Sessions

A design might be beautiful, but it might not be profitable for the company. Poor designs lead to more difficulty in construction, missing crew information, and poor aesthetics. In this presentation, learn how to optimize your designs, according to the trinity of design (price, build-ability, creativity). This presentation will help you sell your projects more effectively and create stability in your business. It will also help you build landscapes that appreciate with time, and elevate your brand.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize how the trinity of design—price, buildability, and creativity—guides the development of profitable, constructible, and visually compelling projects.
• Apply strategies to optimize design plans so crews receive clear, complete information that reduces construction challenges and enhances final aesthetics
• Demonstrate how improved design practices can strengthen sales effectiveness, elevate your brand, and create landscapes that gain value over time.

The Best Practice presentation shares proven guidance for designing and installing Segmental Retaining Walls, backed by more than 30 years of research, design knowledge, and field experience. It features twelve key topics that span the full wall lifecycle, from early planning and design considerations to installation details and top of wall finishing. Each topic is explained through practical examples, specific construction details, and expanded insights, giving designers, contractors, and inspectors clear, actionable takeaways for building walls that perform reliably and look great.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the key planning, design, and construction principles that ensure reliable, high‑performing Segmental Retaining Walls.
• Apply best‑practice installation techniques and construction details to improve wall durability, appearance, and long‑term performance.
• Evaluate common design and field conditions using practical examples to make informed decisions during design, construction, and inspection.

Most hardscape owners don’t burn out because of the work – they burn out because they’re trapped inside the work. “Working In or Working On My Business” is a powerful session that helps leaders break free from the endless cycle of jobs, fires, and daily chaos so they can actually build a scalable company. Sam Gembel will unpack practical strategies to step out of the field, develop leadership layers, create accountability, and build systems that run without you in every decision. If you want to stop surviving and start truly leading your business forward, this session will change how you operate!

Learning Objectives:

• Differentiate between working in the business and working on the business, and identify areas where they can shift focus to enable growth
• Implement strategies to develop leadership capacity, establish accountability, and reduce reliance on the owner for daily decision-making
• Design and apply systems and processes that improve operational efficiency and support a more scalable, self-sustaining business

Working harder feels productive, but for many hardscape owners it’s the exact reason growth stalls. In this session, you’ll learn why adding more jobs, more equipment, and more responsibility often creates more stress and problems instead of more profit. We’ll walk through the real reasons businesses become owner-dependent and what needs to change before scaling actually works. This talk is for hardscapers who want growth that’s profitable, controlled, and sustainable without burning out.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify why increased workload, additional jobs, and expanded resources can hinder profitability and stall business growth.
• Analyze the factors that lead to owner-dependent operations and limit scalability in hardscape businesses.

Apply strategies to build a more profitable, sustainable, and scalable business model without increasing stress or burnout.

This Hardscape Contractor Roundtable will allow you to have conversations on hot topics with other like-minded contractors. See how others are solving the challenges you may also experience and provide feedback on areas in which your team excels. Teamwork makes the dream work in this session featuring over 15+ real-word discussion topics.

Learning Objectives:

• Share real-world challenges and solutions with fellow contractors to improve day-to-day operations
• Identify practical strategies to increase efficiency, profitability, and jobsite productivity
• Learn proven installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting techniques from industry peers
• Build connections with other contractors to exchange ideas, resources, and best practices

This session gives hardscapers and landscapers a practical foundation in designing and installing gas fire features such as fire pits and fire & water features, including fire pit construction, understanding key components, safety considerations, and ignition systems. It also covers proven sales strategies to help you confidently present, plan, and price fire feature projects with your clients. Attendees will leave with the knowledge to expand their offerings, increase project value, and avoid common (and costly) mistakes. 

Specifically, this session will cover: Why Fire Features = Profit Opportunity, Core Components of Gas Fire Features, Ignition Systems, Safety, Codes & Best Practices, Gas Fundamentals: BTUs & Line Sizing, Common Installation Mistakes, Fire & Water Features, Fireplaces, and other Fire Features, Residential vs. Commercial Considerations, and  How to Sell Fire.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify profit opportunities by integrating fire features into outdoor projects to win more bids and increase project value
• Understand and specify key components & ignition systems for different applications (residential vs. commercial, standard vs. high-end)
• Apply safety standards, venting, and gas fundamentals to design code-compliant, reliable fire features
• Avoid costly installation mistakes that lead to callbacks, safety risks, and lost profit
• Confidently sell and upsell fire features through better system selection, upgrades, and project bundling

Margin control is labor control. Material costs are what they are — but labor? That is where contractors win or lose in today’s market.

With 51% of landscaping companies identifying staffing as their primary challenge, the traditional approach to hardscape installation is squeezing margins tighter every year. Foundation crews, skilled masons, heavy equipment, and multi-day timelines mean higher costs and lower profits.

In this session, Anthony Bango will show you how prefabricated GFRC (Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete) is changing the economics of hardscape contracting — delivering 30-50% profit margins on projects that install in hours instead of days.

You will Learn/Learning Objectives:

• Why “the 21st century material” (GFRC) is transforming residential hardscape economics. How GFRC is made, mix-designs, and performance
• How prefabrication eliminates up to 90% of installation labor without sacrificing quality
• Real numbers: 2–3-hour installations vs. 3–7-day traditional timelines
• The business case for 30-50% margins on repeatable, profitable projects
• What it takes to implement (spoiler: wheelbarrow, shovels, rake, wrenches)
• How early adopters are positioning themselves as market leaders