Construction takes more SBA loans than any other sector. Not all of its trades borrow alike.
Construction was the largest sector in SBA 7(a) lending in fiscal year 2025 by number of approvals — 8,799 loans, 13.8% of the national total. Underneath that single number, a roofing contractor and a painting contractor are borrowing at medians that differ by more than two to one. This page breaks the sector into its trades.
Source: SBA 7(a) & 504 FOIA loan-level file, 7(a) extract, snapshot 30 June 2026. Fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 – September 2025), the most recent complete SBA fiscal year. Cancelled approvals excluded. Computed by Fundur.
Five things the trade-level split makes visible
Building, heavy and civil, and specialty trades
NAICS splits construction into three subsectors before it reaches individual trades, and they behave differently enough that the split is worth reading on its own. The table below is the whole sector, then its three parts, then the trade groups inside them.
| NAICS | Subsector or trade group | Approvals | Share of sector | Total approved | Median | Middle half (p25–p75) | New business | vs FY2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | Construction — whole sector | 8,799 | 100.0% | $3,370.7m | $150,000 | $50,000 – $350,000 | 22.8% | -0.4% |
| 236 | Construction of buildings | 2,554 | 29.0% | $711.1m | $150,000 | $50,000 – $250,000 | 21.4% | +6.0% |
| 237 | Heavy and civil engineering construction | 323 | 3.7% | $212.2m | $250,000 | $100,000 – $500,000 | 29.4% | -6.9% |
| 238 | Specialty trade contractors | 5,922 | 67.3% | $2,447.3m | $150,000 | $50,000 – $384,850 | 23.0% | -2.5% |
| 2382 | Building equipment contractors | 2,135 | 24.3% | $956.7m | $160,000 | $60,000 – $450,000 | 21.3% | +1.7% |
| 2361 | Residential building construction | 2,047 | 23.3% | $490.6m | $112,000 | $50,000 – $250,000 | 22.7% | +4.6% |
| 2389 | Other specialty trade contractors | 1,428 | 16.2% | $631.9m | $150,000 | $55,000 – $422,000 | 22.6% | -3.1% |
| 2383 | Building finishing contractors | 1,311 | 14.9% | $419.8m | $124,000 | $50,000 – $274,000 | 26.5% | -5.5% |
| 2381 | Foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors | 1,048 | 11.9% | $438.9m | $150,000 | $50,000 – $400,000 | 22.5% | -5.8% |
| 2362 | Nonresidential building construction | 507 | 5.8% | $220.5m | $200,000 | $100,000 – $465,000 | 16.0% | +11.9% |
| 2371 | Utility system construction | 153 | 1.7% | $88.9m | $250,000 | $86,000 – $500,000 | 31.4% | -0.6% |
| 2379 | Other heavy and civil engineering construction | 87 | 1.0% | $65.3m | $250,000 | $100,000 – $534,450 | 17.2% | +20.8% |
| 2373 | Highway, street, and bridge construction | 83 | 0.9% | $58.1m | $277,500 | $138,750 – $500,000 | 38.6% | -31.4% |
Trade groups are shown where FY2025 approvals reach 30. Shares are of the construction sector, not of national lending. “New business” is the share of approvals to businesses SBA records as new, two years old or less, or a startup.
What a contractor in your trade was actually approved for
This is the table the sector-level number hides. Each row is a single six-digit NAICS trade, ranked by the number of SBA 7(a) approvals it received in fiscal year 2025. Where Fundur publishes a page for that trade, it is linked from the row.
