Short answer
The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro had 8,503 construction establishments with paid employees in 2023, employing 80,913 people with $7.15 billion in annual payroll, according to Census County Business Patterns. Average pay was $88,312, about 15% above the US construction average. Oakland County has 2,877 establishments, Wayne 2,201 and Macomb 2,053. In the City of Detroit, residential contractors need a builder's license and city registration to pull a permit; commercial permits require sealed plans but no contractor license.
- 8,503 construction establishments and 80,913 employees in metro Detroit in 2023, with average pay of $88,312.
- Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties hold 83.9% of the metro's construction establishments.
- Residential remodelers are 19.1% of establishments, against 16.6% nationally.
- The City of Detroit issued 193 new-construction building permits worth $1.37 billion in estimated contractor cost in 2025, up from 108 in 2024.
- Metro housing permits rose 20.2% in 2025 to 8,950 units, driven by a 71.2% jump in apartment units.
On this page
This report is for people looking for, comparing or selling to construction companies in Southeast Michigan: homeowners and developers hiring a contractor, general contractors finding subcontractors, job seekers, and B2B sellers building a Detroit territory.
Detroit construction by the numbers
US Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, construction sector (NAICS 23), Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metro Area (CBSA 19820):
| Measure | Metro Detroit, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Construction establishments | 8,503 |
| Employees (week of March 12) | 80,913 |
| Annual payroll | $7,145,582,000 |
| Average employees per establishment | 9.5 |
| Average annual pay | $88,312 |
| Share of US construction establishments | 1.04% (of 814,557) |
Average pay of $88,312 compares with about $76,580 for all US construction establishments in the same data (state totals summed), 15.3% higher. The metro holds 39.9% of Michigan's 21,298 construction establishments and 44.5% of its construction employees. CBP counts establishments (locations) with paid employees, not companies, and excludes self-employed contractors with no payroll.
Six counties
| County | Establishments | Employees | Average size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland County | 2,877 | 31,799 | 11.1 |
| Wayne County | 2,201 | 22,941 | 10.4 |
| Macomb County | 2,053 | 17,733 | 8.6 |
| Livingston County | 696 | 4,696 | 6.7 |
| St. Clair County | 428 | 2,500 | 5.8 |
| Lapeer County | 248 | 1,244 | 5.0 |
Oakland County, not Wayne, is the metro's construction center: it has 33.8% of establishments and 39.3% of employees. The three core counties together hold 7,131 establishments (83.9%).
Size
| Employees per establishment | Establishments |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 5,703 |
| 5 to 9 | 1,270 |
| 10 to 19 | 793 |
| 20 to 49 | 466 |
| 50 to 99 | 156 |
| 100 to 249 | 90 |
| 250 to 499 | 16 |
| 500 to 999 | 6 |
| 1,000 or more | 3 |
7,766 establishments (91.3%) have 1 to 19 employees, 622 (7.3%) have 20 to 99 and 115 (1.4%) have 100 or more. The metro average of 9.5 employees matches the US average of 9.4, but two-thirds of establishments (67.1%) have fewer than five employees.
What Detroit's contractors do
| Type of work (NAICS) | Establishments | Employees | Share here | Share in US |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential remodelers (236118) | 1,621 | 5,924 | 19.1% | 16.6% |
| Single-family homes for clients and on owned lots (236115) | 318 | 1,368 | 3.7% | 7.4% |
| Commercial and institutional builders (236220) | 492 | 10,093 | 5.8% | 4.8% |
| Industrial building (236210) | 57 | 1,456 | 0.7% | 0.4% |
| Heavy and civil engineering (237) | 351 | 7,549 | 4.1% | 4.7% |
| Plumbing, heating and air conditioning (238220) | 1,107 | 12,387 | 13.0% | 13.7% |
| Electrical contractors (238210) | 798 | 11,538 | 9.4% | 10.2% |
| Building finishing (2383) | 1,465 | 8,981 | 17.2% | 15.7% |
| Masonry (238140) | 255 | 2,195 | 3.0% | 2.2% |
US shares are calculated from the CBP 2023 state files summed across all states. The Census Bureau marks the commercial and industrial building employee counts as moderate noise (changed by 2% to 5% for confidentiality). The pattern fits an older housing stock and a manufacturing economy: more remodelers and fewer new-home builders than the national mix, and a higher share of industrial building contractors (0.7% against 0.4%).
What the City of Detroit's permits show
The city's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) publishes every building permit since 2019 on Detroit's open data portal, with the permit type and estimated contractor cost:
| Permit type | 2024 permits | 2024 estimated cost | 2025 permits | 2025 estimated cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New construction | 108 | $1,228,845,056 | 193 | $1,369,995,729 |
| Alteration | 5,854 | $507,728,560 | 4,783 | $428,906,762 |
| Alteration revision | 154 | $271,744,702 | 207 | $460,065,141 |
| Change of occupancy or use | 136 | $92,219,599 | 172 | $296,457,349 |
| Addition | 55 | $32,286,198 | 88 | $145,605,677 |
| All building permits | 6,937 | $2,323,179,890 | 6,283 | $2,889,499,358 |
New-construction permits rose 79% in number while alteration permits fell 18%, so 2025 was a year for ground-up builders in the city. Across the metro, the Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey shows housing units authorized rising from 7,446 in 2024 to 8,950 in 2025: single-family units slipped from 4,866 to 4,762, while units in buildings of five or more rose from 2,023 to 3,464.
