LinkedIn Outreach Benchmarks for Construction (2026)

Key Takeaways

In construction, the average LinkedIn connection acceptance rate is 26.9%. Replies to the connection note average 2.5%, and replies to a message after the connection is accepted average 11.4%. Those numbers come from 117,715 connection requests sent by 119 construction accounts between May 2025 and April 2026. Against the cross-industry averages of 28.5%, 3.0% and 10.4%, construction is above on message replies and below on acceptance and note replies.

Construction vs. the platform average

Metric	Construction	All industries	Difference	Rank
Connection acceptance	26.9%	28.5%	-1.6 pts	26th of 38
Connection-note reply	2.5%	3.0%	-0.5 pts	23rd of 38
Message reply after acceptance	11.4%	10.4%	+1.0 pts	12th of 38

Across the 38 industries with at least 50 sending accounts, acceptance runs from 21.8% (telecommunications) to 36.5% (staffing & recruiting). Note replies run from 1.8% to 6.6%, and message replies from 7.2% to 18.9%.

What the numbers say about construction outreach

Construction is harder to connect with than average and easier to talk to once connected. Acceptance of 26.9% ranks 26th of 38 and sits 1.6 points under the cross-industry average. Message replies of 11.4% rank 12th and sit a point above it. Note replies of 2.5% rank 23rd.

End to end that combination works out at about 3.1 replies per 100 recipients, slightly ahead of the cross-industry 3.0, despite the sector being below average at the door. The conversation more than pays back what the connection request costs.

Real estate shows the same ordering from a stronger starting position, and the two are each other’s closest match in the dataset across 253 and 119 accounts respectively. Both are project-based businesses where the work is specific and local, which may be why a conversation goes further than a connection request does.

If your numbers sit below these

The dataset says where an account sits, not why. From what we see in campaigns, three gaps come up most often in this sector, and they point at different problems.

Acceptance under 26.9%. The sector line is already below platform, so a number under it is low in absolute terms. This is the measure where construction carries a real handicap and the one where list quality shows up fastest.

Message replies under 11.4%. This is the sector’s advantage, ranking 12th of 38. Falling below it means giving up the thing that makes construction outreach work despite the weak acceptance rate.

Note replies under 2.5%. Below platform already. Given that acceptance is the binding constraint in this sector, testing whether the note helps or hurts acceptance is more useful than rewriting it.

Further reading:

• Improving your LinkedIn Sales Navigator targeting
• How many LinkedIn invites can you send a week?
• Personalising a LinkedIn message request without tripping limits
• The LinkedIn message follow-up formula
• Tips for building a LinkedIn content strategy for B2B sales
• The best AI lead generation software to add to your stack

Frequently asked questions

What is a good LinkedIn acceptance rate in construction?

26.9% is the sector average, 1.6 points below the 28.5% cross-industry figure, ranking 26th of 38 reported industries. Above 28% is doing better than the sector and matching the platform.

Why do construction contacts reply more after connecting?

Construction averages 11.4% message replies against a platform average of 10.4%, ranking 12th of 38, while its acceptance rate ranks 26th. The dataset shows that ordering across 119 accounts and 117,715 requests without establishing a cause.

How does construction compare with other industries?

Acceptance ranks 26th of 38, note replies 23rd and message replies 12th. End to end about 3.1 in 100 recipients reply to a follow-up, slightly ahead of the roughly 3.0 across all industries.

How this data was collected

Construction is reported from 119 accounts and 117,715 connection requests sent between May 2025 and April 2026, drawn from the LinkedIn Outreach Benchmarks 2026 dataset of 13.2 million requests across 13,302 accounts. That report carries the full methodology, along with the breakdowns by sender seniority, company size and month that are not repeated here.

Two things to hold in mind while reading any of these figures. The industry is the sender’s, taken from their company profile, not the recipient’s. And only industries with at least 50 sending accounts are reported at all: below that, a single unusual account moves the average by several points, which is why some of the most extreme numbers in the full appendix are not published here.

Related industry benchmarks

• Real Estate, 28.4% acceptance and 11.8% message replies
• Financial Services, 26.0% acceptance and 10.3% message replies
• Information Technology & Services, 28.4% acceptance and 10.5% message replies
• All industry benchmarks

Grade your own outreach against these numbers

Enter your own acceptance and reply rates and grade your outreach against the construction benchmark, plus see where you sit among all 38 reported industries. No signup.

Ready to improve & scale your LinkedIn outreach? Sign up for a 7-day free trial and put our LinkedIn automation tool to the test!

Data updated 19 August 2026. Refreshed quarterly against the source report.