The short version
Where Angi reports what homeowners paid, and Thumbtack reports what contractors quoted, Costorie reports what the project should cost — derived from federal labor data, state transportation department bid tabulations, manufacturer pricing, and trade-association industry surveys, then state-adjusted using cost-of-living indices published by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.
No single source drives a Costorie price range. Every published number is triangulated across at least three independent inputs and validated against externally published benchmarks before going live on the site.
Data sources
1. Labor — US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
The largest single component of any home improvement project is labor. Costorie anchors its labor-cost ranges to the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program, which publishes annual mean and median wages by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code at national and state level. The May 2025 OEWS release (published May 15, 2026) is the current authoritative source for the following occupations relevant to Costorie's ten calculators:
- Tree trimmers and pruners (SOC 37-3013) — mean hourly $26.91, mean annual $55,970
- Landscaping and groundskeeping workers (SOC 37-3011) — mean hourly $20.33
- Roofers (SOC 47-2181) — median annual approximately $50,970
- Floor layers (SOC 47-2042) — median annual approximately $52,000
- Construction laborers (SOC 47-2061) — mean hourly approximately $22–$24
- Brickmasons and blockmasons (SOC 47-2021) — median annual $60,800 ($29.23/hr)
- Painting, coating, and decorating workers (SOC 51-9123) — mean hourly $17.11
Reference: bls.gov/oes. Costorie also references the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW, NAICS 23 Construction) for state-level annual averages, and the BLS Producer Price Index (PPI) series for material cost trends — specifically PPI for Inputs to Single-Family Residential Construction (WPUIP2311101), which rose 9.2% from December 2023 to April 2026.
2. Materials — Producer Price Indices and Manufacturer Pricing
For materials, Costorie tracks BLS Producer Price Index series for individual categories: asphalt paving mixtures (PCU324121324121), concrete products (WPU133), softwood lumber (WPU0811), cold-rolled steel sheet (WPU101707), aluminum mill shapes (WPU102501), and clay building materials (PCU327120327120). PPI data is updated monthly by BLS.
Manufacturer retail pricing supplements PPI trend data with absolute price levels. For asphalt shingles, Costorie references GAF, Owens Corning, and CertainTeed published product catalogs and Home Depot/Lowe's retail shelf prices. For metal roofing, Western States Metal Roofing's published cost guide ($2.20–$5.00/sq ft material-only for 24-gauge standing seam). For pavers, Pavingstone Supply's public SKU pricing for Belgard, Mutual Materials, and Western Interlock product lines.
3. State Transportation Department Bid Tabulations
For asphalt paving specifically, Costorie cross-references homeowner-level pricing against state DOT contract bid data, which represents the deepest publicly auditable record of contracted material and labor costs. Active references include:
- Texas DOT Highway Cost Index (HCI) — HMAC unit bid prices — March 2026 12-month moving average: $112.09/ton; full-year 2025 average: ~$119/ton; base period (2012): $70.68/ton. TxDOT publishes a monthly HCI PDF with actual contractor unit bid prices per ton for Hot Mix Asphaltic Concrete back to 2012.
- Georgia DOT Asphalt Cement Price Index — May 2026: $687/ton
- Maryland Asphalt Association Price Index — May 2026: $800/ton
- Washington State DOT Asphalt Binder Reference — April 2026: $596–$615/ton
These indices anchor the upstream material cost component of our asphalt and driveway sealing calculators with monthly granularity.
A note on DOT data accessibility.Roughly twenty states publish bid tabulation data in some form, but the majority — including California (Caltrans), New York (NYSDOT), Florida (FDOT), Illinois (IDOT), Ohio (ODOT), Pennsylvania (PennDOT), North Carolina (NCDOT), New Jersey (NJDOT), Minnesota (MnDOT), and Washington (WSDOT) — serve their data through JavaScript-rendered Tableau dashboards, AASHTOWare licensed portals, Bid Express subscription services, or authentication-gated FTP. These are not machine-readable for ongoing primary-source citation. Texas DOT is the principal exception in the US: its Highway Cost Index PDF is publicly downloadable and contains the actual average unit bid price per ton with full historical depth. Costorie therefore weights TxDOT data heavily as our anchor state DOT source for asphalt paving, supplemented by the Maryland Asphalt Association and Georgia DOT public price indices. We cross-reference these against the BLS Producer Price Index series for asphalt paving mixtures (PCU324121324121) to confirm that the state-level actuals are directionally consistent with the national series.
4. National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)
For broader residential construction context, Costorie cites the NAHB's biennial Cost of Constructing a Homesurvey. The 2024 edition (published January 23, 2025) sampled approximately 4,000 NAHB builder members stratified by company size and census region, and reports an average single-family home construction cost of $428,215 ($162/sq ft) broken into eight construction stages. NAHB's Eye on Housing blog provides monthly cost and market trend updates that inform our forward-looking commentary.
5. Insurance Industry Replacement Cost Data
For roofing and storm-related repair pricing, Costorie references insurance industry data because insurers maintain the most granular per-region replacement cost databases in the US. The Verisk U.S. Roofing Realities Trend Report(April 2025) quantified $31 billion in roof repair and replacement spending in 2024 — up nearly 30% since 2022 — with wind and hail driving over 50% of residential claims. The Insurance Information Institute's Facts + Statistics for Homeowners Insurance reports the average wind and hail claim severity at $14,747 (2019–2023 weighted average).
