South Florida 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

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.

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

Government contracting can provide a steady source of business growth, but success requires more than responding to posted bids. This session will show attendees how to build a repeatable strategy for identifying, pursuing, and winning government contracts at the federal, state, and local levels.

Participants will learn how to research procurement opportunities, evaluate which contracts best fit their capabilities, understand buyer behavior, and leverage market intelligence to make informed bidding decisions. The session will also cover the importance of business readiness, compliance, relationship building with agencies and prime contractors, and developing a systematic approach that leads to long-term success.

Whether you're new to government contracting or looking to expand your public sector business, this presentation provides practical tools and proven strategies to help position your company for sustainable growth.

Are you looking to grow your building company, acquire other businesses, or position your company for a successful sale and retirement? This fast-paced, interactive workshop from ActionCOACH®, the world’s #1 business coaching and training company, will provide the strategies and insights you need to prepare for your next move.

In this workshop, you'll discover the key drivers that make a business attractive for growth, acquisition, or sale. Learn what buyers look for when evaluating a business, how to increase the value of your company, and what to consider when purchasing another business. Whether your goal is expansion, acquisition, or exit planning, you'll leave with practical tools and a clearer roadmap for achieving your objectives.

 This session provides a comparative analysis of key construction materials and methods, examining strength, structural performance, cost, sustainability, durability, and maintenance. Attendees will explore how each option affects project speed, design flexibility, and long-term outcomes, including the role of digital fabrication. Learn how to evaluate materials strategically to optimize performance, efficiency, and overall project value. 

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.

Designing exterior wood structures requires a deep understanding of how wood interacts with moisture, climate, and structural elements. Led by a field installer and technical specialist, this course moves beyond product brochures to explore the material science of thermally modified wood. Attendees will learn actionable strategies for detailing exterior cladding, selecting proper fasteners, preventing common field failures, and meeting building codes without compromising design aesthetics.

This session breaks down what actually drives value in a construction company long before a sale or transition ever happens. Attendees will learn the 3 things that have to be true before valuation even matters, profitability that can be proven, backlog that is shown as profitable work, and an owner who is no longer required for daily operations.

The session then goes deeper into each piece. It covers what proof of profitability looks like to a buyer or successor, how bid selection and job level production tracking protect profit, and how operational structure, communication, alignment, and accountability keep a company running without the owner in the room. It closes with a look at org charts and leadership benches as the biggest lever for increasing valuation, along with an honest self assessment framework attendees can use to determine whether their business runs on real structure or on 1 or 2 key people, including the owner.

Attendees will leave with a clear, practical framework for what to start working on years before any transition conversation begins.

Most entrepreneurs know they need to grow but fewer have the financial systems in place to actually make it happen. If your team is working hard but you're not sure whether you're on track to hit your revenue, profit, and valuation goals, this session is for you.

Join Eric Crews of Crews & co., for a practical, no-fluff session on building a financial function that actually supports growth. Eric will walk through the tools and disciplines that turn financial planning from a quarterly chore into one of your most powerful management tools.

Key Takeaways:

·       Why profit and cash flow are the real indicators of business health

·       The financial tools high-performing companies use, including forecasting, budgeting, and monthly reviews

·       How to connect your financial plan to a weekly scorecard that keeps your team accountable

·       What it takes to build a finance function that supports your 3-year goals and long-term valuation

Whether you're trying to double your business or just finally get a clear picture of where things stand, you'll walk away with a framework you can start using right away.

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.

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.

Managing your online reputation is one of the most powerful ways to build trust and attract new customers. In this BBB presentation, you'll learn practical strategies for responding to reviews, strengthening your digital presence, handling negative feedback professionally, and showcasing credibility. Discover how a trusted online reputation can increase customer confidence and drive long-term business growth.

