The 2027 Construction Trade Benchmark Report
Gross margin, overhead and net profit for 48 commercial trades, across 7 revenue bands, with the CFOS target beside every published figure.
Commercial subcontractors run 18% to 27% gross margin, carry 13% to 18% overhead, and keep 2% to 10% net profit before taxes. The averages are 22.1%, 15.1% and 7%. Overhead falls an average of 6.1 points as a business moves from $1M–$5M to $500M+.
Trade decides more than size does
At the same revenue, the spread between trades is wider than the spread a single trade sees across all 7 bands.
| Metric | Lowest | Highest | Average | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overhead | 13% (Framing) | 18% (Elevator) | 15.1% | 5 pts |
| Gross margin | 18% (Grading) | 27% (Elevator) | 22.1% | 9 pts |
| Net profit | 2% (Grading) | 10% (SWPPP and erosion control) | 7% | 8 pts |
Overhead is the number that moves with growth
Every trade in the reference sheds overhead points as revenue climbs. Gross margin and net profit improve too, but overhead is the one the operator controls directly, which is why the CFOS target recalculates at every band.
| Trade group | Trades | Overhead at $1M–$5M | Overhead at $500M+ | Points shed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civil and earthwork | 11 | 15% | 8.8% | 6.2 |
| Concrete and masonry | 5 | 14.6% | 8.6% | 6 |
| Landscape and irrigation | 1 | 15% | 9% | 6 |
| Electrical and technology | 6 | 15.5% | 9.5% | 6 |
| Mechanical and life safety | 7 | 16.1% | 9.9% | 6.2 |
| Envelope and structure | 8 | 15.1% | 8.9% | 6.2 |
| Interiors and finishes | 6 | 13.3% | 8% | 5.3 |
| Specialty | 3 | 16% | 9.7% | 6.3 |
The target that holds, and the one that doesn't
The overhead rule, trade average less one point, reproduces the published target column on all 48 trades. That's a rule you can trust at any revenue band, so this report recalculates it at every one. The stated net profit rule, the higher of 10% or 3.5 points above the trade average, reproduces only 11 of 48. Deriving it would print wrong numbers on 37 trades, so gross margin and net profit show the published $1M–$5M figure and say so.
Every target on this site follows that split. See the methodology for the full derivation and sourcing.
Read it by metric, by group, or by trade
What is underneath these numbers
- 2024 Construction Financial Benchmarker, Executive Summary, Construction Financial Management Association, 2024. The survey puts gross profit margin at 21.8%, SG&A at 11.8%, and net income before taxes at 6.3% across all respondents. The best-in-class top quartile reaches 11.9% net income before taxes. Those figures are the whole-population reading, so a single trade can sit well either side of them.
- 2025 Performance Benchmarks, Construction Companies, Jones Maresca and Company, 2025. This study reports specialty contractor gross margin between 15% and 25%. It puts net profit at 5% to 8% for a well managed company, and total indirect cost between 8% and 15%. The indirect cost band is the one worth reading twice, because it's the number most owners have never calculated for their own shop.
- SPM Trade Benchmark Reference, Sulphur Prairie Operations LLC, 2026. The reference holds 48 trades, and net profit in it is stated before taxes. It publishes here as 47 trade pages, because landscaping and irrigation share an identical benchmark profile and are one market, so they're presented together. Everything else carries its own row.
How these figures were built. Gross margin and overhead come from CFMA's 2024 and 2025 financial survey data, plus a January 2026 specialty trade study. Net profit comes from a 48 trade master dataset that covers 24 served trades and 24 adjacent trades. The reference holds 48 trades and the site publishes 47 pages, because landscaping and irrigation carry the same figures and are the same market. Where the survey and the master disagree on net profit, the master carries it. Benchmarks are reviewed against each new CFMA survey release and reconciled before publication.
What owners ask
What net profit should a commercial subcontractor make?
Across the 48 trades in this report, net profit before taxes at $1M–$5M runs from 2% to 10%, averaging 7%. SWPPP and erosion control sits at the top at 10%. Grading sits at the bottom at 2%.
What is a good gross margin for a subcontractor?
Gross margin at $1M–$5M runs 18% to 27% across 48 trades, averaging 22.1%. Trade structure explains most of the spread. Labor-heavy trades carry more margin because they carry more risk in the hours.
How much overhead should a construction company carry?
Overhead at $1M–$5M runs 13% to 18% of revenue, averaging 15.1%. It falls as revenue grows, by an average of 6.1 points between $1M–$5M and $500M+, because the indirect cost base grows in steps while revenue grows continuously.
What is the CFOS target and how is it set?
The overhead target is one point leaner than the trade average at your revenue band, and that rule reproduces the published target on all 48 trades, so this report recalculates it at every band. Gross margin and net profit publish the $1M–$5M target only, because the stated net profit rule reproduces just 11 of 48.
Where does the underlying data come from?
Gross margin and overhead come from CFMA's 2024 and 2025 financial survey data, plus a January 2026 specialty trade study. Net profit comes from a 48 trade master dataset that covers 24 served trades and 24 adjacent trades. The reference holds 48 trades and the site publishes 47 pages, because landscaping and irrigation carry the same figures and are the same market. Where the survey and the master disagree on net profit, the master carries it. Benchmarks are reviewed against each new CFMA survey release and reconciled before publication. Full sourcing, including what is survey data and what is original analysis, is on the methodology page.
Can I cite this report?
Yes. Cite it as the Sulphur Prairie Operations LLC 2027 Construction Trade Benchmark Report. Where a figure originates in a third-party survey, cite that survey too. The methodology page lists every one of them.
Josh Luebker ran commercial construction projects before he ran the numbers behind them, on data centres, military bases, hospitals, and high-rises. He wrote CONTROL: The Construction Financial Operating System, which is an eight-step framework for commercial subcontractors, and it publishes on October 1, 2026. He is a master electrician who moved into the office and kept the field vocabulary.
Sulphur Prairie Operations LLC maintains the benchmark reference behind these figures. Every edition is reconciled against the newest CFMA survey release before it publishes here. Where a figure changes between editions, the older edition keeps its year in the title so a citation to it stays correct.