Los Angeles Build Expo 2026 | Keynotes & Seminars

Your P&L says you made money last year. Your bank account says something different. That gap — between what you earned on paper and what actually sits in the bank — is the single most common problem in construction, and it has nothing to do with how hard you're working or how many jobs you're closing. Using real, live examples from real contracting businesses, this keynote lays out exactly why profitable companies run out of cash, and the specific playbook to fix it — without buying another piece of software, without raising your prices, and without taking on debt to bridge the gap. This isn't theory. It's the exact framework being used inside contracting businesses right now to turn "profitable on paper" into cash you can actually see.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify the specific point in your business where profit is quietly leaking out between the job and the bank account.

2. Learn the account structure that separates true profit from operating cash — so you always know what's actually yours to spend.

3. See a live, real-numbers example of a contractor who fixed this exact problem without raising a single price.

4. Leave with the first two moves to make this week to start closing your own cash flow gap.

Most businesses approach government contracting by searching for posted solicitations and responding to bids. However, successful government contractors understand that the procurement process begins long before an opportunity is publicly released. Agency missions, budgets, market research, acquisition strategies, and stakeholder collaboration all influence purchasing decisions well in advance of a Request for Proposal.

This session provides a practical framework for understanding the government acquisition process from the agency's perspective. Attendees will learn how requirements are developed, who influences buying decisions, why market research and early engagement matter, and how to identify opportunities before they reach the bidding stage. The presentation also explores the growing role of artificial intelligence in market research, opportunity identification, and proposal development, while emphasizing the continued importance of relationships, trust, and strategic positioning.

Whether you're a contractor, architect, engineer, manufacturer, construction professional, or business owner looking to expand into the public sector, you'll leave with a clearer understanding of how government agencies make purchasing decisions and practical strategies to position your business for long-term success in the government marketplace.

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.

You already earn enough revenue. The problem was never how much money comes in — it's how much of it you actually get to keep. This keynote is built for the contractor owner who is tired of living deposit to deposit, tired of watching real revenue disappear before it ever becomes real profit. Using live, real-world examples, we'll show you exactly how cash-rich contractors are built — not through bigger jobs or higher prices, but through a small number of specific shifts to how revenue is captured, protected, and kept inside the business. You'll leave knowing exactly what separates a contractor who's always chasing the next check from one who never has to again.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the difference between revenue and Real Revenue — and why that distinction is the root of the deposit-to-deposit cycle.
2. See a live example of a contracting business that ended its own cash cycle without changing pricing or volume.
3. Learn the specific account structure that protects revenue the moment it comes in, before it can leak out.
4. Leave with a clear, personal definition of what "cash-rich" actually looks like for your business — and the first shift to make toward it.

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

The cost of unpermitted work and permit delays in LA City, LA County, Orange County, and beyond

A story-driven look at how poor due diligence, unpermitted work, zoning assumptions, unresolved violations, and preconstruction mistakes can cost owners hundreds of thousands or even millions before construction begins. Jenifer will also cover recent code and policy changes affecting LA City, LA County, and Southern California, what is changing in development, housing and rebuilding, and how understanding the code early can help owners and project teams identify opportunities, reduce risk, and use the rules to their advantage.

This course explores the design, engineering and specification of rooftop screen wall enclosures. Participants will examine screen types, roof attachment and waterproofing methods, panel options, project-specific engineering, wind loads, acoustical considerations and key factors for selecting and specifying systems for commercial building applications.

Discover how to use ChatGPT effectively to reduce marketing costs and generate better leads. Learn the prompts that improve AI visibility, strengthen your website’s credibility, eliminate ineffective marketing messages, and identify hidden opportunities using Search Console. Leave with practical strategies you can implement immediately to attract more qualified customers.

As construction businesses grow, critical knowledge often becomes scattered across employees, project managers, inboxes, shared drives, software platforms, and people’s heads. That creates inconsistency, slows onboarding, increases key-person dependency, and makes it harder to introduce new technologies effectively.

This session will show attendees how to turn that operational knowledge into clear, practical systems that support both their teams today and emerging technologies tomorrow.

The session will cover:

Why tribal knowledge becomes a growth risk 
How undocumented processes create bottlenecks, inconsistency, rework, and dependence on a small number of key employees.

What modern SOPs should actually look like 
Moving beyond long static documents and creating practical procedures, quick-reference guides, training resources, checklists, visual tools, and searchable knowledge systems that employees will actually use.

