The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) hosted the 81st edition of its International Builders’ Show (IBS) Feb. 25-27. And though the construction show is one the largest of its kind, it boasted record attendance for the first time in 17 years.  

More than 81,000 builders, remodelers, developers, and other home building professionals poured into the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) for the three-day event, alongside 750 new exhibitors and 1,050 returning exhibitors, which filled up 728,000 square feet of the 2.9 million-square-foot venue. 

The figures “surpassed our high expectations for attendance, exhibit space, and educational opportunities,” NAHB chief revenue officer Geoff Cassidy said in a post-show press release.  

While the show's location wasn’t new (IBS has taken place at the LVCC for three consecutive years, and multiple times prior to 2023), programming took on a new format this year. For starters, the revamped “Game Changer” sessions saw industry CEOs paired with experts outside of the industry to challenge ways of thinking about the latest innovations and business strategies.  

For example, on day three, an hour-long Game Changer conversation saw New Home Co.’s senior vice president of marketing and design, Megan Eltringham, engaging in a conversation about building lasting professional relationships with longtime Saturday Night Live producer Lindsay Shookus. It was a refreshing shakeup from past IBS events, when Game Changers typically consisted of keynotes with industry thought leaders. 

A “Custom Building & Remodeling Symposium” was also new to IBS 2025. The full-day intensive program was a pre-show course that took place on Feb. 24 and was available to all IBS registrants at an additional cost ($195 for NAHB members, or $295 for non-members).  

During the seven-and-a-half-hour symposium, programming homed in on business-accelerating strategies and productivity techniques for custom builders and remodelers, beginning with a kickoff “Goal Setting” session. Symposium attendees also had the opportunity get a head start on networking thanks to collaborative breaks, a socializing lunch hour, and an end-of-day happy hour that doubled as a local beer tasting. 

Once IBS officially kicked off the following day, an additional 120 educational sessions consisted not only of more Game Changers conversations but also main-stage programming—what NAHB calls “Super Sessions”—and Learning Labs, which are shorter sessions with an interactive format.  

Among the most buzzed-about presentations was The Start-Up Pitch. The one-hour assembly gave 10 startups in the residential construction industry (each with a groundbreaking product, service or technology less than three years old, according to NAHB) four minutes each to showcase their emerging application, software, web platform, smart home tech, or new construction material, for example. Attendees then voted on the “Most Innovative Start-Up.” The 2025 people’s choice winner: Villa, a California-based full-service, cost-effective prefabricated accessory dwelling units (ADUs) builder. 

As it has for the past 12 years, NAHB’s Design & Construction Week (DCW) ran in tandem with IBS. DCW—which includes the National Kitchen & Bath Association’s (NKBA) Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS)—is known as the largest annual gathering of residential construction and design industry professionals that features exhibitors showcasing and demonstrating the newest products and services in the niche. More than 124,000 attendees and 2,500 exhibitors occupied some 1.2 million additional sq. ft. of indoor and outdoor space at the LVCC, also from Feb. 25-27, according to a post-show release. 

NAHB’s IBS has already announced that in 2026, it will be taking place Feb. 17-19 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., as it often does after spending a couple of years in Las Vegas. And yes, it will once again be bringing DCW and KBIS along with it. 

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