Florida Builders Woo the DIY Crowd
-- Tradeshow Week, 7/28/2008
The Southeast Building Conference always has been exclusively for the home building trade – until this year.
The show, held July 31-Aug. 2 at Orlando's Orange County Convention Center, will open the showfloor from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. the last day to do-it-yourselfers, said Edie Ousley, communications director for the Florida Home Builders Assn., which sponsors the show.
“This is a test,” she added. Ousley said the association wanted to help stimulate local construction activity, which has declined because of the poor housing market, by having the do-it-yourselfers see the new products that are available for remodeling and other home projects.
Access to the showfloor Aug. 2 will be free, according to Ousley. Those attending will need to sign up for a pass at the show's on-site registration desk in the convention center's West Hall.
Home building shows around the country have seen declining attendance this year, though most show managers have expressed optimism about the market. After The Intl. Builders' Show, held Feb. 13-16 also at the OCCC, had an 11-percent drop in attendance, Natl. Assn. of Home Builders officials said they were pleased because they had worried the decline would be even steeper.
Ousley said about 10,000 construction professionals from Florida and Southeastern states are expected to attend SEBC this year.
And, because of what's happened in other regional home building shows this year, “we are expecting a slightly smaller attendance than what we saw in previous years,” she added.
