What homeowners paid for home improvements
U.S. homeowners who hired out the work paid a median $10,000 for roofing, $12,000 for a kitchen remodel, $8,000 for a bathroom remodel and $6,000 for heating and cooling, for work done in 2021 to 2023, according to this site’s analysis of the Census Bureau’s 2023 American Housing Survey.
Figures from the 2023 American Housing Survey: the Census Bureau’s Table 16, and hired-out figures this site worked out from the survey’s public use file of anonymized answers; checked . Every figure below is in the CSV file.
Every category on our cost pages, hired out
The typical (median) job when owners paid someone to do it, with the survey’s margin of error, the middle half of those jobs, how many hired-out jobs the figure rests on and the weighted share of jobs that were hired out. The last column counts every job, do-it-yourself included. Select a column heading to sort.
| Middle half | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen additions | $41,700 ±$12,817 | $22,500 to $111,000 | 31 | 64% | $25,000 |
| Recreation room additions | $23,300 ±$4,864 | $16,000 to $35,800 | 32 | 54% | $10,000 |
| Bathroom additions | $19,100 ±$5,742 | $13,000 to $33,000 | 73 | 62% | Not published |
| Bedroom additions | $16,300 ±$3,478 | $7,700 to $40,000 | 81 | 51% | $7,000 |
| Flood damage repairs | $14,000 ±$5,431 | $4,300 to $20,000 | 50 | 78% | Not published |
| Kitchen remodel | $12,000 ±$1,983 | $5,000 to $25,000 | 979 | 59% | $8,000 |
| Roofing | $10,000 ±$0* | $6,000 to $15,000 | 2,217 | 86% | $10,000 |
| Tornado and hurricane repairs | $10,000 ±$1,617 | $5,500 to $19,000 | 136 | 78% | $8,600 |
| Bathroom remodel | $8,000 ±$373 | $4,000 to $14,700 | 1,421 | 57% | $5,000 |
| Decks, porches and patios | $7,000 ±$1,046 | $3,000 to $15,000 | 742 | 61% | $4,750 |
| Siding | $6,900 ±$1,107 | $3,000 to $14,000 | 478 | 73% | $5,000 |
| Heating and cooling (HVAC) | $6,000 ±$186 | $3,500 to $9,000 | 3,602 | 88% | $5,500 |
| Attached garages and carports | $5,700 ±$1,401 | $3,000 to $20,000 | 162 | 66% | $4,600 |
| Sheds, detached garages and outbuildings | $5,000 ±$482 | $3,000 to $9,000 | 412 | 53% | $3,000 |
| Windows and doors | $4,200 ±$574 | $1,600 to $9,800 | 1,782 | 69% | $2,800 |
| Fences and walls | $4,000 ±$537 | $2,000 to $6,500 | 1,117 | 59% | $2,300 |
| Flooring, carpet, paneling and ceiling tile | $4,000 ±$74 | $2,000 to $7,000 | 2,170 | 63% | $3,000 |
| Driveways and walkways | $3,900 ±$412 | $1,900 to $7,400 | 978 | 70% | $2,914 |
| Chimneys and outdoor stairs | $3,000 ±$516 | $1,200 to $6,500 | 397 | 67% | $2,057 |
| Insulation | $2,500 ±$410 | $1,300 to $4,000 | 528 | 55% | $1,500 |
| Water pipes | $1,800 ±$344 | $600 to $4,000 | 743 | 64% | $1,000 |
| Electrical wiring and panels | $1,500 ±$263 | $640 to $3,800 | 1,419 | 68% | $1,000 |
| Water heaters, dishwashers and disposals | $1,000 ±$0* | $570 to $1,600 | 3,336 | 59% | $800 |
| Plumbing fixtures | $990 ±$25 | $490 to $2,400 | 1,628 | 52% | $542 |
| Home security systems | $720 ±$74 | $400 to $2,000 | 860 | 41% | $429 |
| Earthquake repairs | Too few jobs | – | – | – | Not published |
| Fire damage repairs | Too few jobs | – | – | – | Not published |
* A margin of $0 means every replicate estimate landed on the same round figure: owners tend to report round amounts such as $10,000.
Earthquake repairs and Fire damage repairs: the survey’s records hold too few hired-out jobs for a figure; their cost pages give what each big metro reported.
