Austin Build Expo 2026 | Keynotes & Seminars

You will hear the true story of how one simple-minded contractor started 2020 thin on cash not realizing what the rest of the year had in store.

Three years later his business is on a sure foot while taking on zero debt. He borrowed no money and has no need to ask his vendors, partners, or subs for additional time for payment. 

You can run a small or large firm on cash. You can stop the constant calls from creditors wondering when they are going to get their money. You can stop living from deposit to deposit. You can stop going to bed every night hoping the next receivable will be in the mailbox tomorrow.

In this life-changing talk, Scott Beebe (CEPA) will share real numbers from a simple contractor that will motivate and inspire you to build a business without being dictated by chaos, and placing you in the driver’s seat. 

Learning Objectives 

1. See how using one or two bank accounts in your business is crippling 

2. Watch real life examples unfold showing the growth of the cash over time…even when a business declines in annual revenue 

3. Walk away with a simple structure you can implement tomorrow and the roadmap to do so 

4. Confront the 4 major roadblocks keeping you from retaining the cash you have already received

Customers often focus on the lowest bid they receive. Contractors spend more time getting as low a number as possible as opposed to making a good profit on projects. Contractors are capable of winning work but struggle in securing a reasonable profit on their projects. The result is focusing on bidding and quoting as opposed to full customer engagement to drive higher profits. There are very effective methods to increase margins within a solid sales effort. These methods will be presented and examples of their success related. Contractors and suppliers alike will benefit from this detailed information.

If you’ve ever heard “just spend a little more on this campaign,” this session is for you. In one hour, gain clarity on tracking results, AI visibility, Google Ads pitfalls, Meta tracking gaps, and overlooked ad types that build brand awareness. Led by Joshua Ramsey, this no-pitch, hard-hitting strategy session delivers actionable insight.

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The most expensive person on most contracting job sites is the owner — and they don't even know it. When the owner is the only one who knows how to make decisions, approve scopes, answer client questions, and solve field problems, the business has a ceiling it can never break through. In this keynote, you'll see live AI examples of how contractor owners across the country are removing themselves as the bottleneck — without losing control, without losing quality, and without adding headcount. This is not theory. You will watch it work.
 Learning Objectives:
 
 

1.     Identify the exact operational chokepoints where owner dependency is silently capping growth — and learn why adding employees without removing yourself as the bottleneck only accelerates chaos.

2.     See live AI examples of how contractor owners are documenting, delegating, and deploying their own decision-making standards into AI systems — so the business runs on their thinking, not their presence.

3.     Leave with a clear first step for building an AI-powered operating layer inside your own contracting business — starting with the one system that is costing you the most time every single week.

In this class we will layout how to determine what associations to join, how to work them and get business from your involvement. The single greatest way to find grouped customers and network contacts is right in your backyard association! Work them to the fullest and you'll never make a cold call again!

https://www.tomwoodcocksealthedeal.com

This session explores the economic trends, lending conditions, and policy changes shaping commercial real estate construction in 2026. Learn how interest rates, inflation, global events, and lending markets impact project financing. Attendees will gain practical insights into current loan products, refinancing strategies, and funding options to navigate uncertainty and make informed development decisions.

Currently, according to Gemini, 77% of users are using AI search tools to research businesses that offer the services that they need or want.   

Companies, like yours, are running into two problems.  

1. They don’t ever get found in the AI search tools (Gemini, ChatGPT and others) 

2. When they DO get visitors to the website, they don’t convert the visitors into leads 

 It is time you hear exactly how to implement yourself strategies to solve these two problems.  Learn how to do it yourself or hear how to find the right agency to help you execute the strategies.  Learn more about this speaker and how he educates people – NOT PITCH – by going to www.JRcmo.com or finding him on Social Media. 

Discussing and breaking down a framework on how to grow, cultivate, and expand your professional network.  Go beyond the collection of business cards and email follow-up.   How do you grow?   Who do you seek to meet?  Who is your best client?  Who is your best referral source?  How do you strain out the noise and find the right connections?   The class will show the basics of networking, but how to dig deeper, find meaningful relationships, and how to connect with anyone.  Networking is an art, and the best way to grow your brand, your business, and your reach. 

Cyberattacks hit over half of construction firms each year, causing costly delays and lost contracts. With CMMC 2.0 requirements taking effect January 1, 2027, contractors handling CUI must prepare now. This session explains the CMMC framework, key security controls, and practical steps to reach compliance efficiently—helping your company reduce risk, protect projects, and stay competitive in federal and private bids.

This session will include information on the advantages of registering with the Centralized Master Bidders List (CMBL) to receive potential bid invitations. It will include how to apply for the CMBL, identify relevant highway districts where products/services are delivered and how to locate and search the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP) Commodity Book. This session will also provide an introduction of the Electronic State Business Daily (ESBD) and the Vendor Performance Tracking System (VPTS).

