Commercial lead generation and B2B appointment setting in Columbus

Columbus has 5,483 business sites with 20 or more people on site in the categories commercial trades sell to, #32 of the 100 markets we cover, and 2.37 times the national concentration of warehousing and distribution. Private business establishments fell 0.7% from 2025 Q1 to 2026 Q1. Abstrakt's U.S.-based reps prospect those buyers by phone, email and LinkedIn and book meetings with the people who sign.

Ask Ava anything about the information on this page.

Local B2B snapshot

How many businesses are in Columbus, and which ones buy

Columbus has 22,931 establishments in the categories commercial trades sell to, 5,483 of them with 20 or more people on site. Compared with the national mix it over-indexes on warehousing and distribution (2.37x), commercial property managers (1.68x) and apartment and residential property managers (1.51x). Added over the past year: restaurants (+35), warehousing and distribution (+28) and medical, dental and outpatient offices (+22). Down: wholesale distributors (-179) and trucking companies (-46).

  • 22,931 establishments in the 21 categories commercial trades sell to

    Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023

  • 5,483 of them with 20 or more people on site, where a prospecting list starts

    Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023

  • -0.7% private business establishments, 2025 Q1 to 2026 Q1 (58,154 now; U.S. +3.6%)

    Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1

  • 2.37x the national concentration of warehousing and distribution

    Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1

  • 5,977 decision-maker records Abstrakt can prospect for a construction and roofing program (territory: Columbus-Marion-Zanesville)

    Source: Abstrakt territory record counts, October 2026

An establishment is one physical location, so a company with three sites counts three times; decision-maker records are contacts, not companies; open programs are not reservations.

Largest buyer groups in Columbus

  1. Restaurants 1.34x the U.S. mix1,676
  2. Retail stores1,038
  3. Medical, dental and outpatient offices 1.27x the U.S. mix779
  4. Manufacturing plants513
  5. Wholesale distributors402
  6. Senior living and nursing 1.40x the U.S. mix215
  7. Warehousing and distribution 2.37x the U.S. mix155
  8. Grocery stores145

Sites with 20 or more people on site, U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023; concentration, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1.

All 21 categories, with establishments, concentration and one-year change
Business categories in Columbus: larger sites, all establishments, concentration and one-year change
CategorySites with 20+All establishmentsvs. U.S. mix1-yr change
Restaurants 1,6764,511 1.34x +35
Retail stores 1,0385,594 1.14x -29
Medical, dental and outpatient offices 7794,198 1.27x +22
Manufacturing plants 5131,390 0.93x +18
Wholesale distributors 4021,938 1.06x -179
Senior living and nursing 215457 1.40x -5
Warehousing and distribution 155319 2.37x +28
Grocery stores (also counted in retail) 145798 1.11x +14
Trucking companies 140989 1.33x -46
Churches and religious organizations 1201,187 0.36x +4
Hotels 115294 1.08x -8
Auto dealerships (also counted in retail) 104286 1.23x -7
Bank and credit union offices 103987 1.17x -39
Private K-12 schools 84145 0.77x +5
Apartment and residential property managers 43431 1.51x +11
Hospitals 3238 0.81x +6
Golf courses and country clubs 2467 1.35x -5
Hosting and data processing companies 23129 1.35x -11
Colleges and universities 1328 0.53x -1
Commercial property managers 463 1.68x +1
Nonresidential building owners 4166 0.97x -7
Total, each site once5,48322,931

Sites and establishments: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023; concentration (location quotient) and one-year change in establishments: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1, summed across the metro's counties.

Your industry in Columbus

What Industry Are You Growing In?

Pick your trade to see the Columbus buyers, competition, decision-makers and projects for it. The estimator and the assessment form below follow your choice.

Choose an industry

Every trade in Columbus at a glance

Largest buyer groups (sites with 20+ people)

  1. Restaurants1,676
  2. Retail stores1,038
  3. Medical, dental and outpatient offices779
  4. Manufacturing plants513
  5. Wholesale distributors402

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023.

