Marketing budget benchmarks 2024–2026 — cross-industry vs construction comparison table
Created 2026-05-24
Claim: Comparative table of marketing-spend benchmarks, with each row sourced and confidence-labelled.
| Reference point | Marketing as % of revenue | Source / confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Gartner CMO Spend Survey, May 2024 (395 CMOs, median rev >$5.3B) | 7.7% (down from 9.1% in 2023) | Gartner — Verified |
| Gartner CMO Spend Survey, May 2025 (402 CMOs) | 7.7% (flat); 59% of CMOs report insufficient budget | Gartner — Verified |
| Duke / AMA CMO Survey, Fall 2024 | 7.7% | CMO Survey Fall 2024 — Verified |
| Construction industry, digital marketing | ~3% | The CMO Survey 2023 via Studio Barn Creative — Industry-consensus |
| U.S. residential builder | 0.8% of avg home sale price | NAHB Cost of Constructing 2024 — Verified |
| Residential builders, 2026 | 1.8–3.2% | Buildern Residential Construction Marketing Report 2026 — Industry-consensus / Directional |
Takeaway: Construction's marketing spend is roughly one-quarter to one-half of the cross-industry average, depending on the measure. This is not because GCs are wrong; it is because the structural economics — referral-heavy lead sourcing ([[apb-sorci-2024-48-7pct-referrals-half-of-sales]]), low margins ([[nahb-remodelers-cdb-2024-6-3pct-net-margin]]), project-based revenue — make a 7–10% allocation prima facie irrational. Candid's pitch cannot assume the GC should "catch up" to the cross-industry benchmark; it has to argue from the GC's actual economics.
Confidence: Verified (composite — each row independently sourced).