Pricing dataset v2026.07
Effective 2026-07-30 · supersedes v2026.05
Corrections shipped continuously between May and July 2026, but the dataset stamp was not advanced with them — so estimates produced in that window carry a v2026.05 stamp while reflecting later maths. This release restores the record and documents every calculator whose numbers moved. We would rather publish that plainly than quietly re-stamp it.
How these figures were produced
Every percentage below is measured, not estimated. Each calculator was re-run against a fixed reference job at the 2026-05-28 locked baseline and again at this release, with the regional multiplier held at 1.0, and the headline totals compared. The percentage describes that job — your project can move by a different amount, and single-storey framing jobs, for example, did not move at all.
The changed-or-unchanged verdict is a stronger check than the headline figure: every calculator was additionally replayed across three differently sized jobs in both modes. A calculator listed as unchanged held identical totals on all six runs, so “unchanged” is not an artefact of one convenient example.
The v2026.05 stamp is dated 2026-05-16 and the earliest locked baseline is 2026-05-28. We measured that twelve-day gap separately by replaying the page-level calculators as they existed at each commit: no calculator moved. It is a genuine measurement, not an assumption — an earlier draft of this page said we could not replay that window, and we went back and replayed it.
Calculators that changed (8)
ConcreteHigher
What was wrong: A full-correctness pass, and every price the calculator uses now lives in one auditable rates file rather than being scattered through the calculation. Several input fields that displayed but did not affect the total were either wired up or removed.
Measured effect: Pro +1.4% on the reference 24×24 6″ driveway. Quick unchanged.
DeckMixed
What was wrong: Deck moved onto the shared calculation engine, and several line items were put on a defensible basis: the building-permit fee is now derived from project valuation using the standard published fee schedule rather than a flat allowance, stairs are costed per riser, and the footing count reconciles with the framing plan.
Measured effect: Quick +0.6%, Pro −0.4% on the reference 20×16 composite deck. Larger decks move more — up to about 10% on a 40×30 hardwood build.
DrywallLower
What was wrong: Sheet and joint-compound prices were re-based onto real purchasable units — the joint-compound line had been priced against a “25 lb bucket”, which is not a product anyone sells; it is now a 4.5-gallon pail. Drywall also went through a full-correctness pass, and every price it uses now lives in one auditable rates file rather than being scattered through the calculation.
Measured effect: Pro −6.8% on the reference 1,200 SF job.
ElectricalMixed
What was wrong: Two changes. Quick now recognises when itemised Professional inputs are present and prices the same job instead of falling back to its scope-based default — the result is labelled “Itemized Project” so it is visible. Separately, a labour double-count was removed from Professional: labour was already embedded in the per-item install rates and was then added again.
Measured effect: On the reference itemised fixture Quick reports $10,175 where it previously reported its $1,175 scope default — that is the carry working, not a price rise. Professional −31.8% ($19,850 → $13,543) from the labour correction.
FlooringLower
What was wrong: The waste factor was inflating labour, tear-off and disposal as well as materials. You buy extra material to cover offcuts; you do not pay a crew to install the offcuts.
Measured effect: Quick −3.3%, Pro −2.8% on the reference 20×15 hardwood job.
Foundation RepairLower
What was wrong: Quick and Professional were rebuilt onto a single shared rates module, and Quick stopped inheriting Professional’s itemised composition. Quick is a ballpark band with typical-scope assumptions; Pro is a detailed takeoff. They now share prices but never a calculation path.
Measured effect: Quick −73.3%, Pro −19.7% on the reference crack-repair job. The old Quick figure was carrying detail it had no inputs to support.
FramingHigher
What was wrong: Quick was ignoring the storey count. Because Quick and Professional share one input object, a storey count entered in Pro was reaching Quick and being silently dropped — so a two-storey building was quoted at one-storey prices. Fire blocking was also corrected: it was counted in feet against a 16-inch spacing with no unit conversion, and the storey factor was applied twice.
Measured effect: Quick +98.9% on the reference two-storey job ($10,104 → $20,092) — the old figure was the one-storey price. Single-storey estimates are unchanged. Professional headline unchanged; the fire-blocking line itself moved from 35 to 210 pieces on a two-storey job.
RoofingLower
What was wrong: The pitch factor was missing its square root. Roof surface area grows with √(1 + slope²), and the calculator was applying the slope term directly — so steeper roofs were over-measured, and every downstream quantity (shingles, underlayment, labour) was ordered against an area that was too large.
Measured effect: Quick −16.2%, Pro −25.3% on the reference 50×30 6/12 job. Over-ordering had ranged 12–41% depending on pitch. If you bought materials off an estimate stamped v2026.05 or earlier for a steep roof, you likely bought too much.
Display fix: “Show your math” now shows real numbers
On framing, excavation, asphalt and gravel, the “Show your math” panel was printing a broken value on its money rows — a literal 0 followed by an unrounded figure, for example 0 4326.0600000000004 instead of $4,326.06 — and the variables list under each step was empty. The totals themselves were always correct; only the explanation was broken. All four now render properly.
Calculators with no headline change (13)
These produced an identical headline on their reference job and on two further jobs of different size, in both modes — six runs each, all unchanged. Some received export, display or input-wiring fixes in the same period; none of those moved the total.
asphalt · basement · bathroom · egress-window · excavation · fence · gravel · hvac · insulation · kitchen · paint · rebar · room-addition
Known limitations in this release
- Framing labour is under review. The $7.00/sq ft of wall area labour rate sits at or above every independent benchmark we could find, so framing estimates may run high. We have not changed it, because we do not yet have a verified replacement and we will not swap one unverified number for another. It is being validated against contractor quotes.
- Most rates are not yet independently verified. We are working through them calculator by calculator, and future releases will label each rate with its provenance.