Another World of Concrete has finished up last week. One of the years biggest shows and the show where every ICF brand out there comes too, well the ones with money anyways. Nothing out of the ordinary this year, its a great time to catch up with some of our customers and hopefully snag a few new ones for the coming year.

All of our sales staff and upper management comes to the show, they even let me out of my marketing cage to travel to the show. Setup begins early on Monday, so it can turn into a long week if the show is slow. Luckily this year it was a bit more steady of traffic compared to last year, although overall it was about the same. Couple observations:

• Concrete paving area was crazy busy all the time,which is indicative of the times where there are large scale road projects and funding throughout the country.
• We are pretty confident in saying we truly did see the bottom of the downturn so going forward here’s to (raising my coffee cup) slow and steady growth. We understand it takes time, and nothing will get better overnight. It takes time and investments, and leaders to push innovation and to educate the marketplace.
• It’s very clear the folks are familiar with the concept of ICFs, well as far as the World of Concrete market goes. Just 3 years ago I was explaining the whole feature/benefit routine to people. It’s good to see the awareness and general education has increased to the point we can have more in depth conversation such as- thermal and dew point properties of an ICF assembly, or the most important things to consider when using ICFs on projects.
• I celebrated my 29th birthday in Vegas.

Below is a quick little clip I threw together of the show floor and out booth. If you couldn’t make it out this year we hope to see you guys next year hopefully with some big surprises. Until then we will be at the CinemaCon show in April and the AIA National show in May!

Are you clamoring for ICF building project profiles? Looking for examples of how insulated concrete forms have been used before? Or are you looking for Reward Wall Systems resume of building projects? Thousands of ICF construction projects and millions of square feet of our product have been installed across all of North America.We have many more profiles online!

Check out our online gallery as the following sections have been updated with new, notable projects: Custom Homes, Multi-Family, Government, Worship and Education.

Be sure to keep checking back as more ICF Construction projects are added and the  ICF building information is expanded.

There have new features added to this blog in order to make it easier to peruse around and window shop for insulating concrete form information.

1. To the left we added a blog search tool on the column! You can now search through all 2 years of blog content for topics of interest, notable projects or to easily find a previous post.
2. Also it is now easier to view previous posts by clinking on the months below and to the left. Here you can scan through the titles of the posts for the month to find the topic that interests you the most.

Thanks for reading and if you have any other suggestions on how to make the blog better, either topics you are curious about or suggestion or improvement please don’t hesitate to contact us!

The event had many vendors with small booth set up, so the customers could mingle with representatives from all the products that Cemstone supplies. All of the attendees were treated to a tasty BBQ lunch and presentations from CEO/President Thor Beckon on the state of the Minnesota concrete industry.

On Weds. Night during vendor setup – Cemstone sales and customer service personal toured the vendor booths for educational opportunities on the vendor products. This was a great opportunity for Reward to meet and greet with many of Cemstone’s staff, and assocaited some names with faces. It was quite the successful event and Reward looks forward to continuing to  support one of our top ICF markets.

After much growth this year, in insulated concrete form sales in the Canadian markets we saw the need to fully update and expand on our Canadian Product Manual. Previously, the manual consisted only of the engineering sections and code approvals relevant to Canada. So to better serve our loyal and new customers up there we have expanded our entire manual to include both metric and imperial measurements, and combined all the popular sections like our architect design guide and the step by step overview with the engineering tables and codes.

So if you need a few for some presentations or for your own library give us a call as they are available to order today!

Another year brings another World of Concrete in Las Vegas, a staple trade show for Reward and for the rest of the ICF industry. All major brands of ICFs are represented on the show floor, and we are reaching almost a decade of being at the show. This year we got real lucky and got an amazing booth space 20 feet off the center aisle, directly in the middle of the North Hall. This year all the masonry competitions etc will be held in the North Hall so hopefully that should provide a little boost of foot traffic to the hall and as a result more foot traffic to our booth.

Booth Enhancements

This year we scaled back on some booth enhancements, but you will notice one large addition to our booth display. This year we made a large ceiling sign to hang over our 20×20 booth. This should make it easier for folks to find us on the floor from a distance.

Look for this hanging from ceiling!

Once again this year we will showcase all of our product lines including our eForm, iForm, and the popular NoricF4 Custom Metal Frames- which this years touts an official compliance to the Department of Defense, new fire ratings, and new options for thermal breaks.

We will have a TV showing popular projects from the last year, including 3 projects that won ICF Builder awards for 2011.

ICF Builder Awards

Once again the ICF Builder award will be hosted on Wednesday evening and Reward was lucky enough to be notified of a finalist in all of our projects we submitted, and received an award for 3 different projects. We will find out that evening if our projects won top prize in their category. Either way, with the amazing projects going on industry wide to be recognized as a top project is truly an honor.

WOC Show Info

Exhibits: January 18 – 21, 2011|
Conference: January 17 – 21, 2011
Las Vegas Convention Center  |

Reward Wall Systems North Hall Booth #N1445

Greenbuild 2010 proved to be once again a success. I always seem to run out of time when trying to blog or get to see other industry booths etc, and the week was over before you know it. At least this year the swine flu was no going around and I came home as healthy as i left (unlike last year in Phoenix) We had numerous conversations with people from all types of professional backgrounds and while building in general is slowing, the construction that is going on is focused on energy savings and building a sustainable high performing building.

Greenbuild 2010 was a bit different in the booth this year than previous years. We spent more time answering specific, advanced questions than questions on what insulated concrete forms are, which was a common theme the last couple years. It is showing that ICFs are mainstream in the larger markets and are playing and increasingly popular role when owners and designers demand a premium building enclosure.

