Who Are NAHB’s Builder Members?

Every year, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) conducts a member census to better understand the composition and characteristics of the people who belong to its organization.  In 2022, 35% of NAHB’s members were builders—those whose primary business is single-family home building, multifamily building, residential or commercial remodeling, commercial building, land development, or manufacturing of modular/panelized/log homes.  The remaining 65% were associate members—those involved in support industries and professions, such as trade contractors, manufacturers, retailers/distributors, designers, and architects.

Of the 38,313 builder members, 63% are single-family builders (spec/tract, custom, or general contracting), 21% are residential remodelers, 5% each are commercial and multifamily builders, and 4% are land developers.  One percent each are commercial remodelers and manufacturers of modular/panelized log homes (Exhibit 1).

Exhibit 1. Share of Builder Members by Primary Business Activity – 2022
(% of Respondents)

Company Details

NAHB’s builder members reported that they had a median of 5 employees on payroll in 2022, which has remained the same since 2015.  The average number of employees was 18.7 (8.1 construction employees and 10.6 non-consecutive employees), falling from 23.5 employees in 2021, but still the second highest average in the survey’s history.  Ten percent had 1 employee, 31% had 2 to 4 employees, 24% had 5 to 9, 25% had 10 to 49, and 6% had 50 or more paid employees.  Three percent had no payroll at all.

In 2022, builder members started a median of 6 housing units which remained unchanged from 2021.  Nineteen percent started 2 or 3 units, which is a very slight plurality (Exhibit 2).  Residential remodelers completed a median of 8 jobs above $10,000 in 2022.

Exhibit 2. Number of Housing Starts in 2022
(% of Respondents)

The median dollar volume of business among builder members was $3.3 million in 2022, unchanged from in 2021.  This is the second consecutive year where the median dollar volume of business is above $3 million.  By way of comparison, the size standards from the Small Business Administration (SBA) classify most types of construction businesses as small if they have average annual receipts in the range of $19.0 to $45.0 million.

Builder Details

The median age of NAHB builder members was 57 in 2022, which has remained unchanged since 2017.  Fifty-nine percent of members have either a college or a graduate/professional degree.  Eleven percent are women and 96% are White.

NAHB will also be producing a similar Special Report for Associate members, along with a corresponding blog post, which will be published soon.  For more details about NAHB builder members and a profile of each type of member, please visit housingeconomics.com or click here for the full article.