$ ProjectCostRange

Data & Methodology

Our goal is a simple, honest number you can budget against. Here's exactly how we produce the cost ranges on this site — and the sources behind them.

How we build each guide

  1. Compile current published cost data for the project from multiple independent sources.
  2. Cross-check the range against industry and government benchmarks (below) to catch outliers and reflect 2026 material and labor inflation.
  3. Break it down into the components and factors that actually move the price, so the number is explainable — not a black box.
  4. Cite & date every guide, listing the specific sources we checked and the date it was last verified.

We present ranges, not false-precision single numbers, because honest pricing is a range that depends on your location, scope, materials, and contractor.

Original data we publish

We don't just restate other people's numbers — we pull primary federal data directly and publish it, refreshed from the source:

  • What projects actually cost — median filed job values distilled from a year of building permits published by the official open-data portals of Austin, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York City, plus the most active contractors by permit count where cities record them. Homeowner-scale filings only (residential classes where the portal flags them, value caps everywhere); placeholder $0/$1 valuations excluded; dollar figures published only where at least 25 priced permits exist. Permit valuations are self-reported and often understate final contract prices — we say so wherever they appear.
  • Building material price tracker — the year-over-year change in the BLS Producer Price Index for the materials behind common projects, auto-screened for data discontinuities so the trend stays honest.
  • Construction labor cost by state — average construction-trade wages by state from the BLS OEWS survey. These wages also power the state adjustment in every guide's cost estimator: we blend local labor against a national materials baseline instead of guessing a regional multiplier.
  • Construction trade wages — what plumbers, electricians, carpenters, HVAC techs, roofers, painters, and laborers earn, from the BLS OEWS survey, in annual and hourly terms.

Industry & government benchmarks

These reputable, primary and trade-standard sources anchor our estimates and help us track how costs change over time:

Project cost datasets

For project-level pricing we also synthesize data from established home-services and consumer-finance publications, which aggregate real homeowner and contractor quotes:

Angi · HomeGuide · Fixr · This Old House · NerdWallet · EnergySage

What our numbers are — and aren't

They are well-researched, cross-checked estimates for budgeting and education. They are not formal quotes, appraisals, or guarantees, and we don't conduct primary field surveys. Always get multiple written quotes from licensed local professionals before committing to a project.

Keeping it current

Material and labor costs shift, so we date every guide and revisit them as the benchmarks above are updated. Browse the full cost index to compare every project at a glance.

Found a number that looks off?

Real-world data makes us better. If a figure doesn't match a quote you received, email hello@projectcostrange.com with the project, your region, and the price — and we'll review it.