Upon completion of this course, architects and participants will understand:

• Properties of cellular PVC
• Cellular PVC micro-ingredients
• Key differences between high and low-quality cellular PVC
• Ease of use and adaptability
• Common and unique end-use applications
• Painting, staining, and laminating options
• PVC’s contributions to Sustainability

• Properties of Cellular PVC Trim
• Are all cellular PVC Trims the same?
• Working With PVC
• Uses & Applications:
  • Residential – Exterior & Interior
  • Commercial
  • Multi-Family
  • Historical Preservation

• Dark paint technology for cellular PVC trim
• New trim surface technology - Film Laminates
• PVC’s contribution to Sustainability

This session moves past the noise and shows what artificial intelligence actually does on a construction and infrastructure operation today. Drawing on real deployments, it demonstrates how AI agents and advanced analytics are already being used to report and investigate incidents, build risk matrices, calculate risk, and guide site teams and contractors through the decisions that keep people safe.

The argument at its center is simple: the value depends far less on any single tool than on what comes before it — digitalization and data quality, without which no algorithm can work, and a sustainable architecture built around organizational structure, legislation, legacy systems, processes, and people. Construction remains one of the least digitized sectors in the world; this session shows what closing that gap actually looks like in practice.

Learning Objectives:

●      Understand why digitalization and data quality must come before any AI tool — and how to work backward from the decisions that matter to capture the right data from the start.

●      Recognize why sustainable architecture (organizational structure, legislation, legacy systems, processes, and people) determines AI success far more than isolated pilots or general-purpose tools.

●      Examine real-world safety use cases — contractor management, incident and behavioral-observation reporting, and critical risk and fatality prevention — powered by AI agents.

●      Evaluate advanced analytics in action: predictive risk calculation, scoring, and recommendations that guide site-level decisions.

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.

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.

Course outline

·       What makes a Subcontractor standout before bid day

·       The biggest mistakes that get companies overlooked

·       How to build trust with the preconstruction teams

·       Why responsiveness beasts the lowest bidder

·       How to become a GC’s preferred partner

Inside this free Workshop, you'll discover:

The 4-week roadmap to become loan-ready
The 10-point Bank-Ready Scorecard
Tools to forecast cash flow & build a loan package
The exact documents banks want to see
 Insider tips from a former banker who’s approved $2B+ in loans and reviewed over 10,000 Financial Statements

– Who It's For:
  If you're a contractor who is doing $5M-$100M+...

1.      Feels the pinch on cash flow even though you are growing and profitable on paper. 

2.      Realizes that it takes capital to grow, but doesn't like to deal with lenders. 

3.      Has sacrificed their own compensation, while funneling profits back into the company to fund growth. 

Then this is for you.

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.

Building and sustaining a safety culture is a practical, leadership-focused session designed for business owners, executives, and safety professionals who want measurable results, not just policies on paper. This course breaks down the core elements of an effective safety culture, including leadership accountability, employee engagement, hazard recognition systems, behavioral reinforcement, and regulatory alignment. Attendees will learn how to move from reactive compliance to proactive risk management, reduce incidents rates, strengthen morale, and protect their organization from operational and legal exposure. This session includes real world examples and actionable strategies participants can implement immediately.

AI is rapidly changing the way businesses operate, but many construction professionals are still asking the same question: What does AI actually mean for my business?

This practical session explores how builders, remodelers and contractors can begin using AI across their everyday workflows without overhauling their entire operation. Attendees will learn where AI can reduce repetitive administrative work, support more consistent estimating, improve project communication and help identify potential risks before they affect profitability.

The session will also address the limitations of AI and explain why builder experience, judgment and human oversight remain critical. Rather than treating AI as a replacement for people, attendees will learn how to use it as a practical assistant that helps their teams work faster, stay organized and make more informed decisions.

Participants will leave with clear examples, realistic implementation ideas and a simple framework for identifying where AI can create the greatest value in their own business.

