Published: 05. February 2026,
AI in Construction, Perspective
– 5 min.
The construction expo calendar is really an industry events calendar. This guide curates the top construction trade shows from 2026-2028, focusing on the events that consistently attract the equipment, materials, and technology ecosystems that move jobsites forward. It is a curated list, not an exhaustive directory.
Each event has a different flavor, but they all offer the same opportunity: to see what is real, what is scaling, and what is still emerging. If you are making fleet, production, or operations decisions, these are the shows most likely to give you usable signal.
Dates: Mar 1-4, 2026
Location: Orlando, Florida, USA
What it’s known for: Rental operations, rental-ready equipment, fleet mix strategy, and the supplier ecosystem that supports branch throughput.
Link to expo: arashow.org
The ARA Show is rental-first, which changes what you get out of the event. Instead of leading with machine launches, it concentrates on what rental businesses need to standardize and scale: fleet mix decisions, turn efficiency, damage prevention, and support models that keep assets earning.
The show promotes over 700 exhibitors and attracts more than 10,000 attendees, giving rental leaders and suppliers a dense, practical marketplace to compare what is new and what is ready for fleet use.
For contractors, ARA can still be a useful construction expo, especially if a meaningful share of your equipment comes through rental channels. It offers a clearer view of what rental companies are investing in, what categories are expanding, and where expectations are rising around availability, safety, and fleet enablement. In that sense, it functions as a demand signal event, not just a product show.
Meet Trackunit at The ARA Show 2026 to see how connected fleet data supports higher utilization, faster turns, and smarter rental operations.
Dates: Mar 3-7, 2026
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
What it’s known for: North America’s largest category-breadth equipment benchmark across earthmoving, lifting, concrete, aggregates, and jobsite technology.
Expo link: conexpoconagg.com
CONEXPO-CON/AGG is the benchmark event when you want a full cross-section of the industry in one place, earthmoving, lifting, concrete, aggregates, and the technology stack around them. The show is positioned at massive scale, with the organizer promoting 2,000 exhibitors across more than 2.9 million square feet of exhibit space. (conexpoconagg.com)
That density is what makes it valuable for side-by-side comparisons, not only between machines, but between support models, dealer coverage, and how suppliers are packaging solutions for real fleet deployment.
It is also one of the clearest environments for separating momentum from marketing. The organizer reports the 2023 edition drew 139,110 attendees, often summarized as nearly 140,000 attendees, with broad international participation.
For fleet and operations leaders, that scale matters because it concentrates competitive positioning and market direction into a few days, including where connected workflows, automation, and alternative power are moving from headline claims into practical product and support strategies.
Meet Trackunit at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026 at booth N12707 (North Hall) to explore how Trackunit is advancing connected construction through its IrisX operating data platform and broader connectivity and portfolio.
Dates: Apr 15-18, 2026
Location: Zaragoza, Spain
What it’s known for: Public works, construction, and mining machinery, plus a strong European component and supply mix.
Expo link: feriazaragoza.com
SMOPYC is a practical European construction expo for organizations that operate in, sell into, or source from Southern Europe. It tends to provide useful market signal on equipment emphasis, sector priorities, and supplier presence across public works and infrastructure categories. The 2026 edition is leaning harder into “more than a machinery exhibition,” with a renewed emphasis on technology, collaboration, and sustainability.
One practical differentiator is the return of an outdoor demo focus, including an outdoor area and live equipment demonstrations. SMOPYC’s 2026 communications also highlight a stronger program emphasis on innovation, efficiency, and sustainability, including an Innovation Pavilion concept tied to the event’s sustainability theme.
Dates: Jun 2-4, 2026
Location: Maastricht, Netherlands (MECC)
What it’s known for: Powered access (MEWPs) and access safety, with a strongly rental-relevant audience.
Expo link: apexshow.com
APEX is the access-focused construction expo on this calendar, built around the powered access ecosystem: manufacturers, rental companies, and the safety and training organizations that shape how work at height gets executed.
The show states it attracts over 6,000 key decision-makers across the powered access, rental, and construction sectors, which helps explain why it is often used to benchmark platform direction, safety expectations, and rental-ready features in one place.
Dates: Jun 2-4, 2026
Location: Maastricht, Netherlands (MECC)
What it’s known for: Equipment rental ecosystem, compact equipment, and rental-focused products and services.
