Birmingham has 3,047 businesses with 20 or more people on site across the categories commercial trades sell to, and it leans toward hosting and data processing companies and bank and credit union offices more than the U.S. as a whole. Here is how each trade's market looks, where the buildings are and when to call.
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Ranked by larger buildings per contractor against up to 100 markets (only markets with 10 or more contractors in a trade are ranked; n/r means not ranked). A higher rank means more buildings worth calling for every competitor working them.
| Trade | Contractors | 1-yr change | Larger buildings | Per contractor | Rank | Eligible targets | Push months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial Largest buyer group: ambulatory health care: physician, dental, outpatient and urgent care | 220 | +8 | 1,095 | 5.0 | #20 | 1,071 | Year-round |
| Commercial Landscaping Largest buyer group: retail stores | 413 | -2 | 1,545 | 3.7 | #47 | · | Dec–Feb |
| Paving & Asphalt Largest buyer group: retail stores | 40 | +1 | 1,584 | 39.6 | #58 | · | Dec–Feb |
| Commercial Construction Largest buyer group: manufacturing companies | 232 | +19 | 846 | 3.6 | #70 | 3,450 | Year-round |
| Commercial Flooring Largest buyer group: ambulatory health care: physician, dental, outpatient and urgent care | 18 | 0 | 880 | 48.9 | #55 | · | Year-round |
| Fire Protection Largest buyer group: restaurants | 61 | +5 | 1,509 | 24.7 | #89 | · | Year-round |
| Commercial Roofing Largest buyer group: retail stores | 36 | +2 | 1,493 | 41.5 | #85 | 3,450 | Dec–Feb |
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical Largest buyer group: medical and dental office buildings | 176 | +12 | 915 | 5.2 | #96 | 1,477 | Mar–May, Sep–Nov |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings Largest buyer group: retail stores | 36 | +2 | 1,473 | 40.9 | #85 | · | Dec–Feb |
| Commercial Electrical Largest buyer group: retail stores | 237 | 0 | 1,281 | 5.4 | #97 | · | Year-round |
Every trade has its own target list. Here are the five largest target industries for each program in the Birmingham metro, with local location counts; each guide lists all ten and who your SDR asks for.
Locations with 20 or more employees, U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023. Property management and similar categories count every company, whatever its size.
Named, sourced projects current as of 2026-09, and the trades each one puts to work.
An eight-story, 228,735 sq ft research building with wet and dry labs for the Heersink School of Medicine and the Department of Psychology on the UAB campus in Birmingham.
Lab buildings carry dense HVAC, exhaust and electrical systems. As the building moves into occupancy, demand shifts to lab-grade cleaning, mechanical service and fire protection inspections.
The Birmingham Times, 2026-01-23 →Conversion of the former Belk store at Brookwood Village in Homewood into a 55,000 sq ft clinic and a 65,000 sq ft ambulatory orthopedic surgery center, with parking improvements.
Turning a department store into a surgery center means new mechanical and medical gas systems, electrical upgrades, sprinklers, healthcare flooring and repaved parking through 2026 and 2027.
The Bama Buzz, 2025-12-09 →An AI and high-performance computing data center on the 75-acre former Regions Lakeshore Operations Center site off Lakeshore Parkway in Birmingham; the $7 million figure is the permit for one phase of a larger development.
Reusing an operations campus for AI computing needs large electrical and cooling upgrades plus fire suppression, with ongoing facility service once live.
Bham Now, 2026-04-13 →Ascent Hospitality is converting the 16-story Brown Marx Tower at 20th Street North and 1st Avenue North in downtown Birmingham into a 338-room dual-branded Marriott hotel: a 190-room AC Hotel and a 148-room Element for short and long stays, with a street-level Starbucks.
Turning a 1906 office tower into 338 guest rooms means new sprinkler and fire alarm systems, HVAC for every room, and carpet and hard flooring throughout, then a post-construction clean and recurring housekeeping support for two hotels and a coffee shop on one block.
