Market report · Madison, WI
The State of Outbound Sales in Madison, 2026
How outbound selling looks across the Madison, WI 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.
- 1,920business sites with 20+ people across the categories trades sell to, #70 of our 100 metros
- 17buyer sites per mechanical contractor, #5 of 100 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 Madison
Biggest buyer pool
Restaurants: 476 sites
with 20 or more people, the largest buyer category in Madison, ahead of retail stores (461).
Where the metro leans
Senior living and nursing: 1.71x the U.S. mix
Also over-represented: apartment and residential property managers (1.58x) and golf courses and country clubs (1.43x). Trades that serve these buyers have more of them here than the national average suggests.
Most room
Commercial HVAC & Mechanical: #5 of 100 markets
17 buyer sites with 20+ people for each of 42 local mechanical contractors. The most crowded is commercial flooring, #44 of 68.
Biggest reason to call
Phillip A. Levy Engineering Hall, $419.8 million
Under construction; substantial completion December 2028. One of 11 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 2026-10; 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 Madison
1,920 business sites in Madison have 20 or more people on site in the categories commercial trades sell to. That ranks #70 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 | 476 | 1,626 | 1.20x | +24 |
| Retail stores | 461 | 2,026 | 1.00x | +1 |
| Manufacturing plants | 284 | 709 | 1.03x | -12 |
| Wholesale distributors | 167 | 760 | 0.92x | +18 |
| Medical, dental and outpatient offices | 160 | 1,063 | 0.84x | +60 |
| Senior living and nursing | 104 | 257 | 1.71x | +12 |
| Grocery stores | 72 | 232 | 0.80x | 0 |
| Hotels | 56 | 140 | 1.25x | +1 |
| Auto dealerships | 50 | 116 | 1.15x | +1 |
| Bank and credit union offices | 45 | 343 | 1.10x | -1 |
Madison leans toward senior living and nursing (1.71x), apartment and residential property managers (1.58x) and golf courses and country clubs (1.43x). 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 churches and religious organizations (0.19x) and private K-12 schools (0.58x). 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 (+60), restaurants (+24) and wholesale distributors (+18). New sites have no incumbent vendor yet.
The metro
Madison, WI: 4 counties in this report's counts.
Dane County, Columbia County and Green County hold 94% of the larger business sites, so most programs start there.
Where the sites are
| County | Sites with 20+ | Share of metro |
|---|---|---|
| Dane CountyStart here | 1,617 | 84% |
| Columbia County | 135 | 7% |
| Green County | 61 | 3% |
| Iowa County | 36 | 2% |
Chapter 02 The competition
Which trades have the most room in Madison
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 Madison figure is ranked against the other markets we track.
| Trade | Rank among markets | Sites per contractor | Contractors | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial HVAC & MechanicalMost room | #5 of 100 | 17 | 42 | -3 |
| Commercial Construction | #9 of 100 | 8.2 | 81 | +1 |
| Fire Protection | #9 of 96 | 72 | 16 | 0 |
| Commercial Roofing | #10 of 89 | 102 | 11 | 0 |
| Paving & Asphalt | #16 of 94 | 53 | 19 | 0 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | #17 of 86 | 84 | 14 | 0 |
| Commercial Electrical | #31 of 100 | 12 | 82 | +4 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | #47 of 100 | 3.9 | 200 | +8 |
| Managed Service Providers | #56 of 100 | 2.6 | 418 | +14 |
| Commercial Landscaping | #57 of 100 | 3.5 | 310 | +8 |
| Commercial Flooring | #44 of 68 | 60 | 10 | +1 |
Commercial HVAC & mechanical (#5), commercial construction (#9) and fire protection (#9) rank best in Madison. For those trades a program can work longer before it calls the same building twice, and fewer competitors have already pitched each owner.
Commercial flooring is the most crowded trade here, #44 of 68: 60 buyer sites for each of 10 local commercial flooring contractors. Winning there takes a sharper reason to switch than a lower price.
Commercial HVAC & mechanical (-3) lost contractor establishments over the past year, so the same buildings are split among fewer firms than a year ago. Managed service providers (+14) and commercial cleaning & janitorial (+8) added them.
