Tim Eckert was on a plane to Las Vegas with a goal in mind, and it wasn't about winning at the blackjack table. The business manager of Zionsville, Ind.-based Weber Concrete Construction planned to check out prefabricated window wells with built-in egress stairs that his firm could use to enhance the aesthetic of its housing projects.
Buoyed by more work and low oil prices, Eckert and tens of thousands of other contractors came to this year's World of Concrete in search of a new competitive edge. This year's show, held on Feb. 3-6 in Las Vegas, hosted 675,000 sq ft of exhibits for 55,779 attendees—a 16.2% rise from 2014 and the largest turnout the annual show has seen in more than five years, an indication of a recovering economy.