What to document first 
How to identify the processes that create the greatest operational risk or opportunity across areas such as onboarding, estimating, project management, field operations, quality control, safety, administration, and customer experience.

Building systems around people, not replacing them 
Why the strongest operational systems keep subject-matter experts and employees involved in documenting, validating, and improving how work gets done.

The human-in-the-loop approach to AI and automation 
How clearly defined processes, policies, decision points, and sources of truth provide the foundation that AI and automation tools need in order to support a business reliably.

Before you automate, document 
Why automating an unclear or inconsistent process can simply automate the chaos—and how construction companies can prepare their operations before deploying AI, workflow automation, or other technology.

You've grinded for years, doing whatever it takes to keep the business running, and it's worked. Founder & CEO Gustavo Sanchez will show contractors and builders how AI can finally pick up where you can't, catching every call, booking every job, making every follow-up, so your business keeps growing and starts running without you carrying all of it.

Your accounting and financial reports aren't just for tax season -- they're a powerful tool to scale your business and build your profits and cash! Designed specifically for construction industry entrepreneurs, this session breaks down how you can turn your accounting data into a money-making engine, make smarter decisions, plug silent cash leaks, and make sure that every project yields the profit it deserves.

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.

From one market to many. Why scaling into new markets is the next step, how to do it right, and when to make the jump!

Most businesses don’t fail to grow because of a lack of opportunity — they stall because the owner becomes the bottleneck. Expanding into a second market exposes every weakness in leadership, systems, and decision-making. This session breaks down what it actually takes to grow into new markets without chaos, burnout, or losing control. Attendees will learn how to prepare their business for expansion, what must be centralized versus local, how to put the right leader in place, and why tools like AI and virtual assistance only work when the operating model is designed correctly. This is a practical, no-fluff conversation for owners who want to scale intentionally — not accidentally.

Cost estimating is one of the most important tasks for any contractor, as these estimates represent a prediction of a future occurrence with so many uncertainties. Being too conservative will reduce the chance of winning a contract, while being too liberal will reduce profitability and may even lead to a loss. Failing to pay attention to certain items can make a big difference in the estimate accuracy.

While no one is perfect, the contractor can follow a few tips to optimize the estimate; minimizing risks and uncertainties and maximizing profit. This seminar takes a chronological tour from project inception to completion, providing valuable tips that tend to reduce risks and uncertainties and draw the contractor’s attention to issues that optimize the estimate and maximize profit.

Is your financial house in order? Discover the tools construction company owners can use to strengthen lawsuit protection, reduce tax exposure, and build long-term financial security in a high-risk industry.

1) Learn how to manage common construction risks including job site injuries, property damage, subcontractor liability, contract disputes, and employee claims- and how proper business structure can help protect both business and personal assets.

2) Explore proven tax reduction strategies many contractors overlook, helping potentially save thousands each year through better entity structure, deductions, and planning.

3) Understand how to avoid probate, reduce estate taxes, and prepare for a smooth business transition using a clear succession planning checklist designed to protect your company and provide continuity for employees and family.

Lawsuit Protection 

·        Common sources of lawsuits in the construction industry, including job site injuries, subcontractor negligence, defective work claims, and contract disputes- and how to proactively reduce exposure.

·        How construction company owners can structure their business to help protect personal and professional assets from litigation.

·        Strategies to help protect the business when facing judgments that exceed insurance coverage or fall outside policy exclusions. 

·        Common asset protection mistakes construction owners make with entities, contracts, and insurance coordination and how to avoid them.

·        How to reduce vicarious liability for employees, subcontractors, and third-party vendors on job sites.

Tax Reduction and Estate Planning 

·        Five key tax reduction strategies construction company owners can use to potentially reduce income taxes by up to 40% annually.

·        Strategies to minimize or eliminate capital gains tax when selling a construction business, equipment-heavy assets, or investment property holdings.

·        What construction company owners should be doing now to prepare for a successful business succession or transfer of ownership.

·        Techniques to avoid probate and reduce estate taxes, helping ensure assets pass efficiently to heirs.

·        How to properly use corporations, LLCs, trusts, wills, and family limited partnerships in a construction business structure.

