Jobs in this section are priced by a unit you can measure: a foot of fence, a square foot of driveway, wall or board, a window. Published estimates for them are wide. Fence replacement runs $30 to $80 a foot in HomeGuide’s figures (February 2026), and Angi puts the average siding replacement at $11,589 (October 2026). Our own worked examples land at about $4,510 for 150 feet of wood privacy fence, $5,320 for a 600 sq ft asphalt driveway, $8,104 for ten vinyl windows, $8,600 to $19,500 to re-side a one-story ranch, and $1,524 to drywall a 12 by 12 ft bedroom. Below: what moves those numbers, and which guide to read.
This is general information, not professional, legal or financial advice. Cost figures are published estimates and worked examples, not quotes, and local prices vary. CostPlain has no crew, does no jobs and takes no referral fees.
The five jobs at a glance
No government agency publishes installed prices for these jobs. The published column comes from commercial cost guides, most of which sell contractor leads; the last is our own build-up for one example job. Don’t average them.
| Job | Priced by | Published estimate | Our worked example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fence replacement | Linear foot | $30 to $80 a foot (HomeGuide, Feb 2026) | 150 ft of 6 ft wood privacy, tear-out included: about $4,510, or $30 a foot |
| Asphalt driveway | Square foot and ton | About $3 to $15 a sq ft across the guides we read (2023 to 2026) | 600 sq ft replaced at 3 inches: about $5,320, or $8.86 a sq ft |
| Window replacement | Window | Angi average $7,348 a project; most $3,436 to $11,837 (Oct 2026) | Ten vinyl insert windows: $8,104, or about $810 a window |
| Siding replacement | Square foot of wall | Angi average $11,589; most $5,559 to $17,727 (Oct 2026) | 1,443 sq ft of wall: about $8,600 vinyl, $11,800 fiber cement, $19,500 cedar |
| Drywall | Square foot of board | $1.50 to $3.50 a sq ft (HomeGuide, Sep 2025) | 12 x 12 ft bedroom, walls and ceiling, Level 4: about $1,524, or $2.89 a sq ft |
Measure first: the unit sets the price
Before comparing a quote with a published range, measure the same thing the contractor will.
- Fences are measured along the line; posts and sections follow from it.
- Driveways are laid by the inch and bought by the ton. Compacted hot mix weighs about 110 pounds per square yard for each inch of depth, so 600 sq ft at 3 inches is about 11 tons before waste.
- Siding is sold by wall area, not floor area. In our examples a 1,500 sq ft ranch has 1,443 sq ft of wall to cover, while a two-story house with 1,800 sq ft of floor has 2,133.
- Drywall is counted in square feet of board, walls and ceiling together: a 12 by 12 ft room with 8 ft walls takes 528 sq ft.
- Windows are priced each, so the count and installation method matter more than house size.
What drives the cost
Labor is usually the biggest part
In our drywall build-up, labor and its share of overhead come to about 65% of the total, and taping and finishing is the largest single line. On the driveway, labor, equipment and markup make up about two-thirds, and the asphalt itself is under a fifth. Our labor lines start from the BLS median wage for each trade, multiplied by 1.44 because construction employers paid on average $51.96 an hour in total compensation for every $36.13 in wages in June 2026. The hours are our assumption, and you can change them.
Tear-out and disposal
A replacement costs more than new work because the old job has to come out first. Published removal figures disagree: for fences, HomeGuide lists $10 to $20 a foot and HomeAdvisor $3 to $5. Ask every contractor to name removal on the quote.
Job size and minimum charges
Travel, setup, machines and haul-away cost much the same for a small job as a larger one. In our driveway calculator, halving the area to 300 sq ft raises the price from $8.86 to about $11.98 a square foot, and HomeGuide notes paving minimums of $2,000 or more. One window on its own comes to $1,133 in our example, against $810 each for ten.
