How YardPermit Estimates Cost

YardPermit publishes a price only when a primary source publishes it, with its year and scope. For one project a source does: the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report estimates what a defined 16×20 deck costs, nationally and by city, and the deck cost page gives it with that scope. No source we read publishes what an installed fence, shed, patio or driveway costs, so the site gives no price for them: not a national average and not one for your ZIP code. What it gives instead is the part that can be checked — the quantity — and a place to put your own price.

Quantity first, then your price

Every calculator shows the formula and the assumptions: post spacing, hole diameter, waste factor, board width. Change them. Then enter the prices from a store shelf or a quote, and the calculator multiplies: posts times the post price, bags times the bag price, square feet times a quoted price per square foot. A line left blank stays out of the total rather than counting as free.

The figures that do have a source

The labor side is measured. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes hourly wages by trade and state; the cost pages show them for the U.S., California and Texas, and every state’s figures are tabulated in one place, labeled as wages for employees, which leave out benefits and a contractor’s overhead and margin. Its employer-cost survey says what benefits add in construction. For gravel and sand, the U.S. Geological Survey publishes what producers received per ton. For a deck, the report above prices one fully specified deck, and the deck page says what that deck includes. Each figure sits next to its source, period and scope, and none of them is presented as the price of your job.

The method is applied on the fence, deck, patio and driveway cost pages. If a city page later carries a verified permit fee, that fee will be sourced and dated. Until then, it will not be invented.