Residential Building Contractors
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 200,000 residential building contractors in the US build single and multi-family homes (condos and townhouses) and provide remodeling services. The majority of new single-family homes are speculative homes, in which the contractor owns the land and begins construction without a sales contract. Contractors that build speculative homes are known as operative builders. About 78% of residential building contractors are solo operators.
Reliance On Credit Markets
The availability of credit affects potential buyers’ ability to secure a mortgage and contractors’ access to capital.
Reliance On Subcontractors
Residential building contractors rely on subcontractors for a high percentage of work.
Industry size & Structure
The average residential building contractor employs 4-5 workers and generates about $2 million in annual revenue.
- The residential building contractor industry consists of about 200,000 companies that employ about 927,000 workers and generate $342 billion annually.
- An additional 795,000 solo-practitioners generate $61 billion annually.
- Remodelers account for 63% of establishments; single-family general contractors are 29%; operative builders are 6%; and multi-family contractors are 2%.
- While residential construction includes private and public projects, the vast majority of work is in the private sector.
- About 80% of residential building contractors employ fewer than 5 workers and together cover 22% of the industry's payroll. About 20 establishments are very large, employing over 500 workers each and together covering 3% of industry payroll.
- Large companies include D.R. Horton, Pulte Homes, Lennar Corporation, NVR, and KB Home.
Industry Forecast
Residential Building Contractors Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Nov 18, 2024 - Multifamily Developer Confidence Mixed
- Multifamily developers’ confidence was mixed in the third quarter of 2024, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) latest Multifamily Market Survey. The Multifamily Production Index (MPI) rose two points in Q3 2024 to 40 compared to the third quarter of 2023. The Multifamily Occupancy Index decreased by seven points to 75 over the same period. An MPI or MOI reading of 50 or more indicates that multifamily production or occupancy, respectively, is growing. Multifamily developers’ headwinds include a tight lending environment, higher borrowing costs, regulations, and land availability. The NAHB forecasts that multifamily construction activity will remain weak for about another year amid a significant volume of projects under construction. Multifamily construction is expected to return to more robust growth near the end of 2025.
- Home improvement industry observers expect remodeling spending to rise in 2025 as more homeowners borrow against the rising equity they have in their homes, according to The Wall Street Journal. After a significant uptick during the pandemic, as people were stuck at home, remodeling spending has been lackluster. Higher interest rates also made it more expensive to finance major renovations. In September 2024, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in four years. Rates are expected to continue dropping, which could prompt many homeowners to leverage the value locked in their homes and take out loans for improvements.
- The wages of residential building workers posted a year-over-year increase of 9.9% in September after jumping 10.8% in August, according to analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Wages in residential construction have been rising even as the number of job openings in the construction sector has fallen. There were 288,000 construction sector job openings in September compared to 328,000 in August. Wages in the residential building construction industry have been rising amid overall wage growth and a shortage of skilled labor in the construction market.
- Older Americans’ preference for aging in place is expected to tighten the US housing market over the next decade, according to a recent report by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA). The homeownership rate among Americans over 70 has been rising since 2015; this, combined with the size of the Baby Boom generation, is leading to larger numbers of existing homes staying off the market. The report does not expect an excess supply of existing homes to come to market over the next decade due to older Americans moving or dying. Aging homeowners staying in their homes longer could boost demand for new homes if the existing home market remains tight.
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