Course Outline

1. Understanding AI in Construction

2. Identifying Time-Consuming Workflows

3. Using AI During Preconstruction

4. Using AI During Project Delivery

5. Protecting Margins With Better Information

6. Implementing AI Responsibly

7. Creating a Practical AI Action Plan

Learning Outcomes
By the end of the session, attendees will be able to:

·       Identify areas of their business where AI can reduce repetitive work

·       Understand how AI can support estimating, communication and project management

·       Recognize potential risks and limitations when using AI

·       Establish appropriate human review and quality-control processes

·       Create a realistic plan for introducing AI into their current workflows

·       Use AI to support better productivity and stronger margin awareness

Purpose: 

Building owners have come to rely on weatherable coatings to provide long-term protection to their buildings. With an increased focus on sustainability, performance, and durability, PVDF resin-based coatings can help architects and painting contractors exceed their clients’ design goals. This course covers the key components and functions of high-performance weatherable coatings and looks at how these coatings contribute to sustainable design.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this program, participants will be able to:

•       describe the ways PVDF resin-based coatings, both water based and solvent based, provide a consistent, pristine appearance while achieving durability goals over a variety of substrates as demonstrated in applicable case studies

•       discuss why some coatings fail and the important considerations when selecting a coating system for an application, including weathering performance, longevity, and application method

•       discuss the standards of performance for architectural coatings and recognize why PVDF coating technology outperforms other coating technologies, and 

•       explain how water-based PVDF coatings, by their chemistry and performance, can help design professionals and building owners achieve their sustainability goals.

Course Outline : Reframe the Problem 
Purpose: get the room to stop chasing "more leads" and start chasing booked, profitable jobs.

·       The home services landscape in 2026: more competition, rising click costs, AI reshaping search

·       The real funnel: impressions, to clicks, to leads, to booked jobs, to closed revenue

·       Why "more leads" is the wrong goal: quality, close rate, and crew capacity

·       The one number that changes everything: what a job is actually worth to you, including lifetime value

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.

Esta sesión va más allá del ruido y muestra lo que la inteligencia artificial realmente hace hoy en las operaciones de construcción e infraestructura. A partir de implementaciones reales, demuestra cómo los agentes de IA y la analítica avanzada ya se utilizan para reportar e investigar incidentes, crear matrices de riesgo, calcular riesgos y orientar a los equipos en obra y a los contratistas en las decisiones que ayudan a mantener a las personas seguras.

El argumento central es sencillo: el valor depende mucho menos de una herramienta específica que de lo que ocurre antes: la digitalización y la calidad de los datos, sin las cuales ningún algoritmo puede funcionar, y una arquitectura sostenible basada en la estructura organizacional, la legislación, los sistemas heredados, los procesos y las personas. La construcción sigue siendo uno de los sectores menos digitalizados del mundo; esta sesión muestra cómo se ve realmente, en la práctica, cerrar esa brecha.

Objetivos de aprendizaje:

● Comprender por qué la digitalización y la calidad de los datos deben preceder a cualquier herramienta de IA, y cómo trabajar desde las decisiones importantes hacia atrás para recopilar los datos adecuados desde el principio.

● Reconocer por qué una arquitectura sostenible —estructura organizacional, legislación, sistemas heredados, procesos y personas— determina el éxito de la IA mucho más que los proyectos piloto aislados o las herramientas de uso general.

● Analizar casos reales de uso de IA en seguridad, incluyendo la gestión de contratistas, los reportes de incidentes y observaciones de comportamiento, y la prevención de riesgos críticos y fatalidades mediante agentes de IA.

● Evaluar la analítica avanzada en acción: cálculo predictivo de riesgos, puntuación y recomendaciones que orientan las decisiones a nivel de obra.

Outline:
The hidden cost of messy books
 The 5 numbers every trade business owner should know
 Job costing and profitability by project
 Cash flow vs. profit
 How clean books help reduce tax surprises
 What a good monthly close should look like
 
 
 

• Why most contractors lose 80% of potential reviews
 • The hidden connection between reviews and revenue growth
 • How to capture reviews while the technician is still on site
 • Building a referral engine from every completed job
 • Measuring ROI from reviews and reputation management
 • Creating a repeatable system that scales across every technician

Learning Outcomes

Attendees will leave with a framework to increase review volume, improve online reputation, generate more referrals, and reduce reliance on paid advertising.

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.

