Tool Belt CalcProject Cost Calculators
Every other calculator on this site produces a fact. These produce estimates, and the difference matters. Each one gives a range rather than a number, every rate is editable, and none of them is a substitute for three local quotes.
8 tools in this category
Deck Cost Calculator
What a new deck costs, by size, material and railing.
OpenRoof Replacement Cost Calculator
What a roof replacement costs, including tear-off.
OpenConcrete Slab Cost Calculator
What a concrete slab costs, materials and placing.
OpenFence Cost Calculator
What a fence costs per foot, installed, with gates.
OpenFlooring Cost Calculator
What a new floor costs, fitted, including removal.
OpenInterior Painting Cost Calculator
What it costs to have a room painted.
OpenDrywall Cost Calculator
What drywall costs hung, taped and finished.
OpenDriveway Cost Calculator
What a driveway costs, by size and surface type.
Open
Why these are ranges, not numbers
A cubic yard is a cubic yard anywhere on earth. What a crew charges to place it is not — regional labour rates vary by more than a factor of two, and the same job priced in a busy season and a quiet one can differ by a third.
Construction estimating conventionally works to about plus or minus twenty-five per cent until a scope is drawn and priced, tightening only once a contractor has walked the job. Every result here is bracketed at that spread, because a single confident figure would imply a precision that does not exist at this stage.
Labour is the larger and more variable half
On most of these jobs labour exceeds materials, sometimes heavily. A painted room is roughly ten per cent paint and three quarters labour. Drywall is about seventy per cent labour. Concrete is around fifty-five.
That has two consequences. If a result looks wrong, the labour rate is almost always the input to revisit first — material prices are far more consistent between regions than crews are. And upgrading materials often costs less than people expect, because it moves the smaller half of the equation.
What these deliberately leave out
Permits, inspections, design fees and any structural or engineering work. Those vary too much by jurisdiction and project to estimate meaningfully, and guessing at them would be worse than omitting them.
They also assume reasonable access and normal conditions. A second-floor deck, a driveway on clay, a roof with six valleys or a room that needs asbestos testing all sit outside what an area-times-rate calculation can capture. The contingency exists partly for that, but a genuinely awkward job needs a quote rather than an estimate.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate are these cost estimates?
They are budgeting figures accurate to roughly ±25%, which is the conventional concept-stage estimating spread. Use them to sanity-check a quote or decide whether a project is feasible, not to sign a contract.
Why is labour usually more than materials?
Because most construction materials are cheap and installing them well is skilled work. Paint is about a tenth of a painting job; concrete is well under half of a slab.
Do these include permits?
No. Permit and inspection fees vary far too much by jurisdiction to estimate usefully, and they are a separate line in any real budget.
Should I use these instead of getting quotes?
No — use them alongside. Their real value is telling you whether a quote is in the right range before you have three to compare, and helping you see which line items a quote has left out.
Why can I edit every rate?
Because a national average is a starting point, not your local price. If you know what concrete or labour actually costs where you are, entering it makes the result dramatically better.