Expo link: ireshow.com
IRE is built for rental operators and the supplier ecosystem around them, with the show positioning itself as a premier event for the equipment rental and construction sectors. The event promotes over 150 exhibitors, spanning compact equipment, low-emission and electric options, and rental technology like tracking, utilization monitoring, and rental software.
Because it runs side by side with APEX during the same Maastricht week, it is often used as a single trip to cover both general rental equipment and powered access priorities, with organizers emphasizing the convenience of moving between the two events.
Dates: Jun 2-4, 2026
Location: Maastricht, Netherlands (MECC)
What it’s known for: European rental leadership and strategy, market outlook, and sector priorities.
Expo link: mecc.nl/en
ERA Convention adds the leadership layer to the Maastricht week. For executives and operations leaders in rental, it can be the most efficient way to align on direction and translate market shifts into fleet and operating decisions. The event promotes over 150 exhibitors, spanning compact equipment, low-emission and electric options, and rental technology like tracking, utilization monitoring, and rental software.
Because it runs side by side with APEX during the same Maastricht week, it is often used as a single trip to cover both general rental equipment and powered access priorities, with organizers emphasizing the convenience of moving between the two events.
Dates: Jun 17-20, 2026
Location: Makuhari Messe, Chiba (Tokyo area), Japan
What it’s known for: Construction productivity and measurement workflows, surveying, and jobsite digitization.
Link to expo: cspi-expo.com
CSPI-EXPO is the specialist construction expo for teams who care about how work gets measured, managed, and executed, not only what machine is on site. The organizer frames it as a domestic top-tier event that brings construction and surveying technologies under one roof, spanning heavy equipment and attachments alongside construction DX and productivity solutions.
For visitors, the practical value is the concentration of “jobsite workflow” technology: surveying and measurement, digital coordination, and productivity tools that connect the field to planning and delivery. JETRO’s event listing also notes an expected floor size of 60,000 sq.m, which signals the scale relative to other specialist shows.
Dates: Jun 23-25, 2026
Location: Hillhead Quarry, Buxton, United Kingdom
What it’s known for: Live quarry demos across aggregates, recycling, and heavy iron, with a format that exposes real performance, service access, and operator usability.
Link to expo: hillhead.com
Hillhead is a working-quarry construction expo, which makes it unusually practical. Instead of polished booth claims, you see machines and attachments under load, in real material flow, and you can quickly judge stability, service access, wear behavior, and operator usability.
That format attracts a production-minded audience and puts uptime and maintainability at the center of the conversation. It also brings meaningful scale without becoming unmanageable, typically around 600 exhibitors and nearly 20,000 visitors across three days, which is dense enough to compare the full ecosystem while still having productive technical discussions.
It is also a strong place to benchmark support expectations in the UK and Europe, especially around wear parts, rebuild strategy, and uptime tooling. For fleet leaders, Hillhead is less about product theater and more about operational proof.
Dates: Sep 15-17, 2026
Location: Trade Fair Center Messe München, Munich, Germany
What it’s known for: Surveying, geospatial, and digital delivery workflows, including GIS, BIM-adjacent processes, drones, and field data capture that shape how work gets laid out and verified.
Link to expo: intergeo.de
INTERGEO is not a machine show, but it is absolutely a construction expo if you care about how production gets measured and governed. Layout, grade control, drone capture, as-built verification, and geospatial data management are now core to cost control and claim protection, especially on linear infrastructure and large civil scopes. INTERGEO concentrates the vendors, standards conversations, and toolchain integrations that determine whether field reality stays aligned with plan.
For contractors and owners, the value is clarity on what is deployable in the field: workflow friction, data handoff, and how many steps it takes to get from capture to decision. If your teams are trying to standardize jobsite digitization, this is one of the best places to compare approaches side by side.
Dates: Sep 28-Oct 1, 2026
Location: India Expo Centre, Greater Noida (Delhi region), India
What it’s known for: The Indian construction equipment and building materials machinery market at scale, including localized configurations, regional supplier depth, and high-volume categories.
