Market report · Colorado Springs, CO
The State of Outbound Sales in Colorado Springs, 2026
How outbound selling looks across the Colorado Springs, CO metro right now: who the buyers are, which trades have room, what is being built, what a rep costs to hire here. Then a 4-tool kit to work the market this month.
- 1,562business sites with 20+ people across the categories trades sell to, #82 of our 100 metros
- 84buyer sites per commercial painting contractor, #18 of 86 markets: the best rank of any trade here
Sites: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023; rank among the 100 metros on our market pages. Room: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 sites per contractor in U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1, among markets with at least 10 contractors.
Executive summary Read this if nothing else
5 things to know about outbound sales in Colorado Springs
Biggest buyer pool
Restaurants: 536 sites
with 20 or more people, the largest buyer category in Colorado Springs, ahead of retail stores (337).
Where the metro leans
Colleges and universities: 1.66x the U.S. mix
Also over-represented: medical, dental and outpatient offices (1.35x) and apartment and residential property managers (1.29x). Trades that serve these buyers have more of them here than the national average suggests.
Most room
Commercial Painting & Coatings: #18 of 86 markets
84 buyer sites with 20+ people for each of 10 local commercial painting contractors. The most crowded is managed service providers, #97 of 100.
Biggest reason to call
Swire Coca-Cola manufacturing facility, $475 million
Under construction. One of 10 named, sourced projects in this report.
Hiring locally
$124,700 for an in-house SDR's first year (illustrative)
At a $55,000 base salary, once commission, payroll taxes and benefits, tools, recruiting and training, turnover and manager time are added, before ramp time.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1; project sources as of 2026-09; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Full list at the end.
Chapter 01 The market
Who buys in Colorado Springs
1,562 business sites in Colorado Springs have 20 or more people on site in the categories commercial trades sell to. That ranks #82 of the 100 metros we publish. Here is what those buyers are and where they sit.
The largest buyer categories
Sites with 20 or more people are the ones worth an SDR's time: big enough to have a facility lead, a service budget and a contract that comes up for renewal. The "vs. U.S. mix" column compares each category's share of local employment with its national share (1.00x is the U.S. average).
| Category | Sites with 20+ | All sites | vs. U.S. mix | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RestaurantsLargest pool | 536 | 1,550 | 0.94x | +53 |
| Retail stores | 337 | 2,075 | 0.84x | +33 |
| Medical, dental and outpatient offices | 232 | 1,878 | 1.35x | +156 |
| Manufacturing plants | 107 | 446 | 0.59x | +3 |
| Wholesale distributors | 74 | 551 | 0.81x | +52 |
| Grocery stores | 64 | 312 | 0.73x | -6 |
| Senior living and nursing | 63 | 121 | 0.55x | -1 |
| Churches and religious organizations | 58 | 456 | 1.23x | +2 |
| Hotels | 44 | 130 | 1.03x | 0 |
| Auto dealerships | 39 | 83 | 0.70x | 0 |
Colorado Springs leans toward colleges and universities (1.66x), medical, dental and outpatient offices (1.35x) and apartment and residential property managers (1.29x). A trade that already sells to those buyers elsewhere has a deeper pool here than the national numbers suggest, and a case study from one of them travels well on the phone.
It is thinner than the U.S. mix in senior living and nursing (0.55x) and trucking companies (0.57x). A program built around those buyers runs out of fresh accounts sooner here.
Growing fastest over the past year, by establishment count: medical, dental and outpatient offices (+156), restaurants (+53) and wholesale distributors (+52). New sites have no incumbent vendor yet.
The metro
Colorado Springs, CO: 2 counties in this report's counts.
El Paso County holds 98% of the larger business sites, so most programs start there.
Where the sites are
| County | Sites with 20+ | Share of metro |
|---|---|---|
| El Paso CountyStart here | 1,526 | 98% |
| Teller County | 19 | 1% |
Chapter 02 The competition
Which trades have the most room in Colorado Springs
Buyer sites per contractor is a rough read on how crowded a trade is: more sites for each local competitor means more doors nobody else is knocking on. Each trade's Colorado Springs figure is ranked against the other markets we track.
