New Study Shows How Well People Know Home Remodel Costs

Survey: Americans guess the cost of home remodeling projects

At Improvenet, it’s our job to know what home improvement projects cost. But for the average American, there are probably a lot of question marks… right? You’re about to find out! We partnered with renovation and design team Resist the Boring to put 1,000 people to the test by showing them before and after pictures of remodeled rooms, then asking them to guess the costs of materials and labor. 

Check out the results below! If you scroll slowly enough, in most cases you can guess right along with people to test your own instincts.

Results

On the whole, people proved quite good at guessing the total costs of home remodels! Across the 11 rooms featured, on average, the actual costs were 15% less than what was guessed. Breaking that down between materials and labor, there was a clear blind spot on the latter: actual labor costs were 36 percent lower on average. But the accuracy on materials was remarkable: actual costs were only two percent higher on average!

Methodology

In March 2019 we surveyed 1,000 people, showing them before and after pictures of home renovations completed in two separate homes by Resist the Boring, a renovation and design team based in Cincinnati, OH.

Survey respondents were asked to guess the costs of labor and materials, based on the transformations depicted in the pictures.

Article courtesy of Improve Net