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
235 in total, page 8 of 24.
How long does a deck last$30 to $100per sq ftA pressure-treated deck lasts 15 to 25 years and composite decking 25 to 30, on a frame that is usually still pine. What ends a deck is almost never the boards you walk on.
Electrician cost by state$80 to $180per hourAn electrician bills $85 an hour in Arkansas and $140 in Illinois. A 65% spread on the same hour of the same work, and it is almost entirely wages.
Emergency electrician cost$150 to $400per hourAn emergency electrician costs $150 to $400 an hour against $80 to $180 in business hours. Most electrical faults wait until morning; the ones where something is hot, burning or sparking do not.
Ceiling fan installation cost$150 to $600eachInstalling a ceiling fan costs $150 to $600, typically $300. The part people miss is the box: a light fixture box is not rated to carry a fan, and fitting one to it is how fans end up on the floor.
Light switch installation cost$120 to $400eachInstalling a light switch costs $120 to $400, typically $200. The device is $3 to $60; everything else on the bill is the visit and the access.
Ungrounded outlet fix cost$150 to $600eachFixing an ungrounded outlet costs $150 to $600 per location. A three-prong outlet with no ground behind it is far more dangerous than a two-prong one, because it looks safe.
Aluminum wiring repair cost$2,000 to $8,000per projectRemediating aluminum branch wiring costs $2,000 to $8,000, typically $4,000. It was installed in roughly two million American homes between 1965 and 1973, and it is not a defect you can ignore.
Knob and tube wiring replacement cost$8,000 to $30,000per projectReplacing knob and tube costs $8,000 to $30,000, typically $15,000. Where it survives it is at least eighty years old, has no ground, and is the most common reason an insurer declines to cover a house.
Subpanel installation cost$600 to $2,500per projectInstalling a subpanel costs $600 to $2,500, typically $1,200. It adds breaker spaces where they are needed, and it does not add capacity, which is the distinction that decides whether it helps.
Electrical inspection cost$200 to $600eachAn electrical inspection costs $200 to $600, typically $350. It is the cheapest way to find out whether the wiring in a house is a maintenance item or a five-figure project.