Link to expo: bcindia.com
bauma CONEXPO INDIA is where you go to understand what “scale” looks like in a fast-growing equipment market, and what OEMs and suppliers are prioritizing for local operating conditions. You will see a strong mix of earthmoving, roadbuilding, and building material machines, plus the service and financing models that often determine real adoption. For OEMs and global suppliers, it is also a practical read on localization strategy and channel development.
For large contractors and rental companies with Indian exposure, it can function as a fleet planning checkpoint: what is readily supported, what is being standardized, and where the market is moving on emissions, safety, and productivity expectations. For everyone else, it is a useful sourcing and competitive intelligence stop if India is part of your supply chain story.
Dates: Nov 23-26, 2026
Location: Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, UAE
What it’s known for: Built environment procurement and systems, with strong MEA project intensity and a broad supplier ecosystem beyond machines.
Link to expo: big5global.com
Big 5 Global is a different kind of construction expo. The center of gravity is the built environment supply chain: products, systems, finishes, and delivery partners that sit closer to procurement and project execution than fleet. If you operate in the Middle East, Africa, or South Asia, it is a high-density environment for understanding how projects are being specified, what supply constraints are easing or tightening, and where standards and compliance expectations are moving.
For equipment and operations leaders, the value is often indirect but still real. You leave with a clearer view of what owners and developers are pushing for, and what site execution partners are standardizing around, especially in high-volume commercial and infrastructure programs.
Dates: Nov 24-27, 2026
Location: Shanghai (SNIEC), Shanghai, China
What it’s known for: Asia’s equipment and technology benchmark, strong OEM presence, and a practical read on electrification, automation, and export-ready configurations.
Link to expo: bauma.de/en/china
bauma CHINA is one of the most useful construction expos for understanding how quickly the global equipment stack is shifting, especially in compact and mid-range categories. It is a large, competitive environment where you see how manufacturers package machines with jobsite tech, financing support, and service models aimed at rapid deployment. For fleets, it can be a sourcing and spec intelligence event, not necessarily a buying event, unless you are already operating across Asia.
The show is also valuable for technology scanning. If you are tracking electrification options, operator assist, autonomy roadmaps, or digital workflow integration, bauma CHINA provides a concentrated view of what is moving from concept into product.
Dates: Education Jan 18-21, 2027; Exhibits Jan 19-21, 2027
Location: Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
What it’s known for: Concrete, masonry, and the tools, materials, and methods that drive placement productivity, quality control, and crew throughput.
Link to expo: worldofconcrete.com
World of Concrete is the specialist construction expo for high-cycle scopes where small process improvements compound. It is a strong environment for seeing what is changing in materials, finishing, reinforcement, cutting, surface prep, and onsite logistics. If your projects are concrete-heavy, this is where you can benchmark not just products, but means and methods, including how suppliers are supporting training and standard work.
For fleet leaders, the relevance often sits in attachments, small equipment, and workflow tooling that directly affects labor productivity and rework. For operations leaders, it is a practical place to compare how contractors are tightening quality, safety, and schedule certainty in concrete packages that are notoriously sensitive to sequencing.
Dates: Mar 15-17, 2027
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
What it’s known for: Asphalt production and paving, co-located industry education, and the equipment and maintenance priorities that drive mat quality and paving uptime.
Link to expo: worldofasphalt.com
World of Asphalt is an operational show. The conversations tend to be about reliability, consistency, and production control: plant performance, paver and screed setup, compaction strategy, and the maintenance behaviors that keep output stable. If you run roadbuilding fleets or maintain asphalt production assets, this is one of the most directly applicable construction expos in North America.
It is also useful for understanding how the market is approaching efficiency, fuel, and sustainability requirements in paving work. You see what is being productized versus what still requires custom engineering and strong field support.
Dates: Apr 21-24, 2027
Location: Paris Nord Villepinte, Paris region, France
What it’s known for: European construction equipment and sustainable construction positioning, including equipment, services, and solution packaging for deployment.
Link to expo: intermatconstruction.com
INTERMAT is a useful European construction expo when you want breadth without the sheer scale of bauma. It is a solid checkpoint for how OEMs and suppliers are packaging sustainability claims into actual product and support strategies, including alternative power, efficiency improvements, and workflow digitization. For contractors and rental organizations working across Europe, it is also a practical environment for dealer and service conversations, which is where adoption often gets decided.
