Market report · San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX
The State of Outbound Sales in San Antonio, 2026
How outbound selling looks across the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX 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.
- 5,328business sites with 20+ people across the categories trades sell to, #34 of our 100 metros
- 7.0buyer sites per commercial landscaping contractor, #6 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 San Antonio
Biggest buyer pool
Restaurants: 1,781 sites
with 20 or more people, the largest buyer category in San Antonio-New Braunfels, ahead of retail stores (1,122).
Where the metro leans
Hotels: 1.75x the U.S. mix
Also over-represented: nonresidential building owners (1.69x) and medical, dental and outpatient offices (1.53x). Trades that serve these buyers have more of them here than the national average suggests.
Most room
Commercial Landscaping: #6 of 100 markets
7.0 buyer sites with 20+ people for each of 443 local commercial landscaping contractors. The most crowded is commercial HVAC & mechanical, #85 of 100.
Biggest reason to call
San Antonio International Airport Terminal C, $1.4 billion
Under construction, opening 2028. One of 5 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 San Antonio-New Braunfels
5,328 business sites in San Antonio-New Braunfels have 20 or more people on site in the categories commercial trades sell to. That ranks #34 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 | 1,781 | 5,310 | 1.47x | +70 |
| Retail stores | 1,122 | 6,443 | 1.26x | -52 |
| Medical, dental and outpatient offices | 676 | 5,362 | 1.53x | +125 |
| Wholesale distributors | 378 | 2,097 | 0.81x | -113 |
| Manufacturing plants | 349 | 1,333 | 0.88x | -2 |
| Senior living and nursing | 189 | 475 | 0.91x | -21 |
| Churches and religious organizations | 154 | 1,034 | 0.21x | -1 |
| Hotels | 152 | 487 | 1.75x | -1 |
| Grocery stores | 135 | 763 | 0.92x | +15 |
| Trucking companies | 130 | 919 | 0.88x | -25 |
San Antonio-New Braunfels leans toward hotels (1.75x), nonresidential building owners (1.69x) and medical, dental and outpatient offices (1.53x). 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 (0.21x) and golf courses and country clubs (0.69x). 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 (+125), restaurants (+70) and commercial property managers (+37). New sites have no incumbent vendor yet.
The metro
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX: 8 counties in this report's counts.
Bexar County, Comal County and Guadalupe County hold 93% of the larger business sites, so most programs start there.
Where the sites are
| County | Sites with 20+ | Share of metro |
|---|---|---|
| Bexar CountyStart here | 4,328 | 81% |
| Comal County | 381 | 7% |
| Guadalupe County | 249 | 5% |
| Kendall County | 84 | 2% |
| Atascosa County | 64 | 1% |
| Medina County | 53 | 1% |
| Wilson County | 33 | 1% |
| Bandera County | 8 | 0% |
Chapter 02 The competition
Which trades have the most room in San Antonio
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 San Antonio figure is ranked against the other markets we track.
| Trade | Rank among markets | Sites per contractor | Contractors | 1-yr change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial LandscapingMost room | #6 of 100 | 7.0 | 443 | -23 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | #25 of 100 | 4.7 | 420 | +2 |
| Commercial Flooring | #19 of 68 | 82 | 24 | 0 |
| Commercial Roofing | #29 of 89 | 77 | 35 | -1 |
| Managed Service Providers | #38 of 100 | 3.3 | 839 | +16 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | #40 of 86 | 72 | 38 | -1 |
| Commercial Construction | #66 of 100 | 3.7 | 404 | -13 |
| Fire Protection | #69 of 96 | 36 | 89 | +1 |
| Commercial Electrical | #73 of 100 | 8.6 | 254 | -2 |
| Paving & Asphalt | #77 of 94 | 31 | 100 | +10 |
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | #85 of 100 | 7.0 | 245 | +10 |
Commercial landscaping (#6), commercial cleaning & janitorial (#25) and commercial flooring (#19) rank best in San Antonio. For those trades a program can work longer before it calls the same building twice, and fewer competitors have already pitched each owner.
