Remodeling services
A bathroom remodel replaces some or all of the fixtures, tile, waterproofing, vanity, lighting and ventilation in a bathroom, and, depending on scope, relocates the plumbing that serves them. It is the densest room in a house for its size: a full remodel involves demolition, plumbing, electrical, ventilation, waterproofing, tile, glass, carpentry and painting inside a footprint often smaller than a parking space, which is why the sequencing is tight and the tolerances are unforgiving.
HyreRemodel does not design, build or manage remodeling work. This page explains the work so you can judge a proposal and a contractor.
Settle this before anything else. If there is any sign of a long-running leak (a soft or springy floor near the tub or toilet, staining on the ceiling below, or a smell that does not clear) say so before anyone quotes. Concealed water damage changes the scope from a finishes project to a repair project, and it is far better priced as a known unknown with a contingency against it than discovered on day two of demolition.
The short version
The reason matters, because two of these are repairs wearing a remodel’s clothing and should be scoped as repairs first.
A bathroom is small enough that only one or two trades can work at a time, so the schedule is almost entirely sequence and almost not at all labour hours.
Layout fixed, fixtures selected. Shower valves, tub type and toilet rough-in dimension all have to be known before the plumber starts, because they determine where the pipes go.
Relocating plumbing and altering circuits generally requires one. Replacing a vanity generally does not. Your building department settles it.
Tile, substrate, fixtures and often the subfloor around the toilet and tub. What is behind the tile is the moment the real condition of the room becomes known.
Rotted framing, damaged subfloor, previous leaks. This is the step most likely to be absent from the original proposal and most likely to be needed.
Any layout change, plus blocking for grab bars, a floating vanity, a bench or a shower door. Blocking costs almost nothing now and requires opening the wall later.
Supply lines, waste, shower valve, tub filler, and the toilet flange position. If the toilet is moving, the larger waste line and its fall are the constraint here.
Circuits, GFCI protection, lighting, heated floor if any, and the exhaust fan with its duct run to outside, not into a joist bay or an attic.
Where permitted, before anything is closed. Work covered before inspection may have to be reopened at your cost.
Cement board or an approved tile backer in wet areas. Regular drywall behind a shower is a defect, not a saving.
The step that decides the life of the room. A sheet or liquid-applied membrane system, installed to the manufacturer’s instructions, with corners, seams and the curb detailed. Ask which system and ask to see it before tile.
Floor, walls, shower, niche. Layout is set out from the most visible line, not from a corner, and that decision is worth being present for.
The room becomes usable. Shower glass is usually measured only now, and then fabricated, so expect a further gap.
Final paint, shower enclosure fitted, then the written list of everything not quite right, agreed before final payment.
Most disappointment in bathroom remodeling comes from budgeting for one of these and specifying another.
| Cosmetic refresh | Paint, mirror, light fitting, vanity swap, sometimes new flooring outside the wet area. The shower and its waterproofing are left alone. Fast, low risk, and honest about what it is not fixing. |
|---|---|
| Replacement in place | Everything out to the studs within the existing footprint: new waterproofing, tile, tub or shower, vanity, toilet and ventilation, with fixtures staying roughly where they were. This is where the durability gains are, because the substrate is rebuilt properly. |
| Reconfiguration | Fixtures move, a wall shifts, a tub becomes a walk-in shower, or the room takes space from somewhere else. Adds waste-line relocation, possibly structural work, permits and inspections on top of everything above. |
What actually moves a bathroom number, in rough order of swing. None of this is a price. It is what to interrogate when two proposals differ and the finishes look identical.
| Factor | Why it changes the number |
|---|---|
| Whether the toilet moves | The waste line is larger than supply lines and it needs fall. Where that fall can run (an accessible ceiling below, a crawl space, or a slab that has to be cut) decides whether this is a modest cost or a major one. |
| Whether the tub becomes a shower | Changes the drain position and size, the waterproofing detail, and often the framing. A curbless shower additionally needs the floor structure recessed, which is a framing decision, not a tile one. |
| Waterproofing system | The most consequential invisible line in the proposal. Systems vary in cost and considerably in how much labour they take to detail correctly. A bid that does not name the system is not comparable to one that does. |
| Condition found at demolition | Rotted framing, failed subfloor and previous leaks are common in bathrooms and are rarely fully knowable in advance. This is the single best argument for a real contingency. |
| Tile size, pattern and substrate | Large-format tile needs a flatter substrate and more preparation; mosaics and herringbone take far more labour per square foot. The tile price is often the smaller half of the tile line. |
| Electrical scope | Current National Electrical Code editions require GFCI protection for bathroom receptacles and a dedicated circuit for the receptacle. Older bathrooms frequently have neither, so meeting current requirements is added work. |
| Ventilation | A fan sized for the room and ducted to outside, with the duct insulated where it runs through unconditioned space. An existing fan that vents into the attic is a defect to correct, not a fitting to reuse. |
| Fixture selection | Shower valves, in particular, vary enormously: a thermostatic valve with multiple outlets is a different rough-in from a single pressure-balancing valve, and the choice has to be made before rough-in. |
| Age and condition of the house | Pre-1978 paint brings the EPA Lead RRP Rule. Older bathrooms may also bring asbestos in flooring or mastic, galvanised supply lines, or cast-iron waste that is awkward to tie into. |
| Heated floor, niches, benches, glass | Each is a genuine addition of labour and material. They are also the lines most often quietly omitted from the cheaper of two proposals. |
| Number of bathrooms in the house | If this is the only bathroom, the schedule constraint becomes a household constraint, and that usually shortens the acceptable window and raises the cost of getting there. |
HyreRemodel publishes no national average price for this work. Size, finish level, whether anything structural or mechanical moves, the age of the house and regional labour rates move it far enough that a single figure would mislead.
