How long a commercial trades hire actually takes.
Every recruiter in this category says they are fast. None of them publishes the spread. This is ours: 89 searches closed in 2026 year to date across 27 markets and 22 states, with the sample size printed next to every figure and the thin ones left blank.
21 days, median, first contact to hire.
Sample: 89 searches closed in 2026 year to date, of which 88 carry dates we trust. Percentiles are nearest-rank, so every figure above is a day count some real search actually took.
The spread is the useful part. Half of every search we ran fell outside the 12 to 31 day band, in both directions. A hiring plan built on a single average will be wrong about a quarter of your openings in each direction, which is why this page publishes the quartiles and the range rather than one number.
What the trade does to the number.
Of the 4 trades where we have closed at least 8 timed searches, Commercial Construction runs the shortest median at 14 days and Commercial Electrical the longest at 30. It also carries the widest spread: the middle half alone runs from 14 to 84 days, which says these searches split into an easy half and a hard half rather than clustering around a typical case.
| Trade | Searches closed | Median days | Middle half | Fastest to slowest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC & Mechanical | 35 | 17 days | 9-28 days | 3-91 days |
| Commercial Construction | 13 | 14 days | 12-21 days | 6-65 days |
| Commercial Electrical | 11 | 30 days | 14-84 days | 4-98 days |
| Commercial Roofing | 9 | 21 days | 5-21 days | 3-80 days |
| Commercial Plumbing | 4 | Sample too small | — | 30-119 days |
| Paving & Asphalt | 4 | Sample too small | — | 21-28 days |
| Fire Protection | 3 | Sample too small | — | 49-60 days |
| Commercial Trucking | 2 | Sample too small | — | 14-21 days |
4 trades show no median because they have fewer than 8 timed searches. The counts and ranges are still real; the median is withheld rather than guessed. A further 8 closed searches sit in roles adjacent to the trades we recruit and are counted in the national figures but not against any trade.
Markets where we have closed enough to say anything.
4 of the 27 markets we closed a search in this year clear 5 timed searches. The rest are listed on the placements page search by search, which is the honest way to show a market where we have run three.
| Market | Searches closed | Median days | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas-Fort Worth | 15 | 28 days | 14-49 days |
| Indianapolis | 7 | 21 days | 5-70 days |
| Philadelphia | 6 | 12 days | 6-17 days |
| San Francisco | 5 | 20 days | 14-21 days |
A market median built on five or six searches is a small sample, which is why the count sits next to every one of them. Read these as what happened in that market, not as what will.
This is not a time-to-fill benchmark.
Published time-to-fill figures normally start the clock when a requisition is approved and stop it when the new hire starts. Ours starts when we first make contact with the candidate and stops at the hire. Two things are therefore missing from every number on this page: the time an opening sat before it reached us, and the notice period between offer and first day.
That makes these figures shorter than a time-to-fill benchmark by construction, and it makes them incomparable to one. If you are benchmarking your own process, measure the same two points we measure or the comparison will flatter us and mislead you.
How these numbers are produced.
- Population. Every search My Trade Talent ran and closed in 2026 year to date: 89 of them, across 27 markets and 22 states. Each one is published individually on the placements page.
- Exclusions. Thirteen records from the same period are not in the dataset at all, because something in our own system contradicted the placement: a candidate pipeline status of Rejected or Applied, a duplicate candidate record, a requisition marked cancelled, or a resume whose background did not match what the posting asked for. They stay out until the desk confirms the outcome with the client.
- The measure. Calendar days from our first contact with the candidate to the hire. 1 search has dates we could not verify and therefore carries no day count: counted as closed, absent from every timing figure.
- Statistics. Median is the middle value, or the average of the middle pair on an even sample. Quartiles are nearest-rank, so each one is a day count that a real search took rather than an interpolated value.
- Suppression. A median is published for a trade only at 8 or more timed searches, and for a market only at 5 or more. Below the floor the count and range are shown and the median is withheld.
- Privacy. No client is named, no candidate is named, and no salary or fee appears anywhere in the dataset.
- Refresh. Every figure on this page is computed at build time from the placement records. It moves when the underlying searches do; nothing here is typed in by hand.
Frequently asked — reading the Hiring Index.
How long does it take to hire a commercial trades technician?
Across 88 searches My Trade Talent closed in 2026 year to date with reliable dates, the median was 21 calendar days from our first contact with the candidate to the hire. The middle half fell between 12 and 31 days, the fastest closed in 3 days and the slowest took 119. That spread matters more than the median: half of all searches sit outside the 12 to 31 day band, so a single average is a poor basis for a hiring plan.
Is this the same as time to fill?
No. A published time-to-fill benchmark normally starts the clock when the requisition is approved and stops it when the new hire starts. This figure starts when we first make contact with the candidate and stops at the hire. It therefore excludes the time an opening sat before it reached us, and it excludes notice periods. It should not be compared with an industry time-to-fill survey, and we do not present it as one.
Why do some trades and markets show no median?
Because the sample is too small to mean anything. A median is published for a trade only at 8 or more timed searches, and for a market only at 5 or more. Below those floors the page shows how many searches were closed and the fastest and slowest of them, and nothing else. Three searches is three searches, not a market rate, and putting a median on it would be inventing a statistic.
What is excluded from these numbers?
Thirteen records from the same period are excluded entirely because something in our own system contradicted them: a candidate pipeline status of Rejected or Applied, a duplicate candidate record, a requisition marked cancelled, or a resume whose background did not match the posting. Separately, a search whose dates could not be trusted is counted as closed but carries no day count, so it appears in the search totals and in none of the timing figures. No client or candidate is named anywhere, and no salary or fee appears.