About

What It Actually Costs publishes cost guides, example budgets, and checklists for comparing quotes.

The guides explain scope: what a price includes, what adds to it, and which questions to ask a contractor or service provider. They use secondary sources and illustrative scenarios. They are not a database of verified customer invoices or a claim that we personally tested each service.

Start with a guide, then request itemized local quotes. Read our methodology to understand the limits of the numbers.

If you have a correction or a redacted, itemized quote to contribute, contact us.