It was great to be back to our first big in person event, the Southwest Builders Show, on Wednesday, October 20th at WestWorld!

Show attendees made their first stop at the registration desk to pick up a prepared name badge sponsored by Adobe Homes Systems and a sharp looking lanyard created by City Property Management. Before entering under the R/S Service & Supply custom designed entry unit; AAM, LLC provided each attendee with an earth-friendly, washable kraft paper show bag!

Prior to the opening of the show floor, kicking off the day was the annual Purchasing Agents, Suppliers and Subcontractors (P.A.S.S.) Breakfast, sponsored by Diversified Builder Supply. A total of 25 builder company purchasing agents and executives served as table hosts amongst the nearly 210 attendees. After a welcoming introduction from Chris Cady, Division President at The New Home Company; Alex Strong the Federal Legislative Director for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) took the stage.

Fred Hermann, the Division President of Meritage Homes started the Forecast Luncheon by thanking APS and the APS Energy Star New Homes Program for once again sponsoring the annual luncheon and for their ongoing commitment and support of the Home Builders Association (HBACA). He turned the podium over to Ashley Kelly, Manager, Customer Construction at APS. Ashley introduced Elliott D. Pollack, CEO of Elliott D. Pollack and Company, to deliver a Forecast of what’s in store for the homebuilding industry in 2022. After his presentation, Elliott served as a moderator to the following Division President panel members: James Attwood, Tri Pointe Homes Arizona; Fred Hermann, Meritage Homes; Steven Logan, K. Hovnanian Homes; and Don Murphy, Shea Homes. A slide deck of Elliott Pollack's presentation can be found here.

ProTeX The PT Xperts, LLC sponsored this year’s ax throwing competition with all safety measures in place, and it was a huge hit! The ProTex team of Lumberjacks invited and cheered on all that tried their hand at ax throwing. We hope you had a chance to stop by for a quick lesson and visit with the ProTex, bearded man, Wes Gage, Founder/CEO and Cindy Langdell, Vice President, toting her ax in her back belt loop. Thank you to ProTeX for awarding cash prizes to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ax throwing contest winners!

Guiding us around the show floor was the 10’ aisle banner sponsored by Aztec Lighting. They were also used to find show prize sponsor Felten Engineering Group’s booth, where they collected the show prize contest cards and announced the winners throughout the day. John Coleman, Tri Pointe Arizona, and Ismael Pacheco of New Electric both took home a $200 Visa Gift card. Another raffle prize, a set of Apple AirPods Pro went to Breanne Kay, Gothic Landscape. An Echo Show 10 was also raffled off as the fourth prize. The final prize, the big Show Prize winner of $1500, went to HBACA member, Loftco team member Jaime Orozco!

Congratulations to you all!

Concluding the day was the 3:00, “After-Party” sponsored by Southwest Gas Corporation and Zillow Offers with live music from JTM3, catered tasty hors d'oeuvre, and some complimentary beverages on behalf of the sponsors. With so many enjoying the after-party, we ran out of room for the corn hole boards.

All attendees and exhibitors should have received a show feedback survey. If you missed it, please email Lisa Rugloski, rugloskil@hbaca.org, for the link. We appreciate your time to share your thoughts and suggestions regarding the 2021 Southwest Builders Show!

A BIG Thank You and Shout Out to Sarah Schaid, Design Consultant at Facings of America. Not only did she help all day with registration at the Southwest Builders Show she came into the HBACA office to help our staff stuff the name badges. She is amazing and we are so grateful! We would also like to thank Cheryl Brock, Owner at Brock Tax & Accounting Company for helping all day at the registration desk. Also Paul Pepelaskov, General Manager and Trevor Beyers, Marketing at Airtight Solutions for arriving early to get everyone checked in to be on time to the P.A.S.S. Breakfast! Last but not least thank you to Furniture Affair for providing furniture for the center of the show floor!

Thank you to all attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors!