Staff Photo by Allison Carter/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Josh Poe carries a sunroom window to help set up a display for Hullco Exteriors at the TriState Home Show. The event is at the Chattanooga Convention Center.Hundreds of local and national contractors have worked feverishly through the week to erect custom displays in time for the start of today’s Tri-State Home Show, exhibiting their skills and wares for the 13,000 visitors expected this weekend.
Reynolds Fischer barked out orders Wednesday as a swarm of workers assembled a patio waterfall garden inside the Chattanooga Convention Center. Stoneworkers for Dream-scapes, a competitor, transformed pallets of rock into a 450-square-foot terrace, gingerly assembling their giant stone puzzle.
The Fischer Irrigation and Lighting crew has worked for two days straight, cutting masonry for what Fischer said is his largest display yet.
“It costs a bunch, but you make it back,” he said as he filled the waterfall with a hose. “With the economy the way it is, you’ve got to take every chance you get to reach customers.”
That’s the general sentiment at this year’s Home Show, which covers 100,000 square feet and encompasses more than 450 booths.