Most room per contractor

  1. Commercial Landscaping#21 of 100
  2. Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial#27 of 100
  3. Commercial HVAC & Mechanical#29 of 100

Larger buyer sites per contractor, ranked across up to 100 markets. 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.

Trade panels: buyer sites, U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023; contractors, their one-year change and employment, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1; decision-maker records, Abstrakt territory record counts, October 2026; open programs, Abstrakt territory availability.

Compare all 11 trades in Columbus

Ranked by larger buyer sites 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.

Commercial trades in Columbus: contractors, buyer sites and rank
TradeContractors1-yr changeLarger buyer sitesPer contractorRankDecision-maker records
Commercial Landscaping
Largest buyer group: retail stores
638 -5 2,964 4.6 #21 not counted
Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial
Largest buyer group: ambulatory health care: physician, dental, outpatient and urgent care
448 -24 2,072 4.6 #27 1,835
Commercial HVAC & Mechanical
Largest buyer group: medical and dental office buildings
174 +7 1,992 11.4 #29 2,336
Paving & Asphalt
Largest buyer group: retail stores
70 +1 3,007 43.0 #39 not counted
Commercial Construction
Largest buyer group: manufacturing companies
299 +4 1,425 4.8 #46 5,977
Fire Protection
Largest buyer group: restaurants
73 +1 3,297 45.2 #45 not counted
Commercial Roofing
Largest buyer group: retail stores
39 +2 2,685 68.8 #42 5,977
Commercial Painting & Coatings
Largest buyer group: retail stores
43 +5 2,780 64.7 #49 not counted
Commercial Flooring
Largest buyer group: ambulatory health care: physician, dental, outpatient and urgent care
32 +2 2,042 63.8 #40 not counted
Managed Service Providers
Largest buyer group: medical, dental and outpatient practices
1,282 -29 2,949 2.3 #65 not counted
Commercial Electrical
Largest buyer group: retail stores
269 +12 2,218 8.2 #78 not counted

Sources: contractors and change, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, private ownership, 2026 Q1; buyer sites, U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (each trade's own buyer categories, each site counted once); decision-maker records, Abstrakt territory record counts, October 2026.

Growth and trends

Is Columbus adding businesses? Five years of counts

Private business establishments in the metro's counties went from 52,721 in 2021 to 58,664 in 2025 (+11.3%), while private employment moved +7.3% to 937,376. In the Census Bureau's latest count, 4,286 establishments opened and 3,645 closed in a year. New sites start without an incumbent vendor.

Private establishments and employment, 2021 to 2025

Private establishments, employment and average weekly wage by year, Columbus
YearEstablishmentsEmploymentAvg weekly wage
202152,721873,701$1,167
202255,402897,661$1,219
202356,898910,623$1,255
202458,259918,563$1,315
202558,664937,376$1,367

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (opens in a new tab), private ownership, 2021 to 2025 annual averages, 10 counties summed. n/a: BLS withholds the figure for at least one county.

Establishments opened and closed each year

Establishment openings and closings by year, Columbus, OH
Year to MarchOpenedRateClosedRate
20193,6559.2%2,9897.5%
20203,5478.8%3,4958.7%
20214,49311.0%3,5448.7%
20224,49410.8%3,7038.9%
20234,28610.1%3,6458.6%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics (opens in a new tab), 2023 release, Columbus, OH. Each year runs March to March; rates are per 100 establishments.

New business applications

39,486 applications for an employer ID number were filed in the metro's counties in 2025, +76.1% on 2019 (22,420): Franklin County 28,573, Delaware County 3,623, Fairfield County 2,242, Licking County 2,065, Union County 861, Pickaway County 599, Madison County 528, Morrow County 382, Perry County 340 and Hocking County 273. Applications include sole proprietors and filings that never hire, so they measure new business activity, not new buyers.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (county annual) (opens in a new tab), calendar 2025, retrieved 2026-10-15.

