COVER STORY

In The Wake of Destruction
The International Hurricane Protection Association becomes the voice of the industry.
by Howard Shingle, photography by C.J. Walker

When Hurricane Andrew hit the Florida coast in mid-summer 1992 its effects were devastating. With wind gusts of 175 mph, Andrew swept westward across the southern part of the state before intensifying over the Gulf of Mexico and making landfall once again in south-central Louisiana. By the time it was over, it had become the most expensive natural disaster to date: more than 60 people were killed, two million were evacuated from their homes and damages exceeded $20 billion.
Andrew’s effects are still felt today, but they are positive and beneficial. The state of Florida is enacting a strict, unified building code that would require wind-blown debris provisions for some 30 coastal counties. Similar moves are being considered in neighboring states from North Carolina to Texas. Hurricane Andrew also is responsible for the development of the hurricane protection industry as manufacturers, suppliers and contractors began providing homeowners and businesses with products to protect their properties. And in the fall of 2000, the first trade association was created to address the specific needs of hurricane protection professionals: the International Hurricane Protection Association (IHPA) headquartered in Miami, FL.
Frank Storms, Advanced Aluminum Construction Inc., is IHPA’s founding father, president and chairman of its board of directors. He says IHPA was formed to bring together in a non-competitive atmosphere all those involved in hurricane protection to exchange ideas, improve the industry and represent its interests to the general public and legislative bodies. “For any issues that relate to our industry,” he says, “we want to be the voice and spokesperson for the industry.”

GENUINE INTEREST

Storms came to hurricane protection in the wake of Hurricane Andrew’s devastation. His business, originally located in Daytona Beach, FL, was involved in screen and pool enclosures. He moved into Dade County as calls for repair and reconstruction work mounted. When several of his customers, satisfied with the work he had done, asked if he also did hurricane protection, Storms decided to incorporate it as one of the products he offered. He became one of the few contractors, he says, that remained in the area. Since then, hurricane protection has become nearly 96 percent of Storm’s business. “It certainly has most definitely taken over since then,” he says.
Storms’ involvement in the industry grew from that point. In 1995 he was elected Aluminum Association of Florida (AAF) president of the southeast chapter and was president of AAF for Dade and Broward counties from 1995 to 2000. “At that point AAF was the only trade association that was addressing any of the concerns for the hurricane protection industry at all,” he recalls.
Storms was elected AAF president at the state level in 2000, but declined the nomination for 2001. “When I did that,” he says, “people in the industry who knew me asked if I would consider forming a separate organization that was solely based on hurricane protection.”
Before he took on that task, Storms explains, he conducted market research to see if people were genuinely interested in having such an organization based in Florida. “Every person that I spoke to felt there was a need for an international organization to address the hurricane protection industry’s needs,” he says.
In October 2000, a foundation meeting was scheduled in Coral Springs, FL. “We invited approximately 35 of the larger companies in the hurricane protection industry, and we ended up having more than 60 people show up. That showed me that there was genuine interest,” Storms says.

INDUSTRY REPRESENTATION

The agenda for that first meeting was to set the foundation for what would become IHPA. It included determining the membership categories and qualifications for membership; determining the structure of its board of directors, and the qualifications for board members and officers; determining a dues structure; electing the initial officers and board members; setting long- and short-term goals; establishing member benefits; and forming the association’s initial committees.
“I had a lot of ideas,” Storms says, “but I did not want to dictate policy. What I wanted to do was form an organization that met the industry’s needs.”
With those policies established, a second meeting was scheduled for a few weeks later. This one would elect IHPA’s initial board of directors, form initial committees, begin signing up members and look to address immediate industry issues.
As it now stands, IHPA’s board comprises 11 members including Storms, who is a non-voting member (unless he’s needed to break a tie). “We represent all aspects of the industry—suppliers, manufacturers, contractors, architects and engineers, governmental agencies and affiliate members. Affiliate members are insurance companies, wireless telephone providers—people who provide goods and services to the industry itself,” Storms says. IHPA also provides reciprocal membership to other trade associations that have to do with hurricane protection.
IHPA’s membership exceeds 300 and is open to all those in the industry. “Anybody that has any dealings at all in the hurricane protection industry,” Storms says. “That would be any product that is designed to protect the envelop of the home; in other words, to protect window and door openings. That would include manufacturers and contractors of shutters, impact-resist