How Much Does a Home Renovation Cost in Nevada in 2026

The Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report (www.costvsvalue.com) puts a midrange minor kitchen remodel at $28,490 in its Mountain markets, Las Vegas and Reno among them. Nevada carpenters averaged $33.29 an hour in May 2025 (U.S. $31.55). NRS 624.970 caps an owner-occupant’s deposit at $1,000 or 10 percent, whichever is less, with two exceptions.

Kitchen and bath numbers from Zonda’s Mountain markets

Zonda Media’s Mountain-division page covers Las Vegas and Reno plus Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Boise and Idaho Falls; its figures are averages for that group, not a Clark or Washoe County price survey. For the report’s defined midrange minor kitchen remodel, the Mountain job cost is $28,490 and the resale value $31,417, a 110.3 percent recoup; nationally the same project costs $28,458 and returns $32,141 (112.9 percent). The report’s defined midrange bath remodel runs $24,920 in the Mountain markets and adds $17,300 at resale (69.4 percent), against $26,138 and $20,915 (80 percent) nationally. The report defines each project’s scope, which this page does not restate; treat both as benchmarks, not a quote.

Labor is one input of the bid. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 12,700 wage-and-salary carpenters in Nevada in May 2025, with a mean of $33.29 an hour ($69,250 a year) and a median of $29.99; the U.S. figures were $31.55 and $29.12. Self-employed carpenters are outside that count, and a wage is not a remodeler’s price.

Who can take the job under NRS chapter 624

NRS 624.700 makes it unlawful to “engage in the business or act in the capacity of a contractor within this State” or bid on a Nevada job “without having an active license therefor,” unless an NRS 624.031 exemption applies, and a bid or contract made in violation “shall be deemed void ab initio.” A general building contractor “shall not perform specialty contracting in plumbing, electrical, refrigeration and air-conditioning or fire protection without a license for the specialty” (NRS 624.215(3)); the exception it cross-references, NRS 624.220(4), does not reach plumbing, electrical, refrigeration or air-conditioning work.

Check the license number, classification and monetary limit on the State Contractors’ Board license search.

Two of the 12 NRS 624.031 exemptions matter most on a remodel:

• Owner-builder (subsection 5). An owner “building or improving a residential structure on the property for his or her own occupancy and not intended for sale or lease.” For a newly built structure, selling, leasing or offering it for sale or lease within 1 year after its completion “creates a rebuttable presumption” of intent to sell or lease. You file an Owner-Builder Disclosure Statement, signed under penalty of perjury, with the Board and the local building official; it is deemed approved unless the Board notifies you of a denial within 10 days (NAC 624.015).
• Small repairs (subsection 6). Repair or maintenance worth less than $1,000, labor and materials together, is exempt unless a building permit is required; it is plumbing, electrical, refrigeration, heating or air-conditioning work; it falls in a Board classification that significantly affects public health, safety and welfare; it is part of a larger project worth $500 or more, or split into contracts under $500 to evade the chapter; or a licensee or a licensee’s employee does it.

The written contract a Nevada remodeler owes you

Since October 1, 2023, NRS 624.970 has governed contracts between a licensed residential contractor and an owner who lives in a single-family residence: a house, condo unit, townhouse or duplex unit serving as the owner’s residence. The definition leaves out, among others, mobile and manufactured homes and homes rented to someone outside the owner’s family (full list: NRS 624.455(3)); solar and pool work fall under other sections.

• Deposit. Any down payment before work starts is capped at $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less, unless the contractor has filed a $100,000 bond “solely for the protection of consumers” or has relief under NRS 624.270(5). A contract that breaks this term is voidable by the owner.
• Drawings. A “project of new work” needs a plan and scale drawing, specifications, materials, equipment and the agreed price in the contract. NAC 624.012 counts as new work, among others, any job needing a building permit, moving interior walls, and “kitchen or bathroom remodeling involving cabinets or other substantive elements.”
• Permits. “The residential contractor shall apply for and obtain all necessary permits.”

The Residential Construction Recovery Fund

If a licensed residential contractor’s violation of chapter 624 or its regulations costs you money, the Board may pay actual damages up to $40,000 (NRS 624.510(3)). File within 4 years after the work is completed (NRS 624.480), or within 2 years after a court judgment under NRS 624.490. Seven grounds bar a claim, among them pulling the building permit yourself, building as owner-builder, and remodeling to rent, lease or sell within 1 year (full list: NRS 624.510(2)).

Leave the federal energy efficient home improvement credit out of a 2026 budget: 26 U.S.C. §25C “shall not apply with respect to any property placed in service after December 31, 2025.”

Related: HVAC installation cost in Nevada, kitchen remodel budgets, and bathroom remodel cost.

Nevada Renovation FAQ

Can I be my own general contractor on a Henderson or Sparks remodel?

Yes, for a home you will occupy and not sell or lease, once the Board approves your Owner-Builder Disclosure Statement or 10 days pass after you submit it without a denial. Obtaining the building permit yourself then bars a Recovery Fund claim for that house (NRS 624.510(2)(d)).

Does a handyman need a license for an $800 drywall patch and door re-hang?

No, if it is repair or maintenance under $1,000 and none of the five carve-outs above applies. Moving a sink drain is plumbing, so that job needs a license.

My remodeler wants 30 percent down. Is that legal?

On an owner-occupied single-family residence, only with the $100,000 consumer bond on file or Board relief under NRS 624.270(5). Otherwise the contract is voidable by you.

© 2025 Zonda Media, a Delaware Corporation. Complete data from the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report can be downloaded free at www.costvsvalue.com.