Open programs
Our availability workbook does not cover Madison 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
11 named, sourced projects and 6 anchor owners in Madison. 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 · $419.8 million Phillip A. Levy Engineering Hall Under construction; substantial completion December 2028 An eight-story, 395,000-square-foot engineering building on the UW-Madison campus in Madison, replacing a building demolished in 2025. The state bid an $89.5 million mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection package with mobilization from December 2025, so MEP and fire protection crews are busy through 2028, followed by flooring, painting and building service work. The Daily Reporter, 2025-10-22
- 02 UW Health University Row Medical Center Under construction; completion end of 2027 A four-story outpatient clinic at 750 University Row on Madison's west side with primary care, urgent care, imaging, lab, rehabilitation and pharmacy space. Clinic interiors bring HVAC, electrical and fire protection work through 2027, then flooring and finish trades before patients arrive in early 2028; UW Health additions at University Hospital and East Madison Hospital are running at the same time. WisBusiness, 2025-11-10
- 03 · $115 million Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall Opened fall 2026 A 136,000-square-foot humanities building at North Park and West Johnson streets on the UW-Madison campus with 13 classrooms and a rooftop garden. Now open, the building moves into service contracts: custodial, HVAC maintenance, fire protection inspections and rooftop garden and grounds care. C.D. Smith Construction, 2026-09-23
- 04 · $507 million Madison Metropolitan School District 2024 Facilities Referendum Phase 1 under construction since March 2026; new buildings due 2027 Rebuilds or renovations of 10 of the district's oldest schools across seven Madison sites, starting with new buildings for Black Hawk/Gompers on the far North Side and Sherman/Shabazz on the North Side. The new North Side buildings are under construction through 2027, then the old schools come down and the lawns are rebuilt on their footprint, with a second phase of referendum projects to follow. Building envelope, roofing, flooring, painting and site and grounds work all run through the program. Madison365, 2026-09-24
- 05 Imagination Center at Reindahl Park Opened September 2026 Madison Public Library's 10th branch and a four-season park pavilion at 1814 Parkside Drive in Reindahl Park on Madison's northeast side. With the library and pavilion now open, the city buys ongoing custodial, HVAC maintenance and park grounds care for a building used year-round. Madison365, 2026-09-21
- 06 · $33.9 million John Nolen Drive Reconstruction Under construction; contract completion July 2027 Reconstruction of the John Nolen Drive causeway along Lake Monona between the Madison Beltline and downtown, starting with the stretch from East Lakeside Street to South Broom Street. The contract covers milling, grading and new asphalt and concrete paving, six reconstructed causeway bridges and three new bike and pedestrian bridges, new traffic signals and lighting, and a rebuilt shoreline, with the Madison LakeWay waterfront project expected to follow in 2027. Finance & Commerce, 2025-09-18
- 07 The Greenline Under construction; first phase expected to finish in 2028 Galway Companies' mixed-use village on about 12.5 acres along West Broadway in Monona, with close to 700 apartments, about 25,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a 1.5-acre city park; the first phase replaces the Broadway Building at 1709 W. Broadway. Phase one is two six-story buildings with about 357 apartments, covered parking and surface lots for retail, so shell, roofing, interior finish and lot paving work runs into 2028, with a second two-building phase planned next door. Wisconsin State Journal, 2026-09-30
- 08 · nearly 800,000 sq ft Sub-Zero Verona Distribution Warehouse Proposed; Verona plan commission review October 2026 A proposed Sub-Zero distribution warehouse on about 80 acres of farmland south of Whalen Road, expanding the business park on Verona's southeast side. If approved, a building this size means steel and tilt-up shell work, a very large low-slope roof, warehouse sprinklers, electrical service for a 24-hour operation and truck courts and lots sized for about 70 truck trips a day. Wisconsin State Journal, 2026-09-29
- 09 · $58 million YMCA of Dane County Fitchburg Facility Construction starting September 2026; opening early 2028 A 97,200-square-foot YMCA on McKee Road in Fitchburg with two pools, two gymnasiums, a childcare center for up to 100 children and a 10,000-square-foot Access Community Health Centers clinic, replacing Madison's West YMCA. The build runs through 2027 with a new roof, interior painting across gyms, pools and childcare rooms, pool HVAC and a large parking lot behind the building; once open in 2028 a facility with pools, childcare and a clinic needs daily custodial service. Wisconsin State Journal, 2026-06-24
- 10 · 58,000 square feet UW Health, UnityPoint Health-Meriter and Lifepoint Rehabilitation hospital, Fitchburg Under construction; completion early 2027 A free-standing 40-private-room inpatient rehabilitation hospital at 5094 Greenmarket Place, at Lacy Road and Highway 14 in Fitchburg, built by Findorff. Interior trades are on site into early 2027: sprinkler and fire alarm systems for an inpatient hospital, patient-room and therapy-gym flooring, and mechanical and electrical fit-out for a 40-room hospital that Lifepoint will operate day to day. WKOW 27 News, 2025-10-30
- 11 · $163.2 million Science Hall renovation, UW-Madison Renovation set to begin in 2027 Renovation of the five-story, 98,000-square-foot Science Hall at Park and Langdon streets on the UW-Madison campus, a building on the National Register of Historic Places, into a hub for geography, environmental studies and geospatial science. Work starting in 2027 covers a roof replacement, masonry and terracotta repair, window upgrades, HVAC and mechanical system upgrades, and interior rebuilds that remove non-historic partitions for new labs and gathering space. UW-Madison News, 2026-05-21
Projects current as of 2026-10; 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 Madison. One relationship with a facilities team here can cover many buildings.
Health system · Madison, Dane County
UW Health
UW Health reports more than 4 million appointments a year through its outpatient clinics, and all three of its Madison hospitals were undergoing renovations as of November 2025.
