What would you budget for a small bathroom remodel?

[Darcy03231]

We did two using a local small contractor. We gutted them both and replaced all of the plumbing, but didn't move anything, other than the mini-tub in the master bathroom because a custom tiled shower. We spent $4,000 on one and $5,000 on the other. The contractor allowed us to buy our own tile, vanities, etc. He just told us how much to get for the tile and the sizes we had to stay within for the vanities and toilets.

 

[chicagoshannon]

We just did our bathroom last summer. It was about $8,000 and we did not get glass shower doors (just using a curtain) We converted a tub/shower combo to a large walk in shower. The bathroom is not much bigger than yours. In your case I would NOT convert the tub to a shower. Large garden tubs are not ideal for bathing children in (since you mentioned resale).

 

[Aimeedyan]

We were told by 2 GC's that a kitchen would be cheaper than a small bathroom because of the labor. Our master bath is TINY and a 1 man job. I was turned down by 1 company who said he couldn't allocate 1 person on a space that small - he could crank out kitchens faster. I wasn't expecting to have so many challenges just finding someone!

We ended up spending a flat $3500 on labor (it took him a few weeks) and $6000 on materials. I bought everything in the space - faucets, towel rods, shower drain, etc. and he did the work. I bought a lot on Amazon and at local warehouse supplies + shopped around for tile but I didn't go cheap on anything. It's all marble and the entire thing was a gut job + new frameless glass shower door. We live in Tampa Bay.

Our bathroom is less than 40 square feet.

Oh! Here is a pic of the final space if you're curious what $9500 will get you

ETA: Gah! It's huge and I can't figure out how to resize it. Sorry!!

 

[TwoMisfits]

We were told by 2 GC's that a kitchen would be cheaper than a small bathroom because of the labor. Our master bath is TINY and a 1 man job. I was turned down by 1 company who said he couldn't allocate 1 person on a space that small - he could crank out kitchens faster. I wasn't expecting to have so many challenges just finding someone!

We ended up spending a flat $3500 on labor (it took him a few weeks) and $6000 on materials. I bought everything in the space - faucets, towel rods, shower drain, etc. and he did the work. I bought a lot on Amazon and at local warehouse supplies + shopped around for tile but I didn't go cheap on anything. It's all marble and the entire thing was a gut job + new frameless glass shower door. We live in Tampa Bay.

Our bathroom is less than 40 square feet.

Oh! Here is a pic of the final space if you're curious what $9500 will get you

ETA: Gah! It's huge and I can't figure out how to resize it. Sorry!!

I want that vanity...can you tell me who made it/where you got it (so I can put it in my remodel...I'm not even joking - you and I must have identical taste!

 

[NinaBella]

So the contractor told us (over the phone) we would be in the 9K range for everything. I am not wanting to spend 9K so I asked them to revise taking out anything to the tub/shower because really, that area is fine. Waiting to hear back...

 

[Aimeedyan]

I want that vanity...can you tell me who made it/where you got it (so I can put it in my remodel...I'm not even joking - you and I must have identical taste!

I found it at The Warehouse, a wholesale/surplus kinda place. It was $600 with marble top and matching mirror and is solid wood. The faucet was not included but I'm picky about that anyways Their website is http://thewarehousefl.com/ in case you're in FL and close to one

 

[NinaBella]

So getting anyone to do a "small job" has been a challenge. Several companies have told me no. One guy posting on our town Facebook said he would mention it to "one of his guys as a side/weekend job" as a bathroom was too small for him to schedule. He didn't even come for an estimate. I sent him a picture and the measurements.

I asked the owner of the company I use to clean/redo the tile in kitchen and bathrooms and she said a few years ago when the new home builds had slowed down in Florida it would have been easy to find a tile guy for a small bathroom job. She said now that the new home builds are booming again, no one wants to take small jobs.

So for now, we are getting the new toilet put in Thursday. It's a Gerber vs. their higher end Kohler, but is just one step down from the highest one the plumber offers. They had another lower model called pro flow but we went with the Gerber. We have American Standard in the other bathrooms. DH replaced the flush kit in the master bathroom and DD, and master bath toilet is fine, but DD has just never been that great and even with the replacement parts DH installed, just never seemed right. So we are just replacing the toilet for now and leaving everything else as is.

We looked at the toilet are our home depot and they only had one that was the 10" which is what we need. That one wasn't really as good quality like the Gerber. I don't even think it was American Standard but the other brand they carry and was under $300.