Contractors by trade, 2021 to 2025
Contractor establishments by trade, 2021 and 2025, Columbus
Trade20212025Change
Commercial Roofing2739+12 (+44.4%)
Managed Service Providers9051,305+400 (+44.2%)
Commercial Flooring2230+8 (+36.4%)
Commercial HVAC & Mechanical142166+24 (+16.9%)
Commercial Construction257297+40 (+15.6%)
Commercial Electrical232263+31 (+13.4%)
Commercial Landscaping623653+30 (+4.8%)
Commercial Painting & Coatings4039-1 (-2.5%)
Paving & Asphalt7573-2 (-2.7%)
Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial478458-20 (-4.2%)
Fire Protection8271-11 (-13.4%)

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, annual averages, the same NAICS codes as the trade comparison above. More contractors means more competition for the same buyers; fewer means more room for outbound.

When to prospect: the Columbus calendar

Cooling demand peaks in July (267 cooling degree days in a normal year), and 59% of the 780 severe hail and wind reports from 2015 to 2024 fell in June, July and May. Start roofing and HVAC prospecting ahead of those months.

Average high temperature, cooling degree days and severe storm reports by month, Columbus
MonthAvg high (F)Cooling degree daysHail and wind reports
January3607
February40016
March50147
April64278
May7369121
June81175180
July84267161
August8322891
September778845
October65711
November52021
December4102

Sources: NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county monthly series, 1991-2020 averages (opens in a new tab); NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (opens in a new tab), 2015 to 2024. Reports of hail 1 inch or larger and thunderstorm wind of 58 mph or more, by month, across the market counties.

Buying signals

Where the money is moving in Columbus

Federal contracts and building permits are early signs that a building is changing: new construction, a renovation, a re-roof.

Federal contracts performed in the metro

Federal agencies obligated $968.3 million in contracts with a place of performance in Columbus's counties in federal fiscal year 2026 (October 2025 to September 2026), against $1.16 billion in fiscal 2025 (-16.5%). Construction (NAICS 23) took $17.1 million.

Contract obligations by county
CountyFY2026FY2025
Delaware County$16.4 million$45.4 million
Fairfield County$876,751$771,488
Franklin County$813.5 million$866.9 million
Hocking County$774,665$603,121
Licking County$134.7 million$243.3 million
Madison County$206,258$982,494
Morrow County-$52,544$668,093
Perry County$1.3 million$467,865
Pickaway County$417,861$693,793
Union County$188,748$228,059
Metro counties$968.3 million$1.16 billion
FY2026 obligations in each trade's own NAICS code
TradeNAICSFY2026
Commercial Construction236220$12.6 million
Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial561720$9.8 million
Commercial Electrical238210$2.2 million
Fire Protection561621$1.2 million
Commercial Landscaping561730$989,594
Commercial HVAC & Mechanical238220$483,688
Managed Service Providers541512$385,366

Source: USAspending.gov (U.S. Department of the Treasury) (opens in a new tab), contract award types A to D, obligations dated October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, by place of performance; data as of 2026-10-15. Defense contract actions are published 90 days late, so fiscal 2026 will still rise. Place of performance is coded by the contracting officer. A negative figure means deobligations (money taken back on earlier contracts) exceeded new obligations in that county.

Commercial building permits

City of Columbus issued 6,806 commercial permits from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, 141 of them for new construction; the busiest month was Aug 2026 (651). Each count covers only the permits that authority issues, so they are not a metro total and do not add up across jurisdictions. City of Columbus: Building, trade, fire protection and sign permits issued by the City of Columbus Department of Building and Zoning Services inside city limits; suburbs and Franklin County issue their own.

City of Columbus: commercial permits by type of work
Type of workPermits
Mechanical1,460
Electrical1,459
Alteration1,025
Plumbing828
Fire alarm645
Fire suppression581
Roof255
New structure141

By permit type: MEP 3,747 · Structural 1,585 · Fire Protection 1,226 · Special 172 · Demolition 69 · Plans Examination 7. Permit subtype as the city records it (MEP is mechanical, electrical and plumbing).

