Salt Lake City-Murray has 3,613 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 colleges and universities 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 Flooring Largest buyer group: apartment and multifamily management companies | 10 | +2 | 1,287 | 128.7 | #5 | · | Year-round |
| Commercial Electrical Largest buyer group: retail stores | 124 | +16 | 1,719 | 13.9 | #15 | · | Year-round |
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical Largest buyer group: manufacturing plants | 95 | +16 | 1,249 | 13.1 | #17 | 2,350 | Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings Largest buyer group: retail stores | 25 | +3 | 2,148 | 85.9 | #22 | · | Feb–Apr |
| Commercial Roofing Largest buyer group: retail stores | 26 | +2 | 2,052 | 78.9 | #29 | 5,768 | Feb–Apr |
| Commercial Landscaping Largest buyer group: retail stores | 592 | +9 | 1,922 | 3.2 | #65 | · | Feb–Apr |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial Largest buyer group: manufacturing plants | 456 | +20 | 1,439 | 3.2 | #77 | 1,717 | Year-round |
| Paving & Asphalt Largest buyer group: retail stores | 66 | +5 | 2,010 | 30.5 | #80 | · | Feb–Apr |
| Commercial Construction Largest buyer group: manufacturing companies | 360 | +30 | 1,065 | 3.0 | #86 | 5,768 | Year-round |
| Fire Protection Largest buyer group: restaurants | 86 | +4 | 2,128 | 24.7 | #88 | · | Year-round |
Every trade has its own target list. Here are the five largest target industries for each program in the Salt Lake City-Murray 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.
A University of Utah hospital campus in West Valley City meant to expand healthcare access on Salt Lake County's west side.
With steel going up in mid-2026, the next stretch is roofing, envelope and the large healthcare mechanical, electrical and fire protection packages, followed by interior finishes.
The Salt Lake Tribune, 2026-06-18 →A 600-plus acre mixed-use district in Draper whose first buildings include the 5,200-seat Mountain America Event Center, the 363-unit Chroma apartments, Convergence Hall and the 60,000 sq ft Amber office building.
Several buildings going vertical within a year create overlapping demand for mechanical, electrical, sprinkler and finish trades, and a walkable district with parks and trails needs landscaping and site work.
Building Salt Lake, 2026-06-29 →Partial demolition and rebuild of the Salt Palace in downtown Salt Lake City to add a second ballroom and revised meeting space, part of Smith Entertainment Group's plans around the Delta Center.
A spring 2027 start makes this one to position for now: ballroom and meeting space rebuilds carry large HVAC, electrical, flooring and painting scopes, and the venue stays a cleaning and maintenance account.
Building Salt Lake, 2026-08-17 →Renovation of about 30,000 sq ft across three floors of the former Leonardo museum on Library Square in downtown Salt Lake City into Youth Services space and city department offices.
A short interior-only schedule: office and classroom buildouts mean HVAC and electrical modifications, flooring and painting between November and April.
Building Salt Lake, 2026-09-29 →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.
Intermountain Health, based in Salt Lake City, lists 34 hospitals and 400 clinics and calls itself the largest nonprofit health system in the Intermountain West.
Hospitals, clinics and support buildings across the Salt Lake Valley run central plants, sprinklers, patient floors, roofs and parking areas that need regular service.
Intermountain Health →Wikipedia, with a citation, says Intermountain's flagship hospital in Murray has 504 beds and is a Level I trauma center; it opened in October 2007 on a 100-acre site.
A multi-building hospital campus with a trauma center and outpatient buildings needs mechanical, electrical, life-safety and grounds work.
Wikipedia →The University of Utah lists 38,000+ students and a campus size of 1,534 acres.
A hillside campus of classroom, research, hospital and housing buildings carries large mechanical, roofing, paving and grounds needs.
University of Utah →The airport says 28,158,007 passengers traveled through SLC in 2025.
The rebuilt terminal, concourses, parking garage and airfield support buildings need cleaning, HVAC, electrical and pavement work.
Salt Lake City International Airport →The Utah Inland Port Authority says the Northwest Quadrant project area spans 16,000 acres next to two interstates, national rail lines and the international airport.
Warehouse, distribution and manufacturing buildings going up across the area need roofing, dock paving, lighting and sprinkler work.
Utah Inland Port Authority →Rio Tinto says Kennecott has mined the Bingham Canyon Mine since 1903 and operates one of only 2 copper smelters in the US, along with a concentrator and refinery.
Mining, smelting and refining plants with rail and tailings infrastructure carry heavy electrical, industrial coatings and fire protection needs.
Rio Tinto →Compared with the national mix, Salt Lake City-Murray over-indexes on hosting and data processing companies, colleges and universities and bank and credit union offices. The fastest-growing categories over the past year: medical, dental and outpatient offices (+271), manufacturing plants (+165) and restaurants (+88).
| Category | Sites with 20+ | All establishments | vs. U.S. mix | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants | 895 | 2,592 | 0.66x | +88 |
| Retail stores | 720 | 3,628 | 0.72x | -159 |
| Manufacturing plants | 441 | 1,430 | 1.37x | +165 |
| Wholesale distributors | 397 | 1,719 | 1.25x | -96 |
| Medical, dental and outpatient offices | 347 | 2,999 | 0.89x | +271 |
| Bank and credit union offices | 124 | 928 | 1.44x | -60 |
| Senior living and nursing | 120 | 238 | 0.56x | -2 |
| Grocery stores | 114 | 362 | 0.42x | -8 |
| Trucking companies | 103 | 571 | 0.66x | -44 |
| Hotels | 73 | 172 | 0.60x | +6 |
| Auto dealerships | 62 | 194 | 0.80x | -5 |
| Warehousing and distribution | 53 | 132 | 1.23x | +16 |
| Private K-12 schools | 51 | 82 | 1.08x | +6 |
| Hosting and data processing companies | 29 | 100 | 1.87x | +15 |
| Churches and religious organizations | 24 | 192 | 0.27x | +1 |
| Apartment and residential property managers | 22 | 360 | 1.30x | +12 |
| Hospitals | 20 | 24 | 1.02x | +10 |
| Colleges and universities | 6 | 19 | 1.58x | +12 |
| Commercial property managers | 5 | 109 | 1.30x | +5 |
| Golf courses and country clubs | 4 | 12 | 0.19x | -2 |
| Nonresidential building owners | 3 | 159 | 0.68x | -8 |
Salt Lake County holds 98% of the metro's larger business sites, so most programs start there and cover the rest of the metro for larger accounts.
| County | Larger business sites |
|---|---|
| Salt Lake County | 3,510 |
| Tooele County | 78 |
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.
Utah DOPL licenses contractors by classification, including general classifications (E100, B100, H100, E200) and specialty classifications (S-codes). Building improvement work under $7,000 in labor and materials is exempt, but electrical, plumbing, HVAC, fire sprinkler and alarm work still requires the appropriate licensee.
Trade-by-trade rules are on each trade page. Confirm with Utah Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL). Checked 2026-09-30.
Before you hire a sales development rep in Salt Lake City, 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 Salt Lake City 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 Utah? See the Utah 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 Salt Lake City-Murray, UT 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 Flooring (#5), commercial Electrical (#15) and commercial HVAC & Mechanical (#17) rank best in Salt Lake City.
Compared with the national mix, Salt Lake City-Murray has more hosting and data processing companies (1.87x), colleges and universities (1.58x) and bank and credit union offices (1.44x). Those industries are the best-represented buyers for trades that serve them.
The metro covers Salt Lake County and Tooele County. Salt Lake County holds 98% of the larger business sites.
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