How to sell to contractors: general and specialty trades, who buys, when to call

To sell to contractors, choose the trades your product fits, list every one of those contractors in your area, and sort them by size and type before you write a word. Then reach the owner before crews leave in the morning or after they return, and lead with what they measure: jobs won, crews kept busy, cash collected, time off the job site. "Contractors" is many markets at once. A kitchen remodeler, an electrician and a concrete company buy different things from different people, so treat each trade as its own campaign.

Which contractors should I target?#

Target the trades that buy what you sell, then the size band where your price makes sense. This table covers the common ones.

For roofers, plumbers and HVAC, see the dedicated playbooks: roofing companies, plumbing companies and HVAC companies.

Who decides what a contractor buys?#

At most contractors the owner decides. Construction is dominated by small firms where the owner also estimates, sells and runs jobs. As firms grow, decisions spread out:

Residential vs commercial. Residential contractors (remodelers, custom builders, most electricians on service work) sell to homeowners, so they care about reviews, leads and financing. Commercial contractors bid work from owners, developers and general contractors, so they care about bids, bonding capacity and estimating speed. The company's website usually makes this obvious: project photos of kitchens versus warehouses.

Supplier relationships. Many contractors buy from the same supply house for years. A new supplier rarely wins by price alone; delivery to the job, stock on the shelf, credit terms and a rep who answers the phone at 6:30 a.m. matter more.

How do I build a list of contractors?#

Search Google Maps one trade at a time across your area, then segment the export.

1. Search one trade per term. Use the categories in the table. Add the variants people use: "handyman", "deck builder", "design build firm", "commercial electrician".
2. Search in pieces. A single Maps search returns about 120 results. A metro has thousands of contractors, so split by ZIP code or a grid. See why Google Maps stops at 120 results.
3. Remove duplicates. A design-build firm shows up as "General contractor", "Remodeler" and "Kitchen remodeler".
4. Keep your territory. For a supplier, that's the drive radius from the branch; for an insurance agent, the states you're licensed in.
5. Segment with the columns:
   • category and categories: the trade, and whether they do residential, commercial or both.
   • reviews: residential contractors with many reviews do more jobs. Commercial firms often have few reviews regardless of size, so use the website instead.
   • rating: useful for marketing and reputation pitches.
   • website: no site is a web-design lead; a project portfolio tells you their work type.
   • hours: who opens early, who works Saturdays.
   • emails with role and source: estimating@ and bids@ go to estimators; office@ to the office manager.

What should I pitch to contractors?#

Pitch one result in contractor terms. "Saves time" is vague; "estimates out the same day" or "materials on site before the crew" is concrete.

• Suppliers: delivery windows, stock depth, credit terms, and a direct number for the counter. Offer a trade account, not a meeting.
• Software: pick the pain by trade. Remodelers lose money on change orders; electricians on service calls not invoiced; general contractors on scheduling subs. Name it.
• Insurance and bonding: contractors need general liability, workers' comp and often bonds to bid. Lead with faster certificates of insurance and help growing bonding capacity, not with price alone. See commercial insurance leads.
• Equipment and rentals: lead with availability on short notice and delivery to the site.
• Marketing: for residential trades, lead with booked estimates. Compare their reviews with the top competitors in their city.
• Safety and training: OSHA requires fall protection for construction workers on surfaces with unprotected edges 6 feet or more above a lower level. Training and gear sellers can offer on-site sessions before the busy season.

When is the best time to reach contractors?#

Early morning, late afternoon and rainy days. Contractors spend the working day on job sites, so the office or the owner's phone is free at the edges of the day.

These are common patterns, not measured results. Email works any time; owners often read it in the evening.

Gatekeepers. At mid-size firms, an office manager answers and screens. Ask who handles your topic by role ("Who handles your insurance certificates?", "Who picks your supply house?"), then email that person.

What should my email to a contractor say?#

Short, specific, one small next step. The double-brace fields are columns from the export.

Subject: same-day delivery to {{business}} job sites

Hi there,

We run the [supplier] yard in [town] and deliver to job sites around
{{city}}, usually the same day if you order by 9 a.m. I'd like to open
a trade account for {{business}} and send our price sheet.