Commercial HVAC & mechanical is the most crowded trade here, #85 of 100: 7.0 buyer sites for each of 245 local mechanical contractors. Winning there takes a sharper reason to switch than a lower price.
Commercial landscaping (-23) and commercial construction (-13) lost contractor establishments over the past year, so the same buildings are split among fewer firms than a year ago. Managed service providers (+16) and paving & asphalt (+10) added them.
Open programs
Our availability workbook does not cover San Antonio 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
5 named, sourced projects and 6 anchor owners in San Antonio-New Braunfels. 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 · $1.4 billion San Antonio International Airport Terminal C Under construction, opening 2028 An 18-gate terminal at San Antonio International Airport on the North Side, part of a $2.5 billion airport program, about 25% complete as of July 2026. Topping off is expected in fall 2026 and dry-in in early 2027, which moves the job into roofing, mechanical, electrical and fire protection rough-in through 2027. Interior flooring and paint follow ahead of the 2028 opening. San Antonio Report, 2026-07-27
- 02 · $1.5 billion University Health Retama Hospital and Palo Alto Hospital Under construction, opening 2027 Two new University Health community hospitals in Bexar County, Retama on the Northeast Side (167 beds) and Palo Alto on the South Side near Texas A&M University-San Antonio (227 beds), with added bed expansions planned for 2028. Both hospitals are moving into interior build-out, so flooring, painting and medical-grade mechanical and electrical work peak ahead of 2027 openings. The approved bed expansions add another round of work in 2028, and two new campuses create long-term cleaning and grounds contracts. San Antonio Report, 2026-07-01
- 03 · $500 million CyrusOne SAT14A data center Filed with state, completion expected June 2027 A 460,000 sq ft CyrusOne data center at 3397 U.S. Highway 90 W. about seven miles west of Castroville in Medina County. Data center construction is dominated by cooling plant, switchgear and backup power, and clean-agent fire suppression, all compressed into a schedule ending June 2027. Large site work also brings paving and drainage scopes. Connect CRE, 2026-07-27
- 04 · $100 million KTH Texas manufacturing plant (H-One) Announced, construction to start by end of 2026 A 300,000 sq ft automotive parts plant for H-One subsidiary KTH Texas on 40 acres along F.M. 78 near IH-10 and Highway 46 in Seguin, Guadalupe County, with operations starting April 2028. A ground-up plant this size needs a large roof, industrial power distribution, process ventilation and paved truck courts, with most of that work in 2027. The site also needs fire sprinklers throughout before operations begin. Seguin Today, 2026-07-09
- 05 · $12 million Bexar County Animal Care Facility Under construction, completion expected April 2027 A roughly 17,000 sq ft county animal shelter with 132 kennels, veterinary surgery space and offices at 6841 Cagnon Road on San Antonio's Southwest Side. Animal care buildings need high-volume ventilation, washable flooring and coatings, and frequent sanitation, so mechanical, flooring and painting subs have work through early 2027. After opening the county will need ongoing cleaning and HVAC service. Texas Public Radio, 2026-09-22
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 San Antonio-New Braunfels. One relationship with a facilities team here can cover many buildings.
Health system · San Antonio, Bexar County
Methodist Healthcare System
Methodist Healthcare says it has 12,000+ employees and serves 608,000 inpatients and outpatients and 330,000 ER visits per year, with hospitals, surgery centers, freestanding ERs and clinics across South Texas.
A network of hospitals, freestanding ERs and surgery centers across the metro means many separate buildings with HVAC, life-safety, cleaning and parking-lot needs.
Methodist Healthcare SystemCampus · San Antonio, Bexar County
The University of Texas at San Antonio
Wikipedia, citing UTSA's student enrollment dashboard, lists 38,223 students in fall 2025, with a 725-acre main campus plus downtown and medical campuses.
Three campuses of classrooms, labs, residence halls and parking need cleaning, HVAC, grounds and paving work.
