IT HAS BEEN MY PLEASURE TO SERVE AS YOUR PRESIDENT THIS YEAR
It has been my pleasure to serve as your President this year. As we close out 2025, I wanted to share a few of our successes and challenges throughout the year.
As we all know, the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Tax Credit (25C) will prematurely terminate on 12/31/2025, as Congress voted to end this tax credit previously assigned a legislative end date of 12/31/2032. In 2023 alone, the 25C tax credit cut taxes for American families by $3 billion. Although this is a setback, we remain engaged to restore this tax cut to American families. And, as the countdown clock on our website homepage indicates, we still have a small window of opportunity to help homeowners take advantage before federal tax credit sunsets.
This year, we revisited the ever-present Federal Trade Commission Rule 460 and provided detailed tips for both insulation manufacturers and insulation contractors regarding testing, product labels, fact sheets, ads, savings claims, and disclosures. Everyone, yes, every one, in our business should know these rules like the back of one’s hand.
We also brought the subject of active ventilation to the forefront thanks to Brian Cote’s magnificent article Become a “Fan” of Ventilation. Brian is the 2025 Co-Chair of the ICAA Spray Foam Task Force and is the Spray Foam Manager of ICAA member Installed Building Products.
In 2025, ICAA added a new professional designation for ICAA-member insulation contractors, the ICAA Qualified Home Retrofit Contractor. Members who register (at no cost) are listed in a national referral database generated by ICAA member Homeboost, a technology company providing a DIY home energy assessment program for homeowners, geared to promoting the services of insulation contractors. Homeboost – to date – has referred over 300 customers to our members enrolled in the Homeboost database.
We also hosted a multi-part webinar series on residential construction contracts and how to craft effective contracts. These are summarized the article Trust Your Gut in the 2025 Q4 issue of our member newsletter, Insulation Contractors Report, and the educational webinars can be accessed through the ICAA Member Site.
I want to give a special thanks to Michael Kwart, our ICAA Executive Director, and Sandi Day, ICAA Manager of Marketing & Events. Michael is truly dedicated to ICAA and Sandi is committed to an exceptional trade show experience. Each plays an invaluable role in our success.
It has been an honor to serve you as a 2025 ICAA President.
Our priority remains steadfast: serving you.
Jonathan
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REFLECTIONS ON THE FEDERAL 25C TAX INCENTIVE WITH ICAA PRESIDENT JONATHAN BELANUS
ICAA: Jon, can you please tell us about yourself?
JB: I am the owner of JB Insulation & Drywall of Oakland, New Jersey. We provide insulation and drywall contracting services to builders and homeowners. I have over 30 years of experience in managing, operating, and building a customer-oriented construction company, employing tools and materials made in America.
ICAA: Jon, you previously noted that our industry would be harmed if the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Tax Credit (25C) terminated prior to its legislative end date in 2032. Congress has now voted to terminate this tax credit on 1/1/26.
JB: First, I want to congratulate all our industry members for stepping up in support of 25C as we employed a combination of Congressional and local district office visits, phone calls, and targeted emails.
Removal of this time-honored tax savings harms working class families, communities, jobs, and US manufacturing across the country. Voted into law by a Republican-controlled Congress and ratified in 2005 by President George W. Bush, the 25C tax credit was never related to any climate change agenda, as has recently been suggested. The 25C tax credit was extended in 2022 for a 10-year period through 2032. The 25C tax credit – in 2023 alone – cut taxes in the amount of $3 billion for more than 3 million American families and also lowered the cost of living for American families.
ICAA: How did the insulation industry plan to meet the production needs of the 25C tax credit?
JB: The 25C tax credit is responsible for stimulating capital expenditures and job growth among multiple insulation manufacturing plants in several states. Insulation manufacturers ramped up production capacity to meet the expected increase in consumer demand due to the 25C tax credit. To introduce a new liability risk to contractors and manufacturers represents a fundamental changing of the rules in the middle of the game.
ICAA: How does terminating the 25C tax credit effect U.S. jobs, working class families, and taxpayers?
JB: Termination of the 10-year 25C tax credit disregards the thoughtful planning, resource commitments, plans, risks, and capital expenditures undertaken by manufacturers and contractors. It also results in a net tax increase to American families who would otherwise benefit from this program.
ICAA: How large is the U.S. insulation industry?
JB: The American insulation industry employs 1.8 million Americans and supports a $100 billion payroll. We are out there on the firing line every day, employing the working class and providing for working-class families. The fact that our industry did everything right in investing in American factories, growing domestic manufacturing and creating jobs by hiring American workers, and relied upon and wisely employed the 25C tax credit, has been completely negated as the tax credit is terminated at the end of this year. Essentially, our industry is punished for effective, thoughtful, and successful American manufacturing capacity planning, and hiring and training of American workers.
