Why repair estimates are ranges, and how wide they should be

What the report cannot tell you

An inspector notes a stain on a ceiling. The repair is a tube of sealant, or it is a section of roof, framing, insulation, and drywall. Both are consistent with the same sentence. Nothing in the report distinguishes them, so nothing derived from the report can either.

This is why we refuse to price some findings at all. A foundation repair spans a few thousand dollars to six figures depending on movement, soil, and access — a midpoint of that range describes no real house.

What moves a real quote

• Access — a crawlspace you can stand in versus one you cannot.
• Scope discovered on opening up the work, which is where most overruns come from.
• Local trade rates, which vary by well over 50% across US markets.
• Material choice, especially where code has changed since installation.
• Permitting, which can add both cost and weeks.

How to read a range

Treat the low end as the outcome where nothing unexpected is found, and the high end as the common bad case rather than the worst imaginable one. Where we attach low confidence, the honest reading is that the range is a starting point for conversation with a trade, not a budget.

Any tool that gives you one confident number for an inspection finding is telling you something it cannot know.