Most contractors don’t have a bookkeeping 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.
This session is not a bookkeeping tutorial. It's a live demonstration of how a P&L can look completely
correct, and still be wrong. Attendees leave with a clear picture of what their financials should look like
and be telling them, why the consequences of ignoring that story is often invisible until they’re
expensive, and what it actually looks like to run a contracting business that makes decisions from real
numbers instead of gut feel.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:
Read their own P&L the way their business actually needs it read — and identify the financial blind
spots specific to job-costed, contract-based businesses, not generic small-business bookkeeping
advice.
Recognize the early warning signs that their books are hiding a problem instead of revealing one.
Understand the real, often-delayed cost of poor financial visibility.
Walk away with a short list of questions their financials should be able to answer today — and know
within minutes whether theirs can.

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. 

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.

AI Without the Risk: Building a Foundation for Responsible AI Adoption 

Most organizations already have AI in use whether they know it or not. Employees 

are quietly adopting generative AI tools on their own, creating what is known as 

shadow AI. This session helps leaders understand what AI actually is, where it 

thrives and where it falls short, and how to build the governance structure needed 

to protect their organization. 

Course Outline:  

• What is AI: definitions, behaviors, and realistic expectations 
• AI fact vs. fiction: separating hype from reality 
• Understanding the risks of shadow AI and ungoverned adoption 
• How to classify your data and what to share with AI 
• Choosing the right AI tools for your organization 
• Creating an internal AI policy your team will follow 
• Building a human-centered AI culture from the ground up 

Course Outline

• Why most companies collect data but never use it
 • Turning business data into actionable insights
 • Using AI to improve accountability and performance
 • Coaching technicians and teams with real time feedback
 • Building dashboards that drive action
 • Creating a data driven culture

Learning Outcomes

Attendees will learn how AI can help leaders make faster, better decisions while improving team performance.

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.

This course examines the science and application of infrared (IR) heat-reflective exterior surface technologies and their role in improving building performance, resilience, and sustainable design. Participants will explore how reflective exterior coatings reduce solar heat gain, lower exterior surface temperatures, mitigate the urban heat island effect, improve thermal comfort, and contribute to energy-efficient building envelopes. The program reviews current energy codes, sustainability initiatives, and building performance considerations while examining material selection, durability, and long-term maintenance strategies. Real-world applications across commercial, healthcare, education, retail, institutional, and transportation facilities demonstrate how reflective exterior surface technologies enhance climate resilience, occupant comfort, long-term asset performance, and community sustainability.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Explain the principles of infrared (IR) heat reflectance and how reflective exterior surface technologies influence building envelope performance and sustainable design. 
2. Evaluate the relationship between total solar reflectance, thermal emittance, Solar Reflectance Index (SRI), and Solar Reflectance (SR), and explain how these properties contribute to energy efficiency, occupant comfort, and compliance with applicable sustainability initiatives and rating systems. 
3. Identify the performance characteristics of infrared (IR) heat-reflective exterior coatings, including durability, color retention, lifecycle performance, maintenance considerations, and their role in reducing solar heat gain and supporting resilient building design. 

4.    Identify the performance characteristics of infrared (IR) heat-reflective exterior coatings, including durability, color retention, lifecycle performance, maintenance considerations, and the use of specialized infrared-reflective pigments that enable dark-colored finishes while reducing solar heat gain, lowering surface temperatures, and supporting resilient, high-performance building design.

5.    Interpret published performance studies, proposed model building codes, environmentally focused programs, and case examples to assess how infrared (IR) heat-reflective exterior surface technologies support energy efficiency, resilience, sustainability, and building performance across a variety of building types and climates.

"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, work-in-progress 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 "The Story Your Numbers Are Telling You." 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 — and exactly what to check in your own file before you blame the
software.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:
Explain why "the software is wrong" is almost always a data-entry problem in disguise — and why
that’s actually good news, because data entry is fixable.
Recognize the specific, common breakdowns that quietly wreck job costing in QuickBooks: jobs
tagged as customers, income counted twice, payroll that never lands on a job, and bills that go
missing until they’re paid.
Walk away knowing what to ask the person doing their books — whether that’s themselves, an
employee, or Devine Consulting.

"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.

