Taliesin West was world famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and studio in the desert from 1937 until his death in 1959 at the age of 91. Deeply connected to the desert from which it was forged, Taliesin West possesses an almost prehistoric grandeur. It was built and maintained almost entirely by Wright and his apprentices, making it among the most personal of the architect’s creations. We’ll motorcoach from our headquarters hotel for a special morning tour of the complex, capped with lunch in the Taliesin West Pergola, a beautiful space that abuts Wright’s drafting room. (Registration fee required)

A solid technology merchandise plan is essential to your success, especially when thought through collaboratively with key players on your tech team, tech platform vendors, and trade partners. This session walks you through the process steps and timing that can get your company to solid plans, and maps out how to feed that plan to downstream functions to get maximum utility. We’ll pay particular attention to the art of developing well-matched standards and options packages and the challenge of establishing and communicating value-based pricing, a key to profitability and sell-through.

America has its mansions, but Europe has castles, palaces, villas and other enchanted luxury properties that set the mind and heart ablaze and drive the dream for luxury here in the states. Feeding on that ingrained desire for the luxury imports, this session takes to Europe to source and present examples and insight on lux tech of the European elite. You’ll walk away with a collection of design and applications ideas you can use to inspire your clients and design partners.

How do you put together great tech packages for units, shared spaces and facility management? It takes a team bringing perspectives from sales and marketing, construction management, operations and executive general management. It takes collaboration with key vendors and trade partners. And it takes a step-by step process that is timed early in the planning and design phase for new properties and properties to be modeled. We’ll walk you through an idealized organizational strategy and planning process and share some real-world examples from developers and operators who are getting tech right.

All tracks will be in separate boardroom groups.

All tracks will be in separate boardroom groups.

Smart Homes, Smart Apartments & the Digitally Integrated Builder/Multifamily Operator

Founder and former CEO of big builder tech consortium, BDX, and homebuilding industry visionary Tim Costello solos in this first-ever, one-of-its-kind keynote address. In his uniquely information and inspiration rich way, he’ll lay out a vision for the full embrace of technology and other innovations in new homes, the digital transformation of homebuilding companies and multifamily property managers and the positioning and promotion of those changes that will drive customer acquisition, revenue and profit growth. In addition to painting a vivid picture of the end goals, Costello will outline the practical action steps required to achieve them and the start-today ideas that can bring back to your company and put to work right away.

Relax, unwind, and have a great time, while you foster connections among industry friends at the Connections Reception. In the background, you’ll hear a diverse playlist of top hits performed by Mat Weddle of Obadiah Parker, all while savoring a delicious buffet and enjoying complimentary drinks from our open bar!

While millions of workers are returning to the office, millions are also now plugged into remote work and hybrid arrangements for good. At the same time, kids are increasingly asked to tap an array of office and AV technology to do their schoolwork. Adults and children both want great spaces to do their work, study and collaborate, which now almost always involves some form of video conferencing. The tech, room design, furnishings and décor in those spaces needs to be effectively and creatively integrated to deliver for them. This session will continue the journey started last year at THBS and dive even deeper into key concepts and collaboration best practices, and explore examples of excellence from builders, designers, integrators and retailers.

Power, water and, yes, network connectivity are elemental to life at home and the haunt of dozens of technology innovations you need to bring home for your clients. We’ll cover what a lux tech play looks like for each element, from features and benefits, to how to present and sell, to how to partner effectively with vendors, trades and utilities to deliver with quality and delight your clients.

Operating expense savings are the first half of the financial analysis of multifamily tech investments. In this session, we’ll tour the major and minor categories of opex savings tech from maintenance and leasing staffing to energy, insurance and taxes and discuss the specific tech implementations that can deliver. We’ll also compare and contrast the applications and savings in new developments vs. retrofit and remodeling projects.

All tracks will be in separate boardroom groups.

All tracks will be in separate boardroom groups.

All tracks will be in separate boardroom groups.

This session focuses on two critical process areas for getting tech right. First we’ll explain how to develop a tech marketing message platform—the constituent elements of it, how to develop it with help from your tech providers and the assets that need to be collected alongside the platform to bring it to life. Next, we will dive into the equally thorny matter of planning and establishing the asset base for tech options sell-through—from sales handoff maps, to talking points, to visual and experiential marketing and merchandising elements…what do you need to drive your take rates through the roof?

