Local cost reading
What the Buffalo numbers change
At $137 per hour, Buffalo is $11 below the 50-metro median. That turns a full eight-hour workday into about $1,094 of labor before the shop adds parts.
Between the independent and dealer models sits an hourly gap of $44. On a long repair, that is enough to turn an accepted claim into a customer balance.
About 124 freezing days enter a typical Buffalo year. They help choose sensible scenarios for the calculator, not predict which part breaks next.