The everyday fix-it list
$3,825
Eight common repairs, typical national price. Fair range $2,475 to $5,980.
The big five replacements
$31,900
Roof, HVAC, water heater, panel and exterior paint. Fair range $22,230 to $45,620.
Most houses don't break all at once. They leak a little, hum a little louder, and then one day a system that has worked for twenty years stops. The bill for that day is the one people are least ready for, and the one where an unfair quote does the most damage.
We added up the index for the jobs American homeowners call about most. Every number below is the same fair range the free lookup on our homepage shows, at the national baseline before any state adjustment. "Typical" is the middle of what a fair job costs; "low" and "high" mark the edges of the fair band.
The everyday fix-it list
These are the repairs that show up in almost every house sooner or later. None of them is a disaster on its own. Together, over a few years, they add up to real money.
| Job | Fair range | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Run capacitor replacementper repair | $145 | $215 | $320 | |
| Supply line leak repairper repair | $185 | $295 | $460 | |
| Toilet replacementinstalled | $290 | $425 | $640 | |
| Add a 20A outletper outlet | $165 | $245 | $380 | |
| Localized leak repairper repair | $380 | $640 | $1,050 | |
| Interior room repaint, 12×14per room | $380 | $545 | $780 | |
| Mid-size tree removalper tree | $620 | $980 | $1,650 | |
| Condenser fan motor replacementper repair | $310 | $480 | $700 | |
| All eight | $2,475 | $3,825 | $5,980 |
The bar shows each job's fair band; the dark tick is the typical price.
What this means: if a single small repair is quoted at double the high end of its band, ask what's different about your job. Sometimes there is a good answer, like access, an older system or after-hours work. Sometimes there isn't.
The big five
Every house has a handful of systems with a lifespan. When they go, they go expensively, and usually on someone else's schedule. These five are where a fair quote and a bad one can be thousands of dollars apart.
| Job | Fair range | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asphalt reroof, 2,000 sq ftinstalled | $8,600 | $12,400 | $17,200 | |
| 3-ton system replacementinstalled | $6,400 | $8,900 | $12,800 | |
| 40-gal gas water heaterinstalled | $1,180 | $1,650 | $2,320 | |
| 200A panel replacementinstalled | $1,850 | $2,650 | $3,900 | |
| Exterior repaint, 2,000 sq ftper house | $4,200 | $6,300 | $9,400 | |
| All five | $22,230 | $31,900 | $45,620 |
Nobody replaces all five in one year. But most owners who stay in a house long enough will pay for several of them, so this total is a fair way to think about what a house really costs to keep running beyond the mortgage.
Where you live moves the bill
Labor is most of the price of a repair, and labor costs very different amounts from state to state. The index adjusts every band with a state cost index, where 1.00 is the national baseline.
$15,310
That's the gap on the big five between Mississippi, the least expensive state in the index, and Hawaii, the most expensive. Same jobs, same method.
Least expensive states
| State | Cost index | Fix-it list | Big five |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 0.84 | $3,220 | $26,790 |
| Arkansas | 0.86 | $3,295 | $27,420 |
| Oklahoma | 0.87 | $3,330 | $27,770 |
| Alabama | 0.88 | $3,370 | $28,050 |
| West Virginia | 0.88 | $3,370 | $28,050 |
Most expensive states
| State | Cost index | Fix-it list | Big five |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 1.32 | $5,050 | $42,100 |
| California | 1.27 | $4,855 | $40,520 |
| District of Columbia | 1.26 | $4,810 | $40,160 |
| New York | 1.24 | $4,750 | $39,600 |
| Alaska | 1.24 | $4,750 | $39,600 |
Here in North Carolina, where the index is built, the cost index is 0.95: about $3,645 for the fix-it list and $30,340 for the big five. Find your state.
And the car in the driveway
Most households keep a car alongside the house, and it has its own list. Three of the most common shop bills:
| Job | Fair range | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front brake pads + rotorsper axle | $320 | $455 | $640 | |
| Alternator replacementper repair | $480 | $690 | $1,020 | |
| Timing belt serviceper service | $640 | $950 | $1,420 | |
| All three | $1,440 | $2,095 | $3,080 |
What to do with these numbers
A fair range doesn't fix anything by itself. It gives you footing when you're standing in the driveway with a quote in your hand.
- Check before you sign. Look up the job for your state on the free lookup and see where your quote falls in the band.
- Ask what's in the price. A quote above the band isn't automatically wrong. Ask what's driving it and get it in writing.
- Know what's coming. Write down the age of your roof, HVAC and water heater. The big five are cheaper when you replace on your schedule instead of in an emergency.
- Keep the receipts. A home record keeps every repair, what it cost and what's due next in one place. That history helps at resale and with every pro you hire.
How we got these numbers
Every figure is a modeled estimate from the Fair Rate Index, version 0.1. Bands are built from public wage data, published material costs and standard task times, then adjusted by a state cost index and corrected over time by real invoices. Totals are simple sums of each job's low, typical and high values, so the total range is wider than any single household would see. These are not quotes or offers. Read the full methodology and data sources, or pull the same numbers from the open data.
Cite as: The Fair Rate Index, "What it costs to fix a house in America," October 19, 2026, fairrateindex.com. Questions from press: hello@fairrateindex.com.