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<\/a><\/p>\nThen the system began to fail.<\/p>\n
According to correspondence from the manufacturer\u2019s counsel, the warranty claim was denied because the liner was allegedly installed using a \u201cnon-code-compliant GAP method,\u201d leading to deterioration and failures at branch connections.<\/p>\n
The manufacturer\u2019s position is clear: the installation did not meet the required standards, and the warranty does not apply.<\/p>\n
Now Highland Towers residents \u2014 not the installer, not the manufacturer \u2014 are left with the bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe trusted that if something is called code-compliant, it actually meets the code,\u201d said the Highland Towers Board members. \u201cOur residents are seniors. They cannot absorb an additional $600,000 assessment. We feel like the system protected industry interests instead of homeowners.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is not wrong.<\/p>\n ASTM defines CIPP material installation as the placement of a single, continuous liner inside an existing pipe. If the liner is not continuous, ASTM does not consider it a compliant CIPP installation.<\/p>\n A clarification to make that requirement explicit in Florida\u2019s plumbing code \u2014 Modification P11834 \u2014 came before the Florida Building Commission in December 2025.<\/p>\n It had support from:<\/p>\n \u2014 The Florida Plumbing Technical Advisory Committee<\/p>\n \u2014 Building officials from Palm Beach County<\/p>\n \u2014 Miami-Dade County representatives<\/p>\n \u2014 BOAF, Building Officials Association of Florida<\/p>\n \u2014 Representatives from multiple Condominium Associations<\/p>\n \u2014 Plumbing contractors who testified that continuity is fundamental to ASTM-compliant CIPP<\/p>\n Every plumbing contractor on the Commission supported clarifying the requirement.<\/p>\n And yet the clarification was denied.<\/p>\n Who opposed it?<\/p>\n Representatives of:<\/p>\n \u2014 The Florida Home Builders Association (FHBA)<\/p>\n \u2014 The Florida Concrete Coalition (FCC)<\/p>\n \u2014 The Florida Apartment Association (FAA)<\/p>\n \u2014NuFlow Technologies<\/p>\n \u2014 Pipe Restoration Solutions<\/p>\n \u2014 Joanne Carroll, representing Subtegic Group, Inc.<\/p>\n \u2014 Kari Hebrank, Senior Government Consultant at Carlton Fields<\/p>\n \u2014 Other industry advocates<\/p>\n They urged the Commission to deny the modification.<\/p>\n The result? The ambiguity remains in Florida law.<\/p>\n And Highland Towers residents are paying for that ambiguity.<\/p>\n This is not an attack on innovation. Contractors are free to use compliant and approved alternative repair methods. But if a CIPP installation method is segmented or gapped, it should not be marketed as an ASTM-compliant CIPP installation.<\/p>\n The Florida Plumbing TAC supported that clarification. Building officials supported it. Local governments supported it.<\/p>\n It was blocked.<\/p>\n Now the Legislature is moving major construction and permitting reform bills \u2014 including SB 1234<\/a> and HB 803<\/a> \u2014 that address contractor oversight and building standards.<\/p>\n Those bills are broad enough to include a simple statutory sentence: If you call it a compliant CIPP, it must be continuous.<\/p>\n If FHBA and its lobbyists had allowed that clarification to stand, Highland Towers might not be in this position.<\/p>\n If NuFlow had not opposed the clarification, the standard might already be clear in Florida law.<\/p>\n Instead, retirees in Palm Beach County are facing six-figure special assessments.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re asking Sen. Berman, Rep. Gossett-Seidman, and legislative leadership to step up,\u201d the Highland Towers owners said. \u201cIndustry lobbyists had their say. Now it\u2019s time for homeowners to be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n This Session, the Legislature has the power to close the loophole.<\/p>\n If it fails to act, Highland Towers will not be the last condominium to discover that \u201ccode-compliant\u201d depends on who has the stronger lobbyist in the room.<\/p>\n Highland Towers paid $100,000.<\/p>\n They now face an ADDITIONAL $600,000 cost.<\/p>\n And the difference is not engineering.<\/p>\n It\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Highland Beach \u2014 in the districts of Sen. Lori Berman\u00a0and Rep.\u00a0Peggy Gossett-Seidman\u00a0\u2014 retirees at Highland Towers believed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[59870,81210,81211,81212,81213,81214,81215,81216,81217,59873,59874,81218,81219,59875,81220,81221,81222,81223,81224,47277,373,81225,557,23487,81226,81227,81228,81229,81230,232,234,233],"class_list":{"0":"post-170763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tallahassee","8":"tag-astm","9":"tag-blue-works","10":"tag-building-officials-association-of-florida","11":"tag-carlton-fields","12":"tag-cipp-installation","13":"tag-condo-assessment","14":"tag-construction-reform","15":"tag-contractor-oversight","16":"tag-florida-apartment-association","17":"tag-florida-building-code","18":"tag-florida-building-commission","19":"tag-florida-concrete-coalition","20":"tag-florida-home-builders-association","21":"tag-florida-plumbing-technical-advisory-committee","22":"tag-hb-803","23":"tag-highland-towers","24":"tag-industry-lobbyists","25":"tag-joanne-carroll","26":"tag-kari-hebrank","27":"tag-lori-berman","28":"tag-miami-dade-county","29":"tag-nuflow-technologies","30":"tag-palm-beach-county","31":"tag-peggy-gossett-seidman","32":"tag-permliner-industry","33":"tag-pipe-restoration-solutions","34":"tag-plumbing-standards","35":"tag-sb-1234","36":"tag-subtegic-group","37":"tag-tallahassee","38":"tag-tallahassee-headlines","39":"tag-tallahassee-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2291001_Vol_FL_Recruitment_DigitalAds_728x90.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n