Upon completion of this course, architects and participants will understand:

• Properties of cellular PVC
• Cellular PVC micro-ingredients
• Key differences between high and low-quality cellular PVC
• Ease of use and adaptability
• Common and unique end-use applications
• Painting, staining, and laminating options
• PVC’s contributions to Sustainability

• Properties of Cellular PVC Trim
• Are all cellular PVC Trims the same?
• Working With PVC
• Uses & Applications:
  • Residential – Exterior & Interior
  • Commercial
  • Multi-Family
  • Historical Preservation

• Dark paint technology for cellular PVC trim
• New trim surface technology - Film Laminates
• PVC’s contribution to Sustainability

En esta sesión de una hora, los líderes de la industria de la construcción descubrirán exactamente dónde están desapareciendo silenciosamente las ganancias de sus operaciones y cómo recuperarlas en 90 días. Carlos Aricapa presenta el marco SHIELD+, un sistema integral que combina la seguridad de los trabajadores, el desarrollo de la fuerza laboral, la estimación impulsada por IA, el cumplimiento de criterios ESG, la inteligencia contractual y la automatización de la facturación digital para eliminar las seis fugas de ganancias que les cuestan a las empresas de construcción entre el 8 % y el 25 % del valor de los proyectos cada año.

A través de demostraciones tecnológicas en vivo —paneles de mantenimiento predictivo en tiempo real, estimación de ofertas impulsada por IA, cadenas de suministro verificadas mediante blockchain y seguimiento del flujo de efectivo— los participantes podrán ver estas herramientas en acción, no solo en teoría. Al finalizar la sesión, cada participante se llevará una hoja de ruta personalizada de 90 días, adaptada a su función, para proteger los márgenes, acelerar el flujo de efectivo y detener las fugas que están afectando sus resultados.

Objetivos de aprendizaje:

·       Identificar las seis fugas universales de ganancias que reducen silenciosamente los márgenes en las operaciones de construcción, desde la expansión del alcance contractual hasta el mantenimiento reactivo de equipos.

·       Aplicar el marco SHIELD+ —Seguridad, Capital Humano, Innovación, ESG, Aspectos Legales/Contratos y T&M Digital— para crear un sistema integral de protección de ganancias adaptado a su función.

·       Evaluar demostraciones en vivo de paneles de mantenimiento predictivo, estimación de ofertas mediante IA, facturación verificada con blockchain y seguimiento del flujo de efectivo en tiempo real para una implementación inmediata.

·       Crear una hoja de ruta personalizada de 90 días para recuperar entre un 8 % y un 15 % de margen y acelerar el ciclo de efectivo hasta en 45 días.

Why contractors can grow revenue, stay busy, and still struggle financially.

In this training, contractor finance coach Patrick Shurney reveals the financial metrics that determine whether your construction business creates real wealth… or just more stress. 

Does this sound familiar?

• Revenue keeps growing, but cash still feels tight

• Your P&L says profitable, but the bank account tells a different story

• You’re busy all the time, but not building the wealth you expected

• Growth creates stress instead of freedom

• You feel like money is getting trapped somewhere inside the business

• You know how to build and sell… but nobody taught you the financial side of scaling

You’re not alone.

Most contractors were never taught how cash actually moves through a growing construction company.

What You'll Learn:

•            Why growth alone can actually make contractors poorer

•            The hidden financial mistake keeping many contractors stressed about cash flow

•            The 7 financial numbers wealthy contractors track differently

•            Why your P&L can look profitable while cash still feels tight

•            The financial warning signs banks and bonding companies notice immediately

•            How to identify where money gets trapped inside your business

•            The difference between “busy” contractors and financially successful contractors

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.

Purpose: 

Building owners have come to rely on weatherable coatings to provide long-term protection to their buildings. With an increased focus on sustainability, performance, and durability, PVDF resin-based coatings can help architects and painting contractors exceed their clients’ design goals. This course covers the key components and functions of high-performance weatherable coatings and looks at how these coatings contribute to sustainable design.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this program, participants will be able to:

•       describe the ways PVDF resin-based coatings, both water based and solvent based, provide a consistent, pristine appearance while achieving durability goals over a variety of substrates as demonstrated in applicable case studies

•       discuss why some coatings fail and the important considerations when selecting a coating system for an application, including weathering performance, longevity, and application method

•       discuss the standards of performance for architectural coatings and recognize why PVDF coating technology outperforms other coating technologies, and 

•       explain how water-based PVDF coatings, by their chemistry and performance, can help design professionals and building owners achieve their sustainability goals.

