Short answer
San Diego County had 8,325 construction establishments with paid employees in 2023, employing 91,254 people with $7.37 billion in annual payroll, according to Census County Business Patterns. Specialty trades are 5,209 of them, led by 2,094 electrical, plumbing and HVAC contractors. Most firms are small: 7,432 have fewer than 20 employees and 152 have 100 or more. Check any contractor's license, bond and workers' compensation on the CSLB's free license check before you sign.
- 8,325 construction establishments and 91,254 employees in San Diego County in 2023, 9.6% of California's establishments.
- Electrical contractors average 15.7 employees, the largest of the big trades, with 15,074 people across 958 establishments.
- 62% of the 11,707 housing units permitted across the county in 2025 were in buildings of five or more units.
- The City of San Diego issued 5,987 solar photovoltaic permits and 2,848 building permits worth $2.24 billion in 2025.
- SOLV Energy, a utility-scale solar and storage builder with $2.49 billion in 2025 revenue, is headquartered in San Diego.
On this page
This page is for anyone looking for, researching or selling to construction companies in San Diego County: owners and developers hiring a builder, general contractors looking for subcontractors, job seekers and B2B sellers. It sticks to federal counts, city permit records, state licensing rules and company filings.
San Diego County construction at a glance
The San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area (CBSA 41740) is San Diego County alone, so the metro figures below are county figures. Source: Census County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, construction sector (NAICS 23).
| Measure | San Diego County, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Construction establishments | 8,325 |
| Employees | 91,254 |
| Annual payroll | $7,367,603,000 |
| Average employees per establishment | 11.0 |
| Average annual pay | $80,737 |
| Share of US construction establishments | 1.02% (of 814,557) |
San Diego holds 9.6% of California's construction establishments and 10.5% of its construction jobs. Its contractors average 11.0 employees, a little above the Los Angeles metro's 9.9 and the US average of 9.4, and they pay $80,737 a year on average, against $76,580 for the whole country.
Size
| Employees per establishment | Establishments |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 5,274 |
| 5 to 9 | 1,363 |
| 10 to 19 | 795 |
| 20 to 49 | 549 |
| 50 to 99 | 192 |
| 100 to 249 | 123 |
| 250 to 499 | 18 |
| 500 to 999 | 9 |
| 1,000 or more | 2 (derived) |
The Census Bureau doesn't publish the 1,000-or-more cell for San Diego; the 2 shown is the total less the published size classes. That's 7,432 establishments (89.3%) with 1 to 19 employees, 741 (8.9%) with 20 to 99 and 152 (1.8%) with 100 or more.
What they build
| Type of work (NAICS) | Establishments | Employees |
|---|---|---|
| Specialty trade contractors (238) | 5,209 | 61,015 |
| Electrical, plumbing and HVAC (2382) | 2,094 | 28,537 |
| Electrical contractors (238210) | 958 | 15,074 |
| Plumbing, heating and air conditioning (238220) | 1,072 | 12,748 |
| Building finishing: drywall, painting, flooring, tile (2383) | 1,566 | 14,985 |
| Foundation, structure and exterior (2381) | 939 | 11,201 |
| Building construction (236) | 2,847 | 23,326 |
| Residential remodelers (236118) | 1,691 | 8,003 |
| New single-family general contractors (236115) | 609 | 2,322 |
| Commercial and institutional building (236220) | 435 | 10,445 |
| Heavy and civil engineering (237) | 269 | 6,913 |
| Water and sewer line construction (237110) | 76 | 1,940 |
Commercial builders are only 5.2% of establishments but employ 11.4% of the workforce, at 24 employees each. Remodelers are the opposite: 1,691 establishments averaging under five people.
Reading these counts. CBP counts establishments (locations) with paid employees during the week of March 12, 2023, not companies. A contractor with a Kearny Mesa office and an Escondido yard counts twice, and owner-operators with no payroll aren't counted at all. Contractors based in Riverside or Orange County that work in San Diego are counted where they're based.
What the City of San Diego is permitting
The city's Development Services Department publishes every approval it issues as open data, updated daily. For 2025 (City of San Diego only, not the rest of the county):
| Approvals issued in 2025 | Count | Reported valuation |
|---|---|---|
| All approvals | 54,562 | n/a |
| Building permits | 2,848 | $2.24 billion |
| Combination building permits | 4,567 | $461.6 million |
| Photovoltaic (solar) permits | 5,987 | not reported |
| No-plan residential mechanical, electrical and plumbing permits | 9,653 | not reported |
| Fire alarm and fire suppression permits | 2,171 | not reported |
| Demolition permits | 307 | not reported |
Solar permits outnumbered building permits two to one, which is why the county's electrical contractors are so large. For housing across the whole county, the Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey counts 11,707 units authorized in 2025 (11,572 in 2024): 3,506 single-family homes, 890 in two- to four-unit buildings and 7,311 in buildings of five or more units. That's a much higher apartment share than Los Angeles, where single-family homes and large buildings split the 2025 total almost evenly.
Licenses to check
California's Contractors State License Board (CSLB) licenses contractors statewide, and the city adds permits and inspections. A license is required for any job worth $1,000 or more in labor and materials, any job that needs a permit and any job that uses employees. What to confirm:
- The classification fits the job. A general building (B) license for work involving two or more unrelated trades, a residential remodeling (B-2) license for home remodels, or the specialty class for one trade: C-10 electrical or C-46 solar for a solar job, C-36 for plumbing, C-39 for roofing.
- The bond and insurance. Every licensee must carry a $25,000 license bond. Roofing, concrete, HVAC, asbestos and tree service licensees must carry workers' compensation even with no employees.
- The deposit. On a home improvement contract the down payment can't be more than 10% of the price or $1,000, whichever is less.