| NAICS | Trade | Approvals FY2025 | Share of sector | Total approved | Median | Middle half (p25–p75) | New business | vs FY2024 | FY2023–25 pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 236118 | Residential remodelers | 1,507 | 17.1% | $325.0m | $100,000 | $46,900 – $223,000 | 25.6% | 0.0% | 4,222 |
| 238220 | Plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractorsFundur page | 1,188 | 13.5% | $559.2m | $200,000 | $75,000 – $500,000 | 21.3% | -2.1% | 3,319 |
| 238990 | All other specialty trade contractors | 1,060 | 12.0% | $492.3m | $182,500 | $70,975 – $460,800 | 22.1% | -3.3% | 3,043 |
| 238210 | Electrical contractorsFundur page | 842 | 9.6% | $333.1m | $150,000 | $50,000 – $350,000 | 22.0% | +9.2% | 2,233 |
| 236115 | New single-family housing construction (except operative builders) | 505 | 5.7% | $158.2m | $150,000 | $50,000 – $294,900 | 14.7% | +23.5% | 1,183 |
| 236220 | Commercial and institutional building construction | 432 | 4.9% | $186.2m | $200,000 | $100,000 – $421,250 | 16.7% | +12.8% | 1,140 |
| 238320 | Painting and wall covering contractors | 401 | 4.6% | $81.7m | $95,000 | $40,000 – $209,000 | 33.9% | -0.7% | 1,125 |
| 238910 | Site preparation contractors | 368 | 4.2% | $139.6m | $123,000 | $50,000 – $300,000 | 24.2% | -2.4% | 1,031 |
| 238160 | Roofing contractorsFundur page | 361 | 4.1% | $174.3m | $200,000 | $75,000 – $500,000 | 18.8% | +18.0% | 946 |
| 238350 | Finish carpentry contractors | 241 | 2.7% | $73.7m | $100,000 | $40,000 – $250,000 | 24.9% | +6.2% | 641 |
| 238330 | Flooring contractors | 223 | 2.5% | $75.0m | $150,000 | $50,000 – $250,000 | 20.6% | -19.8% | 705 |
| 238110 | Poured concrete foundation and structure contractors | 209 | 2.4% | $65.5m | $150,000 | $50,000 – $250,000 | 32.1% | -20.2% | 670 |
| 238310 | Drywall and insulation contractors | 190 | 2.2% | $63.8m | $141,750 | $50,000 – $300,000 | 24.2% | -10.4% | 589 |
| 238390 | Other building finishing contractors | 190 | 2.2% | $98.7m | $200,000 | $57,500 – $500,000 | 22.1% | -0.5% | 540 |
| 238150 | Glass and glazing contractors | 126 | 1.4% | $86.3m | $301,350 | $126,750 – $749,875 | 29.4% | -1.6% | 345 |
| 238140 | Masonry contractors | 107 | 1.2% | $30.7m | $110,500 | $40,000 – $250,000 | 12.1% | -4.5% | 320 |
| 238190 | Other foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors | 98 | 1.1% | $35.9m | $150,000 | $50,000 – $487,500 | 18.4% | -27.4% | 327 |
| 237310 | Highway, street, and bridge construction | 83 | 0.9% | $58.1m | $277,500 | $138,750 – $500,000 | 38.6% | -31.4% | 264 |
| 237110 | Water and sewer line and related structures construction | 80 | 0.9% | $43.2m | $217,700 | $100,000 – $500,000 | 27.5% | +3.9% | 194 |
| 238340 | Tile and terrazzo contractors | 66 | 0.8% | $26.9m | $150,000 | $39,250 – $300,000 | 25.8% | -13.2% | 191 |
| 238130 | Framing contractors | 54 | 0.6% | $14.6m | $100,000 | $46,250 – $250,000 | 16.7% | 0.0% | 154 |
| 238170 | Siding contractors | 53 | 0.6% | $20.7m | $150,000 | $45,000 – $300,000 | 35.8% | -25.4% | 165 |
Rows are published where FY2025 approvals reach 30; the pooled FY2023–FY2025 count is shown where it reaches 100. Suppression is applied so that a trade is never characterised on a handful of loans.
What a contractor can and cannot take from this
What it does tell you. Roughly what size of SBA loan contractors in your trade are actually being approved for, how common SBA borrowing is in your trade at all, whether your trade is growing or shrinking as a borrower group, and whether SBA construction lending mostly goes to established businesses or to new ones. If you are preparing an application, the median and the middle-half range are a reasonable sense-check on whether the amount you have in mind is ordinary or unusual for your trade.
What it does not tell you. It is not an approval-odds table. It counts loans that were approved, and it says nothing at all about the applications that were declined, because declines are not in the file. It is not a rate table — for what SBA borrowers were charged, see SBA rates and fees. It is not a default table, and this page deliberately does not publish one. And it covers SBA 7(a) only, which is one channel among many.
The comparison that is actually useful. If your trade’s median is $150,000 and the amount you need is several times that, the SBA route may still be right, but you should expect the file to be read more carefully than a typical one in your trade. If what you need is well below the median, the question is more often whether a 7(a) loan — with its paperwork and its timeline — is the proportionate instrument, or whether a Working Capital Loan, equipment financing or a line of credit fits the need better.
Fundur publishes financing pages for several of the trades in the table above: construction as a whole, and electricians, plumbers, HVAC contractors, roofers and landscapers individually. Contractors financing vehicles for a crew will find commercial fleet financing more directly relevant than an SBA loan.
How these numbers were produced
Source. SBA’s 7(a) & 504 FOIA loan-level file, 7(a) extract for FY2020 to present, snapshot dated 30 June 2026 (sha256 6c1e9132b5141a19…, 181,130,871 bytes). SBA refreshes this file quarterly and does not retain earlier snapshots; the hash identifies the exact file used. This is the same file, and the same snapshot, behind SBA lending by industry and SBA lending by state.
Population. Identical to those two pages, so the totals reconcile. From 388,338 rows we remove 391 byte-identical duplicate rows, keep only Program 7A, keep the 50 states and DC by ProjectState, require a positive GrossApproval and an approval date, and exclude approvals recorded as CANCLD (13,955 of them in FY2025). That leaves 63,535 approvals nationally in FY2025, of which 8,799 carry a NAICS code in sector 23.
