To apply an area cost modifier click this icon in the toolbar:
Or go to Main Menu > Tools > Area Cost Modifications.
Enter the postal code for the job site (U.S. ZIP or Canadian postal code).
Press Tab. You'll see a nearby city and the recommended modifiers for that area.
Check the price categories you want to adjust — Material, Labor, Equipment.
Click Save.
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☝️Good to know
Modifiers apply to all costbooks used with the current estimate. Other estimates aren't affected, and new estimates always start with no area modification.
Modifiers adjust costbook prices, not costs you've already copied into an estimate.
To adjust an estimate by a percentage instead, see Percent Changes.
How accurate are the modifiers?
They're composites of many costs, so they won't be exact for every trade or material — but they improve accuracy across a whole project. Modifiers are revised quarterly for 38,000 postal codes using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index, the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, surveys of national building material suppliers, Statistics Canada and the Canadian Real Estate Association.
For a more precise result, use your crew's actual hourly labor cost. Enter it in the Hourly Wage field of the Cost Row Editor and skip area modifications entirely — hourly wage is the biggest cost difference between communities.