I am looking to remodel the master bath soon. I want a shower/tub combo, new flooring, new vanity, new drywall/paint, and to have a window removed or resized. I wanted to seek out any recommendations on contractors, advice in how to save, and any estimates of price range to expect. I live in DFW. TIA

No flooring? Fiberglass shower/tub or something better? On the exterior around the window is it brick or siding?

Advice to save $$$ - do as much as possible on your own. This results in making it a lot harder to find contractors though. Everything you mention aside from the window has been done by people on this board, FWIW.

I dove into this type of project about 2 years ago and yes, it's still in process. But, I've done about 90% of the work myself and with buddies. We have a 10X10 bathroom and attached 8X8 closet that we 100% gutted, needed three new electrical runs, plumbing changes and all the other goodies. Doing it myself, probably in the $7,500-$10,000 range...hiring it out, $15K+. Keep in mind, this is replacing everything except for the foundation and studs (new tub, shower, rock, tile, vent fans, lighting, switches, insulation, etc.).

Oh, one more thing, I'm about to do a similar, but much smaller remodel, in a 2nd bathroom in our 2nd home. This one is probably 10X6 or so and my budget is $1,500 (doing it myself), including new tub, vanity and floor. Not looking for any wall, electrical or plumbing changes though. Your costs will rise fast when you need the technical/skilled labor that you aren't comfortable doing.

We're using Crossroad Concepts for our kitchen remodel. My parents used them to remodel their entire house and they did a great job. Fair prices and they are a honest company with high quality work.

There are Cost Indexes for this type of remodeling. I recall a 2009 Remodeling Index for a mid-level remodeling of a Master Bath to be in the range of $25-$30k. Search "remodeling cost index" for more info.

As for selecting a contractor, would recommend one affiliated with NARI or HBA. These are trade associations that help advance the contractor with continuing education and new product seminars. Ask for a list of recent project references, ask to see their contract up front, ask about bonding and insurance. Get at least 2-3 bids. DON'T BE IN A HURRY!

-GIG'EM!!

Save money by doing your own demolition and general contracting.

You could also paint and do finish electrical and plumbing.

We are in the process of doing our master bath. We did leave the tub and 75% of the sheetrock.

When we are done (including the frameless shower door) I expect we will be in close to $4K.

That's custom (homemade) cabinets, and a tile shower surround.

Room is 8x7 with a 3x3 shower in it, plus the water closet which is 3x7

Where at and who are you using?

I renovated the master bathroom at our old house and here's the before/after so you can get an idea of material quality, and a cost breakdown. I supplied all labor and materials. It was my first go at basically everything in the whole project and took about 2 1/2 months.

(Click for a larger picture)










After













Checking receipts...
Granite - from Lowes / $2,000 (mistake, should've went with a local place and saved)
Sinks - from Ferguson's (Mirabelle) / $450
Marble flooring / $1,000
Cabinets - Cardell / $1,950. Including the custom hamper and jetted tub frame.
Kerdi for the shower / $300 on Amazon
Valves x 4, showerhead, tub spout (Delta) - $700
Tile and mosaic for shower / $500
Frameless surround for the shower / $1,500
New fan for the water closet (Panasonic) / $250?

Total = $8,650. Bring it up to $9K once you add in supplies, venetian plaster, pulls, light fixtures, and whatnot. I could have saved some by buying the granite from the local place we used for the kitchen instead of Lowes, and buying the sinks, valves, fixtures and hardware online instead of from Ferguson's. Live and learn I guess.

I have no clue what this would have cost if it were contracted out but am curious if anyone knows.

[This message has been edited by The Fife (edited 7/15/2013 8:52p).]

Bathroom dimensions? Pics? Draw a layout on grid paper to scale.

Start shopping well in advance for tub, toilet, plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, tile, paint colors. When we start a renovation, I have already purchased everything on sale. Only last minute emergency stuff should be bought when you have started.

We did our master bath for about $5k with a whirlpool tub, cultured marble tub surround with matching vanity top, new Kohler toilet. Cabinets were purchased at Discount Warehouse.

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Start shopping well in advance for tub, toilet, plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, tile, paint colors. When we start a renovation, I have already purchased everything on sale. Only last minute emergency stuff should be bought when you have started.

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That's a great idea. It keeps you from being held up because you need (whatever) in order to keep working.

My master is actually very small as this is a starter home. I appreciate all of the advice and will start looking at what I can do and then getting bids for the rest. Will most contractors at least be ok with me purchasing materials?

I think you need to discuss this when you interview contractors, but I think it is fair for you to select your and buy your bathroom items. We acted as our own GC. Make a plan and determine who does what.

