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Construction and trades · 14 min

Your overhead rate

The truck, the insurance and the hours you spend estimating cost the same whether you win ten jobs or twenty. Your overhead rate is how each job pays its share, and it's yours to work out, not a number to copy.

OFFICE
Ticket 01 · The guess

How much is overhead, really?

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), a trade group, surveys residential remodelers on their costs. For 2024, the remodelers who answered took in about $2.7Meyeonhousing.org ·2024 each, on average. What share of that went to running the business rather than to the jobs: the office, vehicles, insurance, sales, and the owner's own pay?

10%
0%60%
Words to know

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Tell us what looks off. No name or email needed.

What kind of problem?

0 / 1000

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Sources and every number (3)

Sources

  • Remodelers Saw Profit Margin Gains in 2024 (NAHB's 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study, a survey of residential remodelers, fiscal year 2024) · National Association of Home Builders (Eye on Housing, Rose Quint), 2024
  • 2022 Economic Census, Construction: Summary Statistics for the U.S., States, and Selected Geographies (table EC2223BASIC; NAICS 236118 residential remodelers, 238220 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors, 236220 commercial and institutional building construction) · U.S. Census Bureau, 2022
  • Comfort Systems USA, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 · Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (filed with the U.S. SEC), 2025

Every number

  • $2.7Meyeonhousing.org ·2024 · NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: average total revenue of the remodelers who answered.
  • 23.6%eyeonhousing.org ·2024 · NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: operating expenses (indirect construction costs, finance, sales and marketing, general and administrative costs, and the owner's pay) as a share of revenue, on average.
  • $646,000eyeonhousing.org ·2024 · NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: operating expenses, on average.
  • 70.1%eyeonhousing.org ·2024 · NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: cost of sales (labor, materials and trade contractors) as a share of revenue, on average.
  • 6.3%eyeonhousing.org ·2024 · NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: net profit as a share of revenue, on average.
  • 33.7%example (example number: Worked out from NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: operating expenses divided by cost of sales, both as shares of revenue.) · Worked out from NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: operating expenses divided by cost of sales, both as shares of revenue.
  • $1Mcensus.gov ·2022 · Worked out from the 2022 Economic Census: what residential remodelers took in during 2022, divided by how many there were, rounded to the nearest thousand.
  • 9.7%sec.gov ·2025 · Comfort Systems USA, fiscal 2025: selling, general and administrative expenses as a share of revenue.
  • $883.3Msec.gov ·2025 · Comfort Systems USA, fiscal 2025: selling, general and administrative expenses (the filing reports it in thousands of dollars).
  • 12.8%example (example number: Worked out from Comfort Systems USA's fiscal 2025 annual report: selling, general and administrative expenses divided by the cost of services.) · Worked out from Comfort Systems USA's fiscal 2025 annual report: selling, general and administrative expenses divided by the cost of services.
  • 15%example (example number: Simplified example: the first construction lesson's overhead share, as a share of the direct cost.) · Simplified example: the first construction lesson's overhead share, as a share of the direct cost.
  1. Lessons›
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  3. Construction and trades
  • ·Before this: Contracts, payments and liens
  • ·Free guide: How contractors make money
Skip to the lesson
Back to the home page and map, from TryOwning · Construction and trades · Lesson 6
Part 1 of 3Part 1 of 3, 0 done

Construction and trades · 14 min

Your overhead rate

The truck, the insurance and the hours you spend estimating cost the same whether you win ten jobs or twenty. Your overhead rate is how each job pays its share, and it's yours to work out, not a number to copy.

OFFICE
Ticket 01 · The guess

How much is overhead, really?

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), a trade group, surveys residential remodelers on their costs. For 2024, the remodelers who answered took in about $2.7Meyeonhousing.org ·2024 each, on average. What share of that went to running the business rather than to the jobs: the office, vehicles, insurance, sales, and the owner's own pay?

10%
0%60%
Words to know

Spot something wrong?

Tell us what looks off. No name or email needed.

What kind of problem?

0 / 1000

We'll also send this page, the lesson, ticket 1, so we can find it. Nothing else. Privacy

·
Sources and every number (3)

Sources

  • Remodelers Saw Profit Margin Gains in 2024 (NAHB's 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study, a survey of residential remodelers, fiscal year 2024) · National Association of Home Builders (Eye on Housing, Rose Quint), 2024
  • 2022 Economic Census, Construction: Summary Statistics for the U.S., States, and Selected Geographies (table EC2223BASIC; NAICS 236118 residential remodelers, 238220 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors, 236220 commercial and institutional building construction) · U.S. Census Bureau, 2022
  • Comfort Systems USA, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 · Comfort Systems USA, Inc. (filed with the U.S. SEC), 2025

Every number

  • $2.7Meyeonhousing.org ·2024 · NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: average total revenue of the remodelers who answered.
  • 23.6%eyeonhousing.org ·2024 · NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: operating expenses (indirect construction costs, finance, sales and marketing, general and administrative costs, and the owner's pay) as a share of revenue, on average.
  • $646,000eyeonhousing.org ·2024 · NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: operating expenses, on average.
  • 70.1%eyeonhousing.org ·2024 · NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: cost of sales (labor, materials and trade contractors) as a share of revenue, on average.
  • 6.3%eyeonhousing.org ·2024 · NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: net profit as a share of revenue, on average.
  • 33.7%example (example number: Worked out from NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: operating expenses divided by cost of sales, both as shares of revenue.) · Worked out from NAHB's survey of residential remodelers (its 2026 Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study), fiscal year 2024: operating expenses divided by cost of sales, both as shares of revenue.
  • $1Mcensus.gov ·2022 · Worked out from the 2022 Economic Census: what residential remodelers took in during 2022, divided by how many there were, rounded to the nearest thousand.
  • 9.7%sec.gov ·2025 · Comfort Systems USA, fiscal 2025: selling, general and administrative expenses as a share of revenue.
  • $883.3Msec.gov ·2025 · Comfort Systems USA, fiscal 2025: selling, general and administrative expenses (the filing reports it in thousands of dollars).
  • 12.8%example (example number: Worked out from Comfort Systems USA's fiscal 2025 annual report: selling, general and administrative expenses divided by the cost of services.) · Worked out from Comfort Systems USA's fiscal 2025 annual report: selling, general and administrative expenses divided by the cost of services.
  • 15%example (example number: Simplified example: the first construction lesson's overhead share, as a share of the direct cost.) · Simplified example: the first construction lesson's overhead share, as a share of the direct cost.
  1. Lessons›
  2. Industries›
  3. Construction and trades
  • ·Before this: Contracts, payments and liens
  • ·Free guide: How contractors make money