How Much Does Remodeling A Bathroom Cost?

 

Thinking of remodeling your bathroom? Costs can add up easily if you don't know what it is you want to do or what to expect. If you are thinking of remodeling your bathroom, it's best to understand what the costs are based on where you live and what type of remodel you wish to complete.

A standard bathroom is 5ft by 8ft or 6ft by 8ft. In almost every home the bathroom is 8 ft. long and at least 5 ft. wide because a bathtub is always 5 ft. It is for this reason that standard bathrooms have a bathtub that runs along the five foot length wall at the end of a bathroom.

A non-standard bathroom will of course fluctuate in price depending on what changes are being made, and how much bigger or smaller it is compared to a standard bathroom.

Full Remodel

A full remodel is a situation where you strip everything in the bathroom down to the studs and build it back up.

The average cost of a full remodel for a standard size bathroom across the United States is about $20,000.

• This breaks down as $12,000 for labor and roughly $8,000 for materials.

A full remodel may or may not include changing your floor plan. If you choose to change your floor plan this can greatly increase the cost and the timeline. A changed floor plan can add between $2,000 and $3,000 to your remodel cost especially if you have to move sewer lines, water lines, or electrical lines, or if you have to jackhammer through a slab to get to these lines.

Additionally, a full remodel might require permits from your local area which can be included in the estimate from your contractors (if you use contractors for the task) but will typically add at least one or two months to the timeline for the sake of getting the permits approved and having an inspector visit your property for verification.

Partial Remodel

A partial remodel doesn't necessarily replace every facet of your bathroom, and can include situations where you only replace some of the structures like the bathtub or the flooring, or just the flooring and the counters.

Partial remodels, if you keep your existing floorplan can also be completed for less if you do the replacements yourself, alleviating the cost of labor (though in exchange for your time and effort).

Budget flexibility

Whether you have a full remodel in mind or a partial remodel in mind, your estimate can go up or down by upwards of 50% depending on what you want to do.

If you are on a low budget you can purchase the most inexpensive replacement toilets, showers, and sinks, use the cheapest flooring options, and keep the floor plan exactly as is and in so doing drop that $20,000 estimate by 50%.

Conversely you can invest in nicer marble countertops and customized cabinets better designed to fit your toiletries and your bathroom linens specifically, a decision which can add a few hundred dollars or a few thousand dollars to your cost. You can spend, for example, $500 on a vanity countertop combo or $3,000 on a marble vanity with a triview medicine cabinet and bidet.

The prices for the US East Coast, West Coast, Northern states, and southern states are roughly the same when it comes to the prefabricated or manufactured items like a toilet, a shower, a sink, or cabinets.

Prices vary when it comes to labor and raw materials for customized projects.

As far as labor is concerned, if you hire a general contractor for the task, they may charge 15% of the total cost, and provide manual labor as necessary for various stages of the job, or charge an hourly rate (though this is rare).

Experts like a plumber charge an hourly rate, so if you only need experts for a partial remodel, your costs are based on the average hourly rate where you live.

• In California, the average cost for a plumber is between $50 and $175 per hour.
• In Texas, the average cost for a plumber is between $45 and $200 per hour.
• In New York, the average cost for a plumber is between $120 and $450 per hour.
• In Florida, the average cost for a plumber is between $75 and $100 per hour.

For electricians to re-wire the bathroom in a full or partial remodel, the hourly rates are as follows:

• In California, the average cost for an electrician is $113 per hour.
• In Texas, the average cost for an electrician is $77 per hour.
• In New York, the average cost for an electrician is $126 per hour.
• In Florida, the average cost for an electrician is $86 per hour.

This is our awesome Construction Cost Calculator which you can use to fine-tune the estimates where you live, including the materials you expect to use and the professionals you need to hire.

 

Bathtubs and Showers

You can complete a bathroom remodel and keep the bathtub or shower you already have, saving yourself a few hundred dollars. You can also strip everything down to the studs for a full bathroom remodel and replace the existing bathtub with something new.

Acrylic Flat Bottom Tub	Freestanding tub you can put in a more spacious bathroom	Costs $600 to $2000
Classic 60 inch Rectangular Tub	Commonly seen flush with bathroom walls, at the end of the bathroom	Costs $200 to $250

Bathtubs range in cost between $200 and $1,000 depending on the design, and that does not include installation costs or the materials for the walls.

In terms of showers you can choose shower enclosures that fit against two walls in the corner of your bathroom, tub doors that attach to your bathtub to make an enclosed unit, or shower kits that come with a base, wall, and door combination.

