More than 75,000 attendees from across the globe came to Las Vegas in February “expecting more,” and the 2014 International Builder’s Show delivered just what they expected.
With more than 1,700 exhibitors covering more than 650,000 square feet of floor space, there were more opportunities than ever before for event attendees to experience the latest home building innovations and uncover the newest in building industry information. The IBS is the nation’s largest annual residential housing construction trade event for manufacturers and suppliers of home construction products and services.
The Best of IBS 2014 showcased the latest in home living products for indoor and outdoor living, featuring 254 product entries in six categories. The products ranged from tankless water heaters to rotating door locks. Louisville BIA President Perry Lyons attended the show this year. “I was very impressed with the ever growing selection of bath and kitchen fixtures, kitchen appliance manufacturers, and bath and kitchen top materials,” said Lyons. “There were lots of new products on the market, from around the world.”
Lyons said there was also lots of information to be absorbed from the educational seminars and discovered that there are many new code and regulatory issues the building industry is being faced with, often driven by special interest groups and the manufacturers of certain products. He believes attending the show helps those in the industry stay informed of the latest legal updates and to implement them into their own business.
And when it comes to implementing updates into the business, Lyons definitely sees a trend in lower maintenance products that he also hopes to incorporate into his future home building plans.
“As we build for multiple age groups, five generations, we find that more and more people are not inclined to maintain products. They toss away and buy new. But that is harder to do with a house, so we visited this year’s show with the intent to see what new products we could incorporate into our building process to meet our maintenance expectations,” Lyons said.
Although P.L. Lyons, Inc. has always built homes with energy efficiency in mind, Lyons said several new products are being examined to determine if it makes economic sense to use some of the newer products in their newer homes.
The New American Home design, featured during the event, utilizes several energy efficient products, one being solar ceiling panels that can eliminate up to 83% of a home’s energy bill. Open floor plans and bringing the indoors, outdoors are also trends home builders are incorporating in new home designs to create a plan that focuses on open community gathering spaces.
More innovative products and ideas are already being planned for the next IBS which is scheduled for January 20-22, 2015. If you would like more information on implementing some of these elements into your custom home, please contact us. We would love to come up with a plan that fits all of your home building dreams.
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