WikipediaMajor employer · San Antonio, Bexar County
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas
Pulse 2.0 reported in July 2026 that Toyota is investing $3.6 billion to add about 2.5 million square feet and 2,000 jobs on its roughly 2,000-acre San Antonio property, doubling the size of Toyota Texas by 2030.
A truck assembly campus with on-site supplier buildings and a planned second line carries large roofing, electrical, paving and fire protection needs.
Pulse 2.0Industrial park · San Antonio, Bexar County
Port San Antonio
Port San Antonio lists 1,900 acres, 80+ companies on campus and 19,000 professionals employed.
Aerospace, cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing facilities on one campus share roofing, HVAC, electrical and paving needs.
Port San AntonioPublic owner · San Antonio, Bexar County
Joint Base San Antonio
Wikipedia, citing the 502d Air Base Wing's website (archived 2012), says JBSA supports a population of 80,000 and has a total Plant Replacement Value of about $10.3 billion.
Fort Sam Houston, Lackland, Randolph and Camp Bullis are separate installations, each with buildings, training areas and pavement to maintain.
WikipediaAirport · San Antonio, Bexar County
San Antonio International Airport (SAT)
The City of San Antonio said 11,094,278 passengers flew through SAT in 2024, the airport's busiest year ever and the first time it passed 11 million.
Terminals, parking and airfield pavement, with a new terminal under construction, need cleaning, HVAC and paving work.
City of San AntonioAnchor facts checked 2026-10; each source is linked on its card.
Which trades the work touches
| Trade | Projects and owners |
|---|---|
| Commercial HVAC & Mechanical | 9 |
| Paving & Asphalt | 8 |
| Commercial Electrical | 7 |
| Fire Protection | 6 |
| Commercial Cleaning & Janitorial | 5 |
| Commercial Roofing | 5 |
| Commercial Flooring | 4 |
| Commercial Painting & Coatings | 3 |
| Commercial Construction | 3 |
| Commercial Landscaping | 1 |
Chapter 04 The calendar
The San Antonio selling calendar
Outbound runs every month, but the weather changes what a buyer wants to hear. These are the NOAA records for the San Antonio-New Braunfels 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 | 27 | 18 | 72 | 285 | 205 | 75 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 9 |
| Cooling degree daysaverage month | 15 | 24 | 82 | 150 | 341 | 500 | 584 | 598 | 416 | 195 | 47 | 9 |
| Heating degree daysaverage month | 428 | 280 | 160 | 39 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 186 | 381 |
| Average high (°F)average month | 64 | 68 | 74 | 81 | 87 | 92 | 95 | 96 | 90 | 82 | 72 | 65 |
NOAA logged 474 hail reports of 1 inch or larger and 252 damaging wind reports across the metro's counties from 2015 to 2024: #8 of 100 markets for hail and #54 for wind. April, May and June carried 78% 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 2,960 cooling degree days a year (#11 of 97 markets) and 1,504 heating degree days (#86 of 97). Cooling load peaks in May, June, July, August and September; heating in January, February 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.
Every month averages a high of 60°F or more, so exterior painting, paving and landscaping work is not squeezed into a short season here. The calendar that matters is each property's contract and budget date.
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 San Antonio, 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 San Antonio program
Before a program starts we size the list: the decision-maker records Abstrakt can prospect for each trade in the San Antonio-New Braunfels territory.
- 4,699Commercial Roofing
- 4,699Commercial Construction
- 1,778Commercial HVAC & Mechanical
- 1,347Commercial 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 San Antonio
Before you hire a sales development rep in San Antonio, price the whole job, not just the salary.
The salary is the smallest part of the decision. About 9,460 people hold the role in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX 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 San Antonio 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: 1,781 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: 1,122 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.
Medical, dental and outpatient offices: 676 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.
- Have patients complained about the entrance, parking or grounds?Complaints give the practice administrator a reason to push for a change.
- When does the current grounds contract end?The date sets your follow-up timing.
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, San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX.
- 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 San Antonio-New Braunfels 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.
