A Puerto Rican raised in Pittsburgh, his blue-collar, East Coast hard-knock surroundings cultivated his enthusiastic work ethic and success. Driven by his parents' past experience with a crooked contractor, Rico advocates for families and resolves conflicts between emotionally and financially stressed homeowners and their builders to turn renovation and construction nightmares into dream homes. 

Rico and his skilled team tour each home to assess the status of projects, try to resolve issues with the builder, and create a renovation and design plan to turn the construction nightmare into a beautiful home. Rico has been on both ends — as a contractor and a homeowner — and he is not afraid to hold builders accountable. 

In his keynote, HGTV’s Rico to the Rescue: Real Life Scenarios – From Nightmares to Dreams Come True, he will share some of his most unforgettable experiences and lessons learned from residential construction projects gone wrong and then turned around, helping families navigate the process—covering the good, the bad and the ugly about construction, the insurance industry, contractors and brutally honest advice to help everyday people. Next, he will participate in a moderated discussion by Tony Bouquot of the Metal Building Manufacturers Association followed by audience Q & A along with a VIP meet and greet and an autograph signing. 

Then, on Thursday, October 19 at 10:00 a.m., Ken Simonson, chief economist of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America with 40+ years of experience analyzing, advocating and communicating about economic and tax issues, will explore the current state and outlook for construction in his keynote, Construction Outlook for 2024: Forbidding or Reason for Cheer? 

Construction is in transition. A slowing economy and rising interest rates are threatening private investment. But growth in manufacturing, power and infrastructure investment may outweigh any decline in income-producing properties. Simonson will offer his fearless forecasts regarding the conflicting trends in demand for projects, materials costs and labor availability. 

Attendees will discover current trends in the construction industry. Simonson will detail how interest rates are affecting current, future and projected projects and how manufacturing, power and infrastructure may counteract industry declines. He’ll cover new and developing changes in construction practices and how those changes will affect current/future projects. 

Since 2001, Simonson has been chief economist for the AGC, the U.S.’s leading trade association for the construction industry. He provides insight into the economy and what it implies for construction and related industries through frequent media interviews, presentations and the Data DIGest, his weekly one-page e-newsletter that goes to 20,000+ subscribers.