How we research home service costs

Every cost figure on CostPatch comes from at least three independent sources, refreshed quarterly, and benchmarked against contractor surveys. Here's the full process — no fluff.

What we publish

For every service in our database, we publish:

• National range (low / typical / high) — calibrated to current US labor + material costs
• State-by-state breakdown for all 50 states + DC — because the same job costs 2× more in some markets
• Cost factors — what specifically drives your price up or down
• Interactive calculator — input your project details, get a personalized estimate
• FAQs drawn from real homeowner questions in industry forums

Data sources (in order of weight)

1. Lead-gen platform pricing (40% weight)

We have data-sharing arrangements with several home services lead-gen platforms (Networx, Bark, Modernize, and others). These platforms aggregate millions of quote requests + actual contractor bids — the closest thing to "real prices" you can get.

2. Direct contractor surveys (25% weight)

Each quarter, we survey 5-15 contractors per service per region. We ask: "What's your typical price range for this job?" and "What drives a quote 50% higher or lower?" Responses are aggregated, outliers flagged, medians published.

3. Public quote aggregators (15% weight)

Sites like Yelp Quotes, Angi project history, and HomeAdvisor public data contain real homeowner-reported pricing. We sample 50-100 quotes per service per state where available.

4. Bureau of Labor Statistics + Construction PPI (10% weight)

For inflation calibration: BLS labor cost data + Producer Price Index for construction materials. We adjust prices quarterly to reflect current input costs.

5. Industry association data (10% weight)

Organizations like the National Roofing Contractors Association, International Garage Door Association, and Foundation Performance Association publish member surveys we cross-reference.

How we calculate "confidence" per state

Each state-service pair gets a confidence rating:

• High: 50+ data points from 3+ sources in the past 90 days
• Medium: 20-50 data points or 2 sources
• Low: <20 data points or single source (typically small states like ND, VT)

We display confidence inline next to every state price. If a state shows "low confidence," treat the range as directional. Where possible, we recommend contacting 2-3 local contractors for firm bids.

How often we update

• Quarterly refresh: every cost page gets new data every 90 days
• Material spikes: if BLS PPI for a service jumps 5%+ in a month, we update immediately
• Annual deep audit: each January, we re-survey contractors and rebuild base ranges from scratch

How we make money (full disclosure)

CostPatch is free to use because we earn revenue two ways:

1. Display advertising through AdSense and Mediavine. These ads are clearly marked and never disguised as content.
2. Lead-gen affiliate commissions: if you request a quote through our forms, we connect you to vetted local contractors via Networx, Bark, Angi, or similar. We earn $5-$50 per qualified lead.

Important: our affiliate relationships do NOT influence our pricing data. We don't get paid more for higher quotes. We don't favor one contractor brand. The numbers you see are what the data says — full stop.

How to give us feedback

Spot pricing that's clearly wrong for your area? Contractor just quoted you 50% off our range? Email [email protected] with the city/zip and the quote. We update individual entries when readers send us valid corrections.