Renovations cost more than ever. The contracts haven't gotten any clearer.
SteadPlanner is the companion that helps you read what you're about to sign.
You're about to spend more than you ever have, on something you'll do once.
Building material costs are up roughly 40% since late 2020 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, NAHB). Construction input prices rose at a 12.6% annualized rate in early 2026 — the fastest pace since the supply-chain crisis of 2022.
The pressure isn't only history. It's still moving. Tariffs on steel, aluminum, copper, and softwood lumber landed in 2025 and again in early 2026. Imported kitchen cabinets and vanities carry a 25% tariff. Aluminum prices jumped roughly 40% after duties expanded. Lead times shift week to week.
You'll sit at a kitchen table or on a Zoom call, looking at a number larger than your first car loan. The contractor across from you has done this hundreds of times in this market. You're doing it once. They know which line items to leave open, which clauses shift cost onto you when materials move, and which words make a "fixed price" not actually fixed. You don't, because you've never had to.
That's the part nobody warns you about. It isn't just expensive. It's lopsided.
Renovations go sideways in the parts of the contract you can't read.
Most renovation overruns don't come from bad luck. They come from words a homeowner can't translate.
Allowance. Site conditions. Match existing. As needed. Cost-plus, billed monthly. Subject to material price adjustment.
These aren't accidents. Contractors literally publish playbooks teaching each other this language. Markup & Profit, Building Advisor, JLC — real industry trade publications, openly teaching contractors how to write quotes that protect their margin against an indecisive homeowner and a moving market.
Your contractor isn't the villain. The system is. You're reading a document built by someone who knows exactly what every word does, and you don't have a translator.
What SteadPlanner does at launch
Reads the contract.
Upload the quote — PDF, photo, paste, or screenshot. We pull every line item, flag the vague phrases that protect a contractor's margin, and tell you what's missing compared to what a complete quote for your project should include. We also flag escalation clauses, materials price-adjustment provisions, and supply-chain delay language — the parts of a 2026 contract that decide who pays when costs move mid-project.
Knows the trade.
A kitchen quote isn't a roofing quote. We check kitchen quotes for cabinetry allowance, countertop fabrication, and appliance supply. Bathrooms for waterproofing and shower-pan spec. Roofs for shingle product, underlayment, and ventilation. Trade-specific checklists, not a generic template.
Knows your state's rules.
Most states have home-improvement contract laws — required deposit caps, mandatory contract elements, right-to-cancel windows, payment schedules — that homeowners never hear about until something goes wrong. We check whether the quote you've been handed actually meets your state's rules.
What's coming next
Inspiration that turns into specs.
Drop in the Instagram or TikTok of the kitchen you love. We identify the elements — paint family, tile category, hardware style, fixture lines — and give you sourcing options at multiple price points. Inspiration becomes a list you can hand to your contractor.
One place for the whole project.
Quotes, change orders, photos, contracts, warranties — kept in one workspace. Share with your spouse. Hand it to the next homeowner when you sell.
An auditor for change orders.
When the $4,800 change order shows up in week six, we tell you whether it should have been in the original scope, whether the price is in line with the work, and what to ask before you approve.
Independent. Paid by you, not contractors.
Most homeowner-facing renovation tools — Houzz, Angi, the platforms that came out of the contractor-matching wave — are paid by contractors, who pay them per lead. That's a sensible business for the contractor. It quietly compromises the analysis for you.
SteadPlanner doesn't take referral fees from contractors. We don't generate leads for tradesmen. We don't sell your data. The product is paid for by the person reading the analysis. That's the only model where we can tell you what's actually in your contract.
What we're not
- Not a lawyer. We tell you what your contract says and where it's missing things. We don't tell you whether to sign. For legal questions about your specific situation, talk to an attorney.
- Not a contractor finder. We help you read the quotes you've already collected. We don't generate leads or recommend specific contractors.
- Not a reputation aggregator. We don't scrape Yelp, Google, or BBB reviews. We read the document in front of you, not the contractor's reputation behind it.
If you've read this far, you know what we're building.
We're shipping the quote analyzer first, then the workspace, then the change-order auditor. Get on the list and we'll send one email when it's ready for you.