A Maple Ridge company hosts an annual construction industry event promoting innovation and leadership that is growing every year.
Host Pitt Meadows Plumbing, which is based in Maple Ridge, bills the industry gathering Future of Work. This year, on April 23 and 24, it drew more than 800 people from across Canada and the U.S. for two days of discussion about the pressures reshaping construction, and the ideas gaining traction in response.
The event was built around the premise that the future of construction will be shaped not by technology alone, but by the industry’s ability to lead well, develop people, and adopt new tools with purpose. The program moved through leadership, mental health, mentorship, lean thinking, AI, and industrialized construction.
Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with many describing the event as timely, substantive, and unusually candid, said company spokesperson Sara Searle
Speakers related the realities facing the industry, including burnout, labour shortages, resistance to change, fragmented communication and more.
Speakers including Wally Adamchik pressed the case for stronger leadership, healthier teams, and a more deliberate approach to building cultures people want to be part of.
One moment that resonated came during the mental health panel, when an audience member asked whether environmental conditions on job sites and in workplaces have a direct impact on mental health. The answer from the panel was unequivocal – absolutely, they do, and the industry needs to take that seriously.
The conversation around mentorship asked participants to consider not only who had shaped their own careers, but what responsibility they now carry to others. An interactive wall invited attendees to write down something a mentor had taught them, and on the reverse side, the piece of technology that had most changed a project. The exercise captured the event’s central argument – progress in construction depends on both what is passed down and what is newly adopted.
Discussions around Lean, AI, software integration, and field-ready innovation were most compelling when they narrowed their focus to use, judgment, and implementation. Speaker Charlie Dunn helped ground those conversations in operational reality, focusing less on novelty than on what actually improves coordination, performance, and decision-making.
Dunn also said the hosts may be building something more important than mechanical systems through Future of Work: a community with the energy and ability to change the world.
The closing speech by Felipe Engineer-Manriquez, chief engineer at EBFC AI, brought that point into sharp focus. In his session, “From Chatbot to Construction Companion: AI That Remembers Your Work,” he addressed the shift from novelty to utility, arguing for tools that reduce friction, retain knowledge, and support better decisions on active projects.
Searle said the event “went far beyond what we had envisioned,” with great industry support and speakers.