Highlights from the 2023 BuildRight Conference


Each year, the Home Building Association of Greater Portland hosts the BuildRight Conference to convene Northwest building professionals to share the latest in high-performance home construction. The 2023 conference took place in Portland on April 20, 2023, and centered on the theme: “Design Right, Build Better: From Blueprints to Boots on the Ground.”

The theme was influenced by conditions seen in the field and by opening keynote speaker Christine Williamson. Christine Williamson has spent her career in building science forensics, discovering why buildings fail and working with owners, architects and builders to remedy the problems. She is the founder of the Instagram account @BuildingScienceFightClub, an educational project that teaches architects about building science and construction.

Over 250 people attended the conference, making it the most highly attended BuildRight to date. Standout sessions included:

  • New Energy Codes Coming to Oregon and Washington
  • Everything a Builder Needs to Know about 45L Tax Incentives

Joshua Salinger from Birdsmouth Design Build delivered this year’s closing keynote, sharing a roadmap for how Birdsmouth was able to structure itself to have a seat at the design table, and how that change has positioned the company to improve communication among building teams, reducing callbacks and change orders.

Curious to learn more? Revisit the above sessions and more via BuildRight’s session presentation page with slides from the featured sessions.