If you are building a short list of European events, INTERMAT tends to sit in the “high signal, manageable footprint” category. You can cover more of what matters in less time, and still leave with clear direction.
Dates: Jun 22-24, 2027
Location: NEC, Birmingham, United Kingdom
What it’s known for: UK-focused equipment and innovation, now positioned as an indoor and outdoor concept that keeps demos central.
Link to expo: plantworx.co.uk
PlantWorx is a UK construction expo that leans practical, especially when you are comparing machines and attachments that need to prove themselves in real conditions. The event’s indoor and outdoor model is designed to keep demonstration value while improving access, logistics, and exhibitor infrastructure.
For UK and Ireland-based fleets, it is a strong local benchmark event that avoids the travel and time burden of larger continental shows. For suppliers, it is a high-relevance environment for the UK market’s expectations around service, training, and rental readiness.
Dates: Oct 5-7, 2027
Location: Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
What it’s known for: Utility construction equipment and methods, where safety, compliance, and specialized workflows shape purchasing decisions.
Link to expo: theutilityexpo.com
The Utility Expo is where you see the specialized end of construction execution: underground, line work, right-of-way, and the equipment and attachments that make utility crews productive without compromising safety. It is also a strong show for understanding how utility owners and contractors are responding to labor constraints, training requirements, and regulatory pressure, because those constraints show up directly in equipment spec and operating procedures.
For construction leaders working adjacent to utilities, it is a highly relevant construction expo because utility work often sets the bar on safety culture and process discipline. For rental, it is a strong category signal event, particularly for high-utilization specialized assets.
Dates: Nov 16-19, 2027
Location: São Paulo Expo, São Paulo, Brazil
What it’s known for: Latin America’s construction and mining equipment hub, strong regional dealer context, and market-specific fleet economics.
Link to expo: mtexpo.com.br
M&T Expo is one of the most important construction expos in Latin America for understanding how equipment, parts, and service models are being adapted to regional operating realities. It is also a strong place to evaluate dealer capability and coverage, which matters as much as the iron in markets where lead times and parts availability can make or break uptime.
For global OEMs and large contractors, it is a useful market direction event. You get a clear read on which categories are expanding, how suppliers are pricing and supporting fleets, and where technology adoption is actually sticking on jobsites.
Dates: Apr 3-9, 2028
Location: Trade Fair Center Messe München, Munich, Germany
What it’s known for: The global benchmark construction expo for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines, and jobsite technology direction.
Link to expo: bauma.de
bauma is the construction expo that resets the global baseline. If you want to understand where OEM product strategy is headed, what alternative power options are becoming truly supportable, and how automation and connected workflows are maturing, bauma compresses that learning into a single week. It is also one of the best places to evaluate readiness: not just prototypes, but the service tooling, training, and parts posture that indicate whether something is ready for fleet deployment.
For executives, bauma is often a strategy event more than a buying event. You go to calibrate direction, align internal standards, and validate what you will prioritize across the next planning cycle.
The best construction expos deliver two things at once: a clear sense of what is changing, and a chance to meet the people shaping it. You can walk the floor and see the next generation of equipment, tools, and jobsite technology, then hear how it is landing in the field, what is working, what is not, and what is coming next.
Use this curated list as your starting point for 2026 to 2028, and focus on the shows that align with your fleet plans, priorities, and operating reality.
By scale, bauma in Munich is widely described as the world’s leading construction machinery trade fair, and also one of the largest trade shows in the world by exhibition space (about 614,000 sq.m).
CONEXPO-CON/AGG is promoted as North America’s largest construction trade show, bringing together equipment and technology across major categories in one place.
Regional shows tend to be more practical for local dealer networks, market-specific specs, and shorter, higher-hit itineraries. Flagship expos are better for horizon-scanning, comparing the full competitive set, and seeing where the industry is placing its biggest bets.
One day can work if the goal is focused: a short list of booths, a handful of meetings, and a few must-see demos. If the goal is broad comparison, new categories, or education sessions, the experience changes quickly after day one, because the floor is simply too large to cover efficiently in a single pass.
Think in “beats,” not aisles: pick 2–3 themes for the day (attachments, alternative power, jobsite tech), then let the floor fill in the details. Big shows like CONEXPO-CON/AGG also publish education programming at scale, which can be a useful way to add structure when the floor starts to blur together.