Commercial permits by month, table
Commercial permits issued by month and jurisdiction, Oct 2024 to Sep 2026
MonthCity of Columbus
Sep 2026623
Aug 2026651
Jul 2026623
Jun 2026578
May 2026541
Apr 2026597
Mar 2026593
Feb 2026500
Jan 2026480
Dec 2025499
Nov 2025513
Oct 2025608
Sep 2025600
Aug 2025569
Jul 2025628
Jun 2025604
May 2025638
Apr 2025616
Mar 2025558
Feb 2025539
Jan 2025585
Dec 2024500
Nov 2024543
Oct 2024615

Sources: City of Columbus, Building Permits (opens in a new tab) (City of Columbus, Department of Building and Zoning Services, CC0 1.0 (opens in a new tab); B1_PER_TYPE = 'Commercial' (the city's commercial permit type; apartment buildings are a separate Multi Family type), by ISSUED_DT). Retrieved 2026-10-15. Counts only; declared job values are applicant estimates and are not shown.

Territory intelligence

Where the Columbus buyers are

Franklin County, Delaware County and Licking County hold 86% of the metro's 5,483 larger business sites, so most programs start there and add the rest of the metro for larger accounts, depending on how far your crews travel.

Larger business sites (20+ people) by county, Columbus, OH
CountySitesShare
Franklin County 3,81470%
Delaware County 55910%
Licking County 3286.0%
Fairfield County 2735.0%
Union County 961.8%
Pickaway County 601.1%
Madison County 591.1%
Hocking County 360.7%
Perry County 260.5%
Morrow County 120.2%
Not assigned to a county by Census2204.0%
Metro total5,483100%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, metro and county files, summed across the buyer categories on this page (each site counted once). County files withhold some size-class counts that the metro file reports, so 220 sites cannot be placed in a county.

Abstrakt territories in this market

Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH. A strategist confirms which one your program would hold.

The owners that anchor Columbus

Each fact links to its source, checked 2026-10.

Health system

OhioHealth

Columbus, Franklin County

OhioHealth describes a network of 16 hospitals, three joint-venture hospitals and 200+ ambulatory sites spanning a 50-county area.

Columbus-based system running Riverside Methodist, Grant and Doctors hospitals plus ambulatory sites, all with HVAC, life-safety, cleaning and parking needs.

HVACfire protectioncleaningpaving

OhioHealth (opens in a new tab)
3 more anchor owners in Columbus
Major employer

Intel Ohio site

New Albany, Licking County

Intel's Ohio site spans nearly 1,000 acres in New Albany, where it plans to invest more than $28 billion in two chip factories.

Semiconductor campus under construction that brings site work, power, mechanical and fire protection scopes and long-term facility service needs.

constructionelectricalHVACfire protection

Intel (opens in a new tab)
Projects and economic activity

What is being built in Columbus, and who it puts to work

Named projects from primary and local news sources, researched September 2026. Market intelligence, not open bids: confirm timing with the owner.

CMH Next terminal at John Glenn Columbus International Airport

Under wayUnder construction

A new 36-gate terminal at John Glenn Columbus International Airport replacing the 1958 terminal; both new terminal roadways are finished and the building is being enclosed.

Enclosure and skylight framing are underway, so interior mechanical, electrical, fire protection and finish trades such as flooring and painting are the next big scopes.

HVACelectricalfire protectionflooringpainting

John Glenn Columbus International Airport, 2026-09-02 (opens in a new tab)

Anduril Arsenal-1

$900 million

Opening or openOpened 2026

Anduril's defense manufacturing plant near Rickenbacker Airport in Pickaway County, which began Fury drone production in March 2026 with a target of 4,000 jobs by 2035.

Production has started while the campus grows, so expect more building phases plus ongoing facility maintenance, cleaning and electrical service.

constructionelectricalHVACcleaning

ABC6, 2026-03-19 (opens in a new tab)

Nationwide Children's Hospital acute care tower

$1.27 billion

Under wayUnder construction

A 14-story, 432-bed acute care tower on the main Nationwide Children's campus in Columbus, plus a parking garage, new energy plant and renovation of an existing inpatient facility.

