The press of bodies started early, with thousands of bleary-eyed travelers trying to decide whether to pay $50 for an Uber or take the shuttle bus to the Convention Center for IBS 2025. It’s another year and another show, with the exhibits sprawling over the Las Vegas Convention Center’s massive complex.
Coffee is hard to come by—food, even more so. But there’s no shortage of tote bags and corporate-branded stress balls. If you need a pen, you’re in the right place.
This year, Zonda editors and writers will be on the floor, chasing the latest innovations and most interesting conversations. At the end of each day, we’ll send a newsletter to our subscribers to let them know what we find interesting. This is the first dispatch.
Tri Pointe Vegas Luxury
I started my show a day early by visiting a Tri Pointe Homes development on Monday on a small lake just outside town. The homes aren’t cheap, hitting the higher end of luxury at around $4 million. It’s rich for my blood, but you can see the appeal. Staggering open concept views that open to the outside, choice materials, a sense of space that needs more space than this to capture. The real takeaway? Tri Pointe isn’t worried about finding buyers in this segment—as BUILDER previously reported, the luxury market is doing just fine, thank you very much.
Steve Ladurantaye
The Show’s Most Interesting Man
George Bandy Jr. is the recently named vice president and chief sustainability officer for Andersen Windows and Doors. Dressed to the nines, he’s going through the how-to talk about how the manufacturer intends to do things differently. “We want to focus on waste inside the operations, look at energy operations, and learn to highlight what we are already doing well.” BUILDER writers will profile the former head of circular economy at Amazon in the coming weeks.
Steve Ladurantaye
Smart Tech Meets Spa-Like Bathroom
Sometimes, small innovations can enhance functionality in a big way, like with the new bathroom vanities from James Martin Vanities in collaboration with FreePower and Cosentino. The furniture-style vanities feature Silestone countertops, with a wireless charger integrated smoothly into the surface. With a futuristic charging halo that looks like accent decor, this charger is in the right place at the right time to offer convenience to homeowners in their daily routine, considering the bathroom is where most people begin and end their days. Depending on the size of the surface, the halo can accommodate one or two devices and features a wide charging berth (no need to line up exactly, a common problem with some surface chargers). It’s a clever feature that will make life easier and save steps and time for homeowners as they rush through their morning routine or wind down at the end of the day.
Heather Wright
Culture and Data
My 2025 edition of IBS started with a strong education session led by Bobby Mink of Choice Consulting and Management. Among the featured topics from his session “8 Essentials for Company Growth, Increased Profitability & Company Performance,” the takeaways related to people and data stuck with me the most. After highlighting how culture is more important than anything in the current landscape, Mink spoke about leaders empowering employees by asking questions rather than telling employees what to do. The role of leaders, Mink told attendees, is to create and maintain an environment where people accomplish goals efficiently and effectively. On data, Mink shared the importance of prioritizing a company’s seven to 15 most important metrics, telling attendees, “You can only improve what you can measure.” He repeated a two-pronged message on documentation and accountability throughout the session: “It’s not real if it’s not written” and “You cannot manage conversations.”
Vince Salandro
Color Trend Watch
I met with the team at Sherwin-Williams to learn more about the process and inspiration behind the Capsules that are part of its Colormix Forecast 2025. The Colormix Forecast aims to identify color trend lines in residential and commercial colors for the next 18 to 24 months. Each of the four Capsules carries a name to promote a unique storyline. They spotlight different aspects of color, aesthetically and emotionally, but the common thread is a “source of truth” as a starting point for the inspiration, according to Sue Wadden, director of color marketing at Sherwin-Williams. The first Capsule, named Chrysalis, offers a palette of subtle, sanctuary-inspired neutrals. The next Capsule, Paradox, is playful and taps into nostalgic comfort with bright hues. Wellspring has a roster of rich, biophilic-inspired colors meant to be grounding and authentic. Finally, Kindred has a lively and creatively inclined palette, a good tool in the maximalism trend. As a bonus, nail polish tinted with Grounded, one of the colors from its Color Capsule of the Year for 2025 and the Chrysalis Capsule, is booth swag.
Heather Wright
Captured Carbon
ZS2 Technology gave me a carbon captured poker chip. It’s a marketing gimmick, to be sure, but it is a good example of what the company can manufacture with its carbon capture technology. The Canadian company sucks up the carbon from oil sands projects and works it into magnesium cement that can be used in a range of precast building materials. It’s fire resilient, stands up well to hurricanes, and works well in seismic zones. The company plans to open a manufacturing facility in Alabama to get around possible tariffs—thanks, President Trump?
Steve Ladurantaye
Frame-iliar Surroundings
For my break from the crowds, I returned to familiar ground and participated in a roof framing seminar at the Huber booth. The added value to this was that it was presented by Tim Uhler from Awesome Framers, who has contributed to JLC countless times over the past few years, and Aron Jones from Big Dog Construction. If you are interested in how framing a house should be done, check out their YouTube channels and see for yourself. It also reminded me why I became a finish carpenter, not a framer.
Marc Forget