"QuickBooks doesn’t work." "It never gives me the right numbers." We hear some version of this constantly, and it’s almost never true. QuickBooks Online can do everything a contractor needs: job costing, payroll allocation, budget-to-actuals tracking, all of it. The software isn’t the problem. The problem is what got put into it, by someone who didn’t know what "correctly" looked like.

This session is the natural next step after "QuickBooks for Contractors: Your Financials Are Talking. Are You Listening?" Where that session showed what the numbers reveal once they’re right, this one shows why so many contractors’ numbers never get there in the first place. Walking through the actual Projects module in QBO, screenshot by screenshot, attendees will see exactly where things go right and where they quietly go wrong.

How to use federal programs to fast-track your revenue and legally bypass the bidding wars

Want to stop fighting over low-margin local bids and break into high-paying federal construction contracts? The U.S. Federal Government is the world's largest buyer of construction services, and by law, billions of dollars are locked away exclusively for firms utilizing specific federal programs.

If you aren’t aggressively leveraging certifications like 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, and VOSB, you are leaving massive, guaranteed revenue on the table for your competitors. Even better—programs like Joint Ventures and the SBA Mentor-Protégé agreement allow you to team up with larger contractors to win massive federal projects you couldn't qualify for alone.

In this high-impact session, we strip away the complex government bureaucracy and give you the exact roadmap to position your construction firm for elite federal status.

What you will learn:

• The Big Three Catalysts: How to get positioned on the GSA Schedule, capture emergency FEMA funding, and leverage the 8(a) program for sole-source (no-bid) contracts.
• The Teaming Secret Weapon: How to legally use Joint Ventures and the Mentor-Protégé program to bid on massive federal projects using a larger partner's past performance.
• The Target Demographics: How to stack HUBZone, Veteran-Owned (VOSB), and Women-Owned (WOSB) status to eliminate 95% of your competition.
• The Fatal Compliance Trap: The #1 reason construction firms lose their federal certifications mid-project—and how to bulletproof your business against audit failures.

Stop guessing at government paperwork. Come learn the step-by-step framework to unlock a steady stream of highly profitable, recession-proof federal work.

In the ultra-competitive Los Angeles luxury market, flawless craftsmanship isn’t enough—your brand drives your margins. This session introduces the Iconic Status framework used by top builders to elevate perception, build instant trust, and reduce price sensitivity. Learn how to audit key brand touchpoints, transition from commodity to authority, and create a high-end client journey that wins premium projects consistently.

Residential, Multifamily, Hillside, Coastal, Historic, Fire-Rebuild and ADU Development

A practical look at what developers, contractors, investors, and owners should understand before designing, or building. The seminar covers zoning, development potential, RFA, hillside and grading constraints, historic and coastal requirements, multifamily feasibility, ADUs, fire rebuilds, unpermitted work, agency sequencing, and recent LA City and LA County code changes. Attendees will learn not only how to identify restrictions, but how to read the regulations strategically and uncover development opportunities that may otherwise be missed.

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.

 You don't need to be technical. You don't need another piece of software you'll abandon in a month. What you need is something that acts like a second brain — a built-in assistant that takes the repeatable, energy-draining work off your plate so you can get back to running the business instead of being buried inside it. In this live, hands-on workshop, we'll build a real AI-powered delegation system in front of you — no scripts, no fluff, just a working tool you can start using the moment you walk out the door. This isn't about chasing every new AI trend. It's about turning AI into the one thing most contractor owners have never had: a system that remembers, reminds, and executes so you don't have to carry it all in your head.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify the three categories of repeatable owner-level tasks in your business that are safe to delegate to an AI assistant today — and the ones that are not.
2. Build a working AI delegation prompt live in the room, using your own business as the example, that you can put to use the same day.
3. Learn the difference between an AI tool and an AI system — and why only one of them actually gives you hours back.
4. Leave with a specific, written plan for the first 8 hours per week you will reclaim, and what you will do with that time instead.

New development and enhancements to properties tend to include existing onsite or proposed new trees and landscape features. Plan for final signoff success by having what you need to successfully work around trees on your projects while delivering a healthy new landscape through the guarantee period and into the maintenance contractor’s hands

How to put AI to work in your business this week. The mindset shift (treat it like an employee, not a search bar), how to set up a workspace with roles and your real company docs, a simple prompt framework, and two starter plays: reviewing sub bids in 90 seconds and drafting a scope of work in two minutes. Everyone leaves with something they can run Monday.

