The True Cost of Home Improvement

By HomeAdvisor

Updated August 10, 2020

One of the great joys of owning your home is improving upon it, and major projects can feel exciting and empowering. They can also appear overwhelming – but they’re often more simple than you think. One of the best ways to feel confident as you plan is to be as informed as possible. For example – if you’re upgrading your outdoor area, it’s important to research and interview the best backyard contractors near you.

Getting your working relationship started with the pro you choose can be intimidating, too. Luckily, working well with contractors is simple. Asking just a few questions can help prevent fraud, and make sure you’re satisfied with a job well done.

Finally, one of the most vital parts of research: Cost. If you’re budgeting for a living room makeover, it’s vital to know that interior painting costs $1,800 on average. If you need to replace your flooring, carpet installation cost begins at about $800.

But, if you’ve put in elbow grease and started planning, you’ll know data about the cost of home improvement projects isn’t always easily available. After you’ve pulled together inspiration and decided to hire a pro, how do you know you’re getting the best deal? Beyond the up-front price, what about your return on investment (ROI)? Even projects that seem expensive in the short-term can actually pay off – for example, a new roof may cost you zero dollars in the long run. How do you know that you’re getting the best ROI possible?  

In this infographic, we’ll give you the highest highs, the lowest lows, and the national average costs of every home project you could think of – including the nitty gritty, like the cost to service a boiler. (It’s about $350).

If you want more information, you can check out our True Cost Report, too!

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True Cost of Home Remodels & Renovations

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5 Comments

  1. Louie DiNicola, April 15:

    Thank you for the interesting infographic! As a new home owner with a few projects on the roadmap, I’m curious to see if you’re able to provide a de-identified dataset (or something similar) to supplement. For instance, it would be very helpful to see the distribution of cost across the Highest/Lowest Potential prices or even narrow down the project cost via geographic region. Is anything like this availiable for your readers to do their own analysis? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

  2. David Wendelken, April 23:

    So, as I understand it, the prices for DIY project work and hired-out project work are averaged together? That’s pretty darn silly if it’s true. When I want to hire someone I want to know what it’s likely to cost to hire someone, and if I’m going to do it myself, I want to know what the materials and specialized tools will cost, not some professional’s labor price.

  3. Betty, May 10:

    Can you give me some idea how much it would cost to cover a single wide mobile home “Florida room” roof either with a rubber roof or some kind of vinyl? The room is approximately 10- x 16. The mobile is about 30 years old.

  4. Karl dell, August 13:

    Home repair project new roof new ac cooling and heater (2500 sq ft)two bathrooms land clearing (1.5 acres)

  5. Steven D Osmundson, July 13:

    I am a independent estimating consultant and have worked in the field since 1994.The problem I see with this graphic is it doesn’t identify the parameters of the project…number of units, labor costs, quality of installation or even the region. The Cost v Value report has been used for decades to determine all these factors. Perhaps modeling your graphic similar to the C v V report would be beneficial.

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