I know it's probably hard to say because of different variables, and I get that. But, here are some details…..we currently have two vanities, a jacuzzi tub, and a shower stall.

Ideally we would like to just strip everything down to the studs and re-do. Pretty much the same setup but everything updated. Probably two new vanities, a stand alone tub instead of jacuzzi, and a new shower stall. Also new flooring. So I'm not anticipating any major plumbing changes, etc.

So just kind of going off of that, can anyone give a ballpark figure that we would be looking at?

Thanks

I was given a 'rough guess" by a GC of 30-50k depending on materials and details for our master bath and it sounds similar to yours.

Damn…I was hoping more of the $25-$35. I guess maybe it still could

Fixing to have our first estimate come out hopefully next week. And then we will go from there on getting a couple more.

jpd - where are you located?

That could fit in a 25-30k budget with fairly modest but nice selections. Master baths are always hard because a tub alone can be 3-5k or some elaborate shower system or $40/sf tile and wainscots and wall paper it goes on and on.

I would estimate $200/sf for essentially interior remodel is appropriate.

Any demo you can do yourself will save as well

Thank you for the tips

Much appreciated

We are pursuing the same thing - upgrading our master bathroom and replacing vanity in middle bath in our 20 year old home, contacting 3 contractors so far. We plan the following:

A. Master bath:
* remove corner tub - that we never use
*replace and enlarge shower, add grab bar, new shower plumbing, corner seat, add large niches
* replace builder grade vanities with custom built, under-mount sinks, granite or quartz
* add linen cabinet
* replace floor tile
*remove wallpaper, texture and paint walls & ceilings
*add recess lighting, replace wall lights

B. Middle bath:
*Replace large mirror and vanity-

Contractor 1 - told to me to send photos of the room. He sent a project that was similar to mine, but moved a door and added a new tub. His price for that master bath project - $89K!

Contractor 2 - well regarded firm but was not flexible. She uses pre-fab cabinets which means both vanities had to be 38" high only (nothing lower), didn't want to place recessed lighting, and ignored request for new vanity in middle bathroom. Her price - $50K. I called her later that we wouldn't be needing her.

Contractor 3 - very flexible, will do whatever we want, uses custom cabinets, has good suggestions. Don't have final figure but he gave a rough estimate of $42K. We plan to move forward with him.

I originally thought that $25K would be enough, but inflation has made things much more expensive.

Ordinary Man said:

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We are pursuing the same thing - upgrading our master bathroom and replacing vanity in middle bath in our 20 year old home, contacting 3 contractors so far. We plan the following:

A. Master bath:
* remove corner tub - that we never use
*replace and enlarge shower, add grab bar, new shower plumbing, corner seat, add large niches
* replace builder grade vanities with customer built, under-mount sinks, granite or quartz
* add linen cabinet
* replace floor tile
*remove wallpaper, texture and paint walls & ceilings
*add recess lighting, replace wall lights

B. Middle bath:
*Replace large mirror and vanity-

Contractor 1 - told to me to send photos of the room. He sent a project that was similar to mine, but moved a door and added a new tub. His price for that master bath project - $89K!

Contractor 2 - well regarded firm but was not flexible. She uses pre-fab cabinets which means both vanities had to be 38" high only (nothing lower), didn't want to place recessed lighting, and ignored request for new vanity in middle bathroom. Her price - $50K. I called her later that we wouldn't be needing her.

Contractor 3 - very flexible, will do whatever we want, uses customer cabinets, has good suggestions. Don't have final figure but he gave a rough estimate of $42K. We plan to move forward with him.

I originally thought that $25K would be enough, but inflation has made things much more expensive.

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38" high? Huh? That seems very strange for stock cabinets. Back in the 60's and 70's vanities were 29" to 31" (plus counter top thickness). I admit that is short, but 38" high seems odd, maybe awkward?

Sounds like GC #3 is the choice. Flexible is good, and these days, that's a reasonable price. Would only recommend getting almost everything there on site before you start the tearout. And depending on how you are doing the shower, find out what he allowed in the budget for tile purchase and plumbing fixtures. Those can vary tremendously.

I know one GC who starts pricing basic master baths at $50K. But most rise quickly to $75K+ after people find $50k only gets you HD and Lowe's quality.

Starting ours in the next couple weeks. Full gut to include a couple new windows as well. 55k.

Quote:

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jpd - where are you located?

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DFW area.

Aggie71013 said:

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As someone who needs to redo a master bath and kitchen, this thread terrifies me.

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I think you have to ask yourself several questions before you embark on the trip.

