About CostLocal

Most cost guides give you one national average. That number is nearly useless if you live in Birmingham and the average was set by prices in Boston. CostLocal takes a national price range for each project and moves it using your area's real wages and prices.

We cover 38 projects, 300 metro areas and every state. Labor comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, materials and permits from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the base prices from published cost guides and retailer list prices. Each source is named and dated on the methodology page.

How we make money

Three ways, all visible on the page: you can ask for up to three local contractor quotes (contractors may pay to receive the request), you can buy a detailed multi-page PDF report for $9, and you can subscribe to CostLocal Pro. We show no ads. None of that changes the numbers. The formula is the same for every page and is public.

What we do not do

We do not take payment to rank a contractor, and we do not make up figures. If we do not have a sourced number for a project, we leave the project out. Some popular jobs, such as furnace replacement or EV charger installation, are not here yet for that reason.