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 14 of 24.
Water leak detection cost$150 to $800per projectLeak detection costs $150 to $800, typically $350. It is the step people skip and the one that decides whether the repair costs $600 or $6,000, because a leak guessed at is three holes in the wall.
Slab leak repair cost$1,500 to $6,000per projectA slab leak costs $1,500 to $6,000 to repair, typically $3,000. It is expensive because the concrete is in the way, not because the pipe is hard to fix. Three methods exist and they cost very differently.
Frozen pipe repair cost$200 to $3,000per projectThawing a frozen pipe costs $200 to $700 if it has not split and $400 to $3,000 if it has. A frozen pipe is not yet an emergency; one that bursts while you are out is.
Toilet installation cost$200 to $900eachInstalling a toilet costs $200 to $900 including the fixture, typically $400. What pushes it past $900 is not the toilet: it is a rotted subfloor or a flange sitting below the finished floor.
Faucet installation cost$150 to $500eachInstalling a faucet costs $150 to $500 including a mid-range fixture, typically $280. It is one of the few plumbing jobs where the cost is dominated by how awkward the space under the sink is.
Shower installation cost$1,500 to $8,000per projectInstalling a shower costs $1,500 to $8,000, typically $3,500. A tiled shower is a waterproofing project with tile stuck to it, and the waterproofing is where almost all failures come from.
Garbage disposal installation cost$150 to $600eachInstalling a garbage disposal costs $150 to $600 including the unit, typically $300. It goes up when there is no switch or socket under the sink, because then it is an electrician's job too.
Water softener cost$800 to $3,500per projectA water softener costs $800 to $3,500 installed, typically $1,800. Before spending anything, test your hardness. Below about 7 grains a softener solves a problem you do not have.
Sewer line inspection cost$150 to $600eachA sewer camera inspection costs $150 to $600, typically $300. It is the best $300 anyone spends before buying an older house, and standard home inspections do not include it.
Water main replacement cost$1,500 to $6,000per projectReplacing the water main into a house costs $1,500 to $6,000, typically $3,000. Under a lawn it is the bottom of that range. Under a driveway and a sidewalk it is the top.