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
246 in total, page 21 of 25.
Paver patio cost$12 to $30per sq ftA paver patio costs $12 to $30 per square foot installed, typically $20. Everything that goes wrong with a paver patio is the base, and the base is invisible once it is finished.
Concrete driveway cost$8 to $15per sq ftA concrete driveway costs $8 to $15 per square foot, so a two-car driveway is $4,000 to $9,000. Concrete cracks by nature; control joints decide where.
Retaining wall cost$20 to $55per sq ftA retaining wall costs $20 to $55 per square foot of exposed face, typically $35. It is priced by length times height, not length, which is the measurement most people get wrong.
Pergola cost$20 to $65per sq ftA pergola costs $20 to $65 per square foot installed, so a 100 square foot structure is $2,000 to $6,500. An open pergola gives dappled shade and no rain protection.
Electrician cost$80 to $180per hourAn electrician charges $80 to $180 an hour, most commonly $110, plus a call-out fee of $100 to $250. Small jobs feel expensive because most of the bill is the visit rather than the work.
Electrical panel upgrade cost$1,500 to $6,000per projectUpgrading from 100 to 200 amps costs $1,500 to $6,000, typically $2,800. Replacing a panel at the same amperage is cheaper, and knowing which job you need is most of the decision.
EV charger installation cost$500 to $2,500per projectA Level 2 home charger costs $500 to $2,500 installed. The federal credit expired for installations after 30 June 2026, and hardwiring is now often cheaper than fitting an outlet.
House rewiring cost$600 to $1,700per sq ftRewiring costs $6 to $17 per square foot, so $9,000 to $25,500 for a 1,500 square foot house. Those figures usually exclude the wall repair, which can be a third of the project.
Whole house generator cost$7,000 to $20,000per projectA standby generator costs $7,000 to $20,000 installed, with most 22 kW jobs at $10,000 to $14,000. The honest question is how many hours a year your power is actually out.
Recessed lighting cost$100 to $300eachRecessed lighting costs $100 to $300 per downlight installed, typically $200. Six lights do not cost six times one light; they cost about three times.