The tower is due in 2028 and the energy plant is a large mechanical and electrical scope; interior painting of the new tower and renovation of the older building follow.

HVACelectricalfire protectionconstructionpainting

WOSU, 2025-07-29 (opens in a new tab)

Ohio State Wexner Medical Center University Hospital

1.9 million sq ft

Opening or openOpened 2026

A 26-story, 820-room hospital at 520 W. 10th Ave. on Ohio State's Columbus campus, which opened February 22, 2026.

A building this size creates ongoing contracts for environmental services, HVAC and electrical maintenance, and grounds care, plus renovation and repainting work in the existing Rhodes and Doan halls.

cleaningHVACelectricallandscapingpainting

Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, 2026-02-22 (opens in a new tab)

EdgeConneX New Albany data centers

More than 1.2 million sq ft

Under wayUnder construction

An EdgeConneX data center campus on 74 acres along Innovation Campus Way in New Albany: a 525,000-square-foot warehouse conversion and a new 700,000-square-foot building.

The second building is due in fall 2027, with on-site gas power, so electrical, cooling and fire protection are the main scopes, and a new 700,000-square-foot building also needs a large roofing package.

electricalHVACfire protectionconstructionroofing

NBC4, 2025-07 (opens in a new tab)

Columbus City Schools summer 2026 capital improvements

$60 million

See sourceSummer 2026 construction, most work done before the 2026-27 school year

A Columbus City Schools package across neighborhood schools: $20 million in classroom renovations, $8 million for athletic facilities at Beechcroft, Northland and Walnut Ridge high schools, $4 million for elementary playgrounds and $3 million for roof replacements and exterior repairs at 11 sites, plus HVAC and parking lot work.

The district manages more than 110 sites and pays for this work from voter-approved levy permanent improvement funds, so roof replacement, parking lot resurfacing, classroom paint and athletic field and playground work come up for bid on a summer schedule.

roofingpavingpaintinglandscapingHVAC

Columbus City Schools, 2026-05-19 (opens in a new tab)

Rickenbacker Industrial Center Phase III

959,579 sq ft

Under wayUnder construction, completion first quarter 2027

A speculative industrial building by Trident Capital Group, O'Connor Capital Partners and Clarion Partners at 1669 Rohr Road near Rickenbacker in Columbus, on 57.3 acres with 104 dock doors.

A building of nearly 960,000 sq ft carries a large roof, warehouse sprinkler system, and 238 trailer stalls plus 336 car spaces of paving with site landscaping, all due by early 2027.

roofingpavinglandscapingfire protectionconstruction

REBusinessOnline, 2026-08-10 (opens in a new tab)

Scannell logistics park, Commercial Point

1.2 million sq ft (first building)

Under wayBroke ground June 2026, completion April 2027

The first phase of a Scannell Properties logistics park in Commercial Point, Pickaway County: a 1.2 million sq ft speculative building with 40-foot clear height, 60 dock doors and four drive-in doors.

A 1.2 million sq ft distribution building needs one of the largest roofs in the region, a warehouse sprinkler system, truck court and parking paving and site landscaping before the April 2027 finish, with later phases of the park to follow.

roofingpavinglandscapingfire protectionconstruction

REBusinessOnline, 2026-06-29 (opens in a new tab)

Kilbourne Run Sports Park

About $34.4 million of work completed (about 97 percent of budget) as of April 2026

Opening or openOpening spring 2026

A Columbus Recreation and Parks renovation, in partnership with the Columbus Crew, of a 62-acre sports park at 4625 Westerville Road with six lighted artificial turf fields, new paved parking, restrooms, shelters and tree plantings.

Once open, a 62-acre park with new paved lots, natural turf fields with irrigation and newly planted trees needs grounds maintenance and parking lot upkeep, and its restroom, shelter and stadium buildings need regular cleaning.

landscapingpavingcleaning

Columbus Recreation and Parks Department, 2026-04 (opens in a new tab)
Market view

What we see in Columbus

City of Columbus permits read like a mechanical and electrical market. Of 6,806 permits issued from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, 1,460 were mechanical and 1,459 electrical, against 141 for new structures. Most of the work is inside buildings that already stand, and the busiest month was Aug 2026 with 651.

