Who Are NAHB’s Builder Members?

Every year the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) conducts a member census in order to better understand the composition and characteristics of the people who belong to its organization. In 2016, 32 percent of NAHB’s members were builders—those directly involved in home building. The remaining 68 percent were associate members—those involved in support industries and professions, such as trade contractors, manufacturers, retailers/distributors, designers, and architects.Sixty percent of builder members are single-family builders (spec/tract, custom, or general contracting), 23 percent are residential remodelers, 6 percent are commercial builders, 5 percent are multifamily builders, and 4 percent 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 – 2016

(Percent of Respondents)

Company Details

NAHB’s builder members reported that they had a median of 5 employees on payroll in 2016. Fourteen percent had 1 employee, 31 percent 2 to 4 employees, 24 percent had 5 to 9, 24 percent had 10 to 49, and 4 percent had 50 or more paid employees. Three percent had no employees on payroll.

In 2016, builder members started a median of 6 housing units. The first year the member Census was conducted, 2008, builders reported starting a median of 4 units. The median then slipped to 3 units between 2009 and 2011, but gradually increased thereafter. It rose to 4 units in 2012, to 5 units between 2013 and 2015, and to 6 units in 2016.

The median dollar volume of builder members in 2016 was $2.4 million, barely under the median dollar volume reported in 2015 ($2.5 million) and the second highest median dollar volume since the start of the Census in 2008.

Builder Details

The median age of NAHB builder members is 56. More than half (53 percent) have either a college or an advanced degree.

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.

For details on NAHB’s associate members, please look out for next month’s article on housingeconomics.com.

This post brought to you by NAHB Eye on Housing.