The question that separates a refresh from a rebuild. Is water currently getting somewhere it should not? If it is, the waterproofing has failed and new tile over the same substrate will fail the same way. This is a rebuild whether or not you wanted one. If it is not, and the room merely looks dated, a cosmetic scope is a legitimate and much cheaper answer, and you should not let a proposal talk you out of it.
The full checklist is on choosing a remodeling contractor.
New tile on the same failed waterproofing buys a few years and hides the leak while it continues. If tile is coming off because water got behind it, the substrate and the membrane are the job — the tile is just what you can see.
Tile is the part with a price per square foot in a showroom, so it is the part homeowners compare. The waterproofing, the backer and the rough-in are where two proposals actually differ, and none of them photograph.
A very common defect in existing houses and an inexcusable one in new work. It moves the moisture out of the bathroom and deposits it in the roof structure. The duct must terminate outside the building.
If relocating it genuinely fixes the room, pay for it knowingly. If it was a tidier arrangement on a drawing, price it as an option — the waste line is the most expensive pipe in the room to move.
Grab bars fixed to tile and plasterboard are not grab bars. Blocking costs almost nothing while the walls are open and requires opening them again afterwards, which is why it should go in whether or not anyone needs it yet.
Shower glass is measured after tile and then fabricated. Vanity tops may be templated. A bathroom is frequently finished apart from the glass for a stretch, and the proposal should say how long.
Because of the waste line. A sink drains through a relatively small pipe with a good deal of flexibility about where it runs. A toilet needs a larger waste line, and that line has to fall continuously toward the stack. Whether that fall can be achieved depends on what is beneath the bathroom floor: an accessible basement or crawl space makes it reasonably straightforward, a finished ceiling below means opening it, and a concrete slab means cutting and re-pouring it. Ask your contractor to price keeping the toilet and moving it as two options, because the difference is specific to your house rather than a general rule.
It is a continuous barrier (a sheet membrane bonded to the substrate, or a liquid-applied membrane rolled on in coats) installed behind the tile in the wet area, with the corners, seams, the curb and the drain connection detailed to the manufacturer’s instructions. Tile and grout are not waterproof; grout is porous and tile has joints. The way to know is to be there: ask the contractor to tell you when the membrane is complete and before tile begins, and go and look at it. A contractor who is doing it properly will have no difficulty with that request.
Sometimes, and it is a legitimate scope when the room is sound and simply dated. What makes it inadvisable is any evidence of water getting behind the existing tile — loose or hollow-sounding tiles, grout that keeps failing in the same place, a soft floor, staining on the ceiling below. In that case the membrane has failed, and new tile over it will fail the same way on the same schedule. The honest test is what the demolition finds, which is why proposals for this scope should say what happens, and what it costs, if the substrate turns out to be compromised.
It depends on scope and jurisdiction. Swapping a vanity, a toilet or a light fitting in place is often not permitted work. Relocating plumbing, adding or altering circuits, changing the ventilation or touching structure generally is. Call the building department and describe the actual scope — it takes one phone call, it costs nothing, and unpermitted plumbing work has a habit of appearing at resale or during an insurance claim.
Fans are rated by airflow, and the sizing is generally driven by the room’s volume, with higher rates appropriate where there is a separate enclosed toilet or a steam shower. What matters at least as much as the rating is the installation: a fan ducted through a long, crushed or uninsulated run delivers a fraction of its rated airflow, and one that discharges into the attic simply relocates the moisture problem into the roof. Ask for the rating, the duct route, the duct diameter and where it terminates.
It is usually more than a standard shower, and the reason is structural rather than decorative. Draining a shower with no curb means the floor inside it has to sit lower than the bathroom floor, which generally means recessing the framing or building the rest of the floor up. In a house with joists running the wrong way, or a concrete slab, that can be substantial work. It is also the single best thing to do if anyone in the household may need step-free access later, so it is worth pricing properly rather than dismissing on a first estimate.
Yes, and this is not a preference: the shower valve in particular determines the rough-in. A thermostatic valve serving a head, a hand shower and body jets is a different set of pipes in a different arrangement from a single pressure-balancing valve. Deciding after the walls are closed means opening them. The tub, toilet rough-in dimension and vanity plumbing positions have the same character, though with slightly more forgiveness.
Longer than the trade hours suggest, because a bathroom is too small for trades to overlap and because two items are fabricated after measurement. Waterproofing has cure times that cannot be rushed, tile and grout have their own, and shower glass is measured only after the tile is finished and then made. Ask the contractor for the expected date the room becomes usable and the separate date the glass arrives, because they are frequently a week or more apart and only one of them appears on most schedules.
Work disturbing painted surfaces is generally covered by the EPA’s Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, which applies to anyone paid to do it. The exemption covers only minor work — 6 square feet or less of painted surface per room inside, or 20 square feet or less outside, and a bathroom taken back to the studs is well past that. The firm should be EPA-certified, use lead-safe work practices, and give you the "Renovate Right" pamphlet before starting. Older bathrooms may also contain asbestos in sheet flooring, floor tile or the mastic beneath them — material that is safe undisturbed and hazardous when demolished. If the flooring is original and the house is old enough, ask how it is being handled before demolition begins rather than after.
No. HyreRemodel is an independent information resource and a platform intended to connect homeowners with remodeling contractors. We do not design, build, project-manage or supervise bathroom work, we do not employ tradespeople, and we do not warrant anyone who does. This page exists so you can write a scope, read a proposal and hold a useful conversation with the companies that will actually bid it.
Information on this page is general and may vary by location, building code, zoning, property condition and individual circumstances. It is not legal, design or engineering advice. HyreRemodel is an independent remodeling resource and connection platform, not a remodeling contractor, and does not perform, supervise or warrant construction work.
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