About HouseWorkbench
HouseWorkbench exists to turn a homeowner's measurements and product choices into a transparent material plan, without asking for an account, selling a lead, or pretending to replace professional judgment where that judgment actually matters.
Why this exists
Material planning for a home project is usually scattered across a manufacturer's own calculator, a retailer's project guide, and whatever mental math a homeowner does at the store. Each of those sources is built to sell one product, not to help someone compare real options or carry one decision's measurements into the next one. This site treats interior and exterior project planning as one connected workbench instead of a pile of disconnected single-material tools, so a decision you have already made does not have to be re-entered for the next one.
Static and local by design
Every tool runs as static code that executes in your browser. There is no account system, no server that performs a calculation on your behalf, and no database that stores your project between visits unless you explicitly choose to save it to your own browser's local storage. That architecture is a deliberate choice: it keeps your project details under your control, and it means the site's cost to operate does not scale with how many people use it, which removes any incentive to monetize your data or your attention to cover a growing infrastructure bill.
Editorial standard
A tool is published here only once its method, inputs, and outputs have been checked against how the underlying materials and products actually work, with sources recorded for any factual claim that depends on something outside basic geometry. Every result names the assumptions behind it and states plainly what it cannot determine, drainage, structural adequacy, local permit requirements, and a manufacturer's own installation instructions among them, rather than implying a completeness the calculation does not have. A result is described as a modeled quantity or cost under stated inputs, never as a guarantee, a code approval, or universally the better choice.
This standard applies the same way to every project tool, regardless of how small or how frequently it is used: a calculator that cannot honestly meet it does not get published as a standalone page.
Contact
Questions about a specific tool, a suggestion for a project decision the site does not yet cover, or anything else about the site can be sent to [email protected].