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The number a homeowner wants is a published “$1,195 radon special.” That number is not a takeoff. A 1,200-square-foot walk-out basement with one suction point, a standard fan, and a sidewall discharge is not the same job as a 2,400-square-foot slab-and-crawl combo with two pits, a high-suction fan, a roof stack, a crawl membrane, and a new circuit. The word “radon system” is the same. The hours are not.
Open the free bid calculatorBasement-waterproofing calculators price wells, a pit, and discharge. Foundation-repair calculators price access, extra shaft, and straps. Attic-insulation calculators price blown-in bags. A radon install is a depressurization system: the included footprint, the extra suction, the crawl poly the special never mentions, the roof penetration, and the circuit. Quoting all of that from a published special is how the first extra suction pit eats the field margin.
Each extra suction is a pit, a run, and a seal that never appears on the brochure. Extra square feet over the included system are billed as their own hours. A crawl membrane, a high-suction fan, a new 20A circuit, firestops, a permit, and a post-mitigation test are adders that get forgotten on a walk-out special. On the sample rates a 2,400 sq ft mixed slab-and-crawl job with two suctions, a high-suction fan, an 800 sq ft membrane, a new circuit, two firestops, a permit, and a post-test prices about $4,203 ($1.75 per square foot of footprint, 21.6 crew-hours). The same shop’s 1,200 sq ft basement SSD prices about $1,122 ($0.93 per square foot, 5.0 hours, walk-away $808). Matching the brochure job’s per-square-foot number — or a $1,195 special — on the mixed stop is how that job becomes a loss of about $1,831.
A 2,000 sq ft tight slab-on-grade with two suctions, a high-suction fan, a roof stack, a new circuit, two firestops, and a post-test is not the mixed job plus 20%. On the sample rates that slab prices about $3,050 ($1.53 per square foot, 16.9 crew-hours) — more than the brochure special, less than the mixed takeoff, because the crawl membrane and permit do not live in a published slab adder. A typical 1,800 sq ft basement with a roof stack and a post-test prices about $1,507 (8.4 hours). Treating either as a blended add-on is how the special that looked fine turns into a loss after the first extra pit.
A $42/h tech loaded at 34% payroll burden is $56.28. Margin is a share of the price you send, not a markup on cost. The walk-away price is total cost — below that the job makes nothing before you take a dollar home. On the sample rates even the brochure basement walk-away is $808, which is why a $795 Facebook special is already a loss before the first extra suction. Replace every rate with your fan invoices before you send either number.
This is not a radon design, a health determination, a permit, a guarantee that any building will test below an action level, or a recommended market price. It is arithmetic on the numbers you type. Foundation type, footprint, suction points, fan, discharge, and whether the house needs a new circuit are yours to confirm.
Charge from the included footprint, extra square feet over that include, extra suction points, crawl membrane, roof versus sidewall discharge, high-suction fan, new dedicated circuit, firestops, permit, post-mitigation test, loaded labor, overhead, and a margin that is a share of price. A default 1,200 sq ft basement SSD at the sample rates in this calculator prices around $1,122 — about $0.93 per square foot of footprint.
Homeowners count 'a radon system is a radon system.' Extra suction, a crawl membrane, a roof stack, a high-suction fan, a new circuit, firestops, and a post-mitigation test do not live in a $1,195 special. Matching a cheaper basement quote written for a brochure walk-out is how a mixed slab-and-crawl job becomes a loss.
Not in proportion. On the sample rates a 2,400 sq ft mixed slab-and-crawl job with two suction points, a high-suction fan, an 800 sq ft membrane, a new circuit, two firestops, a permit, and a post-test prices around $4,203 ($1.75 per square foot), while a 1,200 sq ft basement SSD prices around $1,122 ($0.93 per square foot).