The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) welcomed the 81st edition of its international Builders’ show (IBS) February 25-27. And although the construction show is one of the largest of the genre, it has record attendance for the first time in 17 years.
More than 81,000 manufacturers, renovators, developers and other home construction professionals have entered the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) for the three -day event, alongside 750 new exhibitors and 1,050 return exhibitors, who filled 728,000 square feet in the place of 2.9 million square feet.
Figures “have exceeded our high expectations in terms of attendance, exhibition space and education possibilities,” said Geoff Cassidy, NAHB revenue director, in a press release after the show.
Although the location of the program was not new (IBS took place at the LVCC for three consecutive years and several times before 2023), the programming has taken a new format this year. To begin with, the reworked “game changer” sessions have seen the CEOs of the industry associated with experts outside the industry to challenge the ways of thinking about the latest innovations and commercial strategies.
For example, on the third day, an hour-long changeure conversation saw Megan Eltringham, senior vice-president of New Home Co. It was a refreshing reshuffle of the past events of IBS, while the game changers consisted of Keynotes with industry opinion leaders.
A “personalized construction and renovation symposium” was also new for IBS 2025. The intensive one-day program was a pre-spectacle course that took place on February 24 and was available for all IBS registrants at an additional cost ($ 195 for NAHB members, or $ 295 for non-members).
During the seven -hour and a half -hour symposium, programming has lived on commercial access strategies and productivity techniques for manufacturers and personalized renovators, starting with an “lens adjustment” session to kick off. Participants in symposium also had the opportunity to take a step ahead of networking thanks to collaborative breaks, an hour of socialization lunch and a happy hour at the end of the day that has doubled as a local beer tasting.
Once the IBS has officially started the next day, 120 additional educational sessions consisted not only of more changing game conversations, but also to a main programming – which Nahb calls “super sessions” – and learning laboratories, which are shorter sessions with an interactive format.
Among the most lively presentations, there was the starting ground. One hour assembly has given 10 startups in the residential construction industry (each with a revolutionary product, service or technology under three years of age, according to NAHB) four minutes each to present their emerging application, software, web platform, smart home technology or new construction equipment, for example. The participants then voted on the “most innovative start-up”. The 2025 People’s Choice Winner: Villa, a manufacturer of prefabricated accessory housing with full service based in California (ADUS).
As he has done for 12 years, the NAHB’s Design & Construction Week (DCW) took place in tandem with IBS. DCW – which includes the National Kitchen & Bath Association kitchen and bath industry fair (Kbis) – is known as the largest annual gathering of residential construction and design industry that presents exhibitors presenting and demonstrating the most recent niche products and services. More than 124,000 participants and 2,500 exhibitors occupied some 1.2 million additional square feet of interior and exterior space in the LVCC, also from February 25 to 27, according to a press release after the show.
The IBS of Nahb has already announced that in 2026, it will take place from February 17 to 19 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, as it often does after spending a few years in Las Vegas. And yes, it will bring DCW and Kbis again with him.
Do not miss any news linked to the event: register for our weekly e-Newsletter HEREListen to our last podcast HERE and interact with us on Liendin!