- Public work. Contractors on public projects must also be registered with the state Department of Industrial Relations.
Public companies headquartered in San Diego
| Company | What it does | Latest annual revenue | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SOLV Energy (Nasdaq: MWH) | Engineering, construction and maintenance of utility-scale solar, battery storage and grid projects; licensed in 41 states | $2.49 billion (2025) | IPO prospectus, May 2026 |
| Almco Plumbing (OTC: ALMP) | Residential and commercial plumbing and pipe lining | $3.66 million (2025), 30 employees | Regulation A annual report (Form 1-K) |
SOLV Energy listed in May 2026, so its first annual report on Form 10-K isn't out yet; the figure is from its final prospectus. Its projects are mostly outside the county. The region's large private general contractors don't publish revenue and aren't ranked here.
How to pick a San Diego contractor
- Search the license on the CSLB license check and confirm it's active and in the business name on your contract.
- Ask for permit numbers from recent jobs in the city and look them up in the Development Services approvals data; outside city limits, ask the city or county that issued them.
- Get two or three bids on one written scope, with the payment schedule tied to finished work.
- Ask about schedule and crew. With apartments and solar keeping trades busy, ask who will be on site, how many jobs they're running and when your job starts.
- Get lien releases from the contractor and its suppliers as you pay.
Selling to San Diego construction companies
| Segment | Size of the segment | Who to reach |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical and solar contractors | 958 electrical establishments | Owner or operations manager; purchasing at the larger firms |
| Remodelers and small builders | 1,691 remodelers, 609 new-home general contractors | The owner, usually on site |
| Commercial builders | 435 establishments with 10,445 employees | Preconstruction, estimating and project executives |
| Mid-sized trades | 741 establishments with 20 to 99 employees | Owner plus a controller or operations manager |
Permits are the timing signal. A solar or electrical contractor pulling dozens of permits a month needs materials, vehicles and people now; a commercial builder with a new building permit is about to buy out its subcontracts. Our guide to construction leads covers these signals in more depth.
Illustrative example. The company, its assumptions and the per-installer rate are invented; the permit and establishment counts are from the city and CBP.
Coronado Racking (coronadoracking.example) distributes solar mounting hardware. The city issued 5,987 solar permits in 2025. If the active installers pull an average of 40 a year each, that's about 150 installers working in the city, which it narrows to the firms already pulling permits monthly. Winning 20 of them, each buying $45,000 of hardware a year, is $900,000 in annual sales. Finding out which installers are growing is the slow part; Bebop researches each company on a list like this and drafts the first email.
Sources for names
| Source | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| CSLB license check | Any license's status, classification, bond and workers' compensation |
| CSLB public data portal | Lists of licensees by classification and county |
| City of San Diego approvals data | Every approval issued, created or closed, by year, with valuation and location |
| Development Services Department | Permit rules and the permit portal |
| DIR public works contractors | Firms registered for public works |
| AGC San Diego Chapter | General contractors and the firms that work with them |
| ABC San Diego | Merit shop contractors and apprenticeship programs |
| Building Industry Association of San Diego County | Homebuilders, remodelers and their trade partners |
| San Diego Regional EDC | Regional economic data and major projects |
Next step: see how the market compares with its neighbor in the Los Angeles construction companies report, or start your list with the construction companies industry guide.
Sources
- County Business Patterns 2023, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Building Permits Survey, annual CBSA data for 2024 and 2025, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- Approvals for development projects (issued approvals, 2025), City of San Diego Open Data Portal, updated 29 October 2026, accessed 30 October 2026
- What kind of contractor do I need?, Contractors State License Board, accessed 30 October 2026
- Finding the right contractor, Contractors State License Board, accessed 30 October 2026
- Public works contractor registration, California Department of Industrial Relations, accessed 30 October 2026
- SOLV Energy, Inc. prospectus (Form 424B4), US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 29 May 2026
- Almco Plumbing, Inc. annual report (Form 1-K) for 2025, US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), 30 April 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many construction companies are in San Diego?
Census County Business Patterns counted 8,325 construction establishments with paid employees in San Diego County in 2023, employing 91,254 people. That includes 5,209 specialty trade contractors, 2,847 building contractors and 269 heavy and civil engineering firms. The count is of locations, not companies, and excludes self-employed contractors with no employees.
How do I check if a San Diego contractor is licensed?
Search the contractor's name or license number on the Contractors State License Board's online license check, or call (800) 321-2752. Confirm the license is active, the classification matches your job, the $25,000 bond is current and workers' compensation is on file. Then ask for permit numbers from recent jobs and look them up in the City of San Diego's approvals data.
What is being built in San Diego right now?
Mostly apartments, solar and remodels. The Census Bureau counts 11,707 housing units authorized countywide in 2025, 7,311 of them in buildings of five or more units. The City of San Diego issued 5,987 solar photovoltaic permits and 2,848 building permits worth a reported $2.24 billion in 2025, plus 9,653 no-plan residential mechanical, electrical and plumbing permits.
What are the largest construction companies headquartered in San Diego?
Among public companies, SOLV Energy, which builds and maintains utility-scale solar, battery storage and grid projects, is headquartered in San Diego and reported $2.49 billion in 2025 revenue in its May 2026 prospectus. Almco Plumbing, a small San Diego plumbing contractor quoted over the counter, reported $3.66 million. Large private contractors don't publish revenue.
Can a contractor in San Diego ask for a big deposit?
Not on a home improvement job. California limits the down payment to 10% of the contract price or $1,000, whichever is less, unless the contractor has a blanket performance and payment bond on file with the Contractors State License Board. Later payments should match work completed. A request for a large deposit before work starts is a reason to walk away.