• Shower kits can be found in neo angle, square, round, or rectangular shapes depending on the layout of your bathroom. This has to do primarily with the shape of the shower base.
• Shower doors come in a fixed door fashion, pivot shower door that opens outward, or a sliding shower door.
• Shower walls can include shower wall panels that you install around the physical walls of your bathroom, corner walls that make the most out of an available corner space, alcove walls that you install in an alcove, or tub surrounding walls that fits around your existing bathtub.

Rectangular Shape	You can choose a clear glass enclosure with a black frame or a chrome frame, brushed nickel, with an acrylic base.	Costs between $600 and $1300
Neo Angle	You can pick a hinged shower enclosure in satin black with nickel, oil rubbed bronze, or chrome.	Costs between $600 and $950
Square	You can pick a bifold shower door with chrome, a white bass, nickel, or oil rubbed bronze.	Costs between $550 and $850
Round	You can choose a clear or translucent glass enclosure with a black frame or a chrome frame, brushed nickel, with an acrylic base.	Costs between $500 and $950

 

For example: You have a standard bathroom, 5ft x 8ft. You choose a standard shower kit with walls to go with your rectangular bathtub.

The total is $480 for all materials.

Wall Materials for Bathtubs and Showers

When replacing bathtubs and showers a second consideration in addition to the physical structures you use are the walls. This assumes of course that you don't purchase a kit and instead customize the walls.

A good contractor can install new tile from the start of your bathtub to the ceiling for the entirety of your shower. If you have a stand-alone shower without a bathtub or separate from your bathtub, the designs for glass walls or doors can be complemented by tiles on the wall where your plumbing is.

This is another area where the cost of raw materials differs wildly but not by location so much as by quality. Tile comes in many designs and basic tiles without any geometric patterns or colors will be much cheaper to install in a bathroom remodel compared to more eye-catching designs.

• Merola tile can be used as wall tiles or ceramic floor tiles but they cost roughly $7 per square foot
• Polished porcelain wall tiles or ceramic subway tiles cost roughly $2 per square foot
• Black and white textured marble mosaic tiles that give the illusion of pebbles can make for a sturdier anti-slip floor in your shower but cost $10 per square foot

White hexagon tile porcelain mosaic tiles are one of many examples that you will find with a mesh mounted background such that you can cut each line of mesh in and around the pattern you want allowing your contractor to combine multiple tiles on the floor or wall of your bathroom. Hexagonal tile patterns or angora herringbone patterns can be a hefty investment upwards of $20 per square foot.

For example: You have a standard bathroom, 5ft x 8ft. You choose herringbone patterns in between white ceramic tiles to wrap around two walls which do not have a shower or sink on them which comes to 40 square feet per wall, or 80 square feet total.

You choose ceramic tiles at $2 per square foot, with a herringbone pattern in between. The herringbone constitutes 8 square feet of the total design which equals $200. The remaining 72 square feet of ceramic tile at $2 per square foot amounts to $144.

The total is $344 for the walls.

 

Toilets

You can complete a bathroom remodel and keep your existing toilet or invest in a new design that is more hygienic or perhaps more water efficient. Toilets can come in two-piece toilets, one piece models, or freestanding toilets.

Two Piece Toilets	Has a separate tank and bowl	Better for bathrooms with unique heights or styles, or those on a budget	Costs between $100 and $200
One Piece Toilets	Easier to clean and more durable	They save space	Costs between $200 and $300
Freestanding Toilets	More hygienic and can be transformed with the bidet seat	Most expensive	Costs between $800 and $1200 + accessories and electric seats which can add $50-$100

You may decide to keep your existing toilet, but modify it with new accessories such as replacement seats for between $50 and $100.

For example: You have a standard bathroom, 5ft x 8ft. You pick a replacement two piece toilet for $160.

The total material cost is $160.

 

Cabinets and Vanities

Full bathroom remodels benefit from updated cabinets and vanities especially if the material has been water damaged or is outdated.

• A 24 inch by 30 inch frameless mounted bathroom medicine cabinet with the mirror on the front will cost an average of $150.
• For the triview bathroom medicine cabinet with the mirrors, that price jumps to $300.
• In addition to the medicine cabinet over the sink, there are surface mounted bathroom medicine cabinets designed for storage over the bathroom or on a wall which range in price between $70 and $300 depending on the size, complexity, and design.
• Stand-alone bathroom linen cabinets, for example, cost between $350 and $600 whereas the wall mounted designs can be as little as $200 for the same material.

