Use this to sanity-check a quote before you sign it. Pick the job, add your numbers, and you get the realistic 2026 range for your area — along with the line items that quotes routinely leave out, which is usually where the surprises come from.
Renovation Cost Calculator
Built from the same 2026 contractor quotes and supplier pricing as our cost guides. Pick a job, add your numbers, and get the realistic range — plus the line items quotes usually leave out.
Commonly not in the quote
Full line-item breakdown, material comparisons and what moves the price: read the guide →
Figures are 2026 national averages adjusted for the area you selected. They are a sanity check on a quote, not an estimate for your specific house — and no calculator can see what is behind your walls. Always get three itemised quotes.
How to use the number you just got
A calculator cannot see behind your walls, and neither can a contractor until demolition starts. What this gives you is a benchmark: a way to tell whether the quote in your hand is normal, high, or suspiciously low.
- Your quote is inside the range. That is what you want. Now compare quotes on what is in them rather than the total — the line items are where they differ.
- Your quote is above the range. Not automatically wrong. High-end materials, a difficult site, a busy season and structural work all push a job past the benchmark legitimately. Ask which of those applies.
- Your quote is well below the range. This is the one to worry about. A quote far under the benchmark is usually missing scope rather than saving you money — and the missing scope shows up as a change order once the work has started and you have no leverage.
Whatever the number says, get three quotes and make each one break the job into demolition, materials, labour and permits separately. A single number with no line items cannot be compared to anything, and you will not find out what it excluded until the work is underway.
Every figure here comes from our full cost guides, which show the line-item breakdown, the material comparisons and the resale maths behind each number. The complete set is in the cost guide index.