| Trade | Rank among markets | Sites per contractor | Contractors | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Painting & CoatingsMost room | #18 of 86 | 84 | 10 | +1 |
| Commercial Landscaping | #36 of 100 | 4.1 | 244 | +15 |
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | #68 of 100 | 8.5 | 62 | +1 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | #69 of 100 | 3.3 | 183 | +14 |
| Fire Protection | #71 of 96 | 34 | 29 | 0 |
| Commercial Construction | #77 of 100 | 3.3 | 132 | +4 |
| Paving & Asphalt | #75 of 94 | 32 | 30 | +3 |
| Commercial Electrical | #83 of 100 | 7.3 | 84 | -1 |
| Commercial Roofing | #83 of 89 | 42 | 20 | +4 |
| Managed Service Providers | #97 of 100 | 0.9 | 917 | +75 |
Commercial painting & coatings (#18), commercial landscaping (#36) and commercial HVAC & mechanical (#68) rank best in Colorado Springs. For those trades a program can work longer before it calls the same building twice, and fewer competitors have already pitched each owner.
Managed service providers is the most crowded trade here, #97 of 100: 0.9 buyer sites for each of 917 local managed service providers. Winning there takes a sharper reason to switch than a lower price.
Commercial electrical (-1) lost contractor establishments over the past year, so the same buildings are split among fewer firms than a year ago. Managed service providers (+75) and commercial landscaping (+15) added them.
Not ranked here: commercial flooring (7 contractors). With fewer than 10 local contractors the ratio is noise, though a thin field is itself a sign of open ground.
Open programs
Our availability workbook does not cover Colorado Springs yet. We take one client per trade per territory, so ask before you plan around it.
Chapter 03 The projects
What is being built, and who owns the buildings
10 named, sourced projects and 6 anchor owners in Colorado Springs. Each one is a reason to call that has nothing to do with your company and everything to do with the buyer's building.
The projects
- 01 · $475 million Swire Coca-Cola manufacturing facility Under construction A 620,000-square-foot bottling and production facility at Peak Innovation Park near Colorado Springs Airport, pursuing LEED Gold and expected to create 170 jobs. Beverage production space carries large process mechanical, refrigeration and electrical scopes, plus truck courts and parking that need paving now and seal-and-stripe maintenance later. Colorado Springs Gazette, 2026-03-27
- 02 · $407 million UCHealth Memorial Hospital North expansion Construction beginning 2026 An expansion that will nearly double Memorial Hospital North on Briargate Parkway in northern Colorado Springs, adding surgical capacity and an expanded cancer center. Patient tower construction starting in 2026 means multi-year mechanical, electrical and fire protection work, followed by flooring and painting before patient opening. SoCo Digest, 2025-03-12
- 03 · $100 million Palmer High School Phase 1A rebuild Under construction Colorado Springs District 11 is demolishing and rebuilding Palmer High School's academic wing and renovating its 1939 building downtown, with the new wing opening February 2027 and the 1939 building and courtyard finishing March 2028. Two openings in 2027 and 2028 stage mechanical and electrical work first and then flooring, painting and courtyard landscaping, inside a historic building that needs careful finish work. Colorado Springs Gazette, 2026-07-30
- 04 Colorado Springs temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Broke ground September 2026 A 33,000-square-foot temple plus a separate meetinghouse and maintenance building on an 18.6-acre site at Flying Horse Club Drive and Barossa Valley Road in northeast Colorado Springs, on a three-to-four-year build. The general contractor is from Utah, so local mechanical, electrical, paving and landscaping subcontracts are the opening, and an 18.6-acre grounds site needs long-term landscape maintenance. Colorado Springs Gazette, 2026-09-06
- 05 · $40 million gift Children's Hospital Colorado, Golisano Children's Hospital, Colorado Springs expansion Expansion announced September 2026 A major expansion of the seven-year-old Children's Hospital Colorado campus in the Briargate neighborhood of Colorado Springs, funded by a $40 million Golisano Children's Alliance gift, adding inpatient beds and surgical capacity, a larger emergency department and improvements to outpatient buildings such as the behavioral health center. Added beds, operating rooms and a bigger emergency department mean construction and fire sprinkler and alarm work in an occupied hospital, then flooring, painting and clinical cleaning as each area opens. Colorado Springs Gazette, 2026-09-10
