HomeCostLens for Journalists

HomeCostLens maintains a locally-adjusted cost dataset for 13 home projects across 6 trades in 100 US metros — roofing, HVAC, plumbing, pest control, solar, and windows. Every figure is built from named public sources (BEA Regional Price Parities, BLS wages and producer prices, NOAA climate, FEMA storm risk, Census housing and income data, EIA electricity rates) and the full method is public at How We Estimate.

What you can use

You may republish our charts, rankings, and figures with attribution — credit “HomeCostLens” and link to the study or city page the data came from. That's the whole license. For custom cuts of the data (your metro vs. the nation, a specific trade, a ranked table for your market), email us — turnaround is usually same-day.

Story-ready angles

What a specific project costs in your city vs. the U.S. average; which metros pay the most and least for home projects; what a roof costs as a share of local income; where solar pays back fastest (and where it doesn't); how storm risk drives roofing costs; and what aging housing stock means for repair bills. Local rankings for all 100 metros are available for each.

Expert comment

Bill Hinson, founder of Home Cost Lens LLC, is available for comment and background on home-project costs, regional price differences, and the data itself. See the About page for background.

Contact

press@homecostlens.com — we answer quickly, and “can you run this for my metro?” requests are welcome.