{"id":1048,"slug":"nahb-remodelers-cdb-2024-6-3pct-net-margin","title":"NAHB Remodelers Cost of Doing Business 2026 (FY 2024) — 6.3% net margin (highest since 1996), avg revenue $2.7M","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["gc-vertical","psychology-aversion","builder-economics"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** The 2026 edition of NAHB's *Remodelers' Cost of Doing Business Study* (covering fiscal year 2024) reports:\n\n- Average **net profit margin: 6.3%** — the highest since 1996.\n- Average **revenue: $2.7 million**.\n- **Trade contractor costs** declined from 36% of revenue in 2021 to 30% in 2024, driving most of the margin recovery.\n\n**Source:** NAHB Remodelers, *Cost of Doing Business Study*, 2026 edition.\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n**For Candid — the take-home calculation:** A residential GC running on a 6–11% net margin views every dollar of overhead through the lens that **one in ten of those dollars is owner take-home**. A $3,000/month marketing retainer ($36,000/year) is, on a $3M-revenue GC at 8% margin ($240,000 net), **15% of the owner's pre-tax take-home**. The retainer is not a marketing-budget question; it is a household-income question. This is structurally why marketing reads as larger than it numerically is. Used heavily in [[rule-be-explicit-about-marketing-cannot-do]].","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"research-brief-psychology-gc-marketing-aversion-may-2026","title":"Research brief: the psychology of marketing aversion among general contractor owners (May 2026 foundation)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"rule-be-explicit-about-marketing-cannot-do","title":"Rule: be explicit about what marketing cannot do — 6% margins won't become 20% via marketing","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}]},"created_at":"2026-05-24T23:24:06.259Z","updated_at":"2026-05-24T23:24:06.259Z"}