- 06 · $42.7 million Douglass Valley pre-K-8 school replacement, U.S. Air Force Academy Broke ground August 2026 A new pre-K through eighth grade school for Academy School District 20 on the U.S. Air Force Academy, funded by a Department of Defense grant, replacing Douglass Valley Elementary, the district's oldest school. A new school building on base runs through general construction, fire sprinkler and alarm systems, then flooring and paint before the school opens to pre-K through eighth grade students. KOAA News 5, 2026-08-03
- 07 · $63 million ElevateCOS concourse modernization, Colorado Springs Airport Concourse work complete August 2026; food court, elevators, check-in carpet and ticket counters expected summer 2027 A concourse modernization at Colorado Springs Airport that widened gates, raised ceilings and added terrazzo flooring, new carpet, electrochromic windows, family restrooms and care rooms, with a reimagined food court and check-in upgrades still to come. The remaining package includes new carpet at check-in, a rebuilt food court and new ticket counters, and the larger concourse with new restrooms and terrazzo floors adds to the airport's daily cleaning and floor-care load. 5280, 2026-08-26
- 08 · $250 million Space Force Operations Facility, Schriever Space Force Base Announced May 2026; construction start not yet set A Defense Department operations facility at Schriever Space Force Base east of Colorado Springs, one of four planned nationally, expected to support 2,500 civilian jobs and missions including Golden Dome and space-based reconnaissance. An operations building of this size carries heavy power, cooling and fire suppression scopes, and a facility staffed by thousands of civilians needs long-term janitorial contracts once it opens. Colorado Public Radio, 2026-06-01
- 09 · 235 units Aberdeen Ridge senior living campus Fully open 2026; assisted living and memory care opened spring 2026 A 15-acre campus atop Fillmore hill on the west side of Colorado Springs with 171 independent-living apartments, 40 assisted-living units and 24 memory-care suites, plus a clubhouse with an indoor pool, spa, fitness center and five dining areas. A fully occupied senior campus with a pool, spa and five dining areas needs daily cleaning support, fire sprinkler and alarm inspections across every building, and grounds maintenance on 15 acres. Colorado Springs Gazette, 2026-06-02
- 10 · $100 million Palmer High School Phase 1A Under construction Colorado Springs School District 11 is replacing Palmer High School's academic wing, renovating the 1939 building and adding a courtyard in downtown Colorado Springs, with part of Boulder Street permanently vacated to unite the campus. The new academic wing opens in February 2027 and the 1939 building and courtyard in March 2028, so roofing, envelope, mechanical and electrical trades work the downtown campus into 2028. Colorado Springs Gazette, 2026-07-30
Projects current as of 2026-09; each source is linked on its card. Values are as reported by the source.
The anchor owners
Health systems, campuses, large employers and industrial parks hold the biggest concentrations of commercial buildings in Colorado Springs. One relationship with a facilities team here can cover many buildings.
Health system · Colorado Springs, El Paso County
UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central
UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central is a 413-bed hospital.
A central Colorado Springs hospital campus with inpatient, outpatient and parking facilities, run alongside Memorial Hospital North.
UCHealthCampus · Colorado Springs, El Paso County
University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS)
UCCS reported total enrollment of 11,153 students at the fall 2025 census.
A public university campus with classroom and lab buildings, residence halls, athletic facilities and parking.
UCCS Institutional ResearchAirport · Colorado Springs, El Paso County
Colorado Springs Airport (COS)
2,448,001 total passengers traveled through COS in 2025, down 1.0% from 2024.
A city-owned airport with a passenger terminal, parking lots, airfield pavement and a business park at its entrance.
City of Colorado SpringsIndustrial park · Colorado Springs, El Paso County
Peak Innovation Park
Peak Innovation Park is a 2,300-acre business park owned by the Colorado Springs Airport, adjacent to its primary entrance.
An airport-owned park with aerospace, defense and distribution buildings, where new pads and buildings add roads, lots and site work.
SoCo DigestPublic owner · Fort Carson, El Paso County
Fort Carson
Fort Carson's February 2025 fact sheet lists it as the 3rd largest employer in Colorado with 29.5K employees.
An Army post with barracks, family housing, motor pools, training ranges and administrative buildings.
U.S. Army Fort CarsonMajor employer · Colorado Springs, El Paso County
Microchip Technology Fab 5
Microchip describes its Colorado Springs Fab 5 as a 50-acre, 580,000-square-foot campus.
A semiconductor fabrication campus with cleanroom, utility and office buildings.
Colorado Office of Economic Development and International TradeAnchor facts checked 2026-10; each source is linked on its card.
