Cost guides › How we calculate costs
KeelFox
How we calculate costs
Every figure is calculated, not copied: units of work, priced at local labour rates, plus materials, checked against the market.
1. Units of work
Each project is broken into tasks, for example stripping old tiles per square metre, laying porcelain, fitting a shower tray. For every task we know the hours of labour by skill level and the quantity of each material, from the detailed price analyses of the Tuscany regional price list (Regione Toscana, Prezzario dei Lavori 2026, CC BY 4.0), an open public dataset with thousands of analysed items. Where local practice differs, for example asphalt shingles in North America, we use local installed prices.
2. Local labour rates
Hours are priced at what homeowners typically pay each trade in your country. Official wage statistics then move that rate for your state or region: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, UK Office for National Statistics, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Statistics Canada via Job Bank, and Eurostat for Germany and Italy. Where tradespeople earn more, jobs cost more.
3. Materials and options
Material quantities come from the task analyses or local prices, converted at European Central Bank exchange rates each working day. Where the choice of material or system changes the price, you can pick it and see the difference, with typical lifespans.
4. Checked against the market
Each project and country is calibrated to published market prices, and the quotes homeowners share with our quote checker adjust it further once there are enough of them. Quotes far outside the usual range, and repeated submissions, do not count.
5. Ranges, not quotes
We show a typical figure and the range most homeowners pay, at basic, mid-range and premium levels. Tax is shown the way prices are quoted locally: including VAT or GST in the UK, Germany, Italy and Australia, before sales tax in the US and Canada.
Data sources
| Source | Licence | Period |
|---|---|---|
| ABS Employee Earnings and Hours, Australia | CC BY 4.0 | May 2025 |
| BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | Public domain | May 2025 |
| ECB euro foreign exchange reference rates | ECB reuse policy (source credit) | – |
| Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey 2022 (trade split estimated from UK ASHE ratios) | CC BY 4.0 | 2022 |
| Job Bank wages (Employment and Social Development Canada) | Open Government Licence - Canada | 2023-2024 |
| ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, tables 14 and 15 | Open Government Licence v3.0 | 2025 (provisional) |
| Prezzario dei Lavori della Regione Toscana | CC BY 4.0 | 2026 |