 

[runwad]

Sorry NinaBella, it's a pain trying to find someone! We just had a corner shower unit put in and it took 6 days for the guy to finish us cause he kept working us in where he could instead of just getting the blasted thing done. We'll live with the floor and vanity for now. I'll wait till the next recession to get people who actually want to work. Its really annoying not being able to find people to get these small jobs done!!

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

We were told by 2 GC's that a kitchen would be cheaper than a small bathroom because of the labor. Our master bath is TINY and a 1 man job. I was turned down by 1 company who said he couldn't allocate 1 person on a space that small - he could crank out kitchens faster. I wasn't expecting to have so many challenges just finding someone!

We ended up spending a flat $3500 on labor (it took him a few weeks) and $6000 on materials. I bought everything in the space - faucets, towel rods, shower drain, etc. and he did the work. I bought a lot on Amazon and at local warehouse supplies + shopped around for tile but I didn't go cheap on anything. It's all marble and the entire thing was a gut job + new frameless glass shower door. We live in Tampa Bay.

Our bathroom is less than 40 square feet.

Oh! Here is a pic of the final space if you're curious what $9500 will get you

ETA: Gah! It's huge and I can't figure out how to resize it. Sorry!!

OOOHHHHHHH, pretty! I love the tile, and the mirror, and the light fixtures, and the faucet.....

 

[tvguy]

Sorry NinaBella, it's a pain trying to find someone! We just had a corner shower unit put in and it took 6 days for the guy to finish us cause he kept working us in where he could instead of just getting the blasted thing done. We'll live with the floor and vanity for now. I'll wait till the next recession to get people who actually want to work. Its really annoying not being able to find people to get these small jobs done!!

Funny you mention the recession. The contractor we used in 2014 said since 2008 it has been VERY difficult to find trades people. They got out of the industry in the recession, and not enough are coming back or getting into trades.

 

[mom2rose&john]

Construction and skilled trades in very high demand and low supply in our area. Tiling, electrical, plumbing requires skilled trade and to get quality work you cannot skimp on labor cost. Most people have an unrealistic view on price due to the "flipping" shows on HGTV. I laugh out loud when Tarek and Christina say they are going to spend $3000 total on the master bath!!

There are areas that you can cut costs if you are willing to use remanants or unfinished vanities that you can paint. If you are handy sweat equity can save thousands.

 

[tvguy]

Construction and skilled trades in very high demand and low supply in our area. Tiling, electrical, plumbing requires skilled trade and to get quality work you cannot skimp on labor cost. Most people have an unrealistic view on price due to the "flipping" shows on HGTV. I laugh out loud when Tarek and Christina say they are going to spend $3000 total on the master bath!!

There are areas that you can cut costs if you are willing to use remanants or unfinished vanities that you can paint. If you are handy sweat equity can save thousands.

Those shows sure have my DD (age 27) reevaluating where she wants to live. Her salary would sure go a lot further in an area where a nice 2,000 square foot house sells for $170,000 instead of $500,000 here.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Construction and skilled trades in very high demand and low supply in our area. Tiling, electrical, plumbing requires skilled trade and to get quality work you cannot skimp on labor cost. Most people have an unrealistic view on price due to the "flipping" shows on HGTV. I laugh out loud when Tarek and Christina say they are going to spend $3000 total on the master bath!!

There are areas that you can cut costs if you are willing to use remanants or unfinished vanities that you can paint. If you are handy sweat equity can save thousands.

Yeah, Tarek and Christina forget to mention that they have their own contractors and I'm sure the manufacturers cut them some pretty sweet deals to get their fixtures/stores featured on those shows. Their timelines are pretty laughable also - "we're going to completely tear this house down and rebuild it from the ground up - we plan on it taking 2 weeks and costing $5000."

We have the same problem here, we found a great contractor a few years ago, he was just starting out and we found him through a mutual friend of his wife. He did several small jobs for us, but the last couple of times we've called him he's been booked for months with larger jobs and can't even give us a quote (and yes, we paid him and no, we aren't difficult to work with so he isn't avoiding us). I've scheduled quotes with other contractors only to have their estimating people call me back and say it sounds like the job is too small and they aren't interested. It's frustrating.

 

[Dakota731]

There is definitely a shortage of tradespeople in our area so they can demand top dollar. We need to encourage kids who enjoy working with their hands to become carpenters, plumbers etc. They can often make more money than college graduates in many fields. The guy we finally found who did our kitchen was an investment banker who never liked his job and now is a contractor. He loves what he does and is able to make his own schedule without the office politics.

 

[lorijohnhill]

I am in the midst of purchasing a mobile home (sign on Wednesday!!!). The previous owner was part way through remodeling the master bath. Currently it has a walk in shower (that replaced the tub) that is mostly installed, and a tiny stall shower on the other side of the room. I want to remove the stall (don’t need two showers) and put in cabinetry. Does the plumbing need to be removed or can it just be capped off?