Which trades the work touches
| Trade | Projects and owners |
|---|---|
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | 11 |
| Commercial Electrical | 10 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | 8 |
| Fire Protection | 8 |
| Commercial Construction | 7 |
| Commercial Landscaping | 5 |
| Paving & Asphalt | 5 |
| Commercial Flooring | 5 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | 4 |
| Commercial Roofing | 4 |
Chapter 04 The calendar
The Colorado Springs selling calendar
Outbound runs every month, but the weather changes what a buyer wants to hear. These are the NOAA records for the Colorado Springs metro's counties, month by month.
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail and damaging wind reportstotal, 2015 to 2024 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 99 | 189 | 251 | 159 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Cooling degree daysaverage month | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 46 | 89 | 57 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Heating degree daysaverage month | 1,186 | 1,028 | 923 | 715 | 461 | 187 | 78 | 112 | 272 | 616 | 915 | 1,186 |
| Average high (°F)average month | 41 | 42 | 49 | 55 | 65 | 76 | 80 | 78 | 72 | 60 | 49 | 41 |
NOAA logged 663 hail reports of 1 inch or larger and 53 damaging wind reports across the metro's counties from 2015 to 2024: #6 of 100 markets for hail and #81 for wind. June, July and August carried 84% of the reports. Storm calls are a real door-opener here, and the contractor who is already known before the season gets the inspection.
The metro averages 210 cooling degree days a year (#95 of 97 markets) and 7,679 heating degree days (#2 of 97). Cooling load peaks in June, July and August; heating in January, February, March, April, October, November and December. Peak months are when HVAC calls lead with service and response times; the rest of the year they lead with planned work and budgets.
5 months average a high of 60°F or more (May, June, July, August and September). That is when exterior painting, paving and landscaping crews are busiest, so in-season calls catch owners while they can see the work that needs doing. The contracts themselves are bid on each property's own dates, so the selling runs all year.
Trades with no weather season
Cleaning, construction, electrical, flooring and fire protection sell on contract end dates, budgets and inspection cycles. Learn each account's date on the first call and come back before it.
Roofing demand spikes after hail and wind events, when owners want an inspection and documentation for their insurer, so be the known contractor before the storm, not one of many calling after it. Planned work follows each owner's budget: inspections feed capital requests, and replacements are approved ahead of installation. Outbound runs every month, keyed to each building's roof age and budget date.
Chapter 05 The numbers
What one meeting takes, trade by trade
What booking a meeting has taken on our own calling floor for the trades we run in Colorado Springs, next to the records we can prospect here. The sales center figures are national; it does not break them out by city yet.
| Trade | Dials per appointment | Reached proposal | Proposals won | Dials for 10 meetings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire ProtectionFastest to book | 78 | 21.6% | 13.2% | about 780 |
| Paving & Asphalt | 86 | 32.2% | 7.4% | about 860 |
| Commercial Landscaping | 88 | 18.8% | 12.7% | about 880 |
| Commercial Electrical | 96 | 14.6% | 21.1% | about 960 |
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | 98 | 16.6% | 24.9% | about 980 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | 115 | 31.2% | 14.4% | about 1,150 |
| Commercial Flooring | 122 | 30.8% | 9.8% | about 1,220 |
| Commercial Roofing | 140 | 25.9% | 16.1% | about 1,400 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | 142 | 23.9% | 21.7% | about 1,420 |
| Managed Service Providers | 162 | 10.0% | 20.5% | about 1,620 |
All of these trades together: 122 dials per appointment
The records behind a Colorado Springs program
Before a program starts we size the list: the decision-maker records Abstrakt can prospect for each trade in the Colorado Springs territory.
- 1,838Commercial Roofing
- 1,838Commercial Construction
- 663Commercial HVAC & Mechanical
- 489Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial
Source: Abstrakt territory record counts, as of October 2026: estimated decision-maker records Abstrakt can prospect for each program in the territory. Shown for the programs the count covers.
Read it this way
Divide the records by the dials one meeting takes and you see how long a list lasts before it repeats. A thin list means a program has to work every record well, not just call more.
Chapter 06 Build or buy
What an in-house SDR costs in Colorado Springs
Before you hire a sales development rep in Colorado Springs, price the whole job, not just the salary.
