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Lighting News from LAMPS PLUS Professionals - Jeff Emmerson (Sponsored Blog)

Jeff Emmerson
This blog gives me a chance to address the issues building and remodeling professionals face when making decisions about lighting. Eighteen years of experience with the professional side of LAMPS PLUS has given me insight into what information is truly critical. Energy efficiency, consumer preferences, new trends, recent technical developments, important product releases – Knowing something about each of these topics can help you find the best solution when faced with multiple lighting options.

About Jeff Emmerson

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Lamps Plus - Notes from the International Builder's Show 2008

Feb 20 2008 9:49AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (3) |
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We were in Orlando, Florida this past weekend at the 2008 International Builder’s Show, along with 92,000 others from the building industry. You might expect a lingering overall concern but I was pleasantly surprised by the encouraging mood.

Most of the builders we met with had either current or upcoming projects. All of the exhibitor spaces were occupied. Most of the other exhibitors we talked to were content with the outcome of the show. Most of the builders we met with had a positive outlook towards the housing market with speculation that it will pick up in early 2009. All in all, it seems that there’s enough resilience and new technology out there to keep the building industry moving along.

Reader Comments


at 2/28/2008 12:59:24 PM, Dave Wipper said:
What world are you living in? The attendance was down from well over 250,000 to 92,000 and there were a lot of empty/unused exhibition space 9hence the newly created central sitting places!!) In exhibit hall A there were a lot more exhibitors than attendees! Oh, and by the way, we are in a recession and most builders are really, really hurting.

at 3/4/2008 12:32:37 PM, Jeff Emmerson said:
There is no doubt whatsoever that we are the middle of a major housing slump. We’ve been in business for over 30 years and have seen this happen before. It’s also true that attendance at the show was down drastically from previous years and that some of the biggest vendors declined to show at this year’s event. We work day in and day out with builders nationally and are well aware of the challenges they, and the industry as a whole face in these troubled times. Our post was not a reflection of the state of the industry. Rather, we thought it good to share some of the positive notes we made at the show. We were in the west hall of the show and the spaces were for the most part filled. Throughout the 3 day event, traffic was consistently strong for us and the feedback from the vendors around us was that the quality and quantity of the leads was very good. We deal primarily with custom home builders and it is widely noted that this segment of the industry rarely if ever feel the effects of a recession or down turn in the housing market. The existing clients we spoke to at IBS and the bulk of new contacts we made all reported little negative effect of the market and many reported an increase in business.

at 3/4/2008 5:27:00 PM, BloughMee said:
Wha WHA ? Yo dude - Top attendance IBS was around 135K, and it happened a couple years ago in Orlando. And that includes all the vendor wonks and wonkettes. That aside - this year was a disaster, and cut the "downturn doesn't affect us" crap. The industry is in the worst slump in post-WWII history - and it has nobody and nothing to blame but itself.... You can't build twice as many houses as you have demand for year after year and sell them to people with no income and no way to pay. Dumb.

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