Importance on Energy Reduction

Folks across the board are understanding, while insulating concrete forms and thermal mass aren’t as “glamorous” as solar power and wind turbines, they are equally if not MORE important to the concept of energy efficiency and net-zero. You can’t worry about creating energy when you are using to much in the first place, so tackle first thing first- REDUCE ENERGY USE!

It seemed in 2010 most of the vendors were focused on energy saving techniques and products they are made from renewable resources as well as unique forms of solar and rain water harvesting. But by no means was the focus on wind mills and photovoltaic. There was numerous new materials and services to help cut through the clutter of “green-washing” and I think overall people get the nuts and bolts of being green, not just the fluffy stuff.

GreenBuild Toronto

So next year we will make the trek to Toronto and see what that market can bring to the table. Not sure why Toronto right now, since there are plenty of US cities to go to and it is the “United States” Green Building Council, but we will see how it goes. We do some decent business up that way and see further growth potential in that market. Until then check us out at World of Concrete in 2011 or any of our another trade shows coming up.

GreenBuild 2010 all aboard. Year 2 of Reward exhibiting at the show, alongside fellow brethren of ICF companies. Today the show started and traffic has been heavy all day with many young adults starting their career in leading the sustainability efforts at their firms. Everyone coming by the booth has been fully aware of insulating concrete forms and are even familiar with our Reward brand!

Reward has seen numerous familiar faces, some regional customers and distributors, as well as the media frenzy that comes with the territory. Our marketing coordinator was a popular man for awhile, apparently everyone has ad space to sell.

Highlights from Day 1

Actually its day two for us as they had a “soft opening” yesterday which failed miserably, how there are extreme difference in the clientele and the booths compared to last year.

1. People are definitely big city people, I can’t get through a conversation without someone recommending a place to eat. Leave it to the local to promote their town, so far they have led us in the right direction. (Off to Gino’s East tonight)
2. Companies seem bigger and the booths seem more invested in. Last year their were numerous small booths, this year I see the same folks with double the booth space. Business must be good in a few areas; a particular vendor I spoke with last year had quadrupled their size because 2010 was such a success.
3. Stories across the floor have been mixed but definitely positive all around. Everyone that is here is optimistic about 2011. Nice to hear the optimism especially surrounded by media that glorifies and promotes the dismal state of seemingly everything. There are success stories and growth opportunities still presenting themselves in this environment.

Here are  few pictures of our booth, including our new award for the NoricF4 Custom Metal ICF frame which is now the 2010 Reader’s Choice Award through ED+C magazine. This is the 2nd consecutive year a Reward product has won the award showing our customer bases dedication to our products and the new innovative products Reward brings to market. Enjoy and I’ll push through a wrap up tomorrow on the blog as well, so be sure to check out!

Every year Reward is excited to help out a local builder who exhibits at the Iowa State Fair. Fair is an understatement for this event lasting over a week. Usually over a million visitors attend the Iowa State Fair, this year was a bit down but still neared the 900,000 visitor mark. It was an exciting atmosphere riddled with turkey legs and ice cream….and insulated concrete forms! Also the IA State fair is known for their Butter Cow Sculpture- yes that is made out of pure, 100% unadulterated butter. Moooooooo.

ICF Structure

This year Dan constructed a building made out of Reward ICFs. From the few pictures we took you can see the traffic was good and the building was impressive considering this was build on the fair grounds.

It was a great time and we met a lot of great people. We will see you all back for the Iowa State Fair 2011!

If you are looking to start building with ICFs or already have ICF construction in mind, we offer on site consultation and field training, along with an education course to get you and your team familiar with insulated concrete forms.

Onsite Training

Reward Wall Systems, Inc requires all new customers who are building with insulating concrete form for the first time to sign up for onsite training. When it comes time to build your ICF project, an experienced Reward building consultant (if you’re lucky it will be Darryl U!) will come directly to you jobsite for up t three days to offer guidance and advice for you and your crew. The Reward trainer is prepared to show you all the steps for correctly and efficiently installing forms and placing concrete.

Cost

The standard onsite training package has a small nominal fee for a three day session. This fee is to cover costs for our ICF trainer’s travel and food expenses. All training can be customized to meet varying needs, based on the scope of the project. Whether you prefer onsite help with the footings to the ceiling, or just want an onsite specialist on hand for the initial concrete pour- our trainers are ready help.

What is included?

Pre-construction consultation - Once you have scheduled your training, the Reward trainer will call you to be sure you have the proper tools and that the site is prepared to make the best use of his time upon arrival. Discussion will be made on if there are any specific areas of attention for our trainer to prepare for.

Onsite training - The Reward trainer will teach you and your crew proper and efficient installation techniques throughout the wall installation process including:

• Stacking forms
• Reinforcement
• Bracing
• Aligning
• Door and window buck placement
• Placement of concrete

Post-Construction follow up – After the jobsite training has been completed, the Reward trainer and all of our support staff will be available to answer further questions by telephone and e-mail until your project is finished.

ICF Training Benefits

This valuable service will shorten your crew’s learning curve for installing ICF walls. Installation experience and expertise are necessary to be a successful user of insulated concrete forms. Your trainer can show you installation techniques and shortcuts that will save you time and money in the field. The trainers shared experience and skills will help you to avoid costly mistake and ensure your first project goes up smoothly.

At Reward Wall Systems, we don’t just sell you the insulating concrete forms and walk away. Through our Solid Support program we provide you with the tools you need to be successful. Reward also offers a comprehensive technical manual, AutoCAD drawings, ICF BIM objects, and estimating software in addition to technical support that is always just a phone call away.

Call us at 800-468-6344 to get a quote on your customized onsite training package.