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Louisville, Kentucky.
500,000 sq. ft. of products indoors.
19 acres of outdoor demos and test-driving.
20,000 participants.
750 exhibiting companies.
All for landscape and hardscape contractors and dealers.

…Not your typical khaki pants and pressed-collar tradeshow.

Earlier this month my colleague, Sarah Helbig, and I attended the Remodeling Show and Deck Expo in Chicago. Having reviewed the list ahead of time, we knew the number of exhibitors was considerably smaller than in years past and well below that of Greenbuild and IBS. However,...

Being married to a contractor has its perks; the know-how, retail discounts and “free” labor are all things my friends and family envy. My husband has sought-after skills. Time and time again, I see his beautiful work through other people’s homes. Whether it’s a renovated kitchen, a glorious walk-in tiled shower, an addition or even a full-fledged, built from the ground up, house, I long for these projects to become part of my life. Unfortunately, what people don’t realize, is that the life of a contractor proves that old adage true that what one does all day at work, is the last thing one wants to do at home!

It usually also means there should be traffic. The traffic seemed light at times for many of the exhibitors at the recent #Greenbuild (#GBnext) show in Toronto (though many said traffic grew stronger by the end). I attended the show in hopes of finding the next big thing. While there, I saw some cool new innovations, but there were few truly deep, game-changing technologies presented. With a handful of exceptions, it seemed like a very safe approach to new products for the building material industry.