by Michele Gillis
Staff Writer
Between the crowd and more than 54 vendor booths featuring the latest wares in the building industry, this year’s Northeast Florida Builders Association’s Trade Show was a success.
The event held at the University of North Florida’s University Center was well attended by leading members of the Northeast Florida building industry interested in seeing what’s new in the industry.
“The trade show was phenomenal,” said Michael Bourré, president of NEFBA. “We had a lot of good participants there. All of the vendors that I talked with said they were very impressed with the high quality of attendees at the show. By that statement they were referring to the builders and not just the builders that were present, but actual decision makers at the different building companies. The trade show was most definitely a success.”
Bourré said the attendance at the event was good, even though it was down a little bit due to market conditions.
“Just because the numbers of attendees were down, doesn’t mean the quality of the attendees wasn’t outstanding,” he said. “The people that we had there were the movers and shakers and decision makers for the builders. We were pleased with the folks that showed up.”
The vendors showed a good mix of new products for the builders.
“Every year we are striving to make sure we bring in not only new and innovative products, but products that are timeless … that builders are always going to be using,” said Bourré. “We obviously promote members doing business with members, so we try to make sure our subcontractors are staying in front of our builder members so they stay cutting edge and we continue to help each other through these tough times.”