How we price every guide

Where the numbers come from

Sources that publish an actual number count most. Opinion pieces and forums are used only to spot outliers, never as a price.

Sources per guide: Plumber 50, Water heater 36, Gas line 35, Sewer line 56, Electrician 52, HVAC 45, Solar 42, Home battery 57, EV charger 42, House cleaning 60, Carpet cleaning 73, Window cleaning 67, Gutter cleaning 36, Pressure washing 65, Pest control 62, Handyman 43, Junk removal 53, Appliance repair 51, Garage door repair 68. Every guide lists its own count next to its verified date.

How we turn sources into a price

Cross-checking

Each national line is checked across several independent sources before it's published. Where sources disagree by a wide margin, we look at what each one includes: parts, permit, haul-away, labor hours. Then we pick a defensible middle and note the difference in our research notes.

City prices

Cities with their own local sources (local contractor prices, city cost pages, metro wage data) anchor the ranges. The rest of the 195 metros are set from the nearest anchors, adjusted with metro wage data for the trade and regional price levels. Local factors that genuinely move the price, like frost depth, hard water or permit rules, are written into the city page.

What's included

Unless a line says otherwise, a price is what a homeowner pays for the finished job: labor, standard parts and normal disposal. Permits, unusual access, upgrades the job uncovers and sales tax are called out separately because they vary so much.

Low / Typical / High

• LowA straightforward job, normal access, standard parts, weekday hours, at the cheaper end of the sources for that city. Not the single cheapest number we found.
• TypicalThe middle of the sources for that line, not the average, so one extreme quote doesn't drag it. This is what most homeowners pay.
• HighHard access, premium equipment, older homes that need extra work, or after-hours rates. Prices above this exist; they're the exception.

Updates & accuracy

We review guide prices every month. We change a figure when current sources support a change. Every guide shows the month its prices were last verified. This edition is November 2026. Year-on-year figures compare current prices with the same jobs a year earlier.

Prices are never exact. They move with the contractor, the season, your home and what the job uncovers. Treat every range as a starting point and get two quotes before you commit — that's what the forms on our pages are for.

Independence & how we make money

Published prices are not for sale. No contractor, manufacturer or advertiser can change a price range, a city adjustment or a quote-checker result.

How we make money. Contractors pay for the quote requests we send them from these pages, either per lead or for an exclusive city. Some city pages carry one featured listing; it is labeled and has no effect on the prices shown.

Corrections. If you're a contractor whose published prices don't match our range, or a homeowner who paid well outside it, email hello@localgoingrate.com with the city, the job and the number. Corrections with a source are reviewed and the guide's verified date changes when we update it.