Join Daniel as he shares his journey from swinging a hammer to managing $70M in builds. Learn the common challenges builders face when scaling and the proven systems, strategies, and technologies that streamline operations, improve communication, and protect profit margins. Includes a real case study on how JACK App helps builders scale successfully.

Labor is no longer just a cost—it’s a major compliance risk. This session reveals how inaccurate labor tracking erodes profit, impacts bidding, and exposes contractors to audits and legal issues. Learn to identify profit leaks, understand labor burden, improve job costing accuracy, and evaluate systems that support compliant, scalable growth in today’s construction environment.

Most contractor owners are either ignoring AI entirely or buying expensive tools that deliver almost nothing — because they're putting ornaments on a tree that doesn't exist yet. In this hands-on workshop, you'll watch a live AI estimating agent run real scope packages in real time — and learn exactly why it works, how it was built, and how to build your own version for your contracting business. No coding. No tech background required. Just a documented process, a $20/month tool, and the right build order.
 Learning Objectives:
 
 

1.     Identify which of the three types of AI your business is currently using — and why only one of them creates a real competitive advantage for contractor owners.

2.     Apply the 10/80/10 Rule to your estimating workflow so AI does the heavy lifting while you stay in control of quality and approval.

3.     Walk away with a blueprint for building your own AI estimating agent — trained on your scope language, your trade packages, and your fixed-cost protection standards.

Understanding commercial real estate loan documents is critical for investors, developers, and construction professionals. This session explains key financial metrics such as NOI, DSCR, debt yield, cap rates, and loan-to-value. Attendees will learn how lenders evaluate projects, common pitfalls in loan agreements, and strategies to protect investments when negotiating financing terms

This class is an overview of how contractors can utilize the QuickBooks functionality to facilitate job costing, payroll, receivables and the overall benefits of either the online or desktop applications

It is paramount that contractors realize that the most important aspect of their business is sales. Without them you have nothing. Yet, the amount of attention given to sales by most contractors is minimal. This results in low profits and the ups and downs of revenue. It doesn’t matter how good your marketing is or how efficiently you run your business if you’re not closing deals. We’ll get you closing more projects at higher profits.

Construction rewards precision and speed — and AI is raising the bar. This session delivers a practical, no-hype look at how AI is transforming estimating, procurement, and workflows. Learn where it saves time and money, common pitfalls to avoid, and how to implement AI effectively to stay competitive today.

This class empowers construction entrepreneurs with essential tools to build, grow, and sustain a successful business. Learn industry best practices, project management, marketing, and client relationship strategies. Gain actionable insights and practical skills to thirve in the competitive construction industry. 

You think the most powerful weapon is AI chat to answer your strategic questions that will grow your business.  Media has hyped all the AI bots and Tools but the truth is 85% of people never use AI the way they should. 

A slight miscommunicated question to any AI bot will alter the result resulting in millions of lost revenue. 

Don’t believe me?  Go try these example prompts: 

“How can I improve rates on my landing page?” 

“Why aren’t people converting on my landing page?” 

Fractional CMO – Joshua Ramsey (www.JRcmo.com) is going to show you the most efficient ways to use Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT and LLM Council.  Learn how to correctly prompt these AI bots and then see the massive difference between having an architect on your team and the cost you will pay for simply listening to the AI oracle that is built to give you spreadsheets on steroids. 

This session explores today's challenges in construction estimating-time demands, inaccuracies, outdated pricing, and labor shortages-and how AI can solve them. Paul will demonstrate frontier models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini for material calculations, document review, and visual analysis. Learn practical applications, see AI-driven takeoffs in action, and discover the future of purpose-built construction AI.

Based on real job site inspections, this session explores the most common wood framing and sheathing mistakes seen in construction today. Learn how these errors impact performance, safety, and costs, and discover practical solutions to prevent callbacks. Ideal for contractors, architects, and inspectors seeking to improve quality, ensure compliance, and reduce costly rework on projects.

This class is an overview of how contractors can utilize the QuickBooks functionality to facilitate job costing, payroll, receivables and the overall benefits of either the online or desktop applications

An introductory class explaining "no-bid" pathways in federal contracting, with definitions, eligibility, where they appear, and compliance basics. Participants will learn how relationships and market research factor in, and where to find authoritative rules and examples to capture government contracts.

Winning a government contract is just the beginning—compliance starts immediately. This session covers DCAA audits, FAR Part 31 cost rules, job costing, labor distribution, and indirect rates. Learn how to build accounting systems that meet federal requirements, avoid costly mistakes, and maintain eligibility while successfully managing and retaining government contracts.

First 10 minutes we will Dive into 

• Social Media Lead generation strategies. How it's been done and where it's going. 
• Google organic and paid creative lead generation 
• ChatGPT - the online results digital land rush 

Chief Marketing Officer educating business executives the newest and greatest strategies going into 2026. 

