How we gather the prices in our cost guides
Our cost guides show price bands, not prices. This page explains where each band comes from, how we date it and when we check it again. A band is not a quote. We price your project only after a site visit.
Where the bands come from
- Named public sources. Each band comes from a public report or study with a name, a date and a link. Today that means the JLC Cost vs. Value Report (its Seattle page) and a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study of panel and service upgrades.
- Copied as printed. We copy each figure as the source prints it. We do not scale, round or adjust it, and we do not mix figures from different sources into one band.
- Two figures make a band. A band runs from one printed figure to another, for example from a midrange project up to an upscale one. The high end is at least one and a half times the low end, so a band never reads as one price.
- Not used: figures from contractor marketplaces and lead sites. For our counties they are often thin or conflicting.
Bands from our own jobs
We are building bands from our own finished jobs in Skagit, Snohomish, Island and Whatcom Counties. A band from our jobs shows only when we have at least five finished jobs of that kind from the last two years. It shows the middle half of those jobs, the number of jobs and their dates. It never shows a client's name, an address or the price of one job. Until then, a guide shows only public bands.
Dates and checks
- Every guide shows the date its prices were checked.
- A person checks each public figure against its source before a guide goes live, and the owner approves the bands.
- We check the sources again at least once a year, and sooner when a source publishes a new edition. A guide whose prices were checked more than six months ago is flagged for a new check.
The band finder
Each guide has a band finder. You answer a few questions about your project, and it points to a band and to the part of that band your answers lean toward. It does not make a new figure and it does not replace a site visit. If you like, it copies your answers into the request form, so you do not have to type them again. Nothing is sent until you send the form.
Why a band is not a quote
A band shows how far apart projects of one kind can be. Your price depends on your home, what is behind the walls, the choices you make and the work the job needs. We price your project after a site visit, and you get the scope in writing.