Bham Now, 2026-09-23 →The Tunnel to Towers Foundation is gutting a vacant hotel at 4300 Colonnade Parkway off U.S. 280 in Birmingham and converting it into up to 110 studio apartments for veterans, with dining rooms, lounges, a library, game and screening rooms, multipurpose rooms and workforce development space on the first floor.
A gut renovation that removes the old banquet and meeting rooms needs a general contractor, new flooring and paint across 110 units and the shared spaces, and a final clean before the early 2027 opening; a residential building with dining and program rooms then needs ongoing cleaning of common areas.
WBRC, 2026-07-08 →The University of Alabama at Birmingham is renovating Bartow Arena, home of UAB basketball and volleyball, with a new club area, an expanded entrance lobby, replacement lower-bowl retractable seating and concourse improvements including updated lighting and restrooms.
Lobby and club build-out and concourse upgrades bring lighting and finish work, including new flooring, on a tight October deadline; a multipurpose arena that also hosts commencement and civic events needs event-day and recurring cleaning once it reopens.
UAB Athletics, 2026-05-12 →A new workforce development campus for Birmingham City Schools at the former Arthur School site, training students in health sciences, trades such as welding, plumbing and aviation maintenance, and public safety careers; part of a $45 million package that also includes $4.1 million for school basketball court renovations.
A new career-tech building with health science labs and trade shops needs a general contractor, heavy electrical and ventilation scope for welding and automotive bays, and sprinkler and fire alarm systems, with bids likely ahead of the fall 2029 opening.
Bham Now, 2026-08-05 →Health systems, campuses, large employers and industrial parks hold the biggest concentrations of commercial buildings here. Each fact links to its source, checked 2026-10.
UAB Hospital is a 1,207-licensed-bed hospital in Birmingham's Medical District.
The centerpiece of UAB's clinical enterprise, with hospital towers, clinics and parking decks in the Medical District.
UAB Medicine →The City of Birmingham's 2025 ACFR, citing the Birmingham Business Journal, lists UAB as the metro's largest employer with 35,000 employees.
A downtown university and academic medical campus with classroom, research, housing and athletic buildings.
City of Birmingham →The Birmingham Airport Authority reported 3,252,994 total passengers for fiscal year to date 2025 through June 2025.
A passenger terminal, parking decks and airfield pavement serving central Alabama.
Birmingham Airport Authority →The City of Birmingham's 2025 ACFR, citing the Birmingham Business Journal, lists Regions Financial Corporation as the metro's second-largest employer with 9,000 employees.
A bank headquarters with downtown office towers, operations centers and branches across the metro.
City of Birmingham →The City of Birmingham's 2025 ACFR, citing the Birmingham Business Journal, lists Children's of Alabama with 5,635 employees.
A pediatric hospital campus with inpatient buildings, outpatient clinics and parking.
City of Birmingham →The City of Birmingham's 2025 ACFR says Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED has moved forward with a $350 million investment in a corporate headquarters and distribution center in Kingston.
A combined office and distribution campus with warehouse, fleet and truck yard space.
City of Birmingham →The City of Birmingham's 2025 ACFR, citing the Birmingham Business Journal, lists the Jefferson County Commission with 2,500 employees.
County courthouses, administrative buildings, sewer plants and road facilities.
City of Birmingham →Compared with the national mix, Birmingham over-indexes on hosting and data processing companies, bank and credit union offices and auto dealerships. The fastest-growing categories over the past year: medical, dental and outpatient offices (+106), restaurants (+87) and manufacturing plants (+68).