We bought all the items then:

demo'd bath to the studs; got a plumber to replumb the tub and install it (whirlpool); hired electrician to rewire bathroom and install new light/heater/fan combo; hired out Sheetrock; Hubby installed sink base; installer came to put in cultured marble surround and counter. We painted and installed lighting.

Our master is 5' x 10'. 1960's houses had small bathrooms.

MBR remodel quote we got was in the 25k-30k range, which included:

new floor
new tub
new shower
moving shower head up the wall to meet code
moving some electrical switches/outlets and lights
new toilet
new fans
new paint
new cabinets (custom made)
new counters
new hardware/fixtures
moving a sink

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MBR remodel quote we got was in the 25k-30k range, which included:

new floor
new tub
new shower
moving shower head up the wall to meet code
moving some electrical switches/outlets and lights
new toilet
new fans
new paint
new cabinets (custom made)
new counters
new hardware/fixtures
moving a sink

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There are some contractors that just expect you do BEND OVER! That is just crazy. Do the demo yourself and make your own layout and price your items. Do you really need to move the sink?

What are your bathroom dimensions? Separate tub and shower?

CapCity12thMan,

You need to talk to TheFife! Fantastic remodel for $9k.

I thought the number was outrageous too, which is why we aren't going to do it.

The bathroom is about 12x18, separate shower and jacuzzi tub. Everything goes since it is so outdated.

Odd as this sounds, the bathroom is decent size with no real place for towel racks, which sucks. Not a lot of decent storage either. So, to gain some storage we want to add some cabinets on top of counters, since we have high ceilings.

we have a cabinet guy that does such incredible work, and he will custom build the cabinets. glass doors, puck lighting inside, etc. Oak stained. I don't think he is cheap, but he is not overly expensive. I know what I am getting using him.

http://grab.by/ovAA

Here is the bid I received from one vendor:

http://grab.by/ovBK
http://grab.by/ovBO

Feel free to comment

I put new cabinets in my entire kitchen for $7k. $5.5k is nuts......IMHO.

1 story house?

If so, the electrical is BS too.

Because I'm bored and waiting for UPS to deliver the dehumidifier already...

Demo:
Removing a jetted tub is HARD. That's a big part of why we reused ours. We also reused our mirror ($45 for a glass place to take down / put back up). We also reused our toilet and baseboards since they were in great condition. Removing tile from a concrete subfloor is "fun" though.

Tile work:
WOW that's expensive... you could buy a nice DeWalt wet saw, Kerdi and do it yourself and come out a hair under $6K ahead.

Plumbing:
That's up there too. Prior to our bathroom redo I'd never plumbed before. Raising the shower head is EASY. Putting in the Kerdi drain and toilet took only minutes. New supply lines come in the box with the faucets. If you go with undermount sinks the granite people install them for no extra charge. Moving a sink and drain isn't bad either.

Cabinets:
This part is nuts. $5,500, and they aren't finished yet??? I count 11 boxes for cabinets (6 base / 4 upper + upper for water closet)? You can probably save a ton if you know about what size boxes you need and go find a dealer, then find an installer if you don't want to do it. We bought Cardell through HomeArama in San Antonio FWIW. They have a big book from the cabinet maker that shows what sizes are "stock" and you can order from that.

Countertop:
It's hard to say for sure without knowing the size, but it looks like you're getting screwed on this one. Find an estimate from an independent granite place - I bet you could cut this one in half.

Electrical:
$3,100 + fixtures you buy... wow. I understand if you don't want to DIY. I'd bet you could cut this in half to 2/3 by finding your own electrician. Dubi was right about finding your own subs.

Painting:
Hard to comment since this including finishing cabinets that should already be finished for the arm and a leg they're charging.

Pocket door:
Not always an option. PITA to retrofit.

Mirror:
What kind of mirror? The glass company that comes to remove the old mirror may be able to trim it to make a new one if you want a different size. If you're looking for framed mirrors don't be scared to find a couple of frames and have the glass company trim down to fit the frame.

There are a lot of hidden gotchas in this... lots of "customer will" going on that will add up on you. I could see this ending up closer to $35K+ because of things that come up + the customer to provide stuff. More if tile isn't included.

If you DIY you could cut this by 2/3.

CapCity12thMan,

Do you have any friends who DIY? Sit with them and itemize the steps of your remodel.

Reach out to your friends for recommendations: plumber, sheetrock, cabinets, glass, tile, etc. Contact each of the recommendations for a quote on their piece of the pie.

Contractor is assuming you will pay $$$$ for their services, then they are only paying 1/2 of that to the sub. Truly you are paying double what you should; Fife has proven that. GC is taking a huge cut that you could save if you act as your own GC.