Continue the conversation after the keynote with an interactive Q&A focused on government contracting. Bring your questions about finding opportunities, preparing bids, understanding agency needs, building relationships, and developing a winning strategy. This session gives attendees the opportunity to engage directly with the speaker and gain practical guidance for pursuing government contracts successfully.

In this one-hour session, construction industry leaders will uncover exactly where profit is quietly disappearing from their operations — and how to recover it in 90 days. Carlos Aricapa introduces the SHIELD+ framework, a unified system that combines worker safety, workforce development, AI-driven estimating, ESG compliance, contract intelligence, and digital billing automation to eliminate the six profit leaks costing construction companies 8–25% of project value every year.

Through live technology demonstrations — real-time predictive maintenance dashboards, AI-powered bid estimation, blockchain-verified supply chains, and cash flow tracking — participants will see these tools in action, not just in theory. By the end of the session, every attendee leaves with a role-specific 90-day roadmap to protect margins, accelerate cash flow, and stop the leaks draining their bottom line.

Learning Objectives:

●      Identify the six universal profit leaks silently draining margin across construction operations, from contract scope creep to reactive equipment maintenance.

●      Apply the SHIELD+ framework — Safety, Human Capital, Innovation, ESG, Legal/Contracts, and Digital T&M — to build a unified profit-protection system tailored to your role.

●      Evaluate live demonstrations of predictive maintenance dashboards, AI bid estimation, blockchain-verified billing, and real-time cash flow tracking for immediate implementation.

●      Build a personalized 90-day roadmap to recover 8–15% in margin and accelerate your cash cycle by up to 45 days.

Visibility is no longer about ranking first on Google. Today's customers discover and evaluate contractors through a mix of AI-generated answers, reviews, maps, social content, and paid advertising. In this session, attendees will learn how modern discovery is reshaping customer acquisition and why visibility now depends on more than traditional SEO alone. We'll explore the role of SEO as the foundation for discovery, introduce AEO and GEO strategies for AI-powered search, and discuss how organic and paid media work together to help businesses generate more qualified leads and stay competitive in an evolving digital landscape.

1. The Customer Discovery Shift (10 min)

·       How homeowners research projects today

·       The rise of AI search, maps, reviews, and recommendations

·       Why traditional search rankings are no longer enough

2. The New Visibility Formula (15 min)

·       SEO as the foundation of online visibility

·       What AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) means

·       What GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) means

·       How AI platforms decide which businesses to recommend

3. Connecting SEO + Paid Media (15 min)

·       How organic and paid strategies reinforce each other

·       Creating visibility across the entire customer journey

·       Examples of high-intent discovery opportunities

4. Practical Implementation Checklist (10 min)

·       Quick visibility audit attendees can complete immediately

·       Top actions to improve discoverability

·       Common mistakes that limit visibility

5. Q&A (5-10 min)

This class will provide insight into how safety is more than compliance.  It is a strategic business investment that directly impacts an organization’s performance, profitability, and long-term success.  This class explores how effective safety leadership creates a measurable value by reducing risk, preventing costly incidents, improving employee engagement, and strengthening operation excellence.

 Participants will learn how safety professionals contribute to the bottom line by identifying hazards before they become losses, using data decision-making, improving workplace culture, and partnerships with leadership to achieve business objectives.  The course will examine true costs of workplace incidents, the financial impact of proactive safety programs, and how organization can demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) of safety initiatives.

The class is designed for business leaders, operations managers, HR professionals, and safety practitioners.  This session provides practical strategies for transforming safety from a perceived expense into a competitive advantage.

Course outline

·       What makes a Subcontractor standout before bid day

·       The biggest mistakes that get companies overlooked

·       How to build trust with the preconstruction teams

·       Why responsiveness beasts the lowest bidder

·       How to become a GC’s preferred partner