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Every page, grouped the way the site is built
73 pages. The split that matters is the first one: a job asked about as a price lives under Costs and a job asked about as a quantity lives under Calculators — and every page in both carries the calculator and the pricing.
Last reviewed 2026-09-18 · XML sitemap · llms.txt
Costs
What a job costs installed, worked out from your own measurements rather than a national average. Material is separated from labour and only the labour moves with where you live.
- Artificial turfRolls with a grain, the compacted base, infill and edging.
- Build cost per sq ftInstalled cost per ft² for every trade on the site, calculated not quoted.
- CarpetRoll width, seam placement and the offcut nobody accounts for.
- Central air conditioningInstalled price per ton, by size and SEER2 — and what an oversized quote is costing you.
- Chain linkTerminal posts, line posts, fabric by the roll and what the shape of the yard costs.
- DrywallSheets by size, plus mud, tape, screws and corner bead.
- Epoxy floorGallons from solids and film thickness, preparation priced apart, and cost per year of service.
- FencePosts, rails, pickets and concrete, with frost-depth post holes.
- Floor refinishingSandings left in the wood, recoat against a full sand, coats and days out of use.
- FlooringBoxes of laminate, vinyl plank or hardwood, with racking waste.
- FurnaceInstalled price by size and AFUE, and the chimney work the efficient one forces.
- Garage door springThe exact spring from the door's weight, and the cycle rating turned into years.
- GuttersLinear feet, downspout count and the sizing for your rainfall.
- HardwoodInstalled cost by the method the subfloor forces, with boards, cleats and the winter gap.
- Heat pumpInstalled price per ton, and the balance point that decides the January bill.
- InsulationDepth to reach the R your zone asks for, and what every rung of it actually earns.
- Metal roofPanels cut to length, counted on coverage, with every run of trim.
- Mini splitInstalled price zone by zone, with the condenser that carries them and the circuit it needs.
- PaversPavers, bedding sand, base depth and edge restraint.
- Roof replacementSquares, bundles, underlayment and ridge, adjusted for pitch.
- SidingSquares of vinyl or fibre cement, minus openings, plus trim.
- Sod and turfPallets of sod, seed by species or turf by the roll, priced over 20 years.
- Tankless water heaterGallons a minute at YOUR temperature rise, not the figure on the box.
- TileTile by pattern, thinset from the trowel, grout from the joint width.
- Water heaterTank gallons or tankless flow rate from real fixture demand.
- WindowsPriced by united inches, with insert against full frame and an honest energy payback.
Calculators
How much material the job takes, ending in the sizes it is actually sold in — bags, sheets, boxes, tons — and priced on the same page.
- AsphaltTons by compacted depth, plus seal, overlay or rebuild priced side by side.
- Board feetVolume, weight and price of lumber, plus the three log rules that disagree.
- BTU / HVAC sizingHeating and cooling load by room, climate zone and insulation.
- ConcreteYards, bags, rebar and joints for slabs, footings and piers.
- Concrete slabYards with the thickened edge, base, barrier, steel and joint layout.
- DeckBoards from real stock lengths, framing, stairs and 25-year cost.
- GravelTons or yards by stone type, at the compacted depth.
- MulchYards or bags, with last year's mulch subtracted and bulk compared to bags.
- PaintGallons by coat and substrate, not one flat spread rate.
- Recessed lightingHow many, how far apart, the layout drawn to scale, and what it costs installed.
- Roof pitchRise and run, degrees, grade and the area multiplier, in both directions.
- Square footageArea and volume for any shape, in the units the job uses.
- StairsRisers, treads, stringer length and the code checks, with a scale diagram.
Comparisons
The decision that comes before the quantity, with both figures from the engines that price each one, on the same job.
- Concrete vs asphalt drivewayAsphalt is $6.01 a square foot and concrete $13.94 — and thirty years later, after a resurface and seven seal coats, asphalt is still 26 per cent cheaper. What concrete buys is not money. Where you live decides the rest.
- Carpet vs hardwoodOn the same 182 ft² room, carpet is $1,709 and hardwood $2,701 — 58 per cent more, not double. Over fifty years, with carpet replaced five times and hardwood sanded twice, hardwood comes out 45 per cent cheaper. Carpet wins on warmth and quiet, which is what bedrooms are for.
- Deck vs patioA patio at grade is cheaper and permanent. A deck is what you build when the ground is not level or the door is not at ground level — and that, not preference, is usually what decides it.
- Concrete patio vs paversPoured concrete is cheaper and cracks; pavers cost more and move without cracking because they are already in pieces. What separates a good one from a bad one is the base under it, identically for both.
Reference data
Every number a calculator uses, published on its own page with the source and the date it was checked. Free to cite.
- Concrete bag yieldCubic feet of set concrete per bag, and bags per cubic yard, by bag weight.
- Aggregate weightsPounds and tons per cubic yard for stone, sand, DG and topsoil — as a range, not a single figure.
- Drywall levels of finishWhat each of the five levels includes, what it is suitable for, and how much compound and labour it takes.
- Mulch coverage and bag countsSquare feet a cubic yard covers at every depth, bags to a yard and to a pallet, and what each mulch weighs dry and soaked.
- Asphalt tonnage and coverageSquare feet and square yards a ton of asphalt covers at every compacted depth, the spread rate behind it, and millings against hot mix.
- Sod pallets and seeding ratesWhat a pallet of sod covers and weighs, and how many pounds of seed per thousand square feet each grass actually wants.
- Deck spans and spacingHow far each joist size spans by spacing and species, what spacing each decking material allows, and the gaps a guard has to close.
- Thinset and grout coverageSquare feet per bag of mortar for every trowel notch, and pounds of grout per square foot for every tile size and joint width.
- Gutter sizing by rainfallDesign rainfall intensity for every state, and the roof area each gutter and downspout size can carry there.
- Paint coverage by surfaceWhat a gallon really covers on each substrate, first coat and later coats, against the figure printed on the tin.
- Fence post depth and frost lineDesign frost depth for all 51 states, and the post hole depth it calls for at each fence height.
- Water heater sizingTank size and first hour rating by household, and the flow a tankless unit delivers at each climate's temperature rise.
- Heating and cooling load by climate zoneScreening BTU per square foot for each of the eight climate zones, and what it works out to in tons for common house sizes.
- Roof pitch, angle and multiplierEvery pitch from 1:12 to 18:12 as an angle in degrees and as the factor that turns footprint into roof area.
- Regional price indexThe labour factor applied to estimates in each of the 51 states, and the federal series it comes from.
- Area and volume conversionsSquare feet to square yards, metres and acres; cubic feet to cubic yards and metres — with the definition each one follows from.
- Control joint spacingHow far apart to cut joints in a slab, how deep, and how soon after the pour.
How this site works
- MethodologyHow material, labour, waste and region are handled — and what this site will not estimate.
- SourcesEvery dataset read, with the date it was checked.
- CorrectionsErrors found and what changed, kept in public.
- Editorial policyWho writes this, and how it gets reviewed.
- Data changelogWhen a published figure changed, and why.
- Pablo Ruiz QuinteroWho is responsible for the figures.