Where interiors contractors lose money
6 things cost interiors contractors money without ever becoming a line item, and each one traces to a step you can install. Interiors contractors average 19% gross margin, 13% overhead and 6% net profit at $1M to $5M of revenue. The CFOS target at that size is 22% gross margin, 12% overhead and 10% net, and the 4 points left on the table is where those mechanisms live. Figures for all 7 revenue bands are in the table below.
Interiors ranks 3rd of 6 in interiors and finishes on net profit, and it has leaner overhead than the 48-trade average. Here is every figure, across all 7 revenue bands.
Interiors by revenue band
| Metric | $1M to $5M | $5M to $10M | $10M to $25M | $25M to $50MModeled | $50M to $100MModeled | $100M to $500MModeled | $500M+Modeled | CFOS target at $1M to $5M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overhead | 13% | 12% | 11% | 10% | 9% | 8% | 8% | 12% |
| Gross margin | 19% | 21% | 22% | 23% | 25% | 26% | 28% | 22% |
| Net profit | 6% | 9% | 11% | 13% | 16% | 18% | 20% | 10% |
| Metric | $1M to $5M | $5M to $10M | $10M to $25M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overhead | 12% | 11% | 10% |
| Gross margin | 22% | 23.5% | 24.5% |
| Net profit | 10% | 12.5% | 14.5% |
Modeled extension of the survey curve, not reconciled against the licensed CFMA Benchmarker. That applies to the 4 bands above $10M to $25M, and no CFOS target is published for them.
Gross margin and overhead come from figures CFMA, Jones Maresca and other sources publish by trade and size, and they are before tax figures. Net profit starts from gross margin less overhead and is then adjusted for taxes and a few other expenses, so it is stated after taxes. It is published as its own average and is not calculated from the other two on the page.
CFMA reports net income before taxes, so a CFMA figure is higher than an after tax figure on the same business. CFMA's 2025 medians are 7.1 percent before interest and taxes and 6.7 percent net income before taxes. Read a net profit figure here against CFMA's with that difference in mind.
Above the $10M to $25M band the gross margin and overhead rows are a modeled extension of the same curves. They have not been reconciled against the licensed CFMA Benchmarker, so read those bands as a model and not as a survey result.
Run On CFOS. Run On CFOS Trade Benchmark Reference: Interiors. 2026. Sulphur Prairie Operations, LLC. https://runoncfos.com/trades/interior. CC BY 4.0.
Figures on this page were last revised 2026-08-21. Published under CC BY 4.0, which permits reuse of any figure here, including commercially, as long as the credit above travels with it. The same figures in machine-readable form: /benchmarks.json.
Trade level gross margin and overhead come from figures CFMA, Jones Maresca and other sources publish, and Run On CFOS publishes net profit as a separate average stated after taxes. The CFOS targets beside them are from the book CONTROL: C.F.O.S. Construction Financial Operating System, published with the full reference at runoncfos.com.
- 2024 Construction Financial Benchmarker, Executive Summary, Construction Financial Management Association, 2024.
- 2025 Construction Financial Benchmarker, Executive Summary, Construction Financial Management Association, 2025.
- 2025 Performance Benchmarks, Construction Companies, Jones Maresca and Company, 2025.
- Run On CFOS Trade Benchmark Reference, Sulphur Prairie Operations, LLC, 2026.
Sourcing and method: the methodology page.
Which bands are measured. The 4 bands above $10M to $25M extend the survey curve further out and have not been reconciled against the licensed CFMA Benchmarker. How every figure was built is explained on the methodology page.
6 problems specific to interiors
You cut the deposit on doors, frames, and hardware in the spring so hollow metal frames can go in before the walls close, and the leaves and closers stay crated until finishes. Your crew is mobilized and can't legally cover the wall until MEP rough, blocking, sound batt, and head-of-wall firestopping pass, and the special inspector books elsewhere. Wallboard moves on an announced list increase with a hard effective date, your distributor quote holds about 30 days, and buyout is three months after you signed the contract. You start in month 10 to 14 of an 18 to 24 month build and install most of your contract in the last stretch, which is when the withheld retention balance is at its highest.
Each one below points at the item, the unit, the clock, or the party that makes it an interiors problem, and it says which step fixes it.
