What contractors charge per hour
For jobs billed by the hour (or where the hourly rate matters even inside a flat quote):
Painting cost
Full breakdown of what interior + exterior painting actually costs, by house size, siding material, and what's included:
- Interior painting cost per square foot — the head guide
- Exterior painting cost per square foot
- Cost to paint the exterior of a house
- Cost to paint kitchen cabinets
By house size (interior):
- 1,000 sq ft house interior
- 1,200 sq ft house interior
- 1,500 sq ft house interior
- 2,000 sq ft house interior
- 3,000 sq ft house interior
HVAC repair
- HVAC repair cost by fix type (capacitor, thermostat, refrigerant, coil, compressor, and more)
How we source the numbers
Every guide includes a “how we know” cross-check that starts from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' OEWS 2025 median wage for that trade, applies a 2.2–3.0× fully-loaded labor cost multiplier (covers payroll taxes, insurance, truck, tools, overhead, profit), and compares the derived price against industry averages published by Angi, HomeGuide, Homewyse, TaskRabbit, and other established cost publishers. Where they match, you can trust the range. Where they don't, we say why.
Bay Area, NYC, LA, and Boston prices run 30–50% above these national averages. Rural areas run 15–25% below.
Related
See what tradespeople earn on our worker rate pages (all 51 states). State-by-state contractor licensing on our licensing hub.