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How Much Does a Bathroom Remodel Cost?
- Feb 9
- 6 min read
Updated: Feb 14
A bathroom remodel is an exciting endeavor but you want to know how much money you need to set aside for it. Below I'll go through are several factors that affect the cost of a bathroom remodel and then give you several examples of bathroom remodels we have completed and their cost.
Let's start with factors that affect the cost:
1. Materials:
The largest material cost is often tile. There are thousands of options and they can range in price from $2 per square foot to $200 per square foot, averaging $25 per square foot.
Hardware, i.e. shower heads $100-$3000. We are partial to ones made of metal. Any plastic fixtures usually break in the first few years. Also, avoid purchasing non name brands on Amazon, right now many of the brands there don't come with a pressure regulator in the mixer (where the handle controls the flow) to be approved by code in the US. Meaning it will sputter when someone flushes a toilet.
Faucets can be anywhere from $100-$2000
Vanities can also be $300 $5,000. Try to avoid mdf, if the veneer or wrap on particle board or mdf is scratched, water will swell the boards, leading to early replacements.
Countertops or sinks can be in the same $300- $500 same. Some vanities come with countertops and some don't.
Sink bowls. There are some very fancy sinks out there, $200-$5,000. This also is dependent on if you vanity comes with a sink or not.
Other things to consider are:
Shower glass doors: $400-$5000
Mirrors: $50-$1000
Toilets: $200-$4000
Tubs: $400-$2000
Light and fan fixtures: $80-$2500
Heated floors add another level of luxury, costing about $15/sqft plus the $300 thermostat.
Towel warmers: $150-$650.
Doors: $180-$1000
Knobs, toilet paper holders, etc.: $50-$500, toilet paper holders etc.
Material prices can vary so much. I'll write a more in depth post later on what materials you can expect to find in each price range. You can find nice looking tile or fixtures at any of the big box stores or you can find special one of a kind tiles and fixtures from specialized companies and small businesses. With everything, it's up to you to decide what you value in a product and balance that with price, which can also be a fun process.
2. Waterproofing system: We use Schluter Kerdi Board for waterproofing behind the tile in a shower. This system costs around $1,000 for the materials of an average sized shower and is something we do not comprise on. You don’t want to have water damage after taking the time and resources to remodel your bathroom, so a proper foundation is essential.
3. Behind the scenes:
Plumbing, electrical & “behind the scenes” materials can be a very large portion or a very small portion of the budget.
Also consider if the drywall will need replacing. That’s about $2/sqft.
Trim. Pre-primed is usually $2/sqft. Avoid mdf at all costs, real wood trim is essential in a bathroom because as soon as mdf gets scratched water seeps in and it swells, causing damage.
Paint varies but on average: $.20/sqft
4. Size of the bathroom: This is what causes a lot of variation in pricing. Of course, the larger the space, the more it will cost:
Is it a half bath
Or full bath
Is it a master bath or a guest bath
What is the square footage of the bathroom
For tiling the average shower tub combo is 60sq ft and around 100sq ft for a full shower.
The size of your bathroom floor is another consideration and if you would like to tile any walls aside from the shower.
Also, is the bathroom a wet room or does only the shower need waterproofing.
5. If any fixtures are moving: This means, are you moving the placement of (or adding) any drains or faucets. Keeping the footprint of a bathroom means intensive plumbing work isn’t required. Changing the footprint can often mean $10,000 and upwards for plumbing reworking. That’s dependent on your foundation too. Is the bathroom on the second story, is there a crawl space or is the foundation cement? Access to the plumbing is an important factor in assessing plumbing costs.
6. Is there rot? This may be an unknown until your bathroom is demoed. We always include a 15% of materials cost “unknowns buffer” in our estimates. In remodels there is always the possibility of pulling the thread on a sweater, so it’s better to have extra set aside just in case.
7. Quality of Work and Materials: There are many articles hammering this point so we won't take too much time to go into it but the quality of labor and materials makes a big difference when it comes to price. We focus on quality rather than quick fixes or flips and are very detail oriented. Your home is potentially your biggest investment and treating it with care is essential. Also many sources state that bathroom remodels have a 40%-70% ROI, which means the other 30%-60% is for your enjoyment and creating a space you love step into.
8. Financing: We hope to offer financing in the future and are looking into ways we can do this for our clients. For now though we take a 20% deposit when your bid is accepted and additional percentages when project milestones are met; with the final percent being collected upon completion of the project. If the time frame is too short for producing the funds, we recommend looking into personal loans for financing bathroom remodels as they are a considerable investment in your home. We accept payments by card, cash or check.
That may sound like an overwhelming amount of factors and variations to the cost of of a bathroom but it's important to be aware of all the parts that go into a bathroom remodel. Take stock of your bathroom and what parts you're updating and the information above can give you an idea of what it will cost. I also reccomend that you keep reading for some concrete examples.
Here are some projects we've personally completed and how much they cost:
1) Bathroom Addition Project
This was a major remodel, the most extensive cost we've completed to date.
We converted an existing master closet into a new small bathroom, closing the closet (adding a wall), and opening an existing wall into a guest room.
This including cutting into the concrete foundation to dig down to the existing plumbing and tie in new plumbing; meaning foundational and structural work was completed. This job is a comparable example if you're looking to add on an entirely new bathroom to your home.
This job took 7 weeks of our labor hours over the course of 2.5 months (including waiting for plumbers, permits, inspections, etc.).
Materials cost: $15,000
Miscellaneous costs, i.e. Inspection/permit fees, dump runs: $1,000
Our Labor: $52,800 (7 weeks)
Plumber: $8,000
Electrician: $4,000
Structural Engineer: $4,000
Tax: $8,500
Total cost: $93,300
2) Half-Bath Refresh Project
This was a half bath conversion. It included wallpaper removal, redoing the drywall, tiling one wall, updating the vanity, sconces, mirror and hardware. This project took 2 weeks.
Materials cost: $3,000
Our Labor: $14,400
Plumber, Electrician & Structural Engineer: Not applicable, fixture locations stayed the same.
Tax: $1,500
Total cost: $18,900
More project examples coming soon.
A Note on Mark-ups:
Many contractors have a 1.5 markup to cover overhead expense. We are very familiar with overhead expenses eating up a large portion of labor costs. (I'll write an article on the overhead costs of a small business later). However, we felt a 1.5 markup was too ambiguous and could seem unfair to our clients.
So we added up all our overhead costs per the year and divided by our number of work weeks. That gave us $800 per week for now in overhead costs. So, instead of adding a 1.5 markup to every project we add $800 per work week and charge you exact price for materials.
For example, say a job takes 2 weeks where the materials and labor together costs $20,000.
A 1.5 markup would be: $20,000 + $10,000 = $30,000.
Instead, we would charge $20,000 + (2x$800) = $21,600 total. A savings cost of over $8,000 for you and the difference only grows for larger projects.
We feel this is more fair to you our clients. It also lets us keep our labor cost to pay ourselves and cover our overhead costs.
That's all for now:
Thanks for taking the time to read this article. We hope it gives you perspective and confidence as you look towards a remodel. If you're local (Whatcom and North Skagit county Washington) we'd love to work with you. Send us an email: remodel@setllp.com
- Elizabeth of SET llp
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