Garages have evolved from leafy, greasy pit stops to showcase, party and hobby spaces rich with technology and décor. Likewise, the utility and natural beauty of outdoor space makes it a natural for tech enhancements and featured elements. Another in the THB Lux Tech “Idea Book” series, this session will cover the list of potential tech products and applications for these spaces, walk through examples of excellence and hit on the keys to getting tech right for these spaces--from client needs discovery and presentation, to design collaboration and supporting products and systems in these often environmentally challenged spaces.

Marketing the features, benefits and advantages of your tech packages and promoting (and sometimes demonstrating) the experiential elements of tech are challenges requiring forethought and structure. In this session, we’ll describe elements of your tech marketing plan, propose processes and timelines for its development, and outline the key questions you’ll need to answer for marketing and promotion that sing. Tech can create sales lift for your properties and help you land higher rental rates, but only if marketed and promoted effectively.

Lunch with browsing: 11:35 1-on-1s start: 1:40 PM

The TecHome/Housing Transformation Community will gather to connect socially while taking in live music and another edition of Who’s Got Talent, featuring karaoke performances from our Summit guests, sponsors and staff. Be on the lookout for tequila drink tickets distributed by AE Ventures staff for acts of community kindness, camaraderie and genius! (Lack of shame required)  

The US Department of Commerce Annual American Time Use Study says it all, every year. Sleep is the number one “activity” at home, beating out TV-watching, work, cooking and eating by large margins. At the same time, sleep has become an American obsession thanks to mountains of research that identify solid sleep as a key to mental and physical health, happiness and well-being. What are you doing as a builder to help your buyer sleep tight and what role does technology play alongside room design and construction materials in delivering delightful ZZZs? We’ll explore not only the products and designs, but also how to realize sales lift by marketing and demonstrating quality sleep effectively.

Lighting and natural light control technologies are proliferating at the same time consumer demand surges in all market bands, but especially luxury. With so many options, so much value and so much interest, the need for near-perfect processes for client consultation, design and installation coordination is needed now more than ever. Part of the equation is also tweaking and re-tweaking of lighting and controls as the owners live with the systems and their lifestyles evolve. We cover it all with expert advice from those in the know in this oh-so-timely session.

Multifamily is a bottom-line-driven business, but the best bottom lines start with strong and growing top-line revenues, and that’s a place where technology can and does deliver powerful opportunity and potential. In this session, we’ll look at a multitude of ways multifamily property operators can increase revenues via tech. First and foremost is the opportunity to increase rental rates using the appeal of tech that adds smarts, security, safety, convenience, health and wellness benefits, efficiencies, entertainment and productivity features in units and shared spaces. In addition, tech enables new revenue streams to property operators who mediate and share in revenues tied to connectivity, content and commerce that they mediate thanks to tech. We’ll look at all that’s possible and your opportunities for packaging, marketing them and making more revenue happen.

All tracks will be in separate boardroom groups.

All tracks will be in separate boardroom groups.

All tracks will be in separate boardroom groups.

The continuing drive towards clean and efficient power has found its way home. Builders have enormous incentives and, in some homebuilding geographies, mandates to design and produce homes with features like EV chargers, power storage, smart switches to optimize buying/selling power to grid operators, smart electrical distribution, and water quality and conserving technologies. In this session, we’ll dive deep into the offers builders should consider for various market bands, how to partner with vendors, trade partners and utilities to deliver them and how to market and sell. We’ll also look at promising plans and successful implementations from the field to provide additional insights and inspiration from the real-world experiences of innovative peers.

A superior ownership experience where the conveniences and delights of home tech far outweigh occasional blips in functionality and ease of operation depends strongly on two execution pillars: 1) quality onboarding and education of owners and occupants and 2) remote cloud-connected support and the coordination of efficient, timely, high-quality field service as necessary. We’ll dig into these concepts with expert providers and builders who are teaming with their integrators and service providers to make the long-term great for their luxury clients.

The era of smart power is arriving for multifamily, and your company needs to get in the game. Depending on the location of your properties, codes and incentives, your play could range from solar generation to storage to smart electrical distribution to smart devices to EV charging. How you can make money and not just save money is a concept to absolutely be explored. And the same is coming on water – a need to be smart on distribution and to conserve, especially in drought-stricken areas like the Southwest. These issues and opportunities will be explored in this session as well as options for your action plan.

(1-1s Start at 1:00 PM)