Course outline:

1. Mapping the end-to-end customer journey to eliminate bottlenecks

2. Implementing standardized digital workflows for scheduling, budgeting, and change orders

3. Turning project data into marketing assets that generate referrals and new leads

4. Action-ready tools and templates attendees can deploy immediately

Planning porch layouts before framing begins; choosing practical window opening sizes; understanding vertical 4-track porch window systems; framing and mounting requirements; designing larger openings and mulled units; center bars and sightlines; doors and traffic flow; second-story porches and fall-protection considerations; fixed glass options; common design and installation mistakes; and planning for long-term maintenance and serviceability.

This session helps subcontractors strengthen their bidding process and improve win rates. Learn key steps for preparing accurate bids, estimating costs, identifying the right opportunities, and presenting competitive proposals. Attendees will gain practical strategies to streamline their approach, bid more professionally, and increase their chances of securing profitable construction projects.

Tired of losing good jobs to "bad" (over priced) financing? In this fast, fun, and practical session, we'll show you how to use the Figure Loan to help your customers say "yes" faster - and to bigger projects. Whether you're a remodeler, roofer, painter, or jack-of-all-trades, this talk will break down how you can grow your revenue without adding a single dollar of dealer fees.

We'll keep it simple and real. You'll walk away with:

• Why traditional financing doesn't always work (and what to do instead)

• How to present Figure's 100% digital Loan in plain English

• What to say when customers say, "We need to think about it..."

• Real-life examples of contractors using this tool to close more deals

• How to get started in less time than it takes to eat a burrito

This session is for residential contractors who want to make more money without being a finance expert. No jargon. No fluff. Just tools you can use right away.

Understand the essentials of Workers’ Compensation and how it impacts your business. This session breaks down classifications, independent contractor rules, and audit processes to help contractors avoid costly mistakes. Learn the ins and outs of this mandatory insurance, protect your company from liability, and ensure compliance while managing coverage efficiently and confidently.

As construction companies grow, financial and project information can quickly become fragmented across accounting software, spreadsheets, project management tools, emails and other systems.

This session will explore how contractors can create a more connected flow of information from project budgets and commitments through job costs, change orders, billing and financial reporting.

The session will be educational and technology neutral, with a focus on practical processes, controls and best practices that construction businesses can apply within their own organizations.

Course Outline:

• Common warning signs that a construction company has outgrown disconnected systems and spreadsheets

• Connecting budgets, purchasing, commitments, change orders, job costs and billing

• Improving visibility into budget vs. actual, committed costs, project profitability and cash flow

• Identifying opportunities for workflow automation and better management reporting

• Preparing construction businesses for AI by first creating clean, connected and reliable operational data

• Practical steps attendees can take to assess and improve their current processes

Prevailing wage mistakes can cost contractors tens of thousands in penalties and trigger audits or debarment. In this session, Mike Brown of eBacon shares the most common compliance pitfalls and practical strategies to avoid them. Learn how to manage DIR and Davis-Bacon requirements, calculate fringe benefits correctly, streamline certified payroll, and protect your bottom line on public works projects.

Learn how to fix the two biggest marketing leaks costing contractors revenue: poor website engagement and slow lead follow-up. Discover how AI can improve website performance, automate personalized responses, re-engage lost prospects, and increase close rates. Build a smarter marketing system that converts more leads without increasing your advertising budget.

Most contractors don’t have a QuickBooks problem, they have a transparency problem. Thinking they can skip investing in the accuracy of their numbers leads to thousands upon thousands of lost dollars and sometimes, the demise of the business altogether. Accurate numbers tell a story: which jobs are actually profitable, where cash is quietly leaking, and whether the business can survive its next growth spurt. Most owners just aren’t set up to hear it, because "good enough" books were never built to talk back.

In this session, we will walk you through how a profit and loss report in QuickBooks can look right, but actually be wrong. Attendees leave with a clear picture of what their financials should look like in QuickBooks Online, AND be telling them. The goal is for you to walk away with a better picture of what it actually looks like to run a contracting business that makes decisions from real numbers.

We've become the Indoor Generation — spending 90% of our lives inside. That's a staggering fact, and an even bigger opportunity. Rewilding the Home unpacks the science behind biophilic design, and hands builders, developers and designers a practical playbook for delivering it on every project.

