A Renovation Is Five Trades, and Only One of Them Is Expensive
This is a wage analysis mapped onto project structure.
Ten trades, five projects
| Project | Trades involved | Highest-paid trade on the job |
|---|---|---|
| Roof | Roofers, laborers | Roofers |
| Kitchen | Carpenters, electricians, plumbers, tile setters, painters | Plumbers |
| Bathroom | Plumbers, electricians, tile setters, drywall, painters | Plumbers |
| Flooring | Floor layers, laborers | Floor layers |
| Painting | Painters, laborers | Painters |
| Fence | Carpenters, laborers, cement masons | Carpenters |
Every project on this site uses at least two trades, and the expensive ones are usually the minority of the hours.
Why the expensive trades are cheap line items
An electrician might be on site for a day on a kitchen remodel that takes eight weeks. Their day rate is the highest in the dataset, but the days are few.
A laborer might be there for three weeks at the lowest rate. Multiply and the labourer sometimes costs more in total.
That is why "the electrician is expensive" and "the electrical work is expensive" are different statements, and only one of them is true.
What to watch in a quote
Look for the trades with the fewest hours. Those are the ones most often subcontracted, most often marked up, and most often left out of a cheap bid.
A kitchen quote without an electrical line is not a cheaper kitchen. It is an incomplete quote.
Frequently asked
Should I hire one contractor for everything?
Usually yes for coordination, but ask which trades are in-house and which are subcontracted. The markup on subcontracted trades is where budgets drift.
Which project uses the most trades?
A bathroom, because plumbing, electrical, tile, drywall and waterproofing all happen in a small space and all have to be inspected in sequence.
Updated October 2026