Interior finishes (drywall, interior doors, painting, cabinets, countertops, plumbing fixtures, flooring, etc.) take more time to complete—6.4 weeks, on average—than any other major stage of single-family construction, according to results from the latest NAHB/Well Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) survey.
The October 2026 HMI survey asked builders how long it takes to complete each of the seven major stages of construction traditionally used in NAHB’s construction cost surveys. The survey covers the steps a builder typically takes after purchasing a finished lot in the leading case of a single-family detached home built for sale.
After interior finishes, framing and major systems rough-ins (HVAC and plumbing/electrical other than fixtures) consume the most time: 3.7 weeks each. Final steps (landscaping, outdoor structures and clean-up) require 3.6 weeks, and exterior finishes (siding, roofing, windows & doors) require 3.4. The earliest stages of the construction process, site work and foundations, require the least amount of time—a little over two weeks each, on average.
The most time-consuming stages of construction are also in general the costliest. In NAHB’s latest construction cost survey, for example, interior finishes account for over 24% of the builder’s construction costs, significantly more than any other stage of construction and roughly proportional to the amount of time that stage consumes in the overall construction process. Final steps, however, break this general rule by being the least expensive stage of construction but consuming a disproportionately large amount of construction time. The complete cost breakdown by stage of construction, along with a more detailed description of each stage, is available in Cost of Constructing a Home-2024.
In total, NAHB’s October 2026 HMI survey shows that it takes 25.3 weeks (about 5.8 months) to build the average single-family detached home, close to the average time of 6.1 months from start to completion reported by the Census Bureau for a single-family home built for sale in 2025. The Census estimates show that custom homes (e.g., contractor-built homes built one at a time on the home owner’s lot, and owner-built homes where the owner functions as the general contractor) take significantly more time to complete. Moreover, these numbers are averages, and it’s important to remember that the time it takes to build a particular home will vary based on geography and characteristics of the home and its builder.
The Census Bureau’s time-to-completion estimate is based on a considerably larger and more intricately stratified sample than the one from NAHB. Hence, the Census estimate is the one you would use if you’re interested simply in total construction time for a single-family home.
NAHB’s new 25.3-week time-to-completion estimate, however, has the obvious advantage of breaking down the time by stage of construction. The extra detail may be useful to a builder who wants to educate customers, decide when to purchase building materials, schedule inspections, or manage subcontractors.