The salary is the smallest part of the decision. About 3,060 people hold the role in the Colorado Springs, CO metro, and every one of their employers is competing for the same hires.
| Cost | Year one |
|---|---|
| Base salary | $55,000 |
| Commission and bonus | $15,000 |
| Payroll taxes and benefits (25% of pay) | $17,500 |
| Tools and data ($550 a month) | $6,600 |
| Recruiting and training | $7,000 |
| Turnover (35% a year, rehiring) | $2,450 |
| Manager and QA time (5 hours a week) and admin (4 hours a month) | $21,150 |
| Total, before ramp time | $124,700 |
Headcount: 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). The cost lines are the starting values of our SDR cost calculator: $15,000 commission, 25% payroll taxes and benefits, $550 a month in tools, $7,000 recruiting and training, 35% yearly turnover, and manager, QA and admin time. Change any of them there.
$124,700
for one in-house SDR's first year at a $55,000 base salary.
That buys one rep. It does not buy the list, the manager's coaching system or cover when the rep leaves.
Part two Apply this
The Colorado Springs market toolkit
4 working tools built from the chapters above. Tick the boxes as you go (they stay ticked in this browser), copy the scripts into your CRM, or save the whole guide as a PDF and print this part as a worksheet.
Tool 01
Account scorecard
Before an account goes on the call list, check every line that fits. Call the accounts with the most ticks first, and leave the ones with none for later.
Tool 02
Discovery question bank
Ask fewer, better questions. Pick three or four for the call and save the rest for the meeting. Each one comes with the reason it earns its place.
Restaurants: 536 sites here
From our fire protection talk track. Staying open and passing inspection. Multi-unit operators are worth more than single locations.
- When was your hood suppression system last inspected, and when is the next one due?Due dates tell you when to call and what to offer.
- Have you had a failed inspection or a citation recently?Failed inspections threaten the ability to stay open and create urgency.
- How many locations do you operate, and does each one use a different vendor?Multi-unit operators are more valuable and often want one vendor across locations.
Retail stores: 337 sites here
From our painting talk track. Night work that does not close the store. Chains often run repaints as multi-site programs from regional facilities.
- Is painting bought store by store or through a regional or national remodel program?Program work needs a different contact and often a vendor registration process.
- Can the work be done overnight without closing the store?Night work capability is often the deciding factor for retail painting.
- Are remodels, brand refreshes or new stores planned in this area?Planned programs give you a timeline and a defined scope.
Medical, dental and outpatient offices: 232 sites here
From our landscaping talk track. Patient access and safety. Many practices lease, so the landlord or property manager is often the buyer.
- Do you own the building, or does a landlord or property manager handle the grounds?Many practices lease, so this tells you whether to keep selling here or move to the landlord.
- How are walkways and parking handled when it snows or ices over?Patient access and slip risk are the strongest reasons a practice will act.
- Have patients complained about the entrance, parking or grounds?Complaints give the practice administrator a reason to push for a change.
Any first meeting
Plain practice that works in every market.
- How are you handling this today, and what would you change about it?The gap between today and what they want is the whole reason to meet.
- What happens if nothing changes this year?Tells you whether there is a cost to waiting, or only curiosity.
- Who else would need to agree before anything moves?Names the people who can stall the deal, while you can still invite them.
- When does the current contract or budget come up for review?Gives you the date to plan around, even when the answer today is no.
- What would make a first meeting worth your time?Lets the buyer set the agenda, which is the agenda they will show up for.
Tool 03
Trigger watchlist
Each of these changes gives a buyer a reason to take the call this month instead of next year. Tick the ones you will track, and set a news alert or CRM field for each so you hear about it first.
Tool 04
30-day action plan
4 weeks, 15 steps, nothing you need to buy. Tick each one off as you finish it; your progress stays in this browser.
Week 1Draw the territory
Week 2Check the rules, then write the talk track
Week 3Make the calls
Week 4Measure and decide
Sources and notes
- U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023: business sites by category, size and county, Colorado Springs, CO.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1: contractor establishments, one-year change and concentration (location quotient).
- Projects: named public sources linked on each card, current as of 2026-09.
- Anchor owners: sources linked on each card, checked 2026-10.
- NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 2015 to 2024: hail and damaging wind reports by month across the metro's counties.
- NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county monthly series, 1991-2020 averages: degree days and average highs by month.
- Abstrakt sales center, Performance Intelligence, national, as of October 2026: dials, appointments, proposals and wins by trade. Method.
- Abstrakt territory record counts, as of October 2026: decision-maker records per program in the Colorado Springs territory.
- 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).
- The toolkit's discovery questions come from our trade talk tracks; the plan and checklists are sales practice, not data.
