How we estimate prices

Each company in your results shows one of three kinds of price, and the label is always on the price:

• Verified price

  This price comes from the company's own price list, run against your project. It is the rate the company uses for real quotes.

• Roomquoted estimate

  This company has not shared its price list with us, so our pricing engine worked out what your project should cost from local cost data. It is our number, not the company's.

• No price

  We do not have this company's price list, and our pricing engine cannot price your project for it fairly. You can still send it your project and ask for a price.

Verified price. The company gave us its own pricing, the same rates it uses to build a real quote, whether that is a line-item price book, a per-square-foot sheet, or an export from its estimating software. We load it as the company gave it to us and run your answers through it.

Roomquoted estimate. The company has not shared its price list with us, so our pricing engine works out what your project should cost from local cost data. It is our number, not the company's, and it says so.

No price. We do not have the company's price list, and our engine cannot price your project for it fairly. We show nothing rather than guess.

We price projects across your home. Where we cannot make a fair price, we show no price rather than guess.

Our pricing engine prices your project for your area. It works from:

• Costs declared on city building permits for similar work nearby
• Published renovation price indexes from Statistics Canada, to keep figures current
• Prices for the same work from companies that share their price lists with us, combined so no one company's list shows

It uses the same scope, size and finish level you gave us, so an estimate and a verified price for your project can be set side by side.

• Every estimate is labelled Roomquoted estimate on the card, on the quote page, and on the map, where the pin reads "est.".
• An estimate never earns a badge. Lowest quote and Great price go to verified prices only.
• When a company shares its price list, its estimate is replaced by a verified price.

A verified price and a Roomquoted estimate are both pricing guidance. Neither is a quote, an inspection, or a guarantee.

Four things go in, and nothing else:

1. 1The project type you pick: kitchen, bathroom or basement.
2. 2Your answers to the scope questions: what you want changed, the finish level, whether layout or plumbing moves.
3. 3The size you give us, plus what we can read from your photo: room shape, how many cabinet runs, how many fixtures.
4. 4The rates: that company's own rates for a verified price, or our pricing engine's local rates for a Roomquoted estimate.

Every installed price rests on assumptions about job size and complexity, so we show you ours next to the price. If your job is different from the assumptions, your real quote will be different too, and you will be able to see which assumption to argue with.

This is the honest list. A photo does not show any of it:

• Structural condition, and what is behind the walls.
• The subfloor, the joists, and whether the floor is level.
• Plumbing and electrical surprises, including knob-and-tube wiring in older homes.
• Asbestos, vermiculite or mould.
• Permits, inspections and what your municipality will require.
• Access and parking, stairs, elevator booking, and where a bin can go.
• Disposal and hauling costs for what comes out.
• The finishes you will actually choose once you are standing in a showroom.

On the results page this appears as one number with the company's name, the label Verified price, the date its rates were confirmed, and a note that the final price comes after a site visit.

For a company that has not shared its price list, the same job shows as a Roomquoted estimate. The lines are the same, but the rates in the right-hand column come from our pricing engine instead of the company.

Any price we show can be opened up. Tap a number and you see the lines behind it: which items, which rates, which assumptions, and what is deliberately excluded. Each line says whether it comes from the company's price list or from our engine. If a number cannot be explained that way, we do not show it.

What our prices exclude unless the page says otherwise:

• Permits and inspection fees.
• Appliances and furniture.
• Structural work, and anything found once walls are open.
• A contingency for surprises. Companies usually advise 10% to 20%.

Verified prices

• Companies can update their price list any time.
• We ask every company to review its list at least every 90 days.
• Every verified price shows the date that company's rates were last confirmed.
• A list not confirmed in 180 days is labelled out of date.
• A list not confirmed in 270 days stops showing as a verified price until the company confirms it.

Roomquoted estimates

• We bring estimates up to date as permit data and price indexes are republished.
• Every estimate shows the date its cost data was last updated.

For context, the cost databases this industry uses republish monthly to quarterly, and material prices can move faster than that. A date on a price is the cheapest honesty we can give you, so we put one on every number.

We list local companies that hold an active licence on the city or provincial register, whether or not they have joined Roomquoted. Each one in your results serves your postal code and shows a verified price, a Roomquoted estimate, or no price.

We price projects across your home. For a project we cannot price fairly, or a postal code no listed company serves, we do not show a comparison. We tell you that plainly.

A wide spread is normal. Same scope, same house, and the numbers still move, because crews, schedules, suppliers, overhead and appetite for the job all differ. A low number is not a red flag and a high number is not a rip-off. It is why comparing is worth doing.

With a verified price, you start the conversation from the company's own number, not ours. With a Roomquoted estimate, the company's quote after it sees your project replaces our number.

On every project that goes through Roomquoted, we record the price we showed and the final price the homeowner signs. When a verified price drifts from what the company signs, we go back to that company's price list with them and fix it.

We check Roomquoted estimates against verified prices for the same work and against final signed prices. When they drift apart, we adjust the pricing engine.

A price is where the conversation starts. The company's quote after its site visit is the final number.

If you are a homeowner and our price was nowhere near your real quote, tell us. Send us the project and the number you were quoted.

If you are a company and you think we have priced your work wrong, send us the job and the number you would actually charge. If your price is verified, we check it against your price list, fix it if the error is ours, and write back either way. If we show a Roomquoted estimate for you, share your price list and your prices show as verified instead. We aim to reply within five business days. A listed company can ask us to correct its details or take its listing down at any time.

Either route: contact us and pick "a price looks wrong", or email info@humanik.io.

When the way we price projects changes, we update this page so it always describes the method in use.