6. Industry Trade Association Data
For specific verticals Costorie references published trade-association research:
- Tree care: ISA Best Management Practices series and ANSI A300 standards; TCIA Benchmarking and Compensation Survey for industry wage and margin context.
- Roofing: NRCA Roofing Manual (2025/2026 editions) for installation standards and labor coefficient assumptions.
- Sod: NC State Extension 2026 Sod Producers Report (21 producers surveyed), UF/IFAS 2025 Florida Sod Inventory and Pricing Report (26 of 50 producers), and the UGA 2025 Georgia Sod Producers Inventory Survey.
- Pavers: Concrete Masonry and Hardscapes Association (CMHA, formed in 2026 from the merger of ICPI and NCMA) 2025 Hardscape Production Report.
- Flooring: NWFA 2026 Industry Outlook; NAR/NARI 2022 Remodeling Impact Report for ROI data (147% cost recovery for hardwood refinishing, 118% for new install).
7. Cost-of-Living Indices for State Adjustment
State-level price variation is calibrated against three independently published indices:
- BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP) — the federal standard. 2024 data released February 19, 2026 by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.
- C2ER Cost of Living Index — quarterly metro-level composite published by the Council for Community and Economic Research.
- BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) — state-level average construction-sector weekly wage.
8. Consumer Aggregator Data (Cross-Validation Only)
Where homeowner-reported project costs exist in publicly available aggregator databases (Angi/HomeAdvisor cost guides, Houzz & Home Study, Thumbtack platform data, HomeGuide, Fixr, LawnLove, This Old House), Costorie uses these to cross-validate the upper and lower bounds of its derived ranges — not as primary sources. When Costorie's triangulated estimate diverges from aggregator-reported figures by more than 15%, the range is reviewed before publication.
State multiplier methodology
Costorie applies a state-level cost multiplier ranging from 0.84x (Mississippi)to 1.35x (Hawaii) against national base rates. The multiplier reflects the blended effect of state-level labor costs, material logistics, regulatory and permitting overhead, cost-of-living differentials, and union density in the construction trades.
Validation against federal data:Costorie's multiplier range was validated against the 2024 BEA Regional Price Parities. BEA RPP's confirmed range across the 50 states and DC runs from 86.9 (Arkansas) to 110.7 (California), translating to multipliers of 0.869 to 1.107. 48 of 50 Costorie state multipliers fall within 15% of the BEA RPP equivalent.Two states deviate beyond that threshold:
- Hawaii (+22.7% vs BEA RPP):Costorie's 1.35 multiplier exceeds BEA RPP for general goods (1.10) because Hawaii's island logistics impose a meaningful materials premium above general goods inflation. The C2ER Cost of Living Index for Hawaii (1.79) supports the higher figure for construction inputs specifically.
- Illinois (+17.9% vs BEA RPP):Costorie's 1.08 reflects Chicago metro-weighted pricing rather than the statewide BEA RPP of 0.916 (which is driven down by affordable downstate Illinois). This is a deliberate methodological choice; Chicago accounts for the plurality of Illinois home improvement service demand.
Union density correlation:The strongest single explanatory variable for state multiplier variation is construction-sector union density. States above 14% overall union density (HI 26.5%, NY 20.6%, NJ 16.2%, MA 14.6%) consistently show construction wages 25–55% above states below 5% (MS, AR, SC). This relationship is documented in the BLS Annual Union Members Survey and is the mechanical basis for Costorie's higher multipliers in unionized states.
Editorial process
Every Costorie cost page is researched, drafted, and reviewed by the Costorie Editorial Team — a team of cost researchers who produce data-driven cost guides for home improvement projects across the United States. Each estimate range is sourced to at least three independent data inputs before publication. Page-level review covers:
- Source verification: Each cited figure is traced back to a primary source (federal statistical release, manufacturer published price, trade association report, or state government bid tabulation).
- Cross-source reconciliation: When multiple sources publish overlapping figures, divergences greater than 15% trigger a methodology note explaining why we adopted a particular range.
- Date stamping: Every page displays its last-reviewed date in the article header (
EditorialBylinecomponent). The underlying state cost multipliers and calculator base rates carry a content version date in the sitemap and JSON-LD schema.
Update cadence
- Cost ranges: Reviewed quarterly against the latest BLS PPI release and annually against the BLS OEWS release (typically May/June).
- State multipliers: Reviewed annually against the latest BEA Regional Price Parities release (typically February).
- Editorial pages (blog cost guides): Reviewed at minimum once per year, with year-stamped publication dates updated to reflect the calendar year of the most recent review.
- Annual flagship survey: Costorie publishes a full Contractor Pricing Survey in January of each calendar year, with quarterly State Cost Index updates between flagship releases.
What we explicitly do NOT do
- We do not republish contractor quote estimates from aggregator platforms as our own data. Quotes reflect pre-negotiation pricing and are not a reliable proxy for actual project cost.
- We do not apply a national average price with a simple ZIP-code multiplier. Every state multiplier is derived from multiple independent sources and validated against federal RPP data.
- We do not cite figures older than 24 months without explicitly flagging them as historical and contextualizing against the most recent PPI/OEWS release.
- We do not accept payment, sponsorship, or commercial consideration in exchange for inclusion of specific brands, contractors, or product lines in our cost ranges.
Data access and downloads
Costorie's underlying pricing data is publicly downloadable in machine-readable formats. No registration or paywall: