OVERHEAD BENCHMARKSINTERIORS CONTRACTORS$1M TO $500M+REVENUE BAND DATAGROSS MARGINNET MARGINOVERHEAD RATEOVERHEAD BENCHMARKSINTERIORS CONTRACTORS$1M TO $500M+REVENUE BAND DATAGROSS MARGINNET MARGINOVERHEAD RATE
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Interiors Contractors · Tenant Improvement · Commercial Interiors — Overhead Rate Benchmarks — By Revenue Band

Interiors Contractor
Overhead Rate.

Commercial interiors subcontractors — drywall, ceilings, flooring, and finishes on tenant improvement and commercial buildout projects — carry overhead driven by trade coordination complexity and the scheduling precision that occupied building work requires.

Overhead Benchmarks — Interiors Contractors — By Revenue Band

What Normal Looks Like
At Your Revenue Level.

These benchmarks are drawn from SPM's work with commercial interiors contractors and industry data. Calculate your actual overhead rate — total G&A expenses divided by total revenue for the trailing 12 months — and compare to your revenue band below.

How to use this data: If you're above the top of the range, specific categories need review. If you're below the bottom, you may be underinvesting in systems and staff. Use the benchmark as a target range, not a single number.

$1M – $5M
Overhead Rate
12–18%
Gross Margin Target
17–23%
Net Margin Target
5–7%
Largest Overhead Driver
Trade coordination
Multi-trade interiors coordination and occupied building work overhead at small scale.
$5M – $10M
Overhead Rate
10–15%
Gross Margin Target
18–24%
Net Margin Target
6–8%
Largest Overhead Driver
Supervision and scheduling
Managing multiple simultaneous TI projects requires dedicated scheduling coordination.
$10M – $25M
Overhead Rate
9–14%
Gross Margin Target
19–25%
Net Margin Target
7–8%
Largest Overhead Driver
Estimating staff
Commercial interiors estimating across multiple finish trades requires experienced staff.
$25M – $50M
Overhead Rate
8–12%
Gross Margin Target
20–26%
Net Margin Target
7–9%
Largest Overhead Driver
Safety and compliance
Occupied building safety programs and dust management compliance.
$50M – $100M
Overhead Rate
7–11%
Gross Margin Target
21–27%
Net Margin Target
8–10%
Largest Overhead Driver
Corporate overhead
Multi-region interiors operations with project management infrastructure.
$100M – $500M
Overhead Rate
6–10%
Gross Margin Target
22–28%
Net Margin Target
9–11%
Largest Overhead Driver
Corporate and compliance
Large TI programs with formal quality management systems.
$500M+
Overhead Rate
5–9%
Gross Margin Target
23–29%
Net Margin Target
10–12%
Largest Overhead Driver
Finance and legal
Scale overhead at large interiors contractor level.

Trade note for Interiors Contractors: Interiors contractors working in occupied buildings — hospitals, schools, retail, office — carry higher overhead than new construction interiors contractors. Infection control protocols, after-hours work premiums, and noise restriction compliance create overhead that empty-building interiors work doesn't require.

Why Overhead Rate Gets Off Track

Three Reasons Your
Overhead Is Drifting.

01

Occupied Building Compliance Gets Buried

ICRA protocols, dust barrier installation, after-hours coordination, and noise restriction compliance for occupied building work are direct job costs. When these costs get coded to overhead, occupied building jobs look more profitable than they are.

02

Multi-Trade Coordination Overhead

TI projects requiring coordination between drywall, ceiling, flooring, and millwork subcontractors — all sequenced through one interiors contractor — carry coordination overhead that single-trade interiors contractors don't have.

03

Punch List and Close-Out Overhead

Tenant improvement punch lists are detailed and demanding. The labor cost of responding to punch list items, coordinating close-out documentation, and managing warranty callbacks on TI projects is often absorbed without being tracked.

How SPM Manages It

Overhead Rate as a
Managed Number.

Occupied Building Cost to Jobs

ICRA protocol labor, dust barrier material, and after-hours coordination costs for specific occupied building projects are coded to those jobs in ControlQore — not to overhead. These are project-specific direct costs.

Trade Coordination Cost Tracking

Multi-trade coordination labor for complex TI projects is tracked at the job level in ControlQore — revealing which projects carry the highest coordination burden and supporting accurate overhead pricing on complex multi-trade interiors scopes.

Punch List Response Tracking

Punch list response labor and warranty callback costs are tracked by job — revealing which project types and which GC relationships generate above-average close-out overhead. This data improves future bid pricing and client relationship decisions.

Service Tiers

Two Ways to
Work With SPM.

Core Financial
From $1,900/mo
  • ControlQore setup and management
  • Job costing aligned to your estimates
  • Bookkeeping and bank reconciliations
  • AR and AP management
  • Monthly overhead rate tracking
  • 1 monthly CFO meeting
  • 60-day onboarding
Executive Financial
From $2,900/mo
  • Everything in Core Financial
  • Monthly WIP schedule
  • 13-week cash flow forecast
  • CEO Report and financial dashboard
  • 3 monthly CFO advisory meetings
  • Overhead rate vs. benchmark monthly
  • Direct access to Josh
Common Questions

Straight Answers.

How do I calculate my overhead rate?
Add up every expense that isn't a direct job cost for the trailing 12 months — office staff, rent, insurance, equipment payments not allocated to jobs, vehicles, software, marketing. Divide by total revenue for the same period. That percentage is your overhead rate. Compare it to the benchmark for your revenue band above.
Does SPM serve interiors contractors at all revenue levels?
SPM's direct engagement covers $1M–$12M in revenue. The benchmark data on this page covers the full revenue spectrum for reference. For contractors above $12M, SPM can make the right introduction to firms that specialize at larger scale.

IS YOUR OVERHEAD
IN RANGE?

Find out in a free 30-minute call. Josh will tell you straight where your overhead rate stands and what to do about it.

Schedule a Free Call →
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