Last updated: November 2026
Salary guides can't tell you what you're worth in building products sales, because the number depends on too many things a guide can't see. Sector, project type, company budget, how the business is structured and what the title actually means all move the figure. The final number comes down to expectations, and whether you can prove you're worth it.
I'll own this upfront. There's a salary ranges page on this site, and I wrote it. I've doubted it since the day it went up. I've recruited sales people in building products since 2017, and the honest answer to "what should I be on?" has never been a table. Here's why, and what I'd look at instead.
Are building products salary guides accurate?
Building products salary guides are accurate as an average and misleading as an answer. The data is easy to find. The big recruiters publish guides, job ads carry ranges, and an AI tool will give you a number in ten seconds. Finding a range was never the hard part. Knowing where you sit in it is.
Take a BDM. The salary ranges I publish put a building products BDM somewhere between $90k and $130k base. That's a $40k spread on one title, before you add a car, an allowance or commission. A guide hands you both ends. It can't tell you which end you're on, and that's the only bit you actually wanted to know.
Why do building products sales salaries vary so much?
Building products sales salaries vary because there are too many variables for one number to cover. Market, experience and budget all pull in different directions, and the guide flattens them into a single line.
Market is the first one. Commercial, residential, civil, lighting and A&D are different jobs with different buyers. A rep selling into civil infrastructure and a rep calling on residential builders can share a title and live in different worlds.
Experience is the second. Two reps can spec the same product on paper and be working completely different projects. One is in front of architects on a hospital job. The other is quoting off a builder's plans. The product is the same. The work isn't.
Budget is the third, and it's the one candidates see least. One business runs a flat structure and everyone in the team sits within a few thousand of each other. The next pays for the person, not the title. Location adds another layer on top. Sydney typically runs $5k to $10k above Melbourne for the same seat, and Brisbane usually sits a step below Melbourne.
Stack those up and the "average BDM salary" describes nobody in particular.
Do some building products companies pay above market?
Yes. Some building products companies pay well above any published range, and they don't put it in the job ad. I hear everything. Candidates tell me what they're on and what they've been offered. Hiring managers tell me what they'll stretch to. The spread between those conversations is wider than any guide shows.
A startup or a new entrant is the classic example. It has to pay well above to pull a proven rep across, because the business is asking someone to leave a known brand, a known book and a known boss for something unproven. That premium is real, and a guide built on averages will never show it.
The reverse happens too. Some businesses pay under the range on purpose and rely on the brand, the product or the security to make up the gap. Some get away with it. Some end up with a role that's been open for months, which I've written about in why your role's been open 90 days.
Does a job title tell you what a sales role pays?
No. A job title in building products tells you very little about what the role does, so it tells you even less about what it pays. One company's BDM is another company's specification manager. An account manager at one business is out hunting new work every day. At the next, the account manager is looking after a handful of big accounts.
That's the flaw in every salary guide. Guides sort by title, and titles in this industry don't mean the same thing twice. I've written a whole piece on this, Eleven Titles, Four Jobs, and another on the Spec Manager vs BDM split. Read either and you'll see why matching your title to a table gets you a number for somebody else's job.
What actually decides your salary in building products sales?
Your salary expectation, and whether you can prove you're worth it. Yes, there are ranges. The range sets the starting point. The business case sets the number.
When a hiring manager weighs up a candidate, they're not checking a guide. They're asking what this person brings that the last person didn't. Relationships with the specifiers and builders that matter in that territory. A track record against budget, not just a line saying "exceeded targets". How quickly the person will start producing. Whether the person has done this exact job before, or something with the same title.
If you can answer those, the range stops mattering much. If you can't, no guide will rescue the number for you.
Is it worth asking for a big salary when you change jobs?
Ask for it if you can back it up, because a big price tag cuts both ways. Come in with a big number and you'd better bring a lot to the table. Then you have to deliver.
Here's the part nobody puts in a salary guide. If you're the most expensive person in the team and the numbers don't come, it's easy for the business to justify letting you go. The bigger the gap between what you cost and what you produce, the shorter the conversation.
So the smart move isn't always the highest number you can get. It's the number you can clearly beat in your first year. Land there, deliver, and the next increase is an easy conversation. Overreach and you've made yourself the obvious cut. If you want to see how quickly that goes wrong, the 90-day cliff covers the first few months where most of it is decided.
How should hiring managers use salary data?
Hiring managers should use salary data as a sense check for the budget, not as the answer. If you set the band off a guide, you get a band built for an average role, and your role isn't average. The rep you actually want might sit $20k above it. The reps who fit the band neatly might be fitting it for a reason.
I've made the same point about sales leadership roles in what a sales leader costs. A published band per title tells you almost nothing, because it averages across businesses that look nothing like yours. The same logic runs all the way down to rep level.
The better question isn't "what's market?" It's "what will it cost me to get the person who can do this job?" That answer depends on the territory, the product, the people you're competing with and how fast you need someone producing. If you're working out the money before you brief anyone, how to set a budget for a new sales role is a better starting point than any table.
So what is a salary guide actually good for?
Marketing, mostly. Mine included. A salary guide is a good way to get a recruiter's name in front of people, and a range is a fair sense check if you've got no idea at all. Past that, it's a number for an average person in an average job, and I haven't met many of those.
Nothing in this market is one size fits all. I'm always happy to tell you what you'll realistically get. If you're hiring, I'm just as happy to tell you what it'll cost you. And if a number you've seen online doesn't match the role in front of you, I'll tell you why. Just ask.
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James Bowesman, building products sales recruiter at Specified Select Group. Recruiting sales talent in building products, lighting and A&D since 2017.