 

[tvguy]

I am in the midst of purchasing a mobile home (sign on Wednesday!!!). The previous owner was part way through remodeling the master bath. Currently it has a walk in shower (that replaced the tub) that is mostly installed, and a tiny stall shower on the other side of the room. I want to remove the stall (don’t need two showers) and put in cabinetry. Does the plumbing need to be removed or can it just be capped off?

I moved my laundry room to another part of the house and all they did was cap off the hot and cold water lines and the drain. It passed inspection so it must be okay.

 

[Julylady]

I put new tile in the bathroom 3 years ago for $1800. That was the cost for the bathroom as part of redoing all flooring on the first floor. I recently replace the countertops with quartz for $1500. Again, part of a larger project where my kitchen countertops were replaced as well. So total cost for the bathroom was $3300. I used my existing sink and did not replace the tub/shower combination, the toilet, the lighting/mirror or any of the cabinets.

I wanted to redo the flooring/countertops in my kitchen and was advised by my designer to split the job by function rather than room. So 3 years ago I replaced all the flooring on my first level - bedroom, kitchen, living room and bathroom. It was a combination of tile and hardwood flooring but the same workman did the entire job. Just last month I replaced the Formica countertops in both the kitchen and bathroom. This time the same counter-top installers did the work. Originally, I had only wanted to redo the kitchen but by using this method I was able to re-model the entire first floor.

 

[taaren]

I just remodeled 3 bathrooms. A master, a smaller 8x9 & a jack & Jill. As far as cost goes, it depends a lot on where u live. I interviewed A LOT of contractors & they prices varied greatly. Some as high as $54,000 for the master. Crazy!! The smallest bathroom cost about $8000. That was taking down to studs. Putting in new tub ( didn’t use glass shower doors). The jack & Jill bathroom cost about $12,000. There we did French glass shower doors & did take everything to the studs. If you move things around like the toilet or vanity, that cost mores to move plumbing. Same with lighting.

I'm also near the Bay Area and did two bathrooms in the last year. My master is spacious, 9x13 or so, we did everything other than replace the cabinets that I painted myself, so tub, tile, ceramic floor tile in a herringbone pattern, quartz countertops, mirror, fixtures, fans, added more lighting, etc. That one was just under $10K, much of the materials were bought with my dad's military discount at Lowe's/HD so that saved several hundred. The jack and jill I did is smaller, 5x9, but ended up running more because I removed a wall and door between the tub/toilet and countertop area as well as switched one of the doors leading to my kid's room to a barn door to make the entire space a lot more functional (in addition to everything we did to the master except a more straightforward tile design). That one ended up being between $11-12K. Seems like prices in California are moderate.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I'm also near the Bay Area and did two bathrooms in the last year. My master is spacious, 9x13 or so, we did everything other than replace the cabinets that I painted myself, so tub, tile, ceramic floor tile in a herringbone pattern, quartz countertops, mirror, fixtures, fans, added more lighting, etc. That one was just under $10K, much of the materials were bought with my dad's military discount at Lowe's/HD so that saved several hundred. The jack and jill I did is smaller, 5x9, but ended up running more because I removed a wall and door between the tub/toilet and countertop area as well as switched one of the doors leading to my kid's room to a barn door to make the entire space a lot more functional (in addition to everything we did to the master except a more straightforward tile design). That one ended up being between $11-12K. Seems like prices in California are moderate.

We moved from California to the Southeast two years ago. I thought I left the high cost of things when we left but many things here are just as expensive if not more. I pay more for getting my hair done, a pedicure, car wash...some things like that. I thought everything was going to be a lot more affordable here. Our master ended up costing about $36,000 all in, including labor. It's a very large room with two countertops, one 8 foot and the other 5 foot (his and hers). We put in marble (diano reale) and off white cabinets. Took at the sunken garden tub and put in a freestanding one, new floor and shower tile (that alone cost $5000), moved chandelier from center of room to over tub and put in more recessed lighting. New sinks, toilet, everything!

 

[Nomad70]

We just took out our guest bath last week, mirrow, sink/cabinet and toilot. We are doing all the work ourselves, purchasing materials at Lowes. We are leaving the tile, which is in good shape (house is only 10 years old) and the tub/shower. So, with costs of paint, new vanity, mirror, laundry shoot/linen cupboard and one extra storage over the toilet we are looking at around $1200/$1500. We plan to sell in the next year so we are not putting thousands into something we won't recoup.