Electrical is also where the competition is thickest. The contractor count rose 13.4% from 2021 to 2025, and Columbus ranks #78 of 100 markets for room. The big projects still need them. The CMH Next terminal at John Glenn is being enclosed, so mechanical, electrical, fire protection, flooring and painting are its next scopes, and the Nationwide Children's acute care tower is due in 2028 with a new energy plant attached.

The southern edge of the metro is a distribution story. Warehousing runs 2.37x the U.S. concentration, the highest ratio of any buyer group here, and added 28 establishments last year. Rickenbacker Industrial Center Phase III finishes in the first quarter of 2027 and Scannell's first building in Commercial Point, Pickaway County, in April 2027. Both need roofs, warehouse sprinklers, paving and site landscaping. Landscaping has room at #21 of 100, and roofers should time their pitches around June, July and May, which hold 59% of local hail and wind reports.

Columbus City Schools runs its capital work on a summer calendar, paid from levy permanent improvement funds across its neighborhood schools. Roofing, paving, painting and HVAC firms that want those bids should be known to the district before the summer package goes out.

Abstrakt's reading of the sourced figures and projects above, written .

Decision-makers

Who signs, and how many of them work in Columbus

29,070 general and operations managers, 5,370 medical and health services managers and 4,330 computer and information systems managers work in the Columbus, OH metro. Jobs across every industry, not a contact list.

Jobs and median annual pay by title, Columbus, OH
TitleJobsMedian payTrades that call this title first
General and operations managers
SOC 11-1021
29,070$102,590MSP
Medical and health services managers
SOC 11-9111
5,370$107,520
Computer and information systems managers
SOC 11-3021
4,330$167,630
Buyers and purchasing agents
SOC 13-1020
4,200$77,150
Construction managers
SOC 11-9021
4,000$105,200
Property, real estate, and community association managers
SOC 11-9141
2,670$61,880landscaping, painting, paving
Education administrators, postsecondary
SOC 11-9033
1,370$100,600
Facilities managers
SOC 11-3013
1,290$98,290cleaning, construction, electrical, flooring, roofing, fire protection, HVAC
Purchasing managers
SOC 11-3061
560$141,490

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) (opens in a new tab), May 2025, Columbus, OH, all industries. Each title is the closest BLS occupation to a role in the trade's playbook; titles BLS does not publish for this metro are left out. Each trade link opens the Columbus guide's decision-maker questions.

Opportunity estimator

What Could Your Next 12 Months in Columbus Look Like?

A planning model, not a forecast: put in your own numbers and it applies Abstrakt's national sales center rates for your trade.

Default 16.1%: Abstrakt national rate for this trade. Use your own if you know it.

Baseline, 12 months

12,000prospecting dials
86meetings set
22proposals
3.6customers won
$89,355first-year value of those customers
Scenarios
ScenarioDials per meetingMeetingsCustomers wonFirst-year value
Conservative190632.6$65,841
Baseline140863.6$89,355
Optimistic1081114.6$115,831
Get My Columbus Opportunity Assessment

How it works. Meetings are dials divided by dials per appointment; proposals, customers won and value follow from the proposal rate, the win rate and your customer value. The rates are Abstrakt sales center, Performance Intelligence, national, October 2026, across all programs, not Columbus results; the scenarios use the slower and faster quarter of buyer industries. Outbound results typically build over 6 to 12 months, so a first year rarely runs at a full year's pace. Benchmarks by trade and method.

Hiring locally

What an in-house SDR costs in Columbus

  • 8,350people in the role locally, all competing for the same hires

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 SDR, first year (illustrative)$124,700

An illustrative model, not a quote: in-house adds $15,000 commission, 25% payroll taxes and benefits, $550/month tools, $7,000 recruiting and training, 35% yearly turnover, and manager, QA and admin time, before ramp time. Abstrakt includes the SDR, management, tools and data.

