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.

Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavements (PICP) are designed to manage stormwater, but long-term performance depends on proper maintenance. This session breaks down what effective PICP maintenance looks like in the field and, more importantly, how contractors can turn it into a profitable and repeatable service offering to homeowners.  Attendees will learn practical maintenance techniques, equipment considerations, and common mistakes to avoid, along with real-world strategies for educating clients, pricing services, and building recurring revenue streams. Whether you’re new to PICP or looking to expand your service offerings, this session will provide actionable insights to help you protect pavement performance while growing your business.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify effective PICP maintenance practices, including inspection, cleaning methods, and joint material management required to maintain infiltration performance.
• Diagnose and prevent performance issues by recognizing causes of clogging and failure and applying strategies to extend pavement life.
• Select the right equipment and techniques by comparing maintenance equipment (e.g., regenerative air vs. true vacuum vs: sweeper) and determining appropriate use for different site conditions.
• Learn how to build a profitable maintenance program by developing pricing strategies, service packages, and recurring revenue models while effectively communicating value to clients.

With so many building materials on the market today, what makes natural stone a preferred material for exterior applications?  During this session, we will discuss outdoor living spaces including kitchens, water features, fireplaces, seating and more.  Explore the journey from the quarry to the final stone placement. 

Learning Objectives:

• Examine attributes of natural stone that make it especially suited for creating outdoor living spaces that stand out.
• Explore unique project case studies that detail the design, installation and inspiration behind outstanding applications.
• Review available resources to ensure proper installation.
• Leave with knowledge to expand the use of natural stone in future projects. 

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

**Live Translation Services are available during this session using your mobile device.

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

Roundtable Topics for 2026:
– Open Graded Base, ¾ Clean, Permeable Base, 57 Stone: Trends, Applications, and Lessons Learned
– Breaking into the Commercial Market: Is it worth it?
– Retaining Wall Failures and Fixes
– Paver Failures and Fixes
– Secrets to Finding and Keeping Labor
– New Technology/Tools: What New Tech or Equipment Is Actually Worth It?
– Permeable Pavers –  Lessons from the Field
– Know Your Costs, Protect Your Profit
– Latest Trends in the Industry
– Integrating Hardscapes into Landscapes

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