December President's Message

Dear IAF Members and Industry Friends,

My brother and I had some lofty goals for 2025, and we set up a meeting in early January to review and discuss them. In that meeting I recall stating “Let’s get to work, we’re going to blink and Christmas will be upon us.” Well I blinked, and here we are.

As we near the end of 2025, there is a natural tendency to slow down at work. Holiday shopping, planning, parties and even travel are a priority in our lives. And it should be a priority!

The IAF effort was championed by our friend and former board member, Danny Harrod. The rules change updates a decades old rule in the Florida Building Code. This rule required plans or shop drawings that represented work worth more than $5,000 to be signed and sealed by a professional Engineer (PE). The update now sets the new threshold set at $15,000.

On a separate front, IAF Team Members recently spent two days working the halls of our State Capitol to educate lawmakers on our official position on HB 607. Our team included our Lobbyist, Eric Prutsman, our Executive Director, Shannon Few, and past Presidents Jorgia Wooten and John Pastore. While on the surface, the term De-Regulation has a nice tone to it, the devil is in the details, and the details reveal a different story. Our team made a lot of headway informing legislators and their staff on the inherent dangers to our public posed by the proposed bill.

Finally, another big win, our efforts to increase the Alarm PAC war chest continue to make progress. Aside from the many individual contributions, one of our members, Wayne Automatic Fire Sprinklers Inc. has made a SIGNIFICANT donation. Thank you Wayne Automatic, and to our other members, please keep the donations coming in.

I wish everyone, members and friends, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!

Raising the Bar - One Achievement at a Time,

Diego R. del Pino
IAF President