She's right. It sounds like you already know what you want to do and could easily articulate it to subs that you find if you could get one on site.

Friends who own rentals or are property managers would also be able to help you out here. If you were in this area I could get you a quality sheetrocker, plumber and electrician that would probably quote about half of what you received. They're all people I met through the small property management company that handles our rentals. Sometimes things happen, so they're the types that will know a few people who have reasonable rates and good workmanship.

[This message has been edited by The Fife (edited 7/16/2013 12:55p).]

Pocket doors are a PITA. You must rip on the wall to install; so if you have the sheetrock guy coming anyway....then do it. We have one in our masterbath. They are cheap to buy.

my plan is to GC this myself, no worries.

My wfie and work collectively about 100 hours per week and have 2 kids under 6, which brings me to the point of time - I don't have it. I travel for work occasionally too. So yes, I am likely to pay for someone to do something I could do, but I seem to be (these days) not paying for someone to do the work, but buying my time. I am sure others in same situation can understand.

Some of this is not as easy as a DIY portion. First example - Demo. I can demo everything, but it will cost me money and time to haul off - and to where? Where can I dump counter tops and old cabinets and showers and tubs. Do I get one of those plastic bin things to put in driveway and have hauled off? Maybe - haven't researched it enough...why? Don't have time for it right now.

So, I a inclined to pay someone to handle the whole thing, but I think the 30K range is ridiculous. I would be comfortable with 20-22K. Given our neighborhood and home, I know I will recoup 100% of this, or extremely close. I think if I did everything (demo and GC the rest), I could do this for about 13K.

Regarding demo, Habitat will come remove that stuff (cabinets, countertops, fixtures, mirrors, tubs) for free. No demo required on your part, and they'll give you a form for your taxes next year. They deconstructed our entire kitchen in about 3 hours - it was crazy fast.

All you'd have left would be tile... in our case the old shower surround was taken by the company that put in the frameless one. Shower tile was taken by the City of San Antonio by the street along with the floor tile, one bag or so per week. Farming out removing the floor tile, especially if you're on a concrete subfloor, is totally understandable. Anyone who's done it knows that it's unrewarding, hard labor.

I work about that much too, and the wife works 40 hours a week + 40 hours a week sitting at a chair on Facebook No kids though.

responses specific to Fife:

DEMO - jacuzzi tub and everything else is going - too outdated to keep, so this is a given effort. How hard is it? Don't know yet. I don;t know anything about removing a jacuzzi tub...what do I do with all the pipes/jets and such. Do I cap things, cut them off an replace the piping with what is minimal? Probably all questions for a plumber.

TILE - I would love to try and tile myself, if this was to be done on a concrete slab. This is upstaira...not sure how that complicates things or other things to consider. Not the place I want to try this for the first time, given the fact if done wrong, water may penetrate and end up downstairs. I don't know what the going rate for laying bath tile is. For my kitchen it was $10/sq ft installed - got different quotes all around that number.

PLUMBING - replace toilte- easy, have done that. hoookups, easy. You say moving shower head is easy, but what if the pipe inside wall is metal/copper? is it PVC? If anything other than PVC that might include soldering/welding, right? Not skilled for that. To do this and move a sink I am anticipating $500-$600

CABINETS - I doubt we go with pre-fab since we have to have specific measurements for it to work. Hence, why I am using my cabinet guy (which is separate from the cabinet quote on this quote)...custom built oak, stained, glass doors for ~$7K. Specific area of bath room the cabinets HAVE to be a certain size in order for the tub and shower to fit properly. If this is off some, it might mean we have to move tub drain? These type of things are what I don't know.

COUNTERTOPS - agreed...just go find what you want, have them cut, delivered installed. If they do sinks too, great.

ELECTRICAL - this sounded outrageous to me too. I am not even convinced I want to move electrical around

PAINTING - would be something I can handle myself. This also probably includes a lot of sheetrock patching, texturing/floating too...which is not hard but not easy. We have a heavy texture...think it was referred to as Mexican something by one of my contractors. heavierand thicker than orange peel/knowckdown.

POCKET DOOR - reason for this is that the close door is two sliding doors. We were thinking of replacing that with a pocket door as long as we are able to put towel racks on the wall where the door slides into (the pocket). Don;t know if this is doable without better understanding the depth of each side of the pocket and whether it can hold towel rack screws/brackets and still be secure. Might just go with a single closet door or get sliding door that has a towel rack on the outside.

MIRROR - I am not paying that much money for a mirror. Will likely get frames for mirrors but can reuse what we have no problem.

I can handle all the fixtures...for the other major areas - I don't know what I don't know and that concerns me with trying to do it myself.

