Yeah, even just a hot water heater and a furnace would set me back $100/mo.

People are very bad at working out total cost of ownership, but it could work if the prices were very low and much of the labor was done by the owner.

I spent roughly a tenth of that on new water heaters; two half height to fit in the crawlspace. Electric, not gas.

Is labour just that much more expensive in the USA?

Water heaters are about $500 per, and installation would be similar - the furnace would be the majority of the expense.

Labor is about $300 per hour in Seattle area. For example few years ago window was $250 and installation $300 and less than one hour. Complete brake job, calipers, rotors and pads is $1200+tax. I bought parts for $350 and installed myself in 3 hours.

Electricians start at $100-150 an hour in San Francisco yeah

A new roof is in the ballpark of $10-$20k. Decent quality flooring is $10-20 per square foot; for a 2000 square foot house, this is $20-$40k in materials alone. Quartz countertops are $100 per square foot; for a typical kitchen, this usually comes out to $10-$20k (again, not counting installation).

It was a teeny tiny house; 850sqft and two stories.

The roof only hit me back about 5k.

Flooring was only about 3k, I did cheap laminate because carpet gives me allergies and I have kids.

How large is this kitchen? I had new quartz countertops put in for $4500 a few months ago, after labor. Kitchen is decently sized too.