What Detroit requires before a permit
| Permit | Contractor requirement (BSEED) |
|---|---|
| Residential building | "Contractors must have a Builder's License and City registration"; homeowners can apply without a contractor's license |
| Commercial building | "No license required," but all plans must be sealed by a state-registered architect or engineer |
| Sign | A City of Detroit licensed sign erector or sign specialist |
| Trade (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, boiler, elevator) | A licensed professional, or a homeowner who occupies the dwelling |
Contractors link their license account to their permit account in the city's electronic Licensing and Permit System. Suburban cities set their own registration rules, so check each one.
Vetting a Detroit contractor
- For a house, ask for the builder's license number and city registration, and confirm both before the contract is signed.
- For commercial work, judge the firm on its record, since the permit doesn't require a contractor license: completed projects of the same type, references from owners, and bonding capacity.
- Check that licensed trades are named for the electrical, plumbing and mechanical work, because those permits need a licensed professional.
- Ask for certificates of insurance and confirm them with the agent.
- Collect lien waivers with every payment, from the contractor and its main subcontractors and suppliers.
Selling to Detroit construction companies
| Size band | Establishments | Who decides |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 19 employees | 7,766 | The owner |
| 20 to 99 employees | 622 | Owner with an operations manager, estimator or office manager |
| 100 or more | 115 | Operations, procurement, safety, workforce and preconstruction leaders |
High wages change what sells. With average pay of $88,312, anything that saves field hours (prefabrication, scheduling, equipment uptime) pays back faster here than in a lower-wage metro.
Illustrative example. The agency, margins and rates are invented; the counts are CBP 2023.
Motor City Trades Staffing (motorcitytrades.example) places journeyman electricians, pipefitters and carpenters on temporary assignments. Its targets are the metro's 798 electrical contractors, 1,107 plumbing and HVAC contractors and 492 commercial builders: 2,397 establishments. It assumes 15% have 20 or more employees and use temporary trades labor, about 360 accounts, worth $45,000 a year each in gross margin. Winning 10%, 36 accounts, is $1.62 million a year. Knowing which contractor just won a large job is the slow part; Bebop researches each one and suggests an opening angle. For the call itself, see the cold calling guide.
Where to find names
| Source | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Detroit open data: building permits | BSEED building, trade and demolition permits since 2019, with type, address and estimated cost |
| Detroit eLAPS permit system | Permit applications and records |
| AGC of Michigan member directory | Statewide commercial construction association, one of 89 AGC chapters |
| Construction Association of Michigan buyers guide | Member directory of the Bloomfield Hills based association |
| Detroit Regional Chamber business directory | Members across the 11-county Southeast Michigan region |
| Detroit Economic Growth Corporation | City economic development projects that create construction work |
No SEC-registered listed construction company has its business address in the Detroit metro. For the statewide picture, see construction companies in Michigan; for other local industries, see companies in Detroit.
Next step: build the list itself with the construction companies industry guide.
Sources
- County Business Patterns 2023, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Building Permits (BSEED open data), City of Detroit, accessed 30 October 2026
- Building permits, City of Detroit Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department, accessed 30 October 2026
- Building Permits Survey, annual CBSA data for 2025 (cbsa2512y), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Building Permits Survey, annual CBSA data for 2024 (cbsa2412y), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Associated General Contractors of Michigan, AGC of Michigan, accessed 30 October 2026
- Detroit Regional Chamber, Detroit Regional Chamber, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many construction companies are in Detroit?
The US Census Bureau counted 8,503 construction establishments with paid employees in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro area in 2023, employing 80,913 people. Oakland County had 2,877, Wayne County 2,201 and Macomb County 2,053. The count is of locations, not companies, and it leaves out self-employed contractors with no employees.
Do you need a license to pull a building permit in Detroit?
For residential work, yes. The City of Detroit's Buildings, Safety Engineering and Environmental Department says contractors must have a builder's license and city registration; homeowners can apply without one. For commercial building permits, BSEED lists no contractor license requirement, but all plans must be sealed by a state-registered architect or engineer. Trade permits need a licensed professional or an owner-occupant.
How much do construction workers make in Detroit?
Census County Business Patterns puts average annual pay at metro Detroit construction establishments at $88,312 in 2023: $7.15 billion in payroll across 80,913 employees. That's about 15% above the average for all US construction establishments in the same data. It's an average across all jobs, from laborers to managers, not a wage for any one trade.
How many building permits does Detroit issue?
Detroit's open data shows 6,283 building permits issued by the city in 2025 with $2.89 billion in estimated contractor cost, against 6,937 permits and $2.32 billion in 2024. New-construction permits rose from 108 to 193, worth $1.37 billion in 2025, while alteration permits fell from 5,854 to 4,783. Trade and demolition permits are tracked in separate datasets.