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responses specific to Fife:

DEMO - jacuzzi tub and everything else is going - too outdated to keep, so this is a given effort. How hard is it? Don't know yet. I don;t know anything about removing a jacuzzi tub...what do I do with all the pipes/jets and such. Do I cap things, cut them off an replace the piping with what is minimal? Probably all questions for a plumber.

TILE - I would love to try and tile myself, if this was to be done on a concrete slab. This is upstaira...not sure how that complicates things or other things to consider. Not the place I want to try this for the first time, given the fact if done wrong, water may penetrate and end up downstairs. I don't know what the going rate for laying bath tile is. For my kitchen it was $10/sq ft installed - got different quotes all around that number.

PLUMBING - replace toilte- easy, have done that. hoookups, easy. You say moving shower head is easy, but what if the pipe inside wall is metal/copper? is it PVC? If anything other than PVC that might include soldering/welding, right? Not skilled for that. To do this and move a sink I am anticipating $500-$600

CABINETS - I doubt we go with pre-fab since we have to have specific measurements for it to work. Hence, why I am using my cabinet guy (which is separate from the cabinet quote on this quote)...custom built oak, stained, glass doors for ~$7K. Specific area of bath room the cabinets HAVE to be a certain size in order for the tub and shower to fit properly. If this is off some, it might mean we have to move tub drain? These type of things are what I don't know.

COUNTERTOPS - agreed...just go find what you want, have them cut, delivered installed. If they do sinks too, great.

ELECTRICAL - this sounded outrageous to me too. I am not even convinced I want to move electrical around

PAINTING - would be something I can handle myself. This also probably includes a lot of sheetrock patching, texturing/floating too...which is not hard but not easy. We have a heavy texture...think it was referred to as Mexican something by one of my contractors. heavierand thicker than orange peel/knowckdown.

POCKET DOOR - reason for this is that the close door is two sliding doors. We were thinking of replacing that with a pocket door as long as we are able to put towel racks on the wall where the door slides into (the pocket). Don;t know if this is doable without better understanding the depth of each side of the pocket and whether it can hold towel rack screws/brackets and still be secure. Might just go with a single closet door or get sliding door that has a towel rack on the outside.

MIRROR - I am not paying that much money for a mirror. Will likely get frames for mirrors but can reuse what we have no problem.

I can handle all the fixtures...for the other major areas - I don't know what I don't know and that concerns me with trying to do it myself.

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We had our house tiled for $1.35/sq ft (tile was already purchased for $.88/sq ft). Total = $2.23/sq ft

We have a towel rack mounted that backs onto our master bath pocket door. You must be very careful!

You can custom order cabinets at Home Depot/Lowe's. Also you can buy cabinets in 3" increments and just use the spacer to fill in a gap. Everyone's bath and kitchen are odd sizes; that is why spacers exist! You bath is NOT special.

Painting! Hire someone! This will be a cheap part of your reno and they can either fix sheetrock or they will have a friend that will do it.

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We had our house tiled for $1.35/sq ft (tile was already purchased for $.88/sq ft). Total = $2.23/sq ft

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where and who?

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We had our house tiled for $1.35/sq ft (tile was already purchased for $.88/sq ft). Total = $2.23/sq ft

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where and who?

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B/CS
Juarez Tile

You need to buy the tile and supplies. Then you are only getting a quote for "installation". That $10/sq ft is nuts.....

We tiled 750/sq ft of our house (basically everything but the bedrooms). We purchased closeout tile from Lowe's that was regularly $1.99/sq ft.

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You need to buy the tile and supplies

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no clue on what is needed, which I would probably buy a bunch of stuff, not get enough or the wrong thing and then have to spend time (as I mentioned I don't have) running around town getting supplies.

we just did 18x18 tile in our kitchen and the cost of the tile (from Crossville Tile and Stone) in Austin was just under $3/sq ft - for the tile. The $10 per sq foot included tile, install, shoe molding around baseboards and demo or original tile. The $10 per was total price from start to finish, not just the labor.

that was a demo of 480 sq ft of original tile, BTW

[This message has been edited by CapCity12thMan (edited 7/16/2013 2:18p).]

You need to get your quotes "unbundled". What is the cost of each item vs installation. Then you can price the items yourself and get quotes on the installation.

For example, we know someone who was a cabinet installer in a previous life. We hired him for $500 cash to put in our cabinets that we custom ordered from Home Depot! Savings was $1,420 vs having Home Depot installer put them in.

Plumber we hired is a spouse of Mr Dubi's coworker. He came on a Saturday to re-plumb our new whirlpool tub and set it in place. Our cost was $200 cash.

We have a similar story for each person we hired to work on our house.