In this session, we'll explore how biophilic design and Blue Zones - the regions where people routinely live past 100, is reshaping what today's homeowners expect, and what tomorrow's buyers will demand. Longevity in these communities isn't just about diet; it's baked into the design of their homes and streets. We'll translate those lessons into strategies you can apply on your very next build. We will show how light and airflow can shape a client's daily habits, health, and happiness.

What's in it for you? Sharper design instincts, spaces that photograph better, sell faster, and command stronger word-of-mouth. A clear, science-backed story you can tell clients about why your work feels different. And a fresh way to answer the oldest design question there is — how do we get people outside? — with a better one: how do we bring the outdoors in?

Why do so many contractors stay busy yet struggle to maintain profits? This session explores how accurate estimating, cost control, and efficient project management can help close more jobs profitably. Learn why projects lose money, how to complete work faster and within budget, and strategies for growing your business without increasing overhead.

Gain a practical understanding of the Americans with Disabilities Act and how it impacts your workplace. This session provides an overview of all five ADA titles, with a focus on Title I employer responsibilities. Learn the reasonable accommodation process, compliance best practices, and strategies for creating an inclusive, accessible, and legally compliant work environment.

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.

Many contractors struggle to find qualified workers through traditional local hiring channels alone. This session explores the hidden costs of limiting recruitment to local markets, challenges common misconceptions about remote and global talent, and demonstrates how businesses can access skilled labor faster, more flexibly, and often at a lower cost. Attendees will learn practical strategies for expanding their talent pipeline, implementing scalable workforce solutions, and taking the first steps toward building a more resilient labor strategy. The session concludes with a live Q&A and actionable next steps.

This session helps subcontractors strengthen their bidding process and improve win rates. Learn key steps for preparing accurate bids, estimating costs, identifying the right opportunities, and presenting competitive proposals. Attendees will gain practical strategies to streamline their approach, bid more professionally, and increase their chances of securing profitable construction projects.

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. 

Stop leaving your hard-earned profits on the table every tax season. Built specifically for contractors and building professionals, this session delivers practical, proactive tax strategies you can use to protect your bottom line and protect your bottom line from the government. Instead of reacting to a surprise tax bill at the end of a successful year, you'll learn how to take control of your tax planning, spot hidden opportunities, and keep more of your profits where they belong -- inside your company.

Avoid the costly accessibility mistakes that can delay projects, trigger complaints, or create barriers for building users. This session provides a practical overview of ADA facility accessibility requirements, including accessible routes, parking, and restrooms. Learn to identify common compliance issues and apply best practices to create safe, accessible, and welcoming facilities.

Learn how to build a marketing system that consistently generates qualified leads. Discover the five channels every contractor should understand—Google Ads, Meta, retargeting, SEO, and AI search optimization—and how each supports business growth. Gain practical strategies for allocating your marketing budget, improving ROI, and creating a predictable pipeline of new opportunities.

The next level. How to set up AI agents that run on their own every morning (overnight bid intake, job-cost rollups), and the big one — building a single, always-current cost catalog from the invoices and bids you already have. This is where AI stops being a novelty and starts protecting margin.

You've grinded for years, doing whatever it takes to keep the business running, and it's worked. Founder & CEO Gustavo Sanchez will show contractors and builders how AI can finally pick up where you can't, catching every call, booking every job, making every follow-up, so your business keeps growing and starts running without you carrying all of it.

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.

Contractor schedules shape project planning, cash flow, procurement, and resource management—but CPM schedules often rely on assumptions that can create risk. This session offers practical tips for building and maintaining accurate, optimized schedules from day one through execution. Learn how to strengthen forecasting, improve reliability, and use your schedule as a powerful tool for project control and performance.

  All landscapes require additional costs aside from pruning. Educating your clients on root zone hydration, soil health, pest and disease mitigation and site support is what makes you stand out amongst the competition or sets a bar of what you need for your property. Save time and unexpected costs for your clients by being able to review and plan your landscape for the contract duration.

Is your financial house in order? Discover the tools construction company owners can use to strengthen lawsuit protection, reduce tax exposure, and build long-term financial security in a high-risk industry.

1) Learn how to manage common construction risks including job site injuries, property damage, subcontractor liability, contract disputes, and employee claims- and how proper business structure can help protect both business and personal assets.

2) Explore proven tax reduction strategies many contractors overlook, helping potentially save thousands each year through better entity structure, deductions, and planning.

