The NARI annual conference and what a remodeler gets from it
The NARI Annual Conference is the yearly gathering of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, the only trade association dedicated exclusively to professional remodelers. The 2026 edition, branded Level Up, ran 21 to 23 April 2026 at the Omni Tempe Hotel at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, with Joe Theismann as keynote. Dates for the next edition have not been announced.
Why an association conference is priced and pitched differently
NARI is a trade association rather than a media company or a coaching business, and the conference reflects that. Pricing for the 2026 edition ran from 189 dollars in the early bird window up to 499 dollars on site, with an Evening of Excellence add on at 79 to 169 dollars. That is a fraction of what the coaching circuit charges, and it is the single strongest practical argument for attending: you can send three people for less than one seat at most contractor conferences.
The room is deliberately mixed. The organizer describes attendance as contractors, designers, manufacturers, suppliers and service providers from across the country, over three days of educational sessions led by industry experts, product and service exhibits, professional networking and industry recognition events. A mixed room is worse for finding an exact peer and better for finding a supplier or a subcontractor relationship you did not know existed.
The awards are a real part of the value. NARI runs the Regional and National Remodeler of the Year awards and its Achievement Awards, and the conference is where they are presented. For a remodeler whose marketing leans on credibility rather than volume, an award from the industry's own association is a durable asset. The 2026 program listed Joe Theismann as keynote alongside a slate of industry speakers. At the time of writing no date has been published for a next edition, so check with NARI directly when planning.
Who should go, and what to enter
This suits a remodeler who values certification, standards and association credibility, and it suits companies that want the awards. If you are going to travel, enter the awards program in the same year rather than attending first and entering later, because the recognition is the part of the trip with the longest shelf life. For a technology focused alternative in the same industry, FAST Remodeler Live is narrower and built entirely around the software stack. For what changed at a remodeler that started measuring its own sales conversations, Boa Builders is a SalesAsk customer that swapped sales guesswork for something it could actually review.
What a certification cannot certify
NARI's whole proposition is the mark of a professional remodeler: a code of ethics, certifications, standards. All of it describes how the company should behave. None of it can tell you what your designer actually said when the homeowner pushed back on price last Tuesday, or whether the change order conversation happened before the work started or after. Standards live in a document. Sales behavior lives in a conversation nobody has ever recorded.
SalesAsk records the appointment from the rep's own phone and scores it against your own sales steps, so the standard you signed up to is something you can actually check. Coach Dean writes the coaching the same day, and the summary and next steps sync into your CRM without the designer retyping them. For remodeling companies that is the difference between a code of ethics and a practice.
If you want to see that against your own sales steps, book a demo and we will walk them through the scorecard so you can do your due diligence and make an informed decision.
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