How we price

WalkPriced gives a range for what a renovation costs. This page says where the numbers come from and what they leave out.

Massachusetts prices

The base prices are for Massachusetts. We built them from online research: store prices for materials at Home Depot, Lowe's and Floor & Decor, and installed prices and hourly rates from cost guides, town permit fee schedules and the Massachusetts prevailing wage schedule. Each page shows the date the prices were last checked and the version of the cost data. A Massachusetts contractor is going through the numbers, and until that is done the data is marked as a draft.

Labor

Each trade has an hourly rate: laborer, carpenter, flooring, drywall, painter, tile, electrician, plumber and HVAC. We start from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage for the trade. A contractor bills more than the worker is paid, because the bill covers insurance, overhead and profit. So we multiply the wage by a markup, about 2.0 for the low rate and 2.8 for the high rate. That markup is our assumption, and it is one of the things we most want a contractor to check.

If you hire out the whole job, we also add a general contractor markup of 15 to 20 percent on room work.

Other states

Outside Massachusetts, we adjust the Massachusetts prices. We do not have a researched price book for those states.

• Labor: for each trade, we compare the state's median wage from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey with Massachusetts. The labor rate moves by that ratio. The ratio is kept between 0.6 and 1.3.
• Materials: the same price in every state, except Alaska and Hawaii. Shipping makes materials cost more there, so we raise them, by no more than 15 percent.
• Items that include the work, such as an installed countertop or a roof, move by half the labor ratio.
• Sales tax: the state's rate.

The app says so on every estimate outside Massachusetts: the prices are adjusted, not checked by a contractor there. Costs also vary inside a state, and we do not yet adjust for a city or ZIP code.

The cushion

Renovations run into surprises, like rot behind a wall or a wire that is not to code. We add a cushion of 15 percent by default. You can change it on the review page.

Low, likely and high

Every line has a low and a high price, from the range in the cost data. The likely price is the middle. The totals add up the lows, the likelies and the highs. The cushion is added to all three. The real price of a job can land outside the range.

What is not included

• Costs that depend on what is behind the walls until someone opens them.
• Design or engineering fees, except where a line says otherwise.
• Where climate changes the work, such as foundation depth. The estimator uses New England depths in every state.
• Local rules and fees that differ by town.

Items the app lists as "ask your inspector about" are shown with a cost if the problem turns out to be real, and are left out of the totals.

An estimate, not a quote

WalkPriced is a way to plan. It is not a bid, and a contractor who sees the house will give a better number. Get written quotes before you commit. See the terms.

Send a correction

If a price looks wrong, write to [email protected] with the state, the item and what you paid or were quoted. We read every note and fix the data when it is off.