Project Cost Range

Data & Methodology

Our goal is a clear price you can plan a budget around. This page shows exactly how we get the price ranges on this site, and where the numbers come from.

How we build each guide

  1. Gather. We collect current published prices for the project from more than one independent source.
  2. Check. We compare the range with the industry and government sources listed below. This catches numbers that are far off, and it keeps the range in line with 2026 prices for materials and labor.
  3. Break it down. We split the price into the parts you pay for and the things that move it, so you can see where the number comes from.
  4. Cite and date. Every guide lists the sources we checked and shows when it was last updated.

We give ranges, not a single number that looks more exact than it is. Your price depends on where you live, the size of the job, the materials and the contractor.

How the cost calculator works

Every guide has a cost calculator. It starts with the guide's U.S. price range and the typical price. Then it changes the estimate based on what you pick.

  • Quality. Standard quality uses the typical price. Budget quality starts at the low end of the range and goes 35% of the way up to the typical price. Premium quality starts at the typical price and goes 65% of the way up to the high end.
  • Size. For a project priced as a whole job, the size you pick scales the estimate. Compact is 80% of an average-size job, smaller is 90%, large is 120% and extra-large is 140%.
  • Amount. Some projects are priced by the square foot, the linear foot or the unit. For those, the estimate is the price per unit times the amount you enter.
  • State. When you pick a state, the estimate and the full price range both change by that state's adjustment. The next section explains how we work it out.
  • Range to plan for. The calculator tells you to plan for 10% below to 10% above the estimate.
  • Labor and materials. The calculator splits the estimate into labor and materials. For the U.S. average, labor is 60% of the estimate. In a state where workers earn more, labor is a bigger part. Where they earn less, it is a smaller part.
  • Bid check. A typical bid is 20% below to 20% above the estimate, rounded. A bid under that range shows as low, and a bid over it shows as high.

How we adjust prices for your state

Workers are paid more in some states than others, and that changes what a project costs. We treat materials as costing about the same everywhere. So only the labor part of the price changes from state to state.

We count labor as 60% of a project's price and materials as the other 40%. For each state, we compare what construction workers in that state earn in a year, on average, with the U.S. average. Then we raise or lower the labor part of the price by the same percentage.

Say workers in a state earn 20% more than the U.S. average. The labor part of the price goes up 20%. Labor is 60% of the price, so the whole project costs 12% more. We round each state's adjustment to the nearest whole percent.

The pay figures are 2025 yearly averages for construction and extraction jobs, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That government job group puts the building trades together with mining and drilling. The state table in each guide and our state cost guides use the same adjustment. Our city cost guides work the same way, using pay in each metro area.

Data we publish ourselves

We don't only repeat other people's numbers. We also pull data straight from government sources, publish it and refresh it from those sources:

  • What projects actually cost: the median job cost (half of jobs listed less, half listed more) from a year of building permits. The permits come from the official open data websites of Austin, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles and New York City. Where a city records it, we also show the contractors who pulled the most permits. The dollar figures use only home-sized jobs. Where a city's data marks permits as residential, we use that label. In every city, we also keep only job costs inside a set range for each kind of project. We leave out placeholder job costs of $0 or $1. We show a dollar figure only where at least 25 permits list a job cost. People write down the job cost themselves when they file, and it is often lower than the final contract price. We say so wherever these numbers appear.
  • Building material price tracker: how much prices changed since the same month a year earlier for the materials behind common projects. The numbers come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Producer Price Index, which tracks the prices U.S. makers charge for what they sell. If a material's index jumps more than 10% in a single month, we leave that material out. A jump that big usually means the index itself was changed, not that prices really moved.
  • Construction labor cost by state: what construction workers earn in a year, on average, in each state, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. This pay data also sets the state prices in every guide's cost calculator, as explained above. We work from real pay instead of guessing how much prices change in each state.
  • Construction trade wages: what plumbers, electricians, carpenters, heating and cooling technicians, roofers, painters and construction laborers earn in a year and by the hour, from the same survey.

Industry and government sources

We check our estimates against these government and industry sources. They also help us see how prices change over time:

Where project prices come from

For the price of each project, we also pull together figures from well-known home services sites and personal finance publishers. These sites collect real quotes from homeowners and contractors:

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

What our numbers are, and what they aren't

They are estimates, checked against the sources above, to help you budget and learn what things cost. They are not quotes, appraisals or guarantees, and we don't run our own field surveys. Before you commit to a project, get two or three written quotes from licensed local contractors.

Keeping it current

Material and labor prices change. So every guide shows a date, and we go back over guides when the sources above put out new numbers. To compare every project on one page, see the cost index.

Found a number that looks off?

Real quotes help us get better. If a price here doesn't match a quote you got, email hello@projectcostrange.com. Tell us the project, your area and the price, and we'll look into it.