How long are you going to be in the house?
How important is the MBR to you? To your SO? (Tile, cabinet, plumbing fixture quality)
How much can you do yourself? (if so, how much time, energy, frustration, tool purchase will you have to go through)

Certainly GC'ing it yourself will save you some money, but it may take longer. If you know any one person who is a plumber, electrician, tile, or cabinet guy, they will know other people in the trades that you don't know. It may take longer to get done though because they will not necessarily be on your schedule like they would on a GC's schedule who they work for regularly.

YouTube is your friend. You can learn so much on framing, electric, tiling, drywall, etc. I am in the trades, and still look at videos for this or that. I am currently halfway through my master bath, I expect to spend about $19k in total (big shower, no tub, upper end plumbing fixtures, and my own custom cabinetry) I do leave plumbing to plumbers though, that is one trade I am willing to pay someone to do.

This forum has lots of good info. Ask us questions.

Plan to stay in the house for many more years. Unfortunately time and energy are my biggest constraints so the DIY option is out. I envy those that can work a full work day, remodel, go to sleep, and do it again forever how long it takes. I don't have that kind of energ nor is that how I want to spend my time. May do the demo myself, but that's more doable.

MBR is original to the early 90s house so it needs to be done from a functional perspective. Some things are reaching the end of their useful life and need to be replaced.

1988PA-Aggie - we do plan to stay in this house a good while longer.

Regarding doing work myself, I am totally fine with doing anything I can. I definitely don't mind demoing/removing things, like cabinets/vanities, the old jacuzzi tub, shower stall etc.

Now probably wouldn't touch anything to do with plumbing.

Just curious, how much does stripping the old stuff out or demo make up the estimate (%)?

I appreciate all of this info. It's really valuable, so keep it coming.

we did something similar a couple of years ago. We took out a garden tub and the shower, and had the guys make a wall and a full walk in shower, add in custom cabinets and new countertop. I think we were right around 30k for everything.

BucketofBalls99 said:

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1988PA-Aggie - we do plan to stay in this house a good while longer.

Regarding doing work myself, I am totally fine with doing anything I can. I definitely don't mind demoing/removing things, like cabinets/vanities, the old jacuzzi tub, shower stall etc.

Now probably wouldn't touch anything to do with plumbing.

Just curious, how much does stripping the old stuff out or demo make up the estimate (%)?

I appreciate all of this info. It's really valuable, so keep it coming.

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Unfortunately demo is very small percentage of the project as it is lower-skilled labor. You can likely empty a room (cabinets, fixtures, drywall, tile floor) in a day, maybe another day to demo a shower stall and clean up. Then disposal be it a dumpster ($$), drop off at a local landfill (truck?), Habitat for Humanity Restore may take certain items, or in your garbage collection a little at a time.

I used to work in 100 year old homes years ago in North Jersey. Older baths had lath and plaster, then 1" minimum of mortar, then heavy tile frequently up the entire walls of the room. It would take an entire week for two guys to gut it to studs, lug all that crap out of the house, and dispose. Good times, not. Not sure what age your house is, how big, how much tile, etc.

Demo is not an art, but you need to take precautions. Capping off plumbing...push/fit fittings can eliminate an extra trip for the plumber. Cap off electrical fixtures. Protect the path to the outside of your house. The last thing you want is your SO to see lots of dust and debris on her floors. My guess it is less than 10% of the job? (I would recommend encouraging a SO to join you in the demo, being a part of the project is invaluable.)

Bathrooms are frustrating in a way because it is smaller room. How can it be $40-50K for one room? But there is so much going on in that smallish space. Usually money is finite, so I applaud any way one can save a few (thousand?) bucks. What other tasks do you think you would want to tackle?

Very nice

Gutted our master in 2024, and it ran about $32k - new jacuzzi, constructed tile shower, new cabinets, top of the line granite, the works.. Guest ran just over $22k this year.

Get EVERYTHING IN WRITING before you start any remodels.

Make sure you get an allowance for tile, fixtures, etc. Be clear in the contract you expect the contractor to true-up any cost difference between the allowance and actual cost.

IE:
ALLOWANCE: $10/sq.ft for the shower tile, including installation.
ACTUAL COST: $9/sq.ft. for the shower tile, including installation.

Contractor owes you $1/sq.ft for the shower tile. Expect to see that credit on the final bill.

Outline payment terms in advance. You should expect progress payments on the job, not pay 50% up front for them to start. A good GC will have safeguards in place to prevent you screwing them over (liens, lawsuits, etc.) and should have cash flow to buy materials before they start. If they don't run away. If they demand payment up front, they're using your cash to finance someone else's project. You should also have safeguards in place as well (as in, don't pay for materials until they are ON SITE! or labor until work is done).

