Methodology & Data Sources
How NailThePrice turns national cost data into a fair, local estimate — and how to read what we publish.
How these estimates are built
I'm Matt Kovalik, a licensed Minnesota electrician, and I built NailThePrice as an estimating tool, not a live data feed. Here's exactly how a price is produced so you can judge it for what it is.
How does NailThePrice calculate local costs?
Each project starts with a national price range I set from industry pricing and my own experience in the trades. I adjust that range for your city using two regional factors. The cost-of-living adjustment is the BEA Regional Price Parity (all-items, 2024 release) for your metro, applied at reduced weight on the material side because building materials vary less regionally than overall living costs. The labor adjustment is my own estimate from trade experience and general wage patterns, not computed from a live dataset.
What data sources do we use?
The cost-of-living adjustment is the BEA Regional Price Parity (all-items, 2024) for your metro. The labor adjustment is my own estimate from trade experience and general wage patterns, not live data. For permits I use real municipal fee-schedule data for the cities I've researched directly, and modeled estimates elsewhere, labeled. Rebate and incentive amounts are sourced individually, each with a citation to the issuing authority.
How are labor rates localized?
The labor adjustment is my own estimate, built from general U.S. wage patterns and hands-on trade experience, not computed from a live dataset.
How are cost-of-living differences factored in?
The cost-of-living adjustment is the BEA Regional Price Parity (all-items, 2024 release) for your metro, applied at reduced weight on the material side because building materials vary less regionally than overall living costs.
How are permit fees calculated?
Permit costs are real municipal fee-schedule data for the cities I've researched directly (currently Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Atlanta). For every other city the permit figure is a modeled estimate, labeled as one.
What are the limitations of these estimates?
My estimates are planning ranges, not bids. They cannot account for the specific condition of your home, contractor scheduling, supply disruptions, code variances inside a single metro, or premium finishes. Use them to negotiate, evaluate quotes, and budget — but always get at least two written bids from licensed local contractors before committing to a project.
Who reviews this work?
NailThePrice is built and maintained by Matt Kovalik, a licensed Minnesota electrician. The estimates are his own work, not an automated data feed. If you spot a number that looks off for your city, tell us on the Contact page — we treat every report as a bug.
Published March 2025 · Updated May 13, 2026