How Staxen's price numbers are made
The material prices on our pricing guides and cost calculators come from the national-average dataset that ships inside Staxen: 488 items across 19 trades, checked by hand against supply-house and big-box contractor pricing, not bought from a cost-data service. A state factor adjusts them for where the work is. This page covers what the numbers are, where they come from, when they were last checked and what they leave out.
What the numbers are
Three kinds of number show up on this site. Material costs on the pricing guides and calculators are what a contractor pays for the material itself, before labor and markup. Labor rates on the calculators and the installed job ranges on the pricing guides are typical totals for the work. Inside the app, the prices on an estimate are your client prices, built line by line.
Where the material prices come from
Every material figure starts from one dataset that ships inside the Staxen app, the same one Eddie prices from before your own prices take over. It holds 488 items across 19 trades, each with a name, a unit (each, linear foot, square foot, square, cubic yard or pound) and one national base cost: what a contractor typically pays at the supply house, not an installed price and not a price Staxen charges.
The electrical items were checked on 2026-07-23. The other 18 trades were added on 2026-09-04, checked against supply-house and big-box contractor pricing. None of it is licensed from a cost-data service such as RSMeans or Craftsman.
On a pricing guide, the Typical range column stretches each base cost down and up to cover ordinary differences between suppliers, brands and order sizes. The low end is set roughly 10 to 15% under the base cost and the high end roughly 25 to 40% over it, rounded to sensible numbers.
Some items are marked in the dataset as allowances: decorative fixtures, thermostats and other owner-picked items where the real spread runs 5 to 20 times from cheap to high end. Treat those as a number to settle with the customer, not a firm cost.
Labor rates and installed job ranges
The material dataset has no labor in it. The labor rates on the cost calculators and the installed job ranges on the pricing guides were set by the writer of each page, as typical 2026 contractor figures, when the page was written. They are not drawn from the dataset and the pages do not cite an outside source for them, so use them as a sanity check, not a quote.
How the state adjustment works
Each state and DC has one factor, where 1.00 is the national average. They run from 0.88 in Mississippi to 1.35 in Hawaii, and the full list is below. The factors are construction cost indices for installed work, labor and material together, stored in the same dataset.
On a cost calculator, picking a state multiplies every line, material and labor, and the total by that state's factor.
Inside the app, the factor comes from the ZIP code of your business or the job. A material price moves only 35% of the way toward the factor, because the factors describe installed cost and commodity material varies far less by region than labor does. So the app and the website calculators do not adjust material the same way: a calculator set to a high-cost state moves material further from the national average than the app would.
A few metro areas, San Francisco and Manhattan among them, carry their own factor inside the app. The website calculators use the state factor only.
State factors
| State | Factor |
|---|---|
| Alabama | 0.90 |
| Alaska | 1.25 |
| Arizona | 0.98 |
| Arkansas | 0.90 |
| California | 1.25 |
| Colorado | 1.05 |
| Connecticut | 1.20 |
| Delaware | 1.05 |
| District of Columbia | 1.25 |
| Florida | 1.02 |
| Georgia | 0.95 |
| Hawaii | 1.35 |
| Idaho | 0.97 |
| Illinois | 1.12 |
| Indiana | 0.96 |
| Iowa | 0.96 |
| Kansas | 0.94 |
| Kentucky | 0.94 |
| Louisiana | 0.95 |
| Maine | 1.02 |
| Maryland | 1.10 |
| Massachusetts | 1.30 |
| Michigan | 1.00 |
| Minnesota | 1.08 |
| Mississippi | 0.88 |
| Missouri | 0.95 |
| Montana | 1.00 |
| Nebraska | 0.95 |
| Nevada | 1.05 |
| New Hampshire | 1.05 |
| New Jersey | 1.18 |
| New Mexico | 0.95 |
| New York | 1.30 |
| North Carolina | 0.94 |
| North Dakota | 1.00 |
| Ohio | 0.98 |
| Oklahoma | 0.92 |
| Oregon | 1.12 |
| Pennsylvania | 1.08 |
| Rhode Island | 1.15 |
| South Carolina | 0.93 |
| South Dakota | 0.95 |
| Tennessee | 0.93 |
| Texas | 0.95 |
| Utah | 0.95 |
| Vermont | 1.05 |
| Virginia | 1.00 |
| Washington | 1.18 |
| West Virginia | 0.95 |
| Wisconsin | 1.03 |
| Wyoming | 0.98 |
How Eddie prices a line inside the app
On a real estimate the national average is a fallback, not the first choice. Each line takes the first price it can find, in this order:
- A price you said or typed. It stays exactly as you gave it.
- Your own past estimates and your saved prices for that work.
- Staxen's job and per-unit price books, with the part cost from your catalog, a Home Depot shelf price at the store nearest the job or your business, or the national average.
- Your hours at your saved hourly rate.
- Eddie's own figure, marked Eddie's estimate on the line so you know to check it.
Home Depot prices
A Home Depot price is the shelf price at the store nearest the job or your business on the day it was looked up, labeled Home Depot with that date. It is never Pro Xtra or contractor-account pricing. A listing is used only after it is checked as the same product you asked for, a looked-up price is kept for up to 7 days, and when no store price is found the line falls back to the national average.
Costs, markups and where a price came from stay on your side. Your client sees the line prices or the phase totals you choose to show, never your cost.
How often the numbers are updated
There is no fixed repricing schedule yet. The dataset was last changed on 2026-09-04, and the pricing guides were written from it on 2026-09-08. Our rule is that when the dataset is repriced, the pricing guides, calculators and state factors are updated from it and each page's updated date moves with it.
Copper wire and other copper-priced items are flagged in the dataset as the figures that go stale fastest, within a quarter, and they are the first to be refreshed.
What these numbers leave out
A national average is a starting point. Before a number goes on a bid, check it against the things it cannot know:
- Your supplier. A national average is not your account price, your discount or a quote from your yard.
- Your labor market. Crew size, travel, union rules and season move labor more than any state factor shows.
- The job in front of you. Access, surprises behind the wall, code upgrades and disposal are priced per job.
- Fast-moving materials. Copper, lumber and other commodities can move within weeks.
- The date. Each page shows when it was last updated, and older numbers deserve a closer look.
Frequently asked questions
Where does Staxen get its material prices?
From the dataset inside the Staxen app: 488 items across 19 trades, each a national base cost checked by hand against supply-house and big-box contractor pricing. It is not licensed from a cost-data service.
Are these contractor prices or retail prices?
The dataset figures are national-average costs to a contractor at the supply house. Inside the app, a Home Depot price is the shelf price at one store on one day, never Pro Xtra pricing, and it is labeled with that date.
How does the state adjustment work?
Each state has one factor, with 1.00 as the national average. The website calculators multiply every line by it. Inside the app, a material price moves only 35% of the way toward it, because material varies less by region than labor.
How often are the prices updated?
Not on a fixed schedule yet. The dataset was last changed on 2026-09-04, each page shows the date it was last updated, and copper-priced items are refreshed first because they go stale fastest.
Does Staxen price my estimates from these averages?
Only where you have no price of your own. Your own figures and past estimates come first, and the averages fill the gaps. Staxen is $59 a month per AI employee or $149 a month for all three, and the first 7 days are free in the app.