Local sales intelligence

See how a Columbus program is built in Abstrakt Intelligence

Ava walks through the platform our strategists use, set to Columbus.

Abstrakt Intelligence

This demonstration showcases real Abstrakt Intelligence capabilities using fictional companies and contacts to protect client and prospect privacy. Ava is Abstrakt's AI guide. The screens are the demo set to the Columbus territory; its territory counts come from the demo data, not the Census figures above.

Read the transcript of Ava's Columbus walkthrough

Hi, I'm Ava.

Here's what an Abstrakt program looks like in Columbus.

First, we size your territory.

The Columbus area has about 47 thousand companies and 216 thousand business contacts.

Next, we pick the playbook for your industry.

Each playbook starts with criteria that have already booked meetings.

For roofing, that's roof size, roof age and who owns the building.

Then we build the list.

Anyone who isn't a fit comes off before a rep ever sees the name.

Every prospect gets a full profile.

The decision-maker, the building, and every touch so far.

Before the first dial, each rep practices in an AI role play and gets certified.

Now the calls start.

The dialer, the talk track and the follow-up all live in one place.

Every meeting is reviewed for quality before it reaches you.

And we track each one all the way to closed.

We take one client per trade per territory.

Once a spot is taken, it's gone.

Check if your trade is still open in Columbus.

Client results

Results from programs like this one

Each story is labeled with where the program ran. Abstrakt runs every program from its St. Louis sales floor.

  • Commercial cleaningLocal program, Tulsa

    How Century Facility Services broke its referral ceiling: $415K closed in year one

    Century Facility Services

    After losing a sales rep, Century Facility Services outsourced outbound and booked 58 appointments and closed $415K in year one.

    • 58 appointments booked
    • 7 deals closed
    • $415K closed business

    First year of the program (case published April 2026)

  • Commercial roofingRegional

    How Schena Roofing booked 475 appointments and kept a seasonal calendar full

    Schena Roofing & Sheet Metal

    Schena Roofing booked 475 appointments and closed $1.69M from 2018 to 2024, with another $1.39M in proposals delivered.

    • 475 appointments
    • $1.69M closed business
    • $1.39M in proposals delivered

    2018 to 2024, from Abstrakt program records. Closed business and proposals delivered are separate figures.

  • Fire protectionLocal program, Philadelphia

    How Harring Fire Protection turned outbound and inbound into $200K in new business

    Harring Fire Protection

    Outbound appointment setting plus an inbound website produced 195 appointments and 16 closed deals worth $200K in 28 months.

    • 195 appointments booked
    • 16 deals closed
    • $200K closed business

    28-month partnership (case published April 2026); search figures within 12 months of the February 2025 site launch

See all client stories

Outsourced sales development

How Abstrakt runs a Columbus program

Reps on Abstrakt's St. Louis sales floor work your Columbus list by phone, email, LinkedIn and direct mail after two weeks of training and certification on your account.

Contractor licensing in Ohio

Ohio's OCILB licenses commercial contractors in only five trades: electrical, HVAC, plumbing, hydronics, and refrigeration. Other trades, including general contracting and roofing, are handled by local building departments, and the State Fire Marshal certifies fire protection companies.

Confirm with Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board (OCILB), Ohio Department of Commerce (opens in a new tab). Checked 2026-09-30.

Free market report

The State of Outbound Sales in Columbus, 2026

This page's Columbus data in one report for your team, with the Ohio calling rules. No form to fill in.

Free trade territory report · PDF

Get the territory report for your trade in Columbus

One trade, one city, every page about your market: the account types that buy your work here and how many of each, Tier 1 sites, the counties to start in, who signs and what to ask them, the months that matter, federal contracts and permits, the Ohio calling rules, and whether the territory is still open. One client per trade per territory.

  • Account tiers and a worked first-list example
  • Decision-maker roles, questions and objections
  • A 90-day calling plan sized to the Columbus counts

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Territory assessment

See Your Columbus Sales Opportunity

A Partner Sales Manager sizes your Columbus territory for your trade, checks whether it is open (one client per trade per territory) and shows what a program would look like.