3) Understand how to avoid probate, reduce estate taxes, and prepare for a smooth business transition using a clear succession planning checklist designed to protect your company and provide continuity for employees and family.

Lawsuit Protection 

·        Common sources of lawsuits in the construction industry, including job site injuries, subcontractor negligence, defective work claims, and contract disputes- and how to proactively reduce exposure.

·        How construction company owners can structure their business to help protect personal and professional assets from litigation.

·        Strategies to help protect the business when facing judgments that exceed insurance coverage or fall outside policy exclusions. 

·        Common asset protection mistakes construction owners make with entities, contracts, and insurance coordination and how to avoid them.

·        How to reduce vicarious liability for employees, subcontractors, and third-party vendors on job sites.

Tax Reduction and Estate Planning 

·        Five key tax reduction strategies construction company owners can use to potentially reduce income taxes by up to 40% annually.

·        Strategies to minimize or eliminate capital gains tax when selling a construction business, equipment-heavy assets, or investment property holdings.

·        What construction company owners should be doing now to prepare for a successful business succession or transfer of ownership.

·        Techniques to avoid probate and reduce estate taxes, helping ensure assets pass efficiently to heirs.

·        How to properly use corporations, LLCs, trusts, wills, and family limited partnerships in a construction business structure.

Most contractors don’t have a QuickBooks problem, they have a transparency problem. Thinking they can skip investing in the accuracy of their numbers leads to thousands upon thousands of lost dollars and sometimes, the demise of the business altogether. Accurate numbers tell a story: which jobs are actually profitable, where cash is quietly leaking, and whether the business can survive its next growth spurt. Most owners just aren’t set up to hear it, because "good enough" books were never built to talk back.

In this session, we will walk you through how a profit and loss report in QuickBooks can look right, but actually be wrong. Attendees leave with a clear picture of what their financials should look like in QuickBooks Online, AND be telling them. The goal is for you to walk away with a better picture of what it actually looks like to run a contracting business that makes decisions from real numbers.

In today's rapidly evolving commercial construction landscape, integrating smart design and technology is key to optimizing efficiency, sustainability, and long-term functionality. In this session, Blima Ehrentreu will explore the latest innovations in smart building technology, AI-powered design strategies, and data-driven decision-making. Attendees will gain real-world insights from TDG's experience in large-scale commercial projects and learn how these advancements are reshaping the industry.

Your business can only grow as far as you do. This masterclass challenges owners to recognize personal growth as the foundation of sustainable success. Learn how leadership development, discipline, and intentional self-improvement directly impact business results. Explore practical frameworks that align health, wealth, and relationships—so you build not just a bigger company, but a stronger, more balanced life and lasting impact.

Every contractor owner is being told they're falling behind if they're not "using AI." Much of it is not true, and most of it is a distraction from the real problem. In this live workshop, we cut through the hype and show you the truth: most contracting businesses don't have an AI problem — they have a system problem, and AI without a system just makes chaos move faster. Using a live demo, we'll show you exactly where AI does and doesn't belong in a contracting business, and how to build the system underneath it first, so that when you do use AI, it actually works.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify the difference between a business problem AI can solve and a business problem only a system can solve.
2. See a live demo of AI layered on top of an existing business system — and understand why it fails without that system in place.
3. Learn the specific, narrow list of tasks where AI creates real time savings for a contractor owner today.
4. Leave with a one-page plan for what to build first — system or AI tool — based on where your business actually stands.

Commercial Permits, Tenant Improvements, Change of Use and Occupancy

A commercial-focused seminar covering the issues that can delay or prevent a business from opening, including change of use, Certificates of Occupancy, accessibility requirements, fire/life safety, restaurants, entertainment uses, signage, health approvals, unpermitted conditions, and permit sequencing. Jenifer will also discuss recent code and compliance changes affecting commercial projects and explain how understanding the rules before signing a lease, designing, or starting construction can help teams avoid costly surprises and achieve a smoother path to approval.

Designed for business owners, developers, and contractors managing commercial and multifamily projects in the 7- to 9-figure range, this seminar outlines the proper project sequence: due diligence, entitlements, plan check, early permits, build-out, and final Certificate of Occupancy. Jenifer will also highlight which reviews can run concurrently, where projects most often get delayed, and the true cost of each month of lost time.

