IBS 2027 and KBIS: a building products plan for Design and Construction Week

In October 2026, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index fell three points to 29, the lowest reading since June 2012, and 43% of builders cut prices, the highest share of the 2020 to 2026 period. Four months later, those same builders will walk the floor at IBS 2027, the NAHB International Builders’ Show, Feb. 2 to 4 in Las Vegas, alongside KBIS. They will be looking for ways to protect margin and save labor, and most will decide whose booth to visit before they land.

A building products marketer should fill the calendar with builder and dealer meetings before Feb. 2, lead every conversation with installed cost and install time, and turn every meeting into a CRM opportunity by Feb. 19. The invitations go out in November and early December, before the holidays swallow the replies.

IBS 2027 and KBIS at a glance

	Detail
Dates and place	Feb. 2 to 4, 2027, Las Vegas Convention Center
Size	2,350+ exhibiting brands across 1.2 million net square feet; 120,000+ attendees expected across both shows (NAHB, Sept. 1, 2026)
KBIS	600+ exhibiting brands (kbis.com); IBS and KBIS passes both open both floors
Early registration ends	Friday, Dec. 11, 2026, for IBS and KBIS
IBS hotel block deadline	Monday, Jan. 11, 2027
Regular rates	Dec. 12, 2026 to Jan. 30, 2027

IBS’s fee table prices non-exhibiting suppliers separately, and manufacturer registrants are not eligible for the builder rates. If you plan to walk the show without a booth, a non-exhibiting supplier Expo Pass is $1,075 for a nonmember through Dec. 11 and $1,150 after ($950 and $975 for an NAHB member), against $160 and $240 for a nonmember builder. Budget for it, and register before Dec. 11.

Who walks the IBS floor?

NAHB publishes its attendance analysis, and it is the best planning document the show offers. At IBS 2026 in Orlando, 58,116 attendees registered, not counting exhibitors and press. Each could pick up to three business classifications, so the counts below add up to more than 58,116:

2026 IBS business classification	Attendees	Share of all classifications chosen
Single-family builders	28,271	32.0%
Wholesale and retail dealers and distributors	15,688	17.5%
Professional specialties	10,650	11.9%
Subcontractors	9,410	10.5%
Remodelers	8,420	9.4%
Commercial and land development	5,687	6.3%
Multifamily builders	5,490	6.1%
Non-exhibiting suppliers	3,237	3.6%
Financial services	1,394	1.6%
Active adult builders	1,116	1.2%

The 2027 prospectus adds that 1,711 people registered in 2026 from the 200 production builders on the ProBuilder Top 200 list, and that 98% of the top 25 sent someone.

Read that table as a meeting plan. More than one attendee in four, 15,688 of 58,116, counted themselves a dealer or distributor, which makes IBS the most efficient week of the year to meet your channel. And the big production builders send people in numbers, so the people who approve a product change are likely in the building, though they will not find you by accident among 2,350 brands.

What builders want to hear in 2027

NAHB’s October release, published Oct. 19, 2026, puts the numbers behind that mood: the average price cut held at 6% for a seventh straight month, 65% of builders used sales incentives, and buyer traffic fell to 18.

A builder cutting prices 6% is looking for that money somewhere else. Your product either costs less to install, takes fewer labor hours, reduces callbacks, or helps sell the house faster. Lead with whichever of those you can prove, in the builder’s units: dollars per house, hours per house, days off the schedule. Bring one page with the math for a typical plan and leave it behind. A booth built around a design story will still draw traffic, but in this market the meeting that ends with a trial order is the one about cost.

Dealers will want the same numbers, plus your stocking terms and how you will help them sell through, so have both ready. Our piece on the HMI at 29 covers how to adjust first-quarter spend around it.

A dated plan for a team of one to three

The plan starts the week of Nov. 2, 2026, because the early rate, the hotel block and the builders’ January calendars all close before the show does.

Date	What to do
Nov. 2 to 13, 2026	Open the 2026 attendance analysis and pick the two classifications that matter most to you. Build the meeting list: your 20 largest builder and dealer accounts, 20 target builders and 10 target dealers.
Nov. 16 to Dec. 11	Send the first invitations, each with a specific time slot and a reason to meet that mentions cost or labor. Exhibitors: include the free customer pass link that comes with your booth (IBS inclusions), so your top 50 accounts and dealers register on your invitation.
By Friday, Dec. 11	Register everyone at the early rate.
Dec. 14 to 18	Second invitation to everyone who has not answered. Nothing new goes out from Dec. 21 to Jan. 1.
Jan. 4 to 8, 2027	Last follow-up. Confirm accepted meetings with a calendar invite that includes your booth number.
Monday, Jan. 11	IBS hotel block deadline.
Wednesday, Jan. 13	Exhibitors: last day to order the IBS 10x10 ($900) or 10x20 ($1,200) furnishing package, and a good day to have all other service orders in.
Jan. 18 to 29	Brief whoever is working the booth on the meeting schedule and the questions to ask every visitor. Set up the lead form and the follow-up emails as in our trade show ROI worksheet.
Feb. 2 to 4	Hold the meetings, on both floors if kitchen and bath dealers are on your list.
Friday, Feb. 5	Load every lead into the CRM and send the first follow-up.
Friday, Feb. 19	The 10th business day after the show, counting the Feb. 15 holiday: the follow-up deadline. Report the count of new opportunities to whoever approved the budget.

What KBIS adds for kitchen and bath makers

KBIS runs on the same dates in the same building, and both passes open both floors, so a kitchen and bath manufacturer can work two audiences in one trip. KBIS lists its audience on its exhibitor page as interior designers, architects, custom builders, remodelers, kitchen and bath dealers, showroom owners, cabinet shops and fabricators, appliance distributors, plumbing wholesalers and consulting firms. Half that list is channel: the dealers, showrooms, distributors, wholesalers and fabricators who sell and install your product.

So split the meeting list. Book the production builder meetings on the IBS side and lead with installed cost. Book dealer, showroom and wholesaler meetings on the KBIS side and lead with what helps them sell through: display and sample programs, lead times, and the margin they keep. Designers and remodelers who visit your booth want finishes, specs and where to see the product locally, so have a dealer locator ready to hand over.

If you are not exhibiting

Walking IBS is a reasonable choice in a soft year, and the dealer meetings alone can justify the trip. Register by Dec. 11 to save $75 on the nonmember supplier pass. If you are weighing a booth, our booth cost breakdown prices a nonmember 10x10 at IBS line by line. Book meetings exactly as an exhibitor would, but at a dealer’s booth or a hotel lobby, and be respectful of exhibitors’ time on the floor. Use the exhibitor list to map competitors and the products they launch, and photograph nothing without permission. To reach architects and designers without a booth at all, consider an AIA continuing education course.

What to do Monday

Open the 2026 attendance analysis and decide which two classifications matter most to you. Pull those accounts from your CRM, add 20 targets, and have the first meeting invitations out by Dec. 11, the same day the early registration rate ends. If you also plan to be at World of Concrete or AHR Expo, our January show plan uses the same calendar, so build one target list for all three.