Program commitments, including activity and meeting expectations, are defined in your agreement before launch.

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Outsourced sales development in Columbus, answered

Does Abstrakt provide B2B lead generation and appointment setting in Columbus?

Yes. Abstrakt runs outsourced lead generation and B2B appointment setting across the Columbus, OH metro from its St. Louis sales floor: U.S.-based reps prospect the buildings, qualify the opportunity and book meetings with the person who signs. We take one client per trade per territory.

How does B2B appointment setting work for a Columbus program?

It starts with the list. Of the 5,483 sites in Columbus with 20 or more people on site, we keep the ones that buy your trade inside your service area, then a certified rep works them by phone, email, LinkedIn and direct mail. Meetings are booked with the decision-maker, reviewed before they reach you and tracked to a proposal and a close.

Which commercial trades have the most room to grow in Columbus?

Measured by larger buyer sites per contractor across the markets we track (a market is ranked for a trade only where it has at least 10 local contractors), commercial landscaping (#21 of 100), commercial cleaning & janitorial (#27 of 100) and commercial HVAC & mechanical (#29 of 100) rank best in Columbus.

What kinds of businesses are concentrated in Columbus?

Compared with the national mix, Columbus has more warehousing and distribution (2.37x), commercial property managers (1.68x) and apartment and residential property managers (1.51x). Those industries are the best-represented buyers for trades that serve them.

Is the Columbus business market growing?

Over five years, yes, on both counts below. The latest year dipped: private business establishments fell 0.7% from 2025 Q1 to 2026 Q1. Private business establishments across Columbus's counties went from 52,721 in 2021 to 58,664 in 2025 (+11.3%), and private employment +7.3% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, annual averages). In the latest Census count, 4,286 establishments opened and 3,645 closed in the metro (U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics, 2023, March to March), so openings ran ahead of closings by 641.

How much federal construction money is spent in Columbus?

Federal contract obligations with a place of performance in Columbus's counties came to $968.3 million in federal fiscal year 2026 (October 2025 to September 2026), $17.1 million of it in construction (NAICS 23) (USAspending.gov (U.S. Department of the Treasury), retrieved 2026-10-15). Fiscal 2026 will still rise as delayed defense contract actions post.

How many commercial building permits are issued in Columbus?

City of Columbus issued 6,806 commercial permits between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026. That count covers only the permits City of Columbus issues, not the metro. Source: each jurisdiction's open-data permit layer, retrieved 2026-10-15.

Which Columbus buyer groups shrank in the last year?

Wholesale distributors fell by 179 establishments, trucking companies by 46 and bank branches by 39, the three largest drops in the metro. Restaurants rose by 35 and warehousing by 28 over the same year. A cleaning or HVAC firm working a distribution list should weight it toward warehouse operators near Rickenbacker rather than wholesale offices, and refresh it often, because sites are changing hands.

What does the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center's new hospital mean for service contractors?

Ongoing contracts rather than a bid day. The new University Hospital opened in February 2026, and a building that size needs environmental services, HVAC and electrical maintenance and grounds care every week. The older Rhodes and Doan halls also face renovation and repainting. Medical, dental and outpatient offices run 1.27x the U.S. concentration across the metro, so health care deserves its own call list in Columbus.

Which counties make up the Columbus market?

The metro covers 10 counties. Franklin County, Delaware County and Licking County hold 86% of the larger business sites, so most programs start there.

What does outsourced sales development cost in Columbus?

Starting at $5,000 per month for an Outbound BDR program, as a flat monthly program. The price depends on how many reps work your program, the channels, and how large a territory and how many trades it covers. For comparison, one in-house SDR costs about $124,700 in year one at a $55,000 base salary on our illustrative model, before ramp time.

Sources and method

Updated . Approved the local markets plan: the data sources, the method and the in-house SDR cost model shown on market pages: Scott Scully, Executive Chairman, October 15, 2026. Every figure is regenerated from its source by a script in the site's code, never typed by hand.

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