NARI has introduced the SecureFuture 401(k) Plan, a pooled employer plan built with Traphagen CPAs & Wealth Advisors
Member firms handle only three tasks: choosing providers, setting up payroll deductions, and submitting year-end data
The plan links to more than 125 payroll providers and includes a mobile app, planning tools, and personalized investment guidance
The move responds to a persistent shortage of skilled tradespeople and project managers across the remodeling sector
The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) has introduced the SecureFuture 401(k) Plan, a pooled employer retirement program designed to let small and mid-sized remodeling firms offer competitive retirement benefits without building an in-house HR function. The plan, delivered through a partnership with Traphagen CPAs & Wealth Advisors, shifts most administrative and compliance work away from business owners. NARI positions the launch as a direct response to one of the industry's most persistent problems: attracting and retaining skilled workers.
How the Plan Divides the Work
Under the SecureFuture structure, employer firms are left with three responsibilities: selecting service providers, setting up payroll deductions, and collecting year-end data. Everything else — plan design, investment oversight, eligibility tracking, enrollment support, participant education, withdrawal and loan processing, compliance reporting, and ongoing maintenance — sits with the provider team at Traphagen.
The plan connects directly to more than 125 payroll providers, a detail meant to reduce setup friction for firms that already run payroll through a range of different systems. Employees enrolled in the plan gain access to a dedicated website, a mobile app, a planning tool called OnTrack, and Managed Advice, a goals-based investment management service.
NARI frames this as an extension of a broader push to give National Association of the Remodeling Industry members practical operating tools rather than purely networking or credentialing benefits. The organization describes the plan as addressing conditions specific to remodeling businesses, where crews tend to be small and margins tend to be thin.
"Retaining skilled labor is one of the biggest challenges for our members. A benefit like this offers a new reason for a talented project manager or skilled tradesperson to build a career with a NARI member company."
— Jonathan Kelly, CRA, NARI Board President
NARI Launches Pooled 401(k) to Retain Trades
The Retention Argument
NARI's Chief Executive Officer, Lisa Sallstrom, framed the plan as a way to level the playing field between small remodeling contractors and larger national builders. She said the plan allows a small firm to offer "the same high-quality retirement benefit as a national builder, without adding another job to the owner's plate," calling that "what member value should look like."
The association cites Transamerica Institute figures indicating that 89% of surveyed workers place value on a 401(k) or similar retirement plan, and that 80% consider retirement benefits a major factor when deciding whether to accept a job offer. Those figures form the core rationale for why NARI sees a retirement plan as a recruiting tool rather than simply an administrative add-on.
The emphasis on retention is notable given the wider labor picture in construction-adjacent trades. Industry workforce forecasts have pointed to a construction sector that will need approximately 349,000 net new workers in 2026 and 456,000 workers in 2027, on top of normal hiring, just to keep supply and demand in balance. Separate estimates note that approximately 41% of the current construction workforce will retire by 2031, intensifying competition for the tradespeople remodeling firms depend on.
Where NARI Fits in the Industry
NARI describes itself as the trade body dedicated specifically to remodeling professionals, distinct from broader home-building or general contracting associations. In 1982, the National Remodelers Association and the National Home Improvement Council joined to establish the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, and the organization traces its lineage further back to a 1935 roofing and siding contractors group. Today, NARI has many chapters nationwide and has members in 49 states.
Member firms are required to follow a Code of Ethics, and the organization promotes its "Remodeling Done Right" branding as a consumer-facing trust signal. NARI is headquartered in Wheeling, Illinois. The SecureFuture plan sits alongside other member benefits NARI has rolled out for its contractor base, reflecting a pattern of adding operational and financial tools rather than purely educational programming.
Traphagen CPAs & Wealth Advisors, the plan's investment manager, is a New Jersey-based accounting and wealth management firm. Pooled employer plans of this type have become more common across trade associations in recent years as a way for groups of small businesses to access institutional-scale retirement plan administration collectively rather than negotiating individually with providers.
What Comes Next
For now, the SecureFuture 401(k) Plan is available exclusively to NARI member businesses, with enrollment inquiries directed to the association's membership team. Whether the benefit measurably shifts hiring or retention outcomes will likely take time to assess, but the plan gives NARI's members a concrete offering to compete against larger builders on more than just wages. For a trade defined by small crews and tight margins, that alone marks a shift in how the association positions its value.
"This plan allows a small remodeling firm to offer the same high-quality retirement benefit as a national builder—without adding another job to the owner's plate." — Lisa Sallstrom, CEO, NARI