| Category | Sites with 20+ | All establishments | vs. U.S. mix | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants | 808 | 2,203 | 1.14x | +87 |
| Retail stores | 605 | 4,055 | 1.34x | +22 |
| Medical, dental and outpatient offices | 341 | 2,226 | 1.13x | +106 |
| Wholesale distributors | 305 | 1,552 | 1.23x | +55 |
| Manufacturing plants | 293 | 890 | 1.20x | +68 |
| Grocery stores | 115 | 444 | 0.68x | +13 |
| Churches and religious organizations | 113 | 1,104 | 0.33x | +1 |
| Senior living and nursing | 93 | 167 | 0.66x | -7 |
| Bank and credit union offices | 76 | 851 | 1.52x | -14 |
| Trucking companies | 72 | 411 | 1.06x | +5 |
| Auto dealerships | 60 | 180 | 1.37x | -9 |
| Hotels | 55 | 182 | 1.11x | +2 |
| Private K-12 schools | 29 | 57 | 0.62x | 0 |
| Hospitals | 19 | 27 | 0.82x | +5 |
| Warehousing and distribution | 16 | 68 | 0.92x | -4 |
| Apartment and residential property managers | 16 | 138 | 1.00x | +10 |
| Golf courses and country clubs | 16 | 26 | 0.96x | +1 |
| Hosting and data processing companies | 11 | 43 | 1.57x | +16 |
| Commercial property managers | 4 | 58 | 1.03x | -9 |
| Colleges and universities | 0 | 13 | 0.88x | +1 |
| Nonresidential building owners | 0 | 126 | 1.33x | 0 |
Jefferson County, Shelby County and St. Clair County hold 92% of the metro's larger business sites. Most programs start in those counties and add the outer 4 counties for larger accounts, depending on how far your crews travel.
| County | Larger business sites |
|---|---|
| Jefferson County | 2,036 |
| Shelby County | 525 |
| St. Clair County | 126 |
| Walker County | 120 |
| Chilton County | 62 |
| Blount County | 43 |
| Bibb County | 9 |
Outdoor trades (roofing, paving, landscaping, exterior painting) work the months with lows of 40°F or above and sell in the months before. HVAC sells ahead of its heating and cooling peaks. Each trade page has its own calendar.
Commercial prime contractors and subcontractors need a state general contractor license when a project costs $100,000 or more (raised from $50,000 effective October 1, 2024). Electrical, HVAC, and fire protection trades are also licensed or permitted by their own state boards.
Trade-by-trade rules are on each trade page. Confirm with Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors. Checked 2026-09-30.
Before you hire a sales development rep in Birmingham, price the whole job, not just the salary. Here is the local pay for sales representatives, and what a first year really costs once you add commission, payroll taxes and benefits, tools, recruiting and the manager time it takes to coach them.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Sales representatives of services, except advertising, insurance, financial services and travel (SOC 41-3091).
In-house adds $15,000 commission, 25% payroll taxes and benefits, $500/month tools, $5,000 recruiting and 4 manager hours a week at $75/hour, before ramp time or turnover. Abstrakt includes the SDR, management, tools and data.
Abstrakt's U.S.-based business development reps build a Birmingham target list around your trade, service area and ideal buildings, work it by phone, email, LinkedIn and direct mail, and book meetings with the people who sign. We will not run the same program for a direct competitor in your territory.
Selling into Alabama? See the Alabama outbound calling rules: do-not-call lists, calling hours and registration, so you know what a program here has to handle.
Yes. Abstrakt runs outsourced appointment setting for commercial trades across the Birmingham, AL metro: our U.S.-based business development reps call the buildings, qualify the opportunity and book meetings with the person who signs. We run one program per trade per market.
Measured by larger buildings per contractor against the 100 markets we track (where a trade has at least 10 local contractors), commercial Cleaning & Janitorial (#20), commercial Landscaping (#47) and paving & Asphalt (#58) rank best in Birmingham.
Compared with the national mix, Birmingham has more hosting and data processing companies (1.57x), bank and credit union offices (1.52x) and auto dealerships (1.37x). Those industries are the best-represented buyers for trades that serve them.
The metro covers 7 counties. Jefferson County, Shelby County and St. Clair County hold 92% of the larger business sites, so most programs start there.
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