Home improvement costs by project
Use written prices for your budget. Use historical spending to understand the source’s scope, without treating it as today’s bid.
Start with your own prices
Have competing quotes? Choose a scope comparison to see what each price includes.
2023 Census spending by project
The American Housing Survey reports owner-occupied home improvement spending for work completed in the two years before interview. These are medians across differing jobs, not current prices, per-unit rates or location adjustments.
Disaster repairs
Rooms and remodeling
Exterior work
Interior systems and finishes
Driveways, fences and buildings
Where there is no usable price
Current installed-price estimates need matched material, labor, location and job-scope evidence. We do not invent those rates or derive them from employee wages. New-house, barndominium and other construction budgets can still be organized with the reader-input budget worksheet.
The survey does not publish a metro median for septic tank or pool, court and recreational structure in this snapshot. These remain unknown rather than being assigned a neighboring value.