How we verify prices

Every price on HowMuchTrades comes from one of two sources, and the two are never mixed.

1. Homeowner-reported bills

Homeowners report what they actually paid: contractor, service, price. Reports are anonymous. Before a report ever appears on the site, it passes an automatic screening: reports more than three times or less than a third of the local median for that service are held for review instead of being published. Held reports are only released if later reports corroborate them.

2. Contractor-published prices

We collect prices that contractors publish on their own websites and re-check them on a rotating monthly schedule. If a contractor publishes a price range, we record and display the lower end of the range.

3. Never blended

Homeowner-reported and contractor-published prices are always labeled and shown separately, so you always know exactly what each number represents. A guess is never blended in with real reported prices without being clearly labeled.

Prices are estimates based on reported data, not quotes. Always confirm pricing directly with your contractor.