See a short video on what to expect at this session. Www.jrcmo.com/buildexpo/SEO

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The federal government awards over $150 billion in construction contracts each year, yet many set-aside opportunities go unclaimed by eligible firms. This session breaks down 2025–2026 spending trends across 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB, and other certification programs, revealing where the biggest awards are happening and which certifications are delivering results for small, minority-, women-, and veteran-owned contractors.

A candid, practitioner-led panel on real-world AI in construction and government contracting: what's changing in workflows, compliance, bidding, and client expectations. Leaders share wins, stumbles, and practical guardrails so small and midsized firms can evaluate where AI fits-today and in the next 12 months.

Good marketing is meaningless if you don’t know how to close leads. Contractors spend significant dollars on marketing to produce leads. It’s necessary to use all the vehicles in regard to social media, A.I., web and e-newsletter marketing to gain leads. We’ll teach you how to raise your close rate and improve your ROI on that marketing investment. Marketing is NOT sales but can effectively lead to sales if leads are worked properly. Find out how.

In this lively and highly informative discussion, Ann McNeill, the "Master Builder" explains the steps, skills, and strategies needed for construction contractors to successfully bid on and obtain work with governments.

Ann has worked with all levels of government and specializes in helping small businesses thrive.

"Nobody wants to work anymore" has been said for over 100 years — and it has never once been the real problem. The real problem is that contractor owners are trying to grow a culture without a recipe, hiring without a process, and leading without a playbook. In this workshop, you'll learn how to build the cultural ingredients that make people want to work for you — and how AI is now being deployed to find, screen, onboard, and retain the talent your competitors can't keep.
 Learning Objectives:
 
 

1.     Understand why culture is not luck, not ping pong tables, and not a generational problem — it is a direct result of the ingredients you intentionally put into your business, and how to start controlling those ingredients immediately.

2.     Build a repeatable, AI-assisted hiring and onboarding process that runs even when you're buried in jobs — so your best candidates don't disappear while you're putting out fires.

3.     Deploy the culture calendar framework to create a predictable, communication-rich environment that makes the next generation of workers not just show up — but stay.

This course explores the growing use of engineered wood products (EWPs) in modern construction. Learn how to properly select, install, and detail materials such as plywood, OSB, glulam, I-joists, and structural composite lumber. Understand key benefits, performance considerations, and best practices to ensure efficient, durable, and code-compliant applications across a variety of building projects.

This class is an overview of how contractors can utilize the QuickBooks functionality to facilitate job costing, payroll, receivables and the overall benefits of either the online or desktop applications.

AI and immersive tech are rapidly shifting customer expectations; today’s homeowners don't just want a builder—they want a tech-enabled, transparent partnership. To increase your win rate in this new landscape, you can use technology in your sales process to give clients greater confidence and get them excited to move forward. Join moderator Cameron Jahn (Houzz) and seasoned builders Devin Pearson (Citizen Builders), James Flaherty, and David Phinney (Flaherty Contracting) to learn firsthand how tech-savvy builders are adding AI-driven tools and 3D visualization into their sales approach to accelerate decision-making and build excitement. Hear real-world examples and gain actionable recommendations to modernize your sales process and streamline your operations to win more high-value jobs, ensure project profitability and build a more resilient business.

Key Learnings

·       Learn strategies to integrate AI and 3D into your sales process to increase close rates.

·       Discover how to sync your project management with your sales pitch to ensure the client’s 'white-glove' experience continues from the first meeting through the final walkthrough.

This session introduces contractors and project administrators to prevailing wage requirements for federally funded public works projects. Learn the basics of the Davis-Bacon Act, labor classifications, certified payroll, and fringe benefit rules. Attendees will gain practical guidance to maintain compliance, avoid costly mistakes, and confidently manage wage requirements from project start to completion.

This class is an overview of how contractors can utilize the QuickBooks functionality to facilitate job costing, payroll, receivables and the overall benefits of either the online or desktop applications.

SESSION OVERVIEW

Construction is facing rising labor costs, shrinking skilled trade availability, longer schedules, and tighter margins. The answer isn’t working harder — it’s working differently.
 
 This session explores how construction automation is transforming residential and commercial building. From robotic layout and automated masonry to additive concrete systems, modular construction, panelization, and AI-driven scheduling, this class breaks down what’s real, what’s hype, and what builders can implement today.

 WHAT ATTENDEES WILL LEARN

• The core categories of construction automation

• Which technologies are scalable right now

• Where automation actually saves money (and where it doesn’t)

• How to evaluate ROI before investing

• What the next 5–10 years of jobsite evolution will look like

You’re paying more, converting less, and competing harder than ever—and calling it “marketing.” This talk breaks down the structural flaws in the lead economy and introduces a fundamentally different approach: finding demand at the moment it’s created, not after it’s sold five times.