Trade classification. The NAICS code is the one recorded by the lender at approval (NaicsCode), 2022 vintage structure. Subsectors are the standard three-digit groupings (236 building construction, 237 heavy and civil engineering, 238 specialty trades); trade groups are the four-digit level; named trades are individual six-digit codes. Every six-digit label published here was checked against the NaicsDescription string carried in the source file itself, and all matched.
Statistics. Median and quartiles are computed on GrossApproval with linear interpolation between order statistics. Term is TermInMonths, positive values only. “New business” counts BusinessAge values New Business or 2 years or less and Startup, Loan Funds will Open Business. Year-on-year change compares FY2025 with FY2024 on the same rule.
Suppression. A trade is published for FY2025 only where it has at least 30 approvals; a pooled FY2023–FY2025 figure is published only where the pool reaches 100. Trades below the threshold are named and marked suppressed rather than silently dropped, so the absence is visible.
No default rate is computed. LoanStatus is used for one purpose only: removing cancelled approvals. Charge-off and paid-in-full counts are not converted into a rate anywhere on this page. A charge-off ratio taken against a single year’s approvals is not a default rate, because loans approved recently have not had time to fail; a defensible figure needs a cohort rule that Fundur has not yet settled. Rather than publish a softer version, this page does not publish one at all.
Limitations. Approvals are not disbursements. SBA 7(a) is one lending channel and not the construction credit market. The NAICS code is the lender’s classification at approval, so a diversified contractor appears once, under whichever code the lender chose. Territories are excluded. And the file is a snapshot — as-of fields change between quarterly releases.
Reuse and citation
You are welcome to reproduce any figure or table on this page in reporting, research or educational material, with attribution and a link back to this page. No permission request is needed. The full derivation, every row including the suppressed ones, is in the CSV linked below.
If a figure here contradicts one you have published, we would rather you check our method than take it on trust — it is set out in full above, and the source file is public.
Questions about this data
Which construction trades get the most SBA 7(a) loans?
In fiscal year 2025, residential remodelers took the largest number of approvals of any single construction trade (1,507), followed by plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors (1,188) and all other specialty trade contractors (1,060). Electrical contractors were fourth with 842. Specialty trade contractors as a group accounted for 67.3% of all construction approvals.
What is the typical SBA loan size for a construction business?
The median 7(a) approval to a construction business in FY2025 was $150,000, against a national median of $182,000 across all industries. The middle half of construction approvals fell between $50,000 and $350,000. Medians differ substantially by trade: glass and glazing contractors had the highest median at $301,350, and painting and wall covering contractors the lowest at $95,000.
Why is the median loan smaller in construction than nationally?
Construction takes more loans than any other sector but a smaller share of the dollars: 13.8% of approvals and 10.5% of approved dollars. That gap is the whole story. Construction borrowing skews towards working capital, vehicles and equipment for existing contractors rather than towards the large real-estate-backed acquisitions that lift medians in sectors like accommodation and food services. 27.7% of construction approvals were $50,000 or less.
Does this page show SBA default rates by trade?
No, and deliberately not. This page publishes approval counts and approved amounts only. The LoanStatus field is used for exactly one purpose — removing approvals recorded as cancelled, which were never funded. Turning charge-off and paid-in-full counts into a “default rate” requires a cohort rule that fixes when each loan was approved and how long it has had to fail, and a naive ratio of charge-offs to approvals is not that. Until that methodology is settled, Fundur does not publish one.
Is this all construction lending?
No. This is SBA 7(a) lending only — loans made by participating lenders under a federal guaranty. It excludes conventional bank lending, equipment finance companies, SBA 504, and every private and non-bank channel. It is a large and unusually well-documented slice of small-business construction credit, not the whole market, and it should be read that way.
Are these approvals or actual funded loans?
Approvals. The FOIA file records loans approved by SBA, and an approval is not the same as a disbursement. Approvals explicitly recorded as cancelled are removed here (13,955 of them across FY2025), but some remaining approvals will still not have funded in full. GrossApproval is the approved amount, not the amount drawn.
Can I reuse these figures?
Yes. Every figure, table and the underlying CSV may be reproduced in reporting, research or educational material with attribution and a link back to this page. No permission request is needed. If a figure here contradicts one you have published, the method is set out in full above and the source file is public — please check the method rather than take ours on trust.
Every source on this page
- US Small Business Administration — 7(a) & 504 FOIA loan-level data · 7(a) FY2020–present extract, snapshot 30 June 2026
- US Small Business Administration — 7(a) & 504 FOIA data dictionary · field definitions used above
- US Census Bureau — North American Industry Classification System · 2022 sector 23 structure and trade definitions
- Fundur aggregate download — construction lending by trade, FY2025 · CSV, every level and every column, including suppressed rows
Fundur is a financing marketplace, not a lender. For the same file cut by industry across all sectors see SBA lending by industry; by state, SBA lending by state. For what SBA borrowers were charged, SBA rates and fees; for what lenders ask for, SBA loan requirements. Contractors looking at financing rather than data should start with construction business loans.