The Industry Insider

DCW Brings Booming Industry – and snow! – to Vegas

Senior team members from Schaffer Associates attended last week’s Design & Construction Week (DCW) in Las Vegas, along with 100,000 industry professionals and vendors.  The record attendance for both the International Builders’ Show (IBS) and the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) represented one of the most successful DCW efforts in memory and showcased the momentum in our industry today.

For anyone who attended the shows last week, it was very apparent that this is a positive time for the industry.  While there were reports of lower-than-expected fourth-quarter numbers from 2018, this year seems to have started strong, with business rebounding in a big way in January and February.  That resulted in a busy show, with upbeat attitudes and big expectations for this year.

A consistent theme that also resounded at DCW was the overwhelming need that many companies have for talented individuals, and the extremely difficult chore that finding those people has now become.  The oft-discussed talent gap continues to grow wider, making recruiting for senior positions more difficult than ever.  It’s made harder still by the fact that not only are employers looking at an individual’s qualifications, but they’re also searching for the right person to fit in with the culture of their organization.  For those reasons and more, we heard from a number of companies that need the services that Schaffer Associates is pleased to provide.

It wouldn’t be a full DCW experience without the Crystal Vision Award Breakfast, recognizing efforts within the industry to partner with World Vision to help provide food for those in need throughout the world.  This year’s breakfast was a great success, featuring special guests Craig Webb and the Property Brothers.

Many who attended the events in Vegas might have had difficulties getting home, as flights were canceled due to the first meaningful snowfall in Las Vegas in a decade.  During that same decade, this industry has weathered economic storms that most had never seen before.  It seems the industry also brought a snowstorm to Vegas, proving that our industry can truly do anything.

See you next year – and call us today to help you Hire Smart.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Schaffer Associates is a national management consulting firm specializing in executive search and organizational strategies for the hardware, home improvement, building materials, and consumer products industries. As the premier management consulting firm serving the industry, we help build organizations and leadership teams that foster corporate growth and success well into the future.