Is there someone else who handles purchasing, or is that you?

[Name] · [Company] · [Postal address]
Not interested? Reply "no" and I won't write again.

For software or insurance:

Subject: {{category}} in {{city}}

Hi there,

I work with {{category}} companies around {{city}} on [one specific
problem: change orders, insurance certificates, invoicing from the
truck]. Most see [the one result you can document].

Worth a 10-minute call before your busy season?

[Name] · [Company] · [Postal address] · Reply "no" to opt out.

How many follow-ups should I send?#

Three follow-ups over about three weeks. Contractors are busy, not uninterested, so the follow-up often gets the reply.

1. Day 1: first email.
2. Day 4: "Did I reach the right person for [topic]?"
3. Day 10: something useful: a price sheet, a checklist, a sample estimate.
4. Day 21: close politely and offer to check in before next season.

Honor opt-outs immediately and keep a do-not-contact list.

What rules apply to cold outreach to contractors?#

US commercial email falls under CAN-SPAM: accurate sender and subject lines, a physical postal address and a working opt-out honored within 10 business days. Calls to businesses are mostly exempt from the National Do Not Call Registry, but the FTC's ban on misrepresentations covers business-to-business calls. Many contractors list a cell phone, and under the TCPA autodialed or prerecorded calls and texts to cell phones need consent. Google's Maps Platform terms restrict scraping and building lists from Maps content, a contract issue separate from these laws. See cold email laws and get legal advice for your situation.

Worked example: three trades across Texas#

A supplier or insurance agent covering Texas wants residential builders and remodelers, electricians and concrete contractors. Census County Business Patterns 2023 counts, for Texas, establishments with paid employees:

Owner-operators with no employees aren't counted, and Maps categories don't line up exactly with NAICS codes, so your list will differ. For planning, assume about 20,000 contractors and that half have a checked email: about 10,000.

Each business is charged once ever, contractors outside your area or in the wrong trade are shown free, and unused credits roll over while your plan is active. See pricing.

If you'd rather not build contractor lists by hand, Leadraft finds every contractor of the trades you choose inside your area and checks the emails it finds against the live mailbox. Start with one trade on the free plan, or see the fields on the general contractor list page.

FAQ#

How do I sell to contractors?#

Start with the trades your product fits (general contractors, remodelers, electricians, concrete and others), list every one of them in your area, and sort them by size and type using their Google Maps category, review count and website. Contact the owner early in the morning or at the end of the day, and lead with something they measure: jobs won, crews kept busy, cash collected, or time off the job site.

Who makes purchasing decisions at a construction company?#

At small contractors the owner decides almost everything. At mid-size firms, project managers and estimators pick materials and subcontractors for each job, a purchasing manager or office manager handles suppliers and accounts, and an operations manager or controller handles software, insurance and equipment. The owner usually signs anything long term.

When is the best time to call contractors?#

Early in the morning before crews leave for job sites, often 6:30 to 8 a.m., or late afternoon after they return. Rainy days are good for reaching owners. Slow seasons, which are winter in cold climates, are good for software, insurance and planning conversations. These are common patterns, not measured results.

How do I get a list of contractors in my area?#

Search Google Maps for each trade separately: general contractor, construction company, remodeler, kitchen remodeler, electrician, concrete contractor, masonry contractor and so on. Split the area into ZIP codes or a grid, since each search returns about 120 results, and export with phone, website, rating, reviews, hours and emails from each company's own site.

What do contractors buy most?#

Materials and supplies, equipment and rentals, trucks and fuel, insurance and bonding, software for estimating, scheduling and invoicing, marketing for residential trades, and labor through subcontractors and staffing. Who decides depends on the size of the company and the trade.

Sources#

1. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (NAICS 2361, 238210 and 238110 establishments by state).
2. OSHA, 29 CFR 1926.501, Duty to have fall protection.
3. Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business and Complying with the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
4. Federal Communications Commission, Stop Unwanted Robocalls and Texts.
5. Google, Google Maps Platform Terms of Service.