Put in the contract the labor rate for any changes in work. As in, they pull out the cabinets, etc. and find you're plumbing lines are corroded and failing, or your electrical work is not code compliant. GC should give you a cost to fix those items (material + labor hours at the agreed labor rate).

All change orders agreed to in writing before work starts or GC is at risk for that work.

For reference, I did a guest bathroom remodel in 2023. Replaced a single sink vanity, old tub, old fixtures, removed a faucets, removed old tile floor and shower walls (pre-fab walls), removed soffet/lights. Replaced floor tile, put in new shower in place of tube, tile shower wall to ceiling, new glass shower wall/door, new fixtures in shower and sink, new vanity (higher than old one), new granite counter top/sink, new lights, paint walls and ceiling, new baseboards. This is a ~100sq.ft space. Final cost was ~ $15k. I'd expect if I did the same in my master it would be at least triple that simply b/c it's 3x as large, two sinks, lots more counter space, floor tile, would go higher end on floor/shower tiles, fixtures, etc.

I made a progress payment at the end of the 1st week (they got all the demo done and prep work in that 1st week). Then payments over the next two weeks as they got materials on site. It only took them 2-1/2 weeks so there wasn't a lot of 'progress payments' b/c it was so fast. The only thing that was long lead was the vanity top installer came out once most of the work was done and 3d scanned the vanity/walls to cut the top exactly to fit. Same with the glass shower door/wall.

Ha ha, I used that same mirror from Amazon in our remodel!

agracer said:

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Outline payment terms in advance. You should expect progress payments on the job, not pay 50% up front for them to start. A good GC will have safeguards in place to prevent you screwing them over (liens, lawsuits, etc.) and should have cash flow to buy materials before they start. If they don't run away. If they demand payment up front, they're using your cash to finance someone else's project. You should also have safeguards in place as well (as in, don't pay for materials until they are ON SITE! or labor until work is done).

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Agree with most of what you said. And especially the importance of getting things in writing and payment terms . However, I respectfully disagree with deposits. If a customer refuses to give me a deposit, I am the one walking away (unless they are a repeat customer who I have worked with regularly).

As a custom cabinetmaker, I am not going to venture too far into the drawing and design process without a deposit. Sometimes on complicated projects, design and drawings can be 20% of the total cabinet "job" (please keep in mind, my world is the 'custom' world where people can be very particular with what they want. The design process can be maddening and eternal.). They could take those drawings, even though they are my property, and go to another cabinet company who hasn't done that work and come in far lower than me in price. This was done somewhat regularly over the years until our policy changed. For some reason there are people who do not value concept drawings and design advice as items that have actual value. They may look at their cabinets or furniture as having a monetary value, but not necessarily intellectual property.

And starting a custom kitchen, I may have upwards of $15-20K in material costs to start a larger build. Yes, there are GC's that DO finance other jobs or debts with your deposit and always try to be ahead of the job in payment vs. work. I have met several and resist working with those types. But it is not my responsibility to finance your project. There is a middle road where my request for money should be in line with the amount of work/materials done.

I am not saying this policy is 100% absolute. There are exceptions; very small projects (under $5k), friends (where I know issues will not affect our relationship), past customers, or a really solid referral. But money up front from a new customer is also their commitment to me. Just because things may be in writing, it is too easy to falsify documents, change the heading on drawings, etc. And the last thing we contractors want to do is having to be calling a lawyer or putting liens on customers. I'm just saying there is a middle-of-the-road approach where the money is close to the progress. Bottom line, agreement up front is critical.

Looks amazing! Can you just go ahead and post links to all materials so I can save time and copy Did the pony wall already exist or did you add it as part of the remodel? We are thinking of add one to ours.

We are about to start planning a remodel of our boys bathroom. 20 years old, standard tub with tiles and shower rod setup.

I plan on doing it myself and the fixtures/mirrors/vanity/etc. should be easy. The shower is my main concern.

Has anyone used one of those prefab shower kits where it's basically the three walls, base and door. I've seen some at Home Depot that look decent but not sure if there are even worth looking at versus a real tile approach.

Jim01 said:

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Looks amazing! Can you just go ahead and post links to all materials so I can save time and copy Did the pony wall already exist or did you add it as part of the remodel? We are thinking of add one to ours.

We are about to start planning a remodel of our boys bathroom. 20 years old, standard tub with tiles and shower rod setup.

I plan on doing it myself and the fixtures/mirrors/vanity/etc. should be easy. The shower is my main concern.

Has anyone used one of those prefab shower kits where it's basically the three walls, base and door. I've seen some at Home Depot that look decent but not sure if there are even worth looking at versus a real tile approach.

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this was a new build in our unfinished basement, so the pony wall was new as well.

We got all the tile at floor and decor. Vanity from homedepot and all other fixtures from lowes.