Short answer
The Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin metro had 4,621 construction establishments with paid employees in 2023, employing 55,344 people with $4.26 billion in annual payroll, according to Census County Business Patterns. Davidson County has 1,472 of them and almost half the jobs. Metro Nashville issued 10,043 building permits with $4.45 billion in declared construction cost in 2025, and its contractor registry lists 2,020 companies holding Metro or state licenses.
- 4,621 construction establishments and 55,344 employees in metro Nashville in 2023, with average pay of $76,963.
- Davidson County establishments average 18.5 employees, against 8.5 to 11.4 in Rutherford, Williamson and Sumner counties.
- Metro Nashville issued 3,734 new residential permits ($1.03 billion) and 307 new commercial permits ($910 million) in 2025.
- NVR (Ryan Homes), Beazer Homes and Meritage Homes of Tennessee were named on the most new residential permits in 2025.
- Metro's registry holds 7,091 license records for 2,020 contractor companies, 1,865 of them with a general contractor license.
On this page
This report is for people who need construction companies in Middle Tennessee: owners and developers hiring a builder, contractors looking for subcontractors or partners, job seekers, and suppliers and B2B sellers working the Nashville market. It combines the federal count with Metro Nashville's own permit and license data.
Nashville construction in the 2023 Census count
US Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, construction sector (NAICS 23), Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro Area (CBSA 34980):
| Measure | Metro Nashville, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Construction establishments | 4,621 |
| Employees (week of March 12) | 55,344 |
| Annual payroll | $4,259,434,000 |
| Average employees per establishment | 12.0 |
| Average annual pay | $76,963 |
| Share of US construction establishments | 0.57% (of 814,557) |
| Employees per establishment | Establishments |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 2,672 |
| 5 to 9 | 824 |
| 10 to 19 | 518 |
| 20 to 49 | 385 |
| 50 to 99 | 146 |
| 100 to 249 | 60 |
| 250 to 499 | 11 |
| 500 to 999 | 3 |
| 1,000 or more | 2 (derived) |
The Census Bureau doesn't publish the 1,000-or-more cell here; the 2 shown is the total less the published cells. That's 4,014 establishments (86.9%) with 1 to 19 employees, 531 (11.5%) with 20 to 99 and 76 (1.6%) with 100 or more. CBP counts locations with paid employees, not companies, and leaves out self-employed contractors with no payroll.
Davidson County and the ring around it
| County | Establishments | Employees | Average size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Davidson County | 1,472 | 27,226 | 18.5 |
| Rutherford County | 687 | 5,852 | 8.5 |
| Williamson County | 670 | 7,606 | 11.4 |
| Sumner County | 468 | 4,530 | 9.7 |
| Wilson County | 405 | 3,524 | 8.7 |
| Maury County | 230 | 1,987 | 8.6 |
| Robertson County | 211 | 1,527 | 7.2 |
| Dickson County | 162 | 1,257 | 7.8 |
Davidson County has 31.9% of the metro's establishments and 49.2% of its construction employees: larger contractors are concentrated in Davidson County, while the suburban counties are mostly smaller builders and trades. The metro's builders lean toward new housing: for-sale homebuilders (NAICS 236117) are 156 establishments, 3.4% of the total against 1.5% nationally, and site preparation contractors (306) are 6.6% against 5.1%.
What Metro Nashville's records show
Metro Nashville's Codes department publishes every building permit it issues, with the permit type, declared construction cost and contact, on a rolling three-year open dataset updated daily. Permits issued in 2025:
| Permit type | Permits | Declared construction cost |
|---|---|---|
| Residential, new | 3,734 | $1,031,413,631 |
| Commercial, rehab | 1,256 | $912,399,355 |
| Commercial, new | 307 | $910,085,500 |
| Commercial, shell | 54 | $472,388,510 |
| Commercial, addition | 84 | $332,389,614 |
| Commercial, tenant finish out | 473 | $310,867,668 |
| Residential, addition | 1,026 | $106,662,660 |
| Residential, rehab | 764 | $59,817,117 |
| All building permit types | 10,043 | $4,451,055,501 |
Commercial rehab permits nearly matched new commercial construction by value, which matters if you sell to interior and renovation contractors rather than ground-up builders.
Who pulled the permits in 2025
Builders named as the contact on the most new residential permits:
| Builder (as listed by Metro) | New residential permits, 2025 |
|---|---|
| NVR, Inc. T/A Ryan Homes | 180 |
| Beazer Homes LLC | 116 |
| Meritage Homes of Tennessee Inc | 86 |
| Legacy South Builders LLC | 83 |
| Regent Homes | 80 |
| Horton, D R Inc | 70 |
| Unique Management Development & Construction LLC | 61 |
| Ashton Nashville Residential | 43 |
| Drees Premier Homes Inc | 41 |
Meritage also appears under a second contact entry with 67 more permits, and 185 permits were self-permits by owner-occupants. Contractor companies named on new, shell, addition, structural frame and foundation commercial permits with the most declared cost:
| Contractor (as listed by Metro) | Permits | Declared cost |
|---|---|---|
| Brasfield & Gorrie LLC | 11 | $152.9 million |
| Axiom Builders LLC | 2 | $85.2 million |
| Bell & Associates Construction LLC | 8 | $74.1 million |
| Phelps, Hensel Construction Co | 1 | $60.6 million |
| D F Chase Inc | 3 | $57.1 million |
| Messer Construction Co | 1 | $56.3 million |
| Clark Construction Group LLC | 8 | $51.0 million |
| WD Construction LLC | 8 | $42.6 million |
| Turner Construction Co | 1 | $33.6 million |
Many large permits list a person rather than a company as the contact, and those aren't shown, so treat this as a list of active contractors, not a complete ranking. These permits cover Metro's jurisdiction only, not Williamson, Rutherford or the other counties.