Planning porch layouts before framing begins; choosing practical window opening sizes; understanding vertical 4-track porch window systems; framing and mounting requirements; designing larger openings and mulled units; center bars and sightlines; doors and traffic flow; second-story porches and fall-protection considerations; fixed glass options; common design and installation mistakes; and planning for long-term maintenance and serviceability.

As construction businesses grow, critical knowledge often becomes scattered across employees, project managers, inboxes, shared drives, software platforms, and people’s heads. That creates inconsistency, slows onboarding, increases key-person dependency, and makes it harder to introduce new technologies effectively.

This session will show attendees how to turn that operational knowledge into clear, practical systems that support both their teams today and emerging technologies tomorrow.

The session will cover:

Why tribal knowledge becomes a growth risk 
How undocumented processes create bottlenecks, inconsistency, rework, and dependence on a small number of key employees.

What modern SOPs should actually look like 
Moving beyond long static documents and creating practical procedures, quick-reference guides, training resources, checklists, visual tools, and searchable knowledge systems that employees will actually use.

What to document first 
How to identify the processes that create the greatest operational risk or opportunity across areas such as onboarding, estimating, project management, field operations, quality control, safety, administration, and customer experience.

Building systems around people, not replacing them 
Why the strongest operational systems keep subject-matter experts and employees involved in documenting, validating, and improving how work gets done.

The human-in-the-loop approach to AI and automation 
How clearly defined processes, policies, decision points, and sources of truth provide the foundation that AI and automation tools need in order to support a business reliably.

Before you automate, document 
Why automating an unclear or inconsistent process can simply automate the chaos—and how construction companies can prepare their operations before deploying AI, workflow automation, or other technology.

As construction companies grow, financial and project information can quickly become fragmented across accounting software, spreadsheets, project management tools, emails and other systems.

This session will explore how contractors can create a more connected flow of information from project budgets and commitments through job costs, change orders, billing and financial reporting.

The session will be educational and technology neutral, with a focus on practical processes, controls and best practices that construction businesses can apply within their own organizations.

Course Outline:

• Common warning signs that a construction company has outgrown disconnected systems and spreadsheets

• Connecting budgets, purchasing, commitments, change orders, job costs and billing

• Improving visibility into budget vs. actual, committed costs, project profitability and cash flow

• Identifying opportunities for workflow automation and better management reporting

• Preparing construction businesses for AI by first creating clean, connected and reliable operational data

• Practical steps attendees can take to assess and improve their current processes

California's certified payroll requirements represent one of the most challenging compliance obligations facing construction contractors today. With strict DIR enforcement, complex reporting requirements, and severe penalties for non-compliance, getting certified payroll right is essential for any contractor working on public works projects. Mike Brown brings over 12 years of specialized experience helping contractors master California's unique certified payroll landscape. In this comprehensive session, Mike breaks down the complexities of California certified payroll into clear, actionable steps that payroll teams, accountants, and HR professionals can implement immediately.

  Attendees will discover:

1. Step-by-step guidance for completing accurate certified payroll reports that meet DIR requirements.

1. Common certified payroll mistakes that trigger audits and how to avoid them.

1. Best practices for tracking apprenticeship ratios, fringe benefits, and prevailing wage rates.

1. Technology solutions that streamline certified payroll reporting and reduce compliance risk.

Whether you're new to California public works or looking to strengthen your existing processes, this session provides the comprehensive guidance you need to navigate certified payroll with confidence and protect your business from costly compliance issues.

"QuickBooks doesn’t work." "It never gives me the right numbers." We hear some version of this constantly, and it’s almost never true. QuickBooks Online can do everything a contractor needs: job costing, payroll allocation, budget-to-actuals tracking, all of it. The software isn’t the problem. The problem is what got put into it, by someone who didn’t know what "correctly" looked like.

This session is the natural next step after "QuickBooks for Contractors: Your Financials Are Talking. Are You Listening?" Where that session showed what the numbers reveal once they’re right, this one shows why so many contractors’ numbers never get there in the first place. Walking through the actual Projects module in QBO, screenshot by screenshot, attendees will see exactly where things go right and where they quietly go wrong.

Buying an existing business is one of the fastest ways to expand your market share and multiply your profits -- if the match actually works. Built for established contractors looking to grow through acquisition, this session provides a practical framework for evaluating target business, navigating the deal process, and build a combined operation that is built for long-term profit. Master the acquisition process and nail your next expansion deal!