Runs University Hospital, East Madison Hospital, American Family Children's Hospital and a clinic network, all with HVAC, life-safety, cleaning and parking needs.
WMTV 15 NewsCampus · Madison, Dane County
University of Wisconsin-Madison
UW-Madison reported total enrollment of 51,865 for the fall 2025 semester.
Operates a large urban campus of academic, research, residence and athletic buildings with constant roofing, mechanical, flooring and grounds work.
University of Wisconsin-Madison NewsMajor employer · Verona, Dane County
Epic Systems Corporation
Epic Systems had 14,000 employees in 2025 and is headquartered at 1979 Milky Way in Verona.
Runs a large corporate campus of office buildings, landscaped grounds and parking that needs ongoing cleaning, grounds care and building systems work.
WikipediaMajor employer · Madison, Dane County
American Family Insurance
American Family Mutual Insurance Company is headquartered in Madison and reported 13,500 employees company-wide in 2022.
Headquarters office campus with occupied-building cleaning, HVAC, electrical and grounds needs.
WikipediaIndustrial park · Madison, Dane County
Center for Industry & Commerce
The city-run park on U.S. Highway 51 next to the airport's air and ground shipping terminal lists 2.5 and 3.43 acre parcels as available.
Industrial-zoned lots where new buildings bring site work, paving, power and fire protection, then recurring lot and grounds maintenance.
City of MadisonAirport · Madison, Dane County
Dane County Regional Airport
The airport served nearly 2.5 million passengers in 2025, its most ever and a 6% increase from 2024.
County-owned terminal, parking garage, hangars and airfield pavement that need mechanical, roofing, paving and cleaning work.
WMTV 15 NewsAnchor facts checked 2026-10; each source is linked on its card.
Which trades the work touches
| Trade | Projects and owners |
|---|---|
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | 12 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | 9 |
| Commercial Electrical | 8 |
| Commercial Construction | 7 |
| Fire Protection | 7 |
| Commercial Roofing | 7 |
| Paving & Asphalt | 7 |
| Commercial Landscaping | 7 |
| Commercial Flooring | 6 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | 4 |
Chapter 04 The calendar
The Madison selling calendar
Outbound runs every month, but the weather changes what a buyer wants to hear. These are the NOAA records for the Madison 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 | 2 | 8 | 32 | 76 | 101 | 108 | 28 | 43 | 13 | 10 | 0 |
| Cooling degree daysaverage month | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 135 | 219 | 173 | 44 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Heating degree daysaverage month | 1,431 | 1,179 | 957 | 564 | 254 | 51 | 15 | 34 | 135 | 482 | 858 | 1,252 |
| Average high (°F)average month | 27 | 32 | 44 | 57 | 70 | 79 | 82 | 80 | 73 | 60 | 45 | 32 |
NOAA logged 164 hail reports of 1 inch or larger and 257 damaging wind reports across the metro's counties from 2015 to 2024: #26 of 100 markets for hail and #53 for wind. May, June and July carried 68% of the reports. Storms are not the main driver here, so roof age, leaks and budget timing carry the roofing conversation.
The metro averages 613 cooling degree days a year (#73 of 97 markets) and 7,213 heating degree days (#5 of 97). Cooling load peaks in June, July and August; heating in January, February, March, 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.
6 months average a high of 60°F or more (May, June, July, August, September and October). 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 Madison, 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 Madison program
Before a program starts we size the list: the decision-maker records Abstrakt can prospect for each trade in the Madison-Janesville-Beloit territory.
- 2,439Commercial Roofing
- 2,439Commercial Construction
- 1,057Commercial HVAC & Mechanical
- 770Commercial 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 Madison
Before you hire a sales development rep in Madison, price the whole job, not just the salary.
The salary is the smallest part of the decision. About 4,060 people hold the role in the Madison, WI 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 Madison 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: 476 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: 461 sites here
From our roofing talk track. Leaks in front of customers. Qualify early whether the store or the landlord owns the roof.
- Does the store or the landlord own the roof under your lease?This is the first qualifying question, since many retail roofs are the landlord's responsibility.
- Where have leaks hit, the sales floor, the stockroom or around rooftop units?Leak location shows how much they affect customers and inventory, which drives urgency.
- Is a remodel or refresh scheduled for this location?Remodels are when replacement or major repair gets funded and scheduled.
Manufacturing plants: 284 sites here
From our HVAC talk track. Production uptime and energy. Ask how cooling issues affect the line.
- Where does cooling or ventilation actually touch production, in process cooling, make-up air or the control rooms?This separates comfort cooling from equipment that affects output, and output is where the plant spends money quickly.
- When was the last time a mechanical issue slowed or stopped a line?A recent incident gives you the cost of failure in the plant's own words, which justifies a preventative program.
- When are your planned shutdowns, and does HVAC work get scheduled into them?Shutdown windows are when real work gets done, so knowing them tells you when a proposal needs to be approved.
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, Madison, WI.
- 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 2026-10.
- 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 Madison-Janesville-Beloit 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.