The middle half, charted
- Roofing$10,000$6,000–$15,000
- Tornado and hurricane repairs$10,000$5,500–$19,000
- Bathroom remodel$8,000$4,000–$14,700
- Decks, porches and patios$7,000$3,000–$15,000
- Siding$6,900$3,000–$14,000
- Heating and cooling (HVAC)$6,000$3,500–$9,000
- Sheds, detached garages and outbuildings$5,000$3,000–$9,000
- Windows and doors$4,200$1,600–$9,800
- Fences and walls$4,000$2,000–$6,500
- Flooring, carpet, paneling and ceiling tile$4,000$2,000–$7,000
- Driveways and walkways$3,900$1,900–$7,400
- Chimneys and outdoor stairs$3,000$1,200–$6,500
- Insulation$2,500$1,300–$4,000
- Water pipes$1,800$600–$4,000
- Electrical wiring and panels$1,500$640–$3,800
- Water heaters, dishwashers and disposals$1,000$570–$1,600
- Plumbing fixtures$990$490–$2,400
- Home security systems$720$400–$2,000
By big metro
The typical hired-out job in each of the 15 big metros the survey reports, for five of the projects with a figure in all of them. Metros are in order of the roofing figure; each project’s cost page charts every metro with its margin of error.
| Metro | Roofing | Kitchen remodel | Bathroom remodel | Heating and cooling (HVAC) | Windows and doors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami | $16,000 ±$3,650 | $12,000 ±$6,395 | $7,000 ±$2,981 | $5,000 ±$495 | $8,000 ±$4,217 |
| Seattle | $15,100 ±$3,389 | $13,900 ±$3,849 | $13,000 ±$4,873 | $8,000 ±$1,389 | $5,700 ±$1,732 |
| San Francisco | $15,000 ±$1,194 | $20,000 ±$7,436 | $11,400 ±$1,058 | $8,000 ±$2,395 | $5,500 ±$1,136 |
| Los Angeles | $14,300 ±$2,165 | $18,100 ±$11,021 | $11,400 ±$2,766 | $8,000 ±$859 | $5,000 ±$1,100 |
| Chicago | $13,000 ±$1,887 | $15,000 ±$4,999 | $8,800 ±$4,465 | $4,500 ±$590 | $5,000 ±$3,124 |
| Dallas | $12,000 ±$2,366 | $10,300 ±$3,025 | $7,000 ±$2,146 | $6,000 ±$508 | $4,000 ±$1,488 |
| New York City | $12,000 ±$1,480 | $17,100 ±$5,484 | $10,500 ±$1,695 | $6,400 ±$1,163 | $5,000 ±$738 |
| Boston | $11,000 ±$2,340 | $16,000 ±$4,346 | $11,400 ±$3,722 | $8,500 ±$1,549 | $5,000 ±$1,758 |
| Houston | $10,800 ±$1,966 | $12,000 ±$3,488 | $6,900 ±$1,773 | $6,400 ±$893 | $4,600 ±$1,692 |
| Atlanta | $10,000 ±$2,004 | $10,000 ±$7,872 | $7,000 ±$2,855 | $5,500 ±$857 | $3,700 ±$2,078 |
| Phoenix | $10,000 ±$1,442 | $12,000 ±$10,011 | $8,000 ±$2,731 | $8,000 ±$564 | $6,000 ±$2,106 |
| Riverside | $10,000 ±$2,762 | $10,300 ±$3,758 | $11,400 ±$1,682 | $7,600 ±$1,103 | $4,400 ±$1,243 |
| Washington DC | $10,000 ±$2,419 | $16,000 ±$5,321 | $10,000 ±$1,111 | $7,000 ±$807 | $5,000 ±$926 |
| Detroit | $9,000 ±$2,235 | $10,300 ±$4,069 | $9,100 ±$4,737 | $4,100 ±$1,003 | $3,500 ±$845 |
| Philadelphia | $8,600 ±$1,553 | $14,000 ±$6,562 | $9,100 ±$2,687 | $6,000 ±$272 | $4,500 ±$1,200 |
How we count
The American Housing Survey asks the owners of a sample of U.S. homes what they spent on each improvement in the two years before they were interviewed, here 2021 to 2023. Table 16 publishes the median of every job, done by the owner or hired out. The hired-out columns come from the survey’s public use file: the jobs where owners said someone outside the household did most of the work, weighted with the survey’s own weights, with the median and the middle half (the 25th to 75th percentiles) and a margin of error at 90% confidence from its replicate weights. Dollars are as owners reported them, not adjusted for inflation; a figure from fewer than 30 hired-out jobs is not shown. The public file rounds costs, so its figures can differ from Table 16’s; the last column is Table 16’s published median, from a different table, so compare it with care.
When the Census Bureau publishes a newer survey, every figure on this page and in the file moves to it.
How to cite this
The Well Planned Home, “What homeowners paid for home improvements,” hired-out figures worked out from the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD, 2023 American Housing Survey public use file, and its Table 16. https://thewellplannedhome.com/project-costs/what-owners-paid
You may reuse this figure and chart with a link to this page. The data: what-owners-paid.csv (27 projects, U.S. and big metros, hired out and every job).
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau and HUD, American Housing Survey 2023 public use file and Table 16, listed on the sources page. More: why cost guides disagree, how far material prices have moved since, and every project’s cost page.