Licenses: state and Metro
Two layers apply in Nashville. Tennessee's Board for Licensing Contractors licenses contractors by classification, and Metro's registry shows the range in use: residential, commercial, small commercial and "building contractor all" licenses, a residential license restricted to $125,000, home improvement licenses (238 in the registry) and specialties from roofing to concrete. Below $25,000, plumbers must hold a Limited Licensed Plumber license unless exempt, under T.C.A. 62-6-402.
Metro adds its own: it states that Metro Codes "is responsible for licensing building and trade contractors," and only contractors "properly licensed and bonded with the Department of Codes & Building Safety" can get permits, within the scope of their licenses. An owner who lives in, or will live in, a single-family home can pull a self-permit with notarized affidavits.
Hiring a Nashville contractor
- Search the company in Metro's contractor registry and the state's license verification search, and check that the license type covers your job.
- Look up its recent permits in Metro's permit data or the Codes permit search: how many jobs like yours, and how recent.
- Ask for certificates of insurance and its bond, and confirm them with the issuer.
- Get bids from at least three firms on the same scope, with payment tied to inspections passed.
Selling to Nashville construction companies
| Size band | Establishments | Who usually decides |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 19 employees | 4,014 | The owner |
| 20 to 99 employees | 531 | Owner with a project manager, estimator or office manager |
| 100 or more | 76 | Preconstruction, operations, purchasing and safety leaders |
The permit dataset is the best lead source here: filter new commercial and shell permits above a cost you care about each week, and you have the contractor, the address and the size of the job. Our guide to buying signals covers how to turn events like these into outreach.
Illustrative example. The company, prices and rates are invented; the counts are from CBP 2023 and Metro's 2025 permit data.
Cumberland Final Clean (cumberlandclean.example) sells post-construction cleaning to general contractors finishing commercial and multifamily jobs. The metro has 250 commercial and institutional building establishments, and Metro Nashville issued 307 new commercial permits in 2025. It assumes 40% of those builders run at least two qualifying projects a year, giving 100 accounts. At three projects a year and $18,000 per final clean, each account is worth $54,000; winning 15 accounts is $810,000 a year. Matching permits to the right project manager is the slow part; Bebop finds the contractor behind each project, the person who runs it and an angle to open with.
Local sources
| Source | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Metro Nashville open data | Building Permits Issued (rolling three years, daily), Building Permit Applications, and Registered Professional Contractors and Licenses |
| Metro Codes permit search | Permit records by address or permit number |
| Tennessee license verification | The state's public license search |
| Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce directory | Member businesses by category |
| Census Building Permits Survey | Housing permits for the metro: 19,210 units in 2025, down from 19,947 in 2024 |
No SEC-registered listed construction company has its business address in the metro. See also Knoxville construction companies for East Tennessee and companies in Nashville for other local industries.
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 Issued (open data), Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, accessed 30 October 2026
- Registered Professional Contractors and Licenses (open data), Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, accessed 30 October 2026
- Codes and Building Safety, Metro Nashville, accessed 30 October 2026
- Residential building permits, Metro Nashville Codes, accessed 30 October 2026
- Limited Licensed Plumber, Knox County Codes Administration, accessed 30 October 2026
- Building Permits Survey, annual CBSA data for 2025 (cbsa2512y), US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many construction companies are in Nashville?
The US Census Bureau counted 4,621 construction establishments with paid employees in the Nashville metro area in 2023, employing 55,344 people, with 1,472 in Davidson County. That counts locations, not companies, and excludes self-employed contractors. Metro Nashville's own contractor registry lists 2,020 companies holding Metro or state licenses, 1,865 of them with a general contractor license.
Who are the biggest homebuilders in Nashville?
By new residential permits issued by Metro Nashville in 2025, the builders named most often were NVR, Inc. trading as Ryan Homes (180 permits), Beazer Homes (116), Meritage Homes of Tennessee (86, plus 67 under a second contact entry), Legacy South Builders (83), Regent Homes (80) and D.R. Horton (70). This covers Metro's jurisdiction only, not the surrounding counties.
How do I check a contractor's license in Nashville?
Search the company in the State of Tennessee's license verification search and in Metro Nashville's Registered Professional Contractors and Licenses dataset, which lists each company's license types. Metro only lets contractors licensed and bonded with its Codes department pull permits within the scope of their licenses, so ask which permit the contractor will pull for your job.
How many building permits does Nashville issue?
Metro Nashville's Codes department issued 10,043 building permits in 2025 with $4.45 billion in declared construction cost, according to its open data. That included 3,734 new residential permits worth $1.03 billion, 307 new commercial permits worth $910 million and 1,256 commercial rehab permits worth $912 million. The dataset is updated daily and covers a rolling three years.
Can a homeowner pull a building permit in Nashville?
Yes, in some cases. Metro Nashville allows a property owner who lives in, or intends to live in, a single-family home to obtain a self-permit to build or repair it, after completing a notarized Affidavit of Exemption and Self Permit Affidavit. Self-permits can't be used for a detached accessory dwelling unit. Other work needs a properly licensed and bonded contractor.