I wrote it in a pre-show LinkedIn post but sort of held my breath because I wasn’t entirely sure how my statement would pan out. But now, after an extremely fruitful few days at the National Association of Home Builders and National Kitchen & Bath Association events in Orlando, I can firmly say that Design & Construction Week is where the custom integration channel needs to be. The International Builders’ Show (NAHB’s event) and the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (the NKBA/Emerald-run event) combined to put on an event that just makes sense for the categories and professionals that are here—and integrators (for the most part) seem to be missing out.
Unfortunately—and I know it doesn’t happen often—the position that integrators and the broader channel were put in this week feels like a microcosm of every challenge they’ve been dealing with for years now. Faced with the choice between a long-term, winning solution or the bright and shiny object (quite literally in the sense of Lightapalooza), it’s the latter that’s going to win out, for better and worse. Yes, lighting is a category that’s having a very real and important moment. And yes, it’s not a flash-in-the-pan kind of moment either; lighting is a category that deserves the attention it’s getting. But it’s only one slice of the larger conversation that’s happening right now. It sucks that we had to pick where to be, but ultimately, I feel like I made correct choice.
Lighting, as it turns out, was also part of the conversation here at KBIS and IBS. Better yet, not only was lighting represented here, so too was the power category, an expanded technology and smart home section on the floor, as was a unique custom home build area out in the parking lot, and so many other categories that directly or indirectly influence the role of the integrator in any given home or commercial project.
In a conversation with a representative from ABB, one of the largest electrification and energy load management companies globally, it came up on multiple occasions how their efforts to influence the distribution of power in the home would benefit from better understanding the work of the custom integrator. ABB, through acquisitions in recent years, has made its way into the smart home and smart energy management space and see a need to better coordinate with the low-voltage channel to better align and educate one another around the smart home and growing energy demand.
Elsewhere on the floor you’ll stroll past other familiar names like Legrand, Sonos, Savant, Deako, Resideo (ADI/Snap), Schlage, and more. The technology section of the floor almost felt like a mini-CEDIA Expo, and this wasn’t even the portion of the expo that was put together by the Emerald team.
Room to Expand?
That exact point brings up this thought that I’ve been throwing around to various connections made here this week and since leaving Denver in September: Could CEDIA Expo play a larger role here? (Space won’t be an issue now that this event is permanently moving to Las Vegas.) To me, it absolutely can and should. It makes too much sense for it not to. The very conversations that custom integrators wish they played a bigger part in earlier on in the home build process are happening right here.
I’ve heard it said that integrators shouldn’t have anything to do with kitchen appliances, toilets, and cabinet handles. But that’s such a short sighted and misleading statement around this event. Samsung and LG brought AI-infused product here to showcase how their technology is influencing design options in and around the spaces where those products reside in the home. Designers are swinging through the Sonos booth to learn more about their whole-home and pro-level audio systems. Savant is showcasing their new AI platform that looks to rival some of the familiar names in the voice control game. New brands are launching insanely cool materialled video walls that have unique commercial applications.
And integrators are not here to participate.
We can have (and have had) a separate conversation about the state of CEDIA Expo. To me, the logical path forward and the source of life that can be injected into the event exists right here at Design & Construction Week. And it’s not just about the residential side of things. Commercial integrators and those businesses that blur the lines of both worlds can learn a lot and make the connections necessary to grow their businesses right here.
Would it be weird at first? You bet. I understand it’s a little awkward to attend a show that has big brands showcasing things like bidets and heated-seat toilets. But once the egos get put aside and we start having those conversations that we’ve been craving, the real fun and exciting work will have just begun.
