Cost Home Book is written and edited by the Cost Home Book editorial team. The team builds the site's cost models from publicly available US wage statistics, supplier price lists and permit data, and updates each guide as those sources change. It has no affiliation with any contractor, manufacturer or lead-generation service. Figures on this site are estimates for reading a quote, not quotes.
How the figures are built
Every cost band starts as a national figure with a date on it. Where a guide is priced from published data, the labor leg follows the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the trade that does the work, and the materials leg follows a Producer Price Index series for what it is made of. Once a guide's sources section is published, both are named and linked at its foot, with the release they were read from.
The one number no dataset supplies is how much of a job is labor and how much is materials. That split is a judgement, it is stated on the page, and it is the difference between a roof price that moves with roofers' wages and one that moves with asphalt. How we calculate costs sets out the arithmetic, and the editorial policy is explicit about which figures are derived and which are estimates.
Independence
We have no affiliation with any contractor, manufacturer, marketplace or lead-generation service. The site is funded by display advertising and nothing else — no referral fees, no commissions, no paid placements. No advertiser sees a figure before a reader does. How the site is funded.
Corrections and contact
If a figure here does not match what you were quoted, that is worth knowing and we would rather hear it. Send the page, the figure and what you were actually quoted to corrections@costhomebook.com, or see the corrections policy for what happens next. Anything else: hello@costhomebook.com.
Guides by the Cost Home Book editorial team
237 in total, page 11 of 24.
Bay window installation cost$2,000 to $8,000eachA bay window costs $2,000 to $8,000 installed, typically $4,000. Most of the difference from a flat window is structure rather than glass: a header above, support below, and a small roof over it.
Exterior trim replacement cost$8 to $25per linear ftExterior trim costs $8 to $25 a linear foot installed. It is the first thing on a house to rot and the last thing anyone budgets for, and it always fails at the end grain nobody looks at.
Exterior shutters cost$80 to $600eachExterior shutters cost $80 to $600 a pair installed. Almost every shutter sold in America is decorative, and the most common mistake is fitting them at a size that makes it obvious.
Pressure washing cost$0.15 to $0.75per sq ftPressure washing a house costs $0.15 to $0.75 a square foot, putting a 2,000 square foot house at $300 to $900. The distinction that matters is between pressure washing and soft washing.
Gutter guard cost$5 to $30per linear ftGutter guards cost $5 to $30 a linear foot installed. No guard eliminates cleaning; the good ones turn a twice-yearly job into a once-every-few-years one.
House wrap cost$0.50 to $1.50per sq ftHouse wrap costs $0.50 to $1.50 a square foot installed. It is a fraction of a re-siding job and it is the layer that decides whether the wall behind the siding stays dry.
Front porch cost$60 to $200per sq ftBuilding a front porch costs $60 to $200 a square foot. The foundation and the roof are the money; the decking and the railing barely move the total.
How long does siding last$500 to $1,000per squareVinyl lasts 30 to 40 years, fiber cement 40 to 60, brick a century. Siding rarely fails all at once: it goes at the details first, at the trim, the caulk and the missing flashing.
Curb appeal improvements cost$700 to $12,000per projectThe changes that most affect what a house looks like from the street cost between $50 and $4,000, and the ones at the bottom of that range do more than the ones at the top.
Kitchen remodel cost by state$20,000 to $40,000per projectThe same midrange kitchen costs $23,900 in Arkansas and $31,500 in Illinois. A 32% spread, narrower than you might expect, because cabinets and appliances cost roughly the same everywhere.