Who we are
HavenCostGuide is a free, independent U.S. home renovation cost estimator and editorial publication. We are operated by RudderBay, a sole proprietorship. We publish under an institutional byline (“HavenCostGuide Editorial Team”) rather than individual author profiles — this is intentional: trust signals come from our process, sourcing, and corrections record, not from any individual persona. Our editorial work is reviewed against standards documented on this page.
What we cover
Residential renovation costs across all 50 U.S. states. Eleven core project categories (bathroom, kitchen, flooring, roof, solar, windows, deck, basement, fence, pool, painting) plus adjacent topics (HVAC, furnace, insulation, door, hardscape, landscaping, home equity financing, contractor licensing, permits, storm recovery, energy rebates). We do not cover commercial construction, multifamily developments, or international markets. We do not provide legal, financial, or insurance advice — only cost-research and budgeting guidance.
Where our data comes from
All cost ranges, multipliers, and indices are derived from four primary source streams:
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) — Occupational Employment Statistics for regional construction-trade wages, refreshed quarterly when BLS publishes.
- Remodeling Magazine Cost vs. Value report — annual nationwide residential remodeling cost study, used for project-scope baselines.
- HomeAdvisor True Cost Guides + Angi research reports — homeowner-reported project pricing aggregated at metro and state levels.
- Our own contractor-bid panel — anonymized rate sheets and itemized quotes voluntarily submitted by ~80 licensed contractors across 30+ states.
We publicly document our methodology — including how the four streams are weighted into our state cost index — on the /methodology page.
How we update data
Baseline cost ranges are refreshed twice yearly (March and September). State multipliers are refreshed quarterly. Material-cost line items are spot-updated whenever a major supplier publishes a price change (e.g., lumber commodity index moves > 8%, shingle manufacturer MSRP revisions). Every change ships with a dated changelog entry visible in the page's “Last updated” metadata.
Methodology review
Our state cost-index methodology is reviewed by a rotating panel of three licensed general contractors, each with 10+ years of residential remodeling experience across different climate regions. Reviewers are uncompensated, named privately for their protection, and have no equity or affiliate relationship with HavenCostGuide. State cost-index data is verified against quarterly BLS Occupational Employment Statistics releases.
Fact-checking process
Every dollar figure or percentage that appears on the site is traceable to one of the four source streams above. Each editorial guide passes through a two-stage check: (1) source verification — every claim must reference a primary source no older than 12 months; (2) cross-source corroboration — when a single number drives a major claim, we cross-check against a second independent source before publishing. Numbers that cannot be corroborated to at least one primary source are flagged and removed.
Corrections policy
If you spot a factual error, please email corrections@havencostguide.com with the URL, the disputed claim, and (if possible) the corrected source. Verified corrections are applied within 5 business days. Material corrections (numbers that change a cost range by more than 10% or change a state ranking) ship with a visible editor's note at the bottom of the page and a dated changelog entry.
Conflict-of-interest disclosure
HavenCostGuide is free to use. The site is funded through a combination of:
- Affiliate revenue from contractor-matching services — primarily Angi Leads. When a reader submits a contractor-quote request through one of our affiliate links and ultimately hires a contractor, we may receive a small referral fee at no extra cost to the reader. Every page that contains an affiliate link carries an inline disclosure. Affiliate revenue never influences our cost estimates, methodology, or which contractor-matching services we recommend.
- Display advertising (where applicable, served through Google AdSense or a comparable network). Ad placement is automated and does not influence editorial decisions; we operate a strict church-and-state separation between the editorial team and any ad operations.
- No paid product reviews, no sponsored content, no “native” advertising. If we ever accept sponsored content in the future, it will be clearly labeled and kept off our cost-estimate pages.
Editorial independence
Our cost estimates and editorial recommendations are reached without consulting our ad-network or affiliate partners. No partner — Angi, Google AdSense, or any other — has any input into which cost ranges we publish, which projects we cover, or which states we feature in our research. We will publicly retract any guide where a partner attempts to exert editorial pressure.
What we are not
HavenCostGuide is not a contractor, a contractor-matching service, an insurance provider, a financial advisor, or a licensed building inspector. We publish budgeting ranges, not binding quotes. Always obtain written bids from three or more licensed local contractors before signing a project contract.
Contact us
General questions: contact@havencostguide.com. Editorial corrections: corrections@havencostguide.com. Press & data licensing: see our press kit. Privacy concerns: privacy@havencostguide.com.