upgrades
In the wake of the Surfside condominium collapse in 2021, there is rising concern over the perimeter safety of aging condominiums especially in South Florida where many oceanfront condos were built over fifty years ago.
In addition to concrete reinforcement of spalling structures, one of the best perimeter improvements that many HOAs are opting for is the installation of impact-resistant windows and doors. But what happens when an HOA has owners who oppose the upgrade?
That is the question posed this week in the Palm Beach Post to attorney Ryan Poliakoff by a Florida condo board member whose HOA has five holdouts who don’t want to spend the money to upgrade their windows.
Poliakoff says Florida law does not allow an HOA to pro-rate condo fees to reward those owners who pony up for new windows and hurricane shutters with lower association fees thanks to the anticipated savings the building will realize with lower annual insurance premiums.
On the other hand, the Boca-based attorney says there may be some hope for Florida condo associations that find themselves in this situation thanks to Section 718.113 of The Condominium Act. Read the full Q&A here to learn more.
Tecnoglass Reports All-Time Record Residential Glass Orders
Miami-based Tecnoglass (NYSE: TGLS), the manufacturer of industry leading laminated glass and insulating glass brands ESWindows and Alutions, today reported company earnings for the first quarter of 2024.
On this morning’s earnings call with investors and analysts, Tecnoglass CEO José Manuel Daes said that the company saw all-time record levels of single-family residential orders in March and April, up 12% over the same period in 2023 and 20% compared to January and February.
In addition to good news on the single-family front, COO Christian Daes said Tecnoglass is seeing orders and demand heating up in the multi-family and commercial arenas:
“Our performance in the first quarter reflects our adaptability amidst a dynamic operating landscape. We ended the quarter with another record multi-year backlog of $916 million, reflecting an expanding pipeline for multi-family/commercial projects into 2025. Customer interest in our vinyl products continues to look very encouraging based on quoting activity, and we are on track for deliveries to increase in the second half of 2024.” -Tecnoglass COO Christian Daes
Tecnoglass CFO Santiago Giraldo gave investors a preview of the company’s full year 2024 outlook which includes a base case scenario of $875 million in revenue and $267 million in EBITDA which are based on the following assumptions:
- Durability of the recent surge in single-family residential product orders as the year progresses
- An expected increase in vinyl sales
- Increased mix of revenues from installation and stand-alone product sales
- Less volatile FX rates since the beginning of 2024, and
- The timely execution of TGLS multi-family/commercial backlog
Contact CII Today
If you own an established impact glass window and door installation or manufacturing business in Florida or Georgia and would like to get a better understanding of the current market value of your company and important steps you can take today to maximize that value, get in touch with a CII business advisor today.