2026 Resolutions. Here I am, coming to you raw and in an attempt to keep myself accountable this year...
As we get ready for the 2026 International Builders Show in Orlando Florida, I reflect on 2025. After visiting the International Builders Show in 2025 in Las Vegas, I was excited, motivated and committed to supporting Greg to grow our business. As the year progressed, I lost a lot of my energy and spark. Many uncertainties came up both professionally and personally and with that, my momentum and ambition really floundered. Life pulled me in a dozen different directions and somewhere in the juggling act my creativity took a major back seat.
For 2026, I am not setting huge, lofty goals. I am focusing on small, consistent steps. Writing again. Showing up – for myself, my family and our business- with intention, even if it is imperfect.
Here is a blog post which I didn’t post last year. I am sharing now as a reminder of the spark I had a year ago as I look forward to the 2026 International Builders Show. This year we are not just walking the show but we will be at Booth #S10135 and are excited to connect with more people. The kids are eager to work the show alongside us and I am sure after it is all said and done I will have at least a full page of Greg shenanigans to write about. (Are you ready for it?)
International Builders Show 2025 Viva Las Vegas
It was Monday morning and Greg is already stressing about our commute to Toronto to catch our 8:15 pm flight to Las Vegas. He ended up asking me to take a bit of time off work in the afternoon so we could leave early. I thought we would be fine but I did so anyway because when Greg gets stressed about travel times… you do not want to be his co-pilot. It turned out we got to the airport and through security with three hours to spare before our flight was to leave (insert eyeroll). I remember travelling with his dad a few times and he would always be about 10 paces ahead going through the airport with such a serious look on his face. As if his being 10 strides ahead would change anything. Was he going to leave his family behind if he made it to the gate before last call and they didn’t? Does anyone else have an anxious travel partner? Who can relate?
Anyway, lets get on with it shall we. We arrived in Vegas and checked in to our hotel around 9:30 pm Vegas time which would have been after midnight for us. We got some shut eye so we could get an early start. We were anxious to get up and start our day at the International Builders Show on Tuesday morning. We made it to the show for the kick off guest speaker David Spade. It was pretty awesome to see him as the opening act. He was hilarious. He said he had never done an 8:00 am show before and the closest he has gotten to an 8:00 am show is 8:00 pm! His hair was all dishevelled and it looked like someone literally dragged him out of bed and on stage so it was hilarious. He also made a joke about giving directions to your hotel room in Vegas. For anyone who has ever been, it is so relatable. The hotels are so massive, the floors just seem to go on forever as you navigate left and right through hallways. This was definitely a highlight for us - we kept thinking how awesome it was to see David Spade live. We also kept thinking how cool it was to think of him doing movies with the late, Chris Farley.
The venue of the Las Vegas Convention Centre is humongous. I don’t even know what to compare it to but it was three gigantic buildings. (Insert Greg a.k.a Mr. Google while I read this to him. He of course, had to google the answer. It is 1.2 million square feet of exhibits and 124 000 attendees) so there, now you can sleep tonight since you have that frame of reference.
It felt like we were little ants in a colony especially when going on the escalators between floors and seeing people all scurrying around above and below. Its funny how your mind drifts in these situations. I thought about covid times and how it is still strange to be around that many people. Now I wouldn’t consider myself a germaphobe but I do appreciate good hand hygiene and infection control practices. It does seem odd to me to see people cough/sneeze without covering their mouth. I mean come on! I also saw someone leave the washroom stall (or restroom for my American friends) without washing their hands. Gross!
Now without further ramblings, lets chat all things International Builders Show related. One of the really great parts for us was getting to attend seminars throughout the show on topics of interest. Our first seminar was with Jenny and David Marrs stars on HGTVs Fixer to Fabulous. Their talk was on the benefits of using hardwood flooring throughout a home. It was wonderful to hear their message about it adding value to your home and having it carried throughout your home can really add to the design esthetic. Obviously, we agree but it was great to hear them really advocate for hardwood flooring as a good investment and one they wouldn’t skip in their projects. We introduced ourselves after their talk and they seem like a really down to Earth couple. Fingers crossed we will get the chance to work with them on future projects.
We also attended a few seminars and got some helpful marketing and social media tips. It is nice to have the opportunity to do these as a couple and talk about the take aways. It's so helpful to make notes and reminders to hold ourselves accountable for implementing some of our new learned strategies, thinking about what could work best for our company.
After a long day walking the show, we attended the First Night Event - Brooklyn Bowl. It was a great evening. We met some really nice people from Carolina Beach which sounds like a pretty fun place to live. The venue was great as there was a mix of seating areas, bowling, a great live band and dance floor. We eventually got our bowl on and I kicked Greg’s butt which wasn’t hard but our new friends, Adam & Terri Aberle Construction from Carolina Beach were better bowlers than we were.
On day two of the International Builders Show we did another big day of walking the show. We saw a unique product which was siding made from sheets of real tree bark and we both commented on how different and neat it was. Greg said he had saw this product on a jobsite in Highlands North Carolina. That evening at the young professionals party at Ole Red who do we end up sitting with but the family who owns the Smart Bark company. It was cool to hear from someone else in the wood industry. There are a lot of talented men and women in the logging industry and it is a dangerous trade. I have so much respect for the skill it takes to safely execute their job and for the difficult terrain they sometimes encounter. They were also a family business and seemed very genuine and passionate about their work.
On day three we decided to get a nice breakfast before heading to the show. Greg is a sucker for a buffet and can pack food away like no other guy I know. We found a delicious option at the Venetian and it was nice to see the gorgeous European flare of this stunning property on the Las Vegas strip.
We listened to another seminar about trends in the custom home market. During this seminar again we were pleasantly surprised to hear great stats about hardwood flooring again. When it comes to interior finishes hardwood flooring was at the top of the list with 84% of custom home buyers wanting hardwood floors throughout their home.
Later that afternoon after more show trekking we grabbed a quick bite to eat and offered up the two vacant chairs at our table to two friendly young guys. They explained they worked for a construction company in Utah. They asked about us and Greg told them about the unique offerings we pride ourselves on. As we sat with them and continued talking it dawned on me where I had seen their company name before Killowen Construction the company who worked closely with Shea McGee on the Netflix series Dream Home Makeover to make her incredible designs come to life. As soon as I made the connection I had to stop myself from fan girling. I am a big fan of Shea’s style and the craftsmanship that Killowen Construction brought to life in the Netflix series was breathtaking. I played it super cool and immediately upon leaving them I texted Kelsey (Greg’s right hand gal, shake and bake partner and work wifey) at Gaylord’s freaking out that we met this awesome company.
We had tickets to the closing event which was a Chris Jansen concert but we gave the tickets to our pals Adam and Terri from Carolina Beach and we went to the Las Vegas Golden Knights game instead, they were playing the Chicago Black Hawks.
Overall the 2025 International Builders Show did not disappoint! From the professional development opportunities to the incredible products displayed to getting to meet some really cool people in the industry, we can not say enough good things about our time in Vegas.
There you have it…. A blog post one year late. But hey, now it is out there in the Universe and Kelsey is coming with us this year to the show in Orlando. Fingers crossed we get to meet even more superstars in the industry and we can fan girl together! 2026 look out… the Gaylords are coming!