This is one of the first areas where you will see differences in price based on where you live should you choose customized cabinets. If you choose customized cabinets, your contractor can make them to fit your space, precisely where you want them, add bases or frames so the cabinets can stand alone or use hardware to mount them on the walls. The quality of the wood you choose can make a difference in the longevity of your replacement cabinets and vanities.

For example: You have a standard bathroom, 5ft x 8ft. You choose a 24 in x 30 in frameless medicine cabinet for $150 to go above your sink and cabinets.

The total material cost is $150.

Countertops

Countertops are usually updated if sinks are updated. This is where fluctuation happens in price as well. A high-quality marble vanity with side by side “his and hers” sinks can cost between $600 and $800 easily.

Sinks

If you are updating the countertops chances are you will need to update your sink. Sinks come in many forms:

• Drop-in sinks are easy to install and simply drop into the hole in your countertop with an overhanging rim. Drop in sinks are inexpensive, with circular white designs averaging $40 and rectangular designs $170. This does not include the hardware.
• Under mount sinks are installed underneath the counter and have clean lines down below.
• Vessel sinks are installed on top of the cabinets or countertop and give the illusion of being a freestanding bowl.
• Vanity sinks include the table top and the sink basin. Marble vanities run between $600 and $2600 depending on whether you have one or two sinks cut into the marble top.
• Wall mounted sinks and corner sinks capitalize on smaller areas and mount directly to the wall.
• Corner sinks or an average of $160 through $200.
• Pedestal sinks are freestanding units but have a pedestal up the center and can be purchased in the pedestal base form that links underneath your existing sink or you can purchase the basin and the base combo.
• Console sinks have legs underneath the basin to create a frame and generally have an opening around the pipes that you can convert to cabinetry under the sinks.

For example: You choose to have wooden cabinets made to go around your drop in sink. The materials amount to $50 for the sink and $310 for the wooden cabinets, plus $80 for extra mirrors.

The total cost is $440.

Flooring

When you update your flooring you can choose from a variety of categories such as vinyl and laminate flooring, hardwood or engineered flooring, and tile flooring.

Linoleum, laminate flooring, Saltillo tile, Mosaic flooring, plank wood, or solid hardwood all have broad ranges in terms of their cost because it is contingent upon what is available where you live. Hickory flooring might be readily available in Tennessee but have a high transportation fee in Maine whereas maple might be readily available in Maine but expensive in Tennessee.

• Saltillo tile floors for the materials alone can cost between $120 and $250 with an average cost per square foot between $4 and $7.
• Linoleum flooring can cost between $250 and $470 with an average square foot cost between $4 and $6.
• Plank flooring materials cost between 390 and $675 depending on the quality. The average cost per square foot of plank flooring is between $5 and $8.
• Solid oak floors range between 320 and $455. The average cost per square foot of solid oak floors is between $4 and $6.
• Stone flooring cost between $275 and $550. The average cost per square foot ranges between $4 and $7.
• Mosaic flooring cost between $490 and $708. The average cost per square foot is between $7 and $9.

For example: You have a bathroom floor 5ft by 8 ft. The cost for the full bathroom floor, minus the toilet and the bathtub, is 30 square feet of floor space, and you choose stone flooring which is $6.50 per square foot.

The total cost is $195.

This brings the total basic material cost, not including any accessories or hardware, or the costs for the plumbing and wiring to:

Bathtub and shower	$480
Walls	$344
Toilet	$160
Cabinets and Vanities	$150
Sinks and countertops	$440
Floors	$195
Total	$1,769

 

In this example the majority of the items purchased where the cheapest option which means a partial remodel could be done for a fraction of the cost depending on your budget and what all you want to replace.

Using the same items from above, if your bathroom were larger than standard, the cost would go up by a few hundred dollars on materials for walls, floors, and countertops alone, not including the additional cost of a shower kit + bathtub.

Note that this estimate does not include hardware, tools, installation, or other labor costs. You can use our awesome Construction Cost Calculator to get a more specific estimate for your remodel to include these things and more. 

Timing

Finally, you have to consider your time frame. On average, most bathroom remodels take about two months. It can be longer than this if you have to import materials from far away, if items you want are on backorder, or if you have floor plans that need approval and permits.

Individuals who have more than one bathroom can afford for one of their bathrooms to be out of commission for two months, three months, maybe even four months. But if you only have one bathroom, your schedule might be a bit tighter. Updating the entire floor plan will, as mentioned, greatly increase the timeline so it may not be the best solution for individuals who have only one bathroom. Similarly if you need a rush job, you can add a few thousand dollars to your bathroom remodel cost.