Markup
The commercial estimator Homewyse leaves out a general contractor’s overhead and markup, and tells readers to add 13% to 22% when one supervises the job. Our build-ups add 20% overhead and profit, our assumption; insurance estimates often use 10% overhead plus 10% profit, which FEMA’s flood program calls the typical charge.
The site itself
Rock and roots slow fence posts; soft or wet ground means more base under a driveway; upper stories need scaffolding or lifts. Rot often shows only once old material is off.
Which guide to read
Four of the five guides are calculators where you can change every price and hour count.
Fences
Start with the fence cost calculator if your old fence is coming out. The same 150 ft yard comes to about $7,130 in vinyl against $4,510 in wood. It also covers keeping sound posts and replacing only rails and pickets.
Driveways
The asphalt driveway calculator turns length, width and depth into tons and a price, for a replacement, a new driveway on bare ground or an overlay on a sound base. Our overlay example comes to about $3,113 for 600 sq ft. It also covers sealcoat and door-to-door paving offers.
Windows
Use the window replacement cost calculator to price the whole house. The main choice is insert or full-frame: taking the old frames out to the studs raises our ten-window example from $8,104 to $10,585. On ENERGY STAR’s savings figures, our example takes about 16 years to repay when replacing single-pane windows and about 32 for double-pane. The federal tax credit for windows covered improvements made through December 31, 2025.
Siding
The siding replacement cost guide shows how to measure your walls, then prices vinyl, fiber cement and cedar on the same house. Fiber cement’s extra cost over vinyl is mostly install labor; cedar’s is mostly the boards.
Drywall
The drywall installation cost calculator prices a room from its size,, with separate hanging and finishing hours. The finish level, from 0 to 5, is the biggest choice on a drywall quote; ask for it by number.
Jobs that overlap
With the siding off, window openings are exposed and can be flashed properly, so if both are due, price them together. Full-frame window work can damage the inside wall finish; ask whether patching is included. Siding often comes up at the same time as a roof; our roofing and gutters guides price that side. If a sewer line under a driveway is near the end of its life, ask about replacing it before paving.
Older homes: lead and asbestos
Windows, siding and drywall all disturb old paint and wall materials. In homes built before 1978, EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting Program says anyone paid to do work that disturbs paint must be certified, and some states run their own programs. The rule’s small-job exemption doesn’t cover window replacement, and on the exterior it stops at 20 square feet, far less than a siding tear-off.
If an opened wall holds loose vermiculite insulation, EPA says to assume it contains asbestos, leave it undisturbed and hire a professional asbestos contractor before work would disturb it. The Consumer Product Safety Commission notes that some siding shingles are made of asbestos cement. Have it tested before a tear-off is quoted.
Permits, digging and heights
Permit rules are set locally, and for fences and driveways a homeowners’ association may add its own rules. Your local building or zoning office decides; ask before materials are ordered. Fences and driveways both mean digging: 811, the free national before-you-dig service, says to contact it a few business days ahead so utilities can mark buried lines. Upper walls are worked from ladders or staging, and OSHA says falls are the leading cause of work-related deaths among residential construction workers.
What every quote should show
- The measured quantity: feet of fence, square feet of driveway, wall or board, or each window by location and size
- Materials by name, and the depth, thickness, grade or finish level
- Tear-out, haul-away and who pays dump fees
- A unit price for hidden repairs such as rotten posts, sills, sheathing or framing
- Permit, utility marking and, for a pre-1978 home, lead-safe certification
- Workmanship warranty in writing, separate from the maker’s, and the payment schedule
Be wary of a lump sum with no quantity or a large payment before materials arrive. A quote above the published ranges isn’t wrong by itself: ask what the difference pays for.
How these estimates are built
Every page here sets named published estimates side by side, builds one job from dated prices, BLS wages and stated assumptions, and explains why the figures differ. How we estimate sets out the method in full. A licensed local contractor and your permit office decide what your house needs.
Sources checked on 3 November 2026.
