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Maine new construction report — Q1 2026

The bottom line

Maine's residential permit volume is down 34% quarter-on-quarter — a cooling signal. Some of this is seasonal (construction slows in Q4 + Q1 in many markets); some may be structural. Operators serving this state should pay attention to which builders are still active versus those who are pulling back, and consider whether competitive accounts are vulnerable.

Top movers this quarter

The Maine counties with the biggest quarter-on-quarter permit-volume change. Click any county for the full local market dashboard.

1. Oxford County: 36 permits this quarter (-58 vs 94 prior quarter).
2. York County: 171 permits this quarter (-46 vs 217 prior quarter).
3. Hancock County: 32 permits this quarter (-44 vs 76 prior quarter).
4. Cumberland County: 201 permits this quarter (-41 vs 242 prior quarter).
5. Franklin County: 19 permits this quarter (-26 vs 45 prior quarter).
6. Waldo County: 13 permits this quarter (-25 vs 38 prior quarter).

Most-active builders

Licensed home builders in Maine ranked by Q1 2026 permit count. Click any name for the builder's full profile, permit history, and county footprint.

Per-permit builder attribution for Maine is limited this quarter. Per-permit feeds outside Florida are added quarterly — Maine will deepen as we add county portals.

What this means for trade operators

If you're an LBM operator, roofing contractor, HVAC company, plumber, concrete crew, or any trade serving Maine's new single-family construction market, this quarter's data points to a few practical actions:

• If you're not actively quoting the top 6 builders listed above, that's the call list for this week.
• If your service area covers any of the top-mover counties, you have leverage right now — builders there are scaling and looking for capacity.
• If you're considering expansion into Maine, the Maine dashboard has all counties scored against the trade you select. Drive-time analysis from your existing yard tells you which counties are reachable today.

This report is automatically refreshed every quarter from Census Bureau Building Permits Survey data plus county public records. The methodology is documented in our Census BPS data explainer.