Line-item breakdown: real Chicago-area kitchen remodels

Read this first: The figures come from 190 City of Chicago renovation/alteration permits issued 2025-10-16 to 2026-10-14, picked because the work description mentions a kitchen or bath and residential use. Reported cost is what the applicant wrote on the permit, which may not be what the job cost. These permits lean toward large or structural jobs: many small kitchen and bath updates use express permits or need none, so they are under-represented. Treat the numbers as context, not a quote.

Labor and install only. These are labor and install prices only. Finish materials the homeowner bought (cabinets, countertops, tile, fixtures, flooring, appliances) are not included, and they often add as much as or more than the labor.

Real projects (contractor-sold prices from one Chicago-area GC, 2025-2026): 7 kitchen jobs, final sold price median $23,000, range $18,500–$49,000. These are labor/install prices sold to homeowners (including the GC's overhead and profit), not subcontractor costs, from mostly north-suburban jobs. See every project.

By trade (n=7 kitchen jobs)

For each trade: the median and min–max of what was sold, counting only jobs that had that trade (change orders included, rounded to $100). Cabinets, countertops and appliances were usually bought by the homeowner or a vendor, so they're mostly missing. These are labor/installation trades from the GC's contract.

Trades such as flooring and tile are the install labor only; the material was bought separately by the client.

Trade	Jobs with this trade	Median	Range (min–max)
electrical	6 of 7	$6,200	$3,100–$7,500
flooring	6 of 7	$4,900	$600–$12,000
plumbing	6 of 7	$3,800	$2,300–$6,800
demolition	5 of 7	$3,400	$600–$6,500
carpentry	5 of 7	$2,700	$800–$12,000
hvac mechanical	5 of 7	$1,500	$800–$3,500
drywall	4 of 7	$4,500	$2,500–$5,000
tile	4 of 7	$3,200	$800–$4,200
painting	4 of 7	$2,500	$1,500–$4,500
other	4 of 7	$1,300	$200–$1,800
windows doors	1 of 7	$2,500	$2,500–$2,500
wallpaper	1 of 7	$1,800	$1,800–$1,800
appliance install	1 of 7	$800	$800–$800
exterior	1 of 7	$200	$200–$200

On KB-06, KB-07, KB-08, line items add up to $900–$1,750 more than the final total because of options and credits, so trade amounts there may run slightly high. Totals elsewhere on the site use the final contract amount.

Excluded: kitchen + bath and bath jobs (different scope mix). See each project.

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