At the time of this writing, we are about one month removed from the 2026 Fab Forum hosted by The Hill Group in Franklin Park, Illinois. Hill is a full-service mechanical contractor that includes fire protection, testing/adjusting/balancing and an architectural group. On the first day, attendees toured 20 stations across its 30-plus-acre campus and gained insights into the tech, processes and workflows used in projects from some of its more than 1,000 employees.

Why am I highlighting Hill’s size? One of the pieces of feedback I hear often, now that I am on the planning side of events such as the Fab Forum, MEP Innovations and SMACNA’s Annual Convention, is that we need more sessions and events geared toward smaller contractors. I want to challenge that a bit, based on a remark I heard during one of the sessions at Fab.

A gentleman from RM Chris, who commented, and I’ll paraphrase here: “I come to these events because, while we may be smaller or earlier in our journey, I can see where we are headed by watching contractors like Hill. Because they share how long it took them to get where they are, I can compare their processes to ours and see we are only a few years away.” 

I wanted to seize on that in this column and point out the value of being a smaller contractor, or one that is newer in a particular tech or fabrication journey. Looking at some of these big contractors, if framed properly, provides a roadmap that smaller, more nimble companies can use to apply the lessons learned.

See the journey, not only the result

I challenge all contractors to think like this. As we often say, begin with the end in mind. When you are in a presentation, look for the headline result and note the path they took. A good presenter will not blow smoke and will tell you that this was not an overnight success. Most “overnight successes” are years or decades in the making. 

The best presenters will also share the mistakes, dead ends and false starts they had along the way so you can learn from them and try to avoid them yourself. You should also note where they started, not just where they are now. 

What did they do when they had 30 employees and not 300? How did the concept for this solution come about? What were some of the company’s early hires, purchases and wins?

Large contractors often share more openly than you might expect, especially in panels or in hallway conversations, which are often the most valuable part of a conference. Make sure you are actively asking questions during the Q&A sessions or seeking out the speakers during breaks and networking activities.

Going back to the previous comment, it’s important to view your tech adoption, process or fabrication journey as a maturity arc. When you do that, you can attend these events, listen to sessions and start to place yourself along that arc. You will also likely see that, in some areas, you lag while in others you are far ahead. Everyone is constantly learning, innovating and pushing their organizations to be the best possible for their size and market. 

Hopefully, once you can see the arc of your maturity and where you are headed, you won’t feel disillusioned or discouraged because you aren’t at the same place in your journey as the host or presenter. Knowing where you are, the presentation becomes more of a scouting report.

Turn size into a superpower

Now is the time we talk about turning your size into a superpower. Smaller contractors don’t need large committees, IT reviews, alignment across markets and regions or budget cycles to make a decision. Often, a new tool or process can be chosen to trial or implement in a single conversation.

That size and quick decision-making also mean that implementation has lower overhead, fewer change-management and training struggles and faster feedback loops. A large contractor could take years to vet, choose, train and deploy a solution, only to realize it went in the wrong direction. Reversing that and changing to another path could take months or years as well. 

Being small and nimble means the smaller contractor can fail quickly and pivot to a better solution in weeks, not years. And while the stakes are relative, failures are easier to recover from at a small- to mid-sized company than at larger ones. The presentations from large contractors describe what is possible. Smaller contractors are often better positioned to actually get there on a meaningful percentage of the work.

Ask better questions at events

So, when planning to attend your next event, think about following this framework. Look across your organization and give an honest assessment of where you are in areas such as tech, BIM, BIM-to-Fab, fabrication, estimating and project delivery, then pick one or two areas you want to focus on. 

During sessions, make sure you take notes on the journey, not only the tool or outcome being highlighted. Flag any specific mentions where the presenters spoke about starting at a smaller size, as well as any mention of missteps or anything unforeseen they had to overcome. 

Ask questions. Ask a lot of questions. Ask them during sessions. Ask them in the hallway. Ask them in the elevators. Ask about first versions, what they would skip, whether there were alternatives considered and why those weren’t chosen. Make sure you get contact information so you can loop back with speakers later. Then go back and build out a plan to implement one new process, technology or lesson from the event. Start small; build from there.

The contractors on stage at events such as Fab Forum aren’t a separate species. They are companies that, at some point, were where you are now and made a series of decisions that got them where they are today. Some of those decisions were right, some were wrong, and the good ones are usually willing to tell you which were which. 

Your job is to listen for the path, not only the destination, and then use the advantages your size gives you to move on what you learned before the lesson gets cold. Being smaller is not a disadvantage at these events; it might be the best seat in the room. 

Travis Voss is the director of innovative technology and fabrication at the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association. In this role, he aids member contractors in identifying the critical technological trends within the industry and assists them in remaining at the forefront of these developments. Before joining SMACNA, Voss worked for Helm Mechanical as its leader of innovative technology. He serves his local community as a volunteer firefighter.