Building Better Summit
Tuesday, April 27
About this free virtual event
A brighter tomorrow is more than just project management. It’s about being inspired, taking control and managing your entire business better. Attend our construction conference to get expert advice and industry insights for boosting your skills, processes and confidence.
Join us for:
- Live panels and discussion with some of the top names in construction
- Tactics you can use immediately to start crushing your business goals
- Networking with other pros – make connections and learn from the successes of others
Event schedule
Learn how to make best practices even better, dive into the latest industry innovations and get inspired to make the next move for your construction business at our one-day construction conference.
Better Building Practices | Morning
Dan Houghton | Buildertrend CEO
9:00 a.m. – 9:20 a.m. CDT
Summit welcome
Buildertrend’s co-CEO Dan Houghton kicks off an exciting day of learning with an event introduction. Hear all about what you can expect from this full day of inspiring sessions and live panel discussions.
Matt Risinger | Risinger Build
9:30 a.m. – 9:55 a.m. CDT
Homes that last: How to talk to clients about high performance houses
High performance homes go beyond minimum building requirements. The result? Healthier, safer homes that withstand the test of time. Matt shares his passion for building better and his advice for helping clients see value in making the investment.
Brad Leavitt | AFT Construction
10:00 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. CDT
Understanding your building environment
All builders have special requirements based on their environment. In this session, Brad will share how he overcomes unique challenges, such as cactus relocation, on a daily basis. Learn how building relationships with specialty subcontractors, dealing with supply demands and educating clients will lead to better results.
Joe Christensen | Cardinal Crest Homes
10:30 a.m. – 10:55 a.m. CDT
Processes for maximizing your efficiency and profits
Building a home and building a business are similar in that they are orchestrated efforts to make many skills, materials, and personalities work in harmony. Although every home and client are unique, through sales, slot scheduling, pre-construction, production and warranty you can create a consistent quality outcome that is enjoyable for you and your clients every time.
First three speakers and Dan Houghton
11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. CDT
Better Building Practices panel
Interact with your peers and the three morning speakers at this live Q&A moderated by Dan Houghton. This is your opportunity to ask questions and engage in two-way conversations with our featured industry experts.
Break
11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. CDT
Lunch Break
Take this opportunity to grab lunch, catch up on emails and prepare for the afternoon sessions featuring three new speakers.
Better Business Practices | Afternoon
Melissa Hryszko | Veranda
Estate Homes
12:30 p.m. – 12:55 p.m. CDT
Return on relationship: How investing in human connection pays off
Are you building meaningful relationships with your clients and trades? If not, you should be. These important relationships can play a big role in your success. Join Melissa as she shares her experience with nurturing connections with clients and trades in order to sustain a great business reputation.
Frank Blake | The Home Depot
1:00 p.m. – 1:25 p.m. CDT
Leadership skills to fuel a more powerful team
Join Frank for a conversation about leadership. What does it take to be a leader? Can anyone be a leader? Get valuable advice as he shares personal stories and discusses the challenges he’s faced throughout his career.
Nick Schiffer | NS Builders
1:30 p.m. – 1:55 p.m. CDT
How to foster your team’s creativity and craftsmanship
The individuals you hire and bring into your company are your most valuable asset. Hear from Nick as he shares what it really takes to inspire creativity and push your team to be the very best version of themselves.
Final three speakers and Dan Houghton
2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Better Business Practices panel
Interact with your peers and the three afternoon speakers at this live Q&A moderated by Dan Houghton. This is your opportunity to ask questions and engage in two-way conversations with our featured industry experts.
Dan Houghton | Buildertrend CEO
2:50 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Closing remarks
Buildertrend’s co-CEO Dan Houghton ends the day with final takeaways.
Meet the speakers
Brad Leavitt
Brad Leavitt is the president and founder of A Finer Touch Construction, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based luxury residential and commercial builder. He is an energetic public speaker and ambassador for many national brands including Kohler, Pella, Subzero-Wolf, Cambria, Elkay, LP, Buildertrend and Post-it Notes.
Brad is the host of “The AFT Construction Podcast,” which focuses on bringing value to its listeners in all industries with topics such as marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, organization, building science and construction.
Frank Blake
Frank Blake is a general manager for The Home Depot Pro. He and his team are responsible for managing The Home Depot’s largest and most complex business customers. He manages the nationwide professional outside sales team, the commercial installation team and the multifamily capital projects team.
Since joining The Home Depot in 2004 as part of the Store Leadership Program, Frank has held positions of increasing responsibility, including store manager and district manager in the South Atlantic region for the Southern Division.
Prior to joining The Home Depot, Frank served as a captain in the U.S. Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
Joe Christensen
Joe cut his teeth in construction early working on the family farm. Later he would learn the ropes working in trades such as rough carpentry, asphalt and landscape. Working along-side some of the largest builders in Las Vegas, he was able to learn valuable processes and systems in home construction.
Joe earned a degree in construction management from Brigham Young University and co-founded Cardinal Crest in 2011. Cardinal Crest has completed over 125 custom and semi-custom homes in the past 10 years in addition to dozens of remodel projects. He oversees business development and customer acquisition while focusing on problem solving and finding creative solutions for home design, construction and business.
Matt Risinger
Matt Risinger is a custom builder and remodeler based in Austin, Texas. His building company, Risinger Build, does $15 million annually in high-end custom work. He has made a worldwide reputation for excellence with his popular YouTube channel “The Build Show,” where he publishes two videos a week. His 800,000 plus followers watch weekly as he builds a higher standard, focusing on durable, efficient and healthy construction techniques and products. Matt is also the founder of buildshownetwork.com, publishing new videos five days a week, is a contributing editor at the “Journal of Light Construction” and posts daily on his Instagram account where he has over 108,000 followers.
Melissa Hryszko
Melissa Hryszko is the award-winning design brain behind Veranda Estate Homes Inc. Melissa and her husband, Rob, have owned and operated one of Calgary’s most successful and versatile luxury homebuilding companies for the past 20 years.
Melissa brings her meticulous level of detail to each project that Veranda is involved with and creates all her designs by hand. Whether the project is traditional, modern, a renovation, new build or commercial construction, she tackles each one on an individual basis. This ensures that each design is unique and truly one of a kind within the Veranda brand.
Nick Schiffer
Carpenter turned homebuilder. Craftsmanship expert. Podcast host. Nick Schiffer is one of the industry’s leading contractors, with more than 130,000 Instagram followers and 39,000 YouTube subscribers.
He’s also at the helm of NS Builders, a fine homebuilding and renovation company in Boston that brings a unique transparency, attention to detail and craftsmanship to every project. Nick is obsessed with creating long-lasting spaces and intentionally crafted homes his clients are proud to call home.
Why you should attend the Building Better Summit construction conference
The past year was full of both unexpected challenges and opportunities. You made it through the uncertainty and now’s the time to take control of your construction business to ensure future success.
Make best practices even better
At this construction conference you will get inspired, hear from some of the biggest industry names and leave with key takeaways for making the next best move for your business.