| Mechanism | Why it's specific to this trade | Step |
|---|---|---|
| Your Door Hardware Stays in a Crate for Nine Months | A framing sub buys studs and track, then installs them the week the truck unloads. Interiors has to buy finish hardware at framing time, because the frame and the leaf come off the same made-to-order submittal against an approved hardware and keying schedule with fire labels. That makes the package non-returnable and non-substitutable. Electrified sets routinely take 20 to 30 weeks, so you can't split the buy to match the two install dates. | Job cost structure |
| Waiting on the Inspector Is Priced Into Nothing | Most trades wait for access. Interiors waits for a legal release to conceal, which is a different animal. The AHJ and the special inspector own the clock, while the GC owns the call to proceed. Meanwhile the payroll in front of that open wall is yours alone, and because the same crew closes walls and drops tile, one late inspection on a floor stops both halves of your scope at once. | Project management |
| The January Board Increase Applies to a Job You Bid in October | Buying early means stocking material into a building that isn't ready, and it means financing that material and finding somewhere dry to keep it. That works for a trade with a small material buy. Board and framing are typically 25 to 40 percent of an interiors contract, so pre-buying a full job turns into a warehouse problem and a cash problem at the same time, while every competitor bidding after the effective date prices the new number. | Estimating system |
| Peak Payroll and Peak Retention Occur in the Same Quarter | Trades that work early finish their ramp and then collect retention while payroll is falling. Interiors gets the reverse. The ramp and the punch stack into the same 90 days as the biggest withheld balance. You're also holding the release date for everybody else's retention, because the building doesn't reach final completion until your touch-up, doors, and hardware punch is signed off. | Monthly cadence |
| Mud and Screws Are Using Up Your Overhead | Most trades buy material by the job, where one delivery and one PO match one number in job cost. Interiors has a daily drip of consumables plus a stocking operation that moves tons of board vertically before production even starts, and neither one looks like a job purchase when the paperwork comes in. The stocking hours in particular disappear into field wages with no installed quantity to measure them against. | Software and bookkeeping alignment |
| The Callback Comes One Winter After You Left the Job | A trade that leaves at rough-in never sees the building occupied. Interiors owns the surfaces the owner stares at every day and the assemblies that move when the heat comes on, so the one-year walk list is mostly yours. When the GC pushes flooring in ahead of a passing F2170 test, the manufacturer voids the warranty and the failure belongs to whoever spread the adhesive. | Standards and accountability |
Interiors against the other 47 trades
| Metric | Interiors | Interiors and finishes average | All 48 average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overhead | 13% | 13.3% | 15.1% | 1st of 48 |
| Gross margin | 19% | 19.7% | 22.1% | 41st of 48 |
| Net profit | 6% | 6.3% | 7% | 38th of 48 |
Interiors sheds 5 points of overhead between $1M to $5M and $500M+, against 5.3 for interiors and finishes as a group. Inside that group, Acoustic ceiling, Tile and stone all keep 8%, the most in the group, and Acoustic ceiling, Drywall, Interiors and 1 more all have 13% overhead, the leanest. The leanest one is this trade.
Other interiors and finishes trades
What owners ask
What overhead should an interiors contractor have?
Interiors shares its overhead figure with 4 other trades at this revenue, which is what the published data resolves to. It averages 13% at $1M to $5M and 8% at $500M+, as a percentage of revenue. That is 0.3 points below the interiors and finishes average of 13.3%. The CFOS target at $1M to $5M is 12%. The CFOS target is one point leaner than your trade's industry average at your revenue.
What gross margin should an interiors contractor have?
Interiors shares its gross margin figure with 2 other trades at this revenue, which is what the published data resolves to. It averages 19% at $1M to $5M and 28% at $500M+, as a percentage of revenue. That is 0.7 points below the interiors and finishes average of 19.7%. The CFOS target at $1M to $5M is 22%. The CFOS target recalculates at your revenue: whatever gross margin produces the net profit target once overhead is paid, never below your trade's own industry average.
What net profit should an interiors contractor have?
Interiors shares its net profit figure with 3 other trades at this revenue, which is what the published data resolves to. It averages 6% at $1M to $5M and 20% at $500M+, after taxes, as a percentage of revenue. That is 0.3 points below the interiors and finishes average of 6.3%. The CFOS target at $1M to $5M is 10%. The CFOS target recalculates at your revenue: 10 percent after taxes, or 3.5 points better than your trade's industry average, whichever is higher.
What profit margin should a small interiors business have?
Owners usually mean net profit when they say profit margin, and for interiors at $1M to $5M that's 6%. Gross margin is a different number, 19%, and it's what's left after job costs but before overhead. Overhead is the 13% between the two. A small interiors business holding 6% net is at the published figure for its size, and the CFOS target at that revenue is 10%.
Does interiors get more profitable as it grows?
Overhead is the number that moves. Interiors sheds 5 points between $1M to $5M and $500M+, which is in line with the 5.3 points interiors and finishes sheds as a group. Net profit starts 1 points under the 48-trade average, so the room is in the overhead line before it's anywhere else.
Where does interiors rank against the other trades?
Interiors ties 1 trade in interiors and finishes on net profit, all at 6%. Acoustic ceiling, Tile and stone are the most profitable at 8%. Its overhead is the leanest too, level with Acoustic ceiling, Drywall and Painting. Gross margin ranks 41st of 48 and overhead ranks 1st.
That's the industry average and the CFOS target for interiors at every size. Want your own books set beside them? The Financial Health Snapshot builds a CEO Report from your last twelve months, sets every figure against your trade, and walks you through it on a 60 minute call. SPM The Construction CFO (Sulphur Prairie Management, LLC) is a separate firm, and the same author leads it.
Everything on this page is something you can install yourself, and CONTROL is the order to do it in. If you would rather buy the finished result, SPM The Construction CFO does this work for interiors contractors as a service. It is a separate firm, Sulphur Prairie Management, LLC, led by the same author.
Wrote CONTROL, the 8 step system behind these figures. More about the author.