Methodology
How we work out what things cost.
A cost guide is only worth reading if you know where its numbers came from. This page explains exactly how the figures on this site are built, what they can tell you, and what they can't.
Two kinds of number
Every figure on this site is one of two things, and we always make it obvious which you're looking at.
A first-hand figure is what a named homeowner actually paid. It comes with a name, a region, and usually the story of what went wrong. It's a single real data point, not a national average — which makes it more concrete and less general than a range.
A researched range is our estimate of what a job typically costs, built from published pricing data and trade sources. It's broader and less personal, but it tells you whether a quote sits inside normal territory.
The two answer different questions. A range tells you whether you're being gouged. A first-hand account tells you what the range leaves out.
First-hand accounts
How we handle real homeowner costs
The person is real and the project is theirs
Every homeowner account on this site belongs to a specific person who actually did the work. We don't build composite characters, and we don't write an account for a job nobody has done.
The figures are out-of-pocket, in Australian dollars
What they actually paid, not what a calculator suggests they should have. Where a figure is an estimate or a quote rather than a completed payment, we say which.
Contributors approve what's published
Accounts are written from interviews and reviewed by the contributor before they go live. They choose how they're credited — full name, first name and region, or anonymously.
We don't stretch one project across many guides
If a contributor has genuine experience with a bathroom but not a driveway, their account appears on the bathroom guide only. Padding unrelated guides with borrowed anecdotes would make the site less trustworthy, not more.
Old prices stay dated
A kitchen done in 2019 cost 2019 money. We publish the year alongside the figure rather than quietly inflating it, and we say so when a number is getting old.
How researched ranges are built
Where we don't have a first-hand figure, we build a range. The process is deliberately boring:
1. Collect published pricing. Industry cost surveys, trade association data, supplier and manufacturer pricing, and published contractor rate guides.
2. Separate materials from labour. These move independently. Material prices are relatively consistent nationally; labour swings hard by region and by how busy trades are that season.
3. Build a low, typical and high figure. The low end is a straightforward job with basic materials and no complications. The typical figure is what most people in most houses end up paying. The high end reflects difficult access, premium materials, or the problems you only discover once the work starts.
4. Sanity-check against reality. Where we have a real quote or a contributor's actual invoice for a comparable job, we check the range against it. If the range can't accommodate a real quote we've seen, the range is wrong, not the quote.
5. Name the sources. Each guide lists the sources behind its figures at the foot of the page.
Australian pricing, and where we're still catching up
This site is written for Australian homeowners, and we'd rather be straight with you about where that work is up to.
Some of our earlier guides were built on international benchmark data, because that's what was available when they were written. Those guides are progressively being rebuilt with Australian pricing. Where a guide has been localised, the figures come from Australian sources and include GST — they are not a currency conversion of an American number, which produces figures that look precise and mean nothing.
Where a guide hasn't been localised yet, it says so rather than pretending. If a page shows international figures, treat them as a rough shape of the problem rather than a budget.
Australian costs also vary enormously by where you are. Sydney and inner Melbourne run well above the national picture. Regional areas can be cheaper for labour and dearer for everything else, because someone has to drive the materials to you — and in smaller markets, the real cost is often waiting three months for anyone to show up at all.
What these numbers can't do
Worth saying plainly, because plenty of sites won't.
They can't price your specific job. Your house has its own access problems, its own surprises behind the wall, and its own local market. A range is a sanity check, not a quote.
They can't tell you whether a trade is any good. The cheapest quote and the best outcome are frequently not the same quote.
They go out of date. Materials and labour have moved sharply in recent years. Every guide carries the date it was last updated for exactly this reason.
They don't cover everything you'll pay. Approvals, certificates, waste removal, temporary accommodation, and the second trade nobody mentioned all land on the final bill.
How to actually use a range
Get at least three itemised quotes. Not lump sums — itemised, so you can see where they differ.
Compare each against our range. A quote well above the high end isn't automatically a rip-off, but it needs an explanation you find convincing. A quote well below the low end is the one that should worry you: something has been left out, and you'll usually pay for it later.
Ask what the quote excludes. That's where the real difference between three quotes usually lives.
Then budget above the typical figure, not at it. Almost nobody regrets the contingency they didn't need.
Corrections
If a figure here doesn't match what you were quoted, we'd like to know — a real quote that falls outside our range is useful information, and it's how these guides get better. We correct mistakes openly rather than quietly. Get in touch, or read more about our editorial standards.