About House & Yard

What We Do

House & Yard is a free resource for homeowners who want to understand the real cost of repairing, replacing, or upgrading things around their home — before they pick up the phone and call a contractor.

We publish detailed cost guides covering the projects that matter most: HVAC replacement, roof repair, bathroom and kitchen remodeling, plumbing fixes, electrical upgrades, landscaping, and more. Every guide is written to answer the question homeowners actually have — "How much is this going to cost me?" — with honest ranges, clear explanations of what drives prices up or down, and practical guidance on when to repair vs. replace.

Why We Built This

Home improvement decisions are some of the most stressful and expensive a homeowner faces. Too often, people walk into contractor conversations with no idea what a fair price looks like — and that information asymmetry costs them money.

We set out to fix that. House & Yard exists to give every homeowner the same baseline knowledge that an experienced contractor or seasoned renovator already has. When you know what a roof replacement should cost, what questions to ask, and what red flags to watch for, you can make confident decisions rather than just hoping for the best.

How We Research Our Cost Guides

Every House & Yard article is built from a combination of contractor interview data, regional pricing surveys, manufacturer cost data, and publicly available industry benchmarks from sources like Remodeling Magazine's Cost vs. Value Report and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics construction labor data.

We update our guides regularly — pricing for home services shifts with material costs, labor markets, and supply chain conditions. Each article is reviewed and updated when meaningful changes occur so the numbers you see reflect current 2026 conditions, not figures from three years ago.

We also distinguish between what homeowners typically pay (average installed cost), what a budget-conscious job looks like, and what premium-tier projects cost. A single average number rarely tells the full story — so we don't use them in isolation.

What We Cover

Our guides are organized around the five categories where homeowners face the highest-stakes and most expensive decisions:

• HVAC & Heating — AC replacement, furnace costs, heat pump installation, ductwork repair
• Roofing & Exterior — Roof replacement by material, siding costs, window replacement, gutters
• Plumbing & Electrical — Water heater replacement, pipe repair, panel upgrades, emergency fixes
• Remodeling Costs — Bathroom and kitchen renovations, flooring, basement finishing, additions
• Landscaping & Yard — Irrigation systems, fence installation, drainage, lawn care and pest control

Our Editorial Approach

House & Yard does not sell contractor services, accept payment for rankings, or take affiliate fees from the contractors mentioned in our guides. Our revenue comes from display advertising. That means our only obligation is to give you accurate, useful information — not to steer you toward any particular product or service provider.

We do not publish exact contractor recommendations or "best in your area" rankings, because we can't verify quality at a local level. What we can do is give you the information you need to evaluate any contractor you speak to: fair price ranges, the right questions to ask, and the red flags that indicate a contractor worth avoiding.

Get in Touch

If you've spotted an error in one of our guides, have data that would help us improve our cost estimates, or want to share feedback, we want to hear from you. Accurate information is the whole point — and homeowners with firsthand project experience often have the best data of all.