About SiteReckoner
SiteReckoner is a free library of 15 cost and materials calculators for building work. No account, no email, no paywall. The site is paid for by advertising so the tools can stay open to everyone.
Who it is for
Two kinds of people, and the tools try to serve both. Homeowners working out whether a job is a $6,000 job or a $60,000 job before they call anybody. And tradespeople doing a quick takeoff or a sanity check on a bid — often on a phone, outdoors, one-handed, which is why the pages are plain and the numbers are large.
How the calculators are built
Each calculator is one formula. That formula is written out on the page, in words and arithmetic, under a heading called "How this is calculated", together with a worked example using real numbers you can follow line by line. If you disagree with the result, you can see exactly where we got it and decide for yourself.
The dollar figures are not scattered through the code. Every cost constant on the site lives in one file, grouped by trade, and each group records when it was last reviewed, where the figure came from in plain words, and how much confidence we have in it. Most groups start marked as needing validation, because a general industry range is exactly that. The review date appears in a quiet line at the foot of the explainer on every page that shows money.
Nothing you type is sent anywhere. The calculations run in your browser, which is both faster and nobody's business but yours.
What it is not
It is not a quoting service, an engineering tool or a lead-generation funnel. Nobody here will call you. The numbers are planning estimates — the terms of use set out plainly what that means, particularly for the structural, electrical and plumbing tools.
Corrections and requests
If a formula is wrong, a cost is stale, or a calculator you need does not exist yet, write to hello@sitereckoner.com. Corrections from people who do the work for a living get acted on first.