Bathroom Remodeling - A Guide

Online, you’ll find average remodeling costs that are confusing and sometimes misleading. We’ve yet to see a full bath renovation done for $3,000 in Bowling Green, KY. Labor prices alone makes such pricing prohibitive; quality craftsmen are expensive and hard to find. It’s important to get information specific to your area from local experts. An informed client is a smart client. Being as transparent as possible in our pricing gives our clients a more complete picture so they can plan and budget according to their needs.

Contractors often have to try and account for all of the costs (foreseen and unforeseen) that go into a project. we do this during the bidding process. These include but are not limited to:

✓ Labor

✓ Materials

✓ Subcontractor expenses

✓ Hidden surprises

✓ Age of construction

While we pride ourselves on our construction expertise and knowing our market including our suppliers, sometimes our crystal ball misses something. This often happens after the old fixtures of your home are removed/demolished, exposing some unforeseeable condition within the walls or floors of your home. This often results in a change order - but contrary to popular beliefs about how contractors make more money we do not try and “upsell” our clients on unnecessary change orders. We want you to be happy that you spent your hard-earned money with us and also happy about the quality of the final product.

When you renovate your home it’s important to keep in mind that you are also reinvesting in your home. Like any good investment, you should expect to see a return of value. According to Zonda Homes 2024 Cost vs. Value Report, you are getting about 74% of the cost of a bathroom remodel back in equity in your home. This means that a bathroom home improvement project that costs $20,000 immediately returns $14,800, thus costing you only $5,200 for a mid-tier remodel. Looking at it as a long-term investment, this means that a bathroom home improvement project can be quickly amortized to its full cost and then you begin to accumulate the financial benefits of your investment.

If you plan on enjoying your new bathroom for 7-10 years, your yearly and monthly investment comes out to $1,140/yr. (10-years) or $95/mo. and that’s assuming no gain in value in your home over 10-years. To compare, the average car payment climbed to $700 per month in 2024 while the value of cars on average declines over time.

Speaking about your budget, here are a few ways to think about financially planning for your next bathroom project: on average a homeowner spends between 5-10% of their home’s value on a bathroom remodel. This means If you have a $400K home, then you can plan to spend between $20,000-$40,000 on your bathroom. If you have a $200,000 home, you should budget for $10,000-$20,000 and so on and so forth. To be more specific (but still focusing on estimating for your budget), you can then narrow down the cost of your bathroom project based on its overall size. Add in a sliding scale for the quality of materials and appliances that you want to go into your project, as well as the complexity of the job, and you get a very rough estimate.

We’ve created a tool to help you budget for your next bathroom home improvement project here. Keep in mind that this is merely a budget - homes can sometimes vary widely depending on their age. This tool is intended to serve as a mostly “worst case scenario” budget.

A common misconception is that the bidding and estimating process is secretive and highly competitive. People sometimes think consumers can get the same product from a contractor that another contractor bid at a higher price. While small price differences do create a competitive marketplace that benefits the consumer, a wide gap in price estimate from one contractor to another should give you pause about the cheapest option. Here are some reasons why prices can vary widely based on our experience building a trusted business:

• Bidding/estimating takes extensive experience

Contractors who are less experienced in building are also less experienced in bidding and can often underbid projects. If a contractor starts losing money on your project there is an increasing likelihood that the quality of the work and products being used in your project will suffer.

• Lower overhead

Contractors with extremely low overhead also have fewer resources. Over time a contractor learns what tools, equipment, and administrative personnel are necessary to make a project go smoothly. Contractors are constantly juggling resources from vendors to laborers and everything in between. A contractor with the right investments in resources that make for a better overall customer experience will provide a better overall service.

• The volume approach

Some contractors attempt to take a volume approach to building. While every contractor needs to keep their schedule full in order to run an effective business, contractors who place too strong an emphasis on volume do so while sacrificing the quality of the customer experience and sometimes even the quality of building services. A skilled contractor with fewer but higher quality projects has to charge more to make up for the time commitment it takes to produce quality construction services.

• Trust

When a contractor fails because of any of the previously mentioned areas it hurts the fragile trust between clients and their contractors. Most of our clients indicate that trust is one of the most important things they look for in their contractor and maintaining that trust requires charging more than a lone freelance handyman.

Knowing your budget and your top priorities (“needs” vs “wants”) will help you and your contractor come up with a proposal that puts the focus on the areas that are most important to you. Typical bathroom remodel expenses break down as follows:

Demo/Framing 5-10%

Mechanicals 10-20%

Tile Work 30-50%

Fixtures/Cabinetry 15-20%

Paint/Finish Work 10-15%

Using this information, you can decide if you want to select a more budget friendly tile option, or put more money towards the custom vanity and top that you fell in love with on social media.

Having your home invaded by strangers, partially demolished, and then put back together with all the inherent dust, noise, and inconvenience of it can be stressful. A quality contractor will focus on executing your remodel as efficiently as possible to minimize the disruption to your home life. A basic cosmetic bathroom facelift (replacing a tub/surround, or freshening up flooring and paint) can be completed in a matter of 3 to 4 days. More extensive remodels typically take 10 to 14 working days. A large custom remodel of a luxurious master bathroom can take 4 to 6 calendar weeks.

Many people decide to take a small vacation during part or all of the renovation process. These average times can help you plan a relaxing getaway to escape the chaos, recharge your batteries, and come home to a beautiful new space.

You work hard for your money and understandably want to get the most value from your dollar. This may prompt you to look for various ways to decrease the cost of your project. Generally speaking, the best way to decrease costs is to limit the scope of work, or select cheaper materials (this second option can sometimes lead to it’s own problems if you go too cheap).

While opting to do some of the work yourself may seem like a reasonable approach on it’s face, it often leads to miscommunication, increased stress, unsatisfactory outcomes, and even higher costs if rework ends up being necessary.