The International Builders Show

Last week JS and I took a few days and flew to Orlando, Florida.

JS like to attend the Builders Show every two or three years to keep

 up on the newest products and trends in the industry.  It's fun to go,

 but it's like walking into a 3-commercial, with the hard sell on high.

Everything you can imagine, to put in, on, under or atop of a house is here.

From lighting your home the old fashion way or with a modern tough.

Wood, rock, metal and lots of things that look like wood rock and metal.

You can heat your home, your deck, the beach 

or you !

Plumbing fixtures are always a big draw.  Faucets that only need to be 

touched to turn on.  Shower heads that light up and toilets with heated seats.

Big deep tubs, you can sink up to your eyeballs in

are the jewels of the plumbing world.

Double doors, sliding doors, doors you can write on , doggy doors,

doors that look like bookcases, garage doors and beautiful doors.

Don't forget "Green" solar, wind or make your own 

electricity with a home generator.

Or try out a new Ford, Chevy or Dodge truck and of course no home

 show would be complete without the newest in hammers, nail guns

 and OSHA  approved safety equipment.

"We had a great time"  but I have to tell you, JS and I didn't come away

with a very good feeling about the feature of custom home building.

This is usually a big shopping trip for JS, locking in unites of lumber at a set

 price, pallets of nails and other supplies that would be used form job to job.

The show was only half the size of previous years, with none of the big pavilions.

No lumber companies, no appliances, none of the big window companies like

 Anderson or Marvin and Pella shared a small booth with two other companies.

Kohler was the only plumbing outfit, no Delta or American Standard. 

 No Paint CO. at all, and after talking to contractors from all over the US,

it's not going to get better any time soon.  Something has to change.