About HomeRenovationCalc

Who Built This Site

My name is Lisa Tran. I spent five years working as a residential interior designer in the Seattle area, helping clients reimagine their spaces from the comfort of a studio with a mood board and a materials budget. I was good at the aesthetic side of things — space planning, finishes selection, sourcing furniture and fixtures. But I'll be honest: I was largely insulated from the part where the numbers get real. Clients had contractors. Contractors had their own pricing. My job was to make sure the countertops looked beautiful, not to understand why they cost what they did.

That changed in 2019 when my partner and I bought a 1960s fixer-upper outside Seattle. It needed everything — outdated kitchen, a master bath that hadn't been touched since the Carter administration, a soft deck that was frankly a liability, and an unfinished basement that had been someone's optimistic storage solution for decades. Suddenly I was the client, and the contractor quotes I got were all over the map. One kitchen bid came in at $28,000. Another was $61,000. For the same scope of work. My design background told me what I wanted, but it didn't tell me how to evaluate whether either number made any sense. I had to learn the math myself.

I ended up doing much of the work myself, documenting every receipt, every material cost, every subcontractor invoice. Four major projects later — kitchen gut, master bath remodel, new deck, and a finished basement — I had a detailed, real-world dataset of what renovations actually cost when you're doing them yourself or managing the subs directly. HomeRenovationCalc is built on that foundation.

What This Site Covers

HomeRenovationCalc focuses on the renovation projects homeowners actually face — the ones where getting the budget wrong can mean running out of money halfway through a gutted kitchen. Here's what you'll find:

Kitchen Remodel Calculator — estimates based on project scope (cosmetic refresh vs. full gut), cabinet grade, countertop material, and square footage. Bathroom Remodel Calculator — covers half bath, full bath, and master bath tiers with fixture and tile variables. Deck Cost Calculator — accounts for deck size, material choice (pressure-treated lumber, composite, hardwood), and whether you're building new or replacing an existing structure. Roof Cost Estimator — based on roof area, pitch, and material (asphalt shingles, metal, architectural). Flooring Calculator — square footage, material type, and whether demo of existing flooring is needed. Home Addition Cost Estimator — rough cost ranges for adding livable square footage, from bump-outs to full additions. Alongside the calculators, the Guides section walks through how to budget for each project type, what to watch out for when getting contractor bids, and where people most often underestimate costs.

How Cost Estimates Are Sourced

The numbers behind these calculators come from four sources, used in combination. First, RS Means national cost data — the industry-standard construction cost database used by professional estimators — provides baseline material and labor figures broken down by trade and region. Second, Remodeling Magazine's annual Cost vs. Value report gives real-world remodeling project costs and resale value data across dozens of U.S. markets, which helps calibrate the national averages to regional reality. Third, HomeAdvisor and Angi aggregated contractor pricing data provides a consumer-side view of what people are actually paying in recent years, not just what the published databases suggest.

Fourth — and this is where this site is different from most — I layer in my own documented renovation receipts. I have itemized costs from four completed projects totaling roughly $120,000 in renovation spend. When the databases say a bathroom remodel should cost X, I can check that against what I actually paid for a similar scope in a Pacific Northwest market. These estimates are reviewed and updated annually, because construction costs shift with material prices and labor availability. The data you're seeing reflects the most recent annual review.

Important Disclaimer

These calculators produce estimates, not quotes. There's a meaningful difference. An estimate gives you a reasonable range to plan around and a benchmark to evaluate bids against. A quote is a contractor's commitment to a specific price for a specific scope after they've walked the job. You need both, and one doesn't replace the other.

Regional labor rates vary significantly — in high cost-of-living metros like San Francisco, New York, or Seattle, labor can run 40–50% above the national average. In rural areas or lower cost-of-living regions, it can run 20–30% below. Material costs also fluctuate with supply chains. Always use these figures as a starting framework, not a final budget. Before committing to any significant renovation project, get at least three contractor bids, ask each contractor to break out materials and labor separately, and verify that all bids are covering the same scope. Surprises in renovation projects almost always come from scope differences, not the calculators.

Get in Touch

If you have a question about how a particular estimate was calculated, notice a figure that looks off for your region, want to suggest a calculator that isn't on the site yet, or just want to share how a project turned out — I'd love to hear from you. Renovation is very much a learn-by-doing discipline, and the more real-world data points I can incorporate, the more useful these tools become for everyone. Use the Contact page to reach me directly. I read every message.