This Bathroom Remodel Saved $10K

So, this master bath remodel came in at just over $37,000. But one particular decision that these homeowners made saved them somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000. If you're planning a remodel, this is the exact type of thing that can make a huge difference on your budget.

All righty. Let me give you a little context about what this remodel looked like. Like I said, this is a master bath remodel, but it's not a full gut renovation. We're keeping most of the layout, and we are keeping the walk-in tile shower in place. We are going to be removing the tub and the tile surround that goes around that tub. We're also going to be removing the vanity, all the flooring tile, as well as every fixture in the bathroom. On top of that, we will be removing the accent band in the shower, as well as the curb. And that's really important, because that's a big reason we were able to keep this budget so low for a master bath remodel.

Obviously every great project starts with great protection. We're always going to start by protecting what we're not removing, and then on to demolition to remove the things that we are. On this particular project, we came in around $4,500. That's the total cost to protect everything that's staying and then to get everything out that's not. That includes disposal fees, and we're going to be donating anything that's good to Habitat for Humanity.

Next up, we have plumbing. We are making some plumbing changes. As I said, we're going from a drop-in tub to a freestanding tub, which means reworking the plumbing for that. We also want to change the valve in the master shower, so we'll be accessing that from the back side through the drywall so that we don't affect the tile, which is our most expensive component, and swapping out all those rough-in valves. There could also be some minor changes from the old vanity to the new that our plumbers will take care of. For this particular bathroom remodel, that came in at about $5,800.

Once the rough plumbing is done inside the walls, we can patch the outside with new drywall. Once it's patched, we'll get it all taped, blended, and textured to match seamlessly, so you'll have no idea any work was ever done in there. Once the drywall is matched, we'll move on to painting. We'll paint the walls and the ceilings, all brand new. The drywall and painting portion came to around $1,500.

Now that our walls are put back together and painted, we're ready to move on to the fun stuff: tile. This is where things start to really add up. On this particular job, we're tiling the whole floor as well as the curb to the walk-in shower and an accent band. On this job, that came to a total of around $12,500. And this is where that $10,000 was saved. The homeowners had the opportunity to change all the tile, the shower pan, as well as the walls. But because they opted to leave that in place at my recommendation, we are saving about $10,000. In the process of demoing all the walls and the pan, we would almost certainly compromise the waterproof integrity of our liner, which would mean replacing the liner, the pan liner, and then retiling over all of that space. That is very labor-intensive, and therefore the price adds up quickly. In this case, that tile is still pretty sharp and goes with the times. It doesn't look outdated. So with a new accent band and curb tiling, it'll give that shower space a completely different pop, along with moving from the drop-in tub to the freestanding tub, to completely make over this bathroom and keep that tile in place, saving the homeowners $10,000.

This is something I talk with clients about all the time. You've got three major categories that impact the cost of any remodel, addition, ADU, whatever it is: scope, complexity, and finish selections. In this instance, by making this one particular decision, the homeowners were able to impact all three of those categories in a positive way that held the budget down by a full $10,000. It made the scope smaller — it's going to take us less time to do the job. It reduced the complexity — when it comes to waterproofing, we want to be spot-on, which is more complex. And it reduced the amount of finish selections we needed to purchase. Two bathrooms can look very similar when they're finished but have a very different story when it comes to scope, complexity, and finish selections. And that changes the price more than most people appreciate.

The next line item on this bid was the master bath fixtures. This allowance was for $8,600. That covers the cost of a new vanity top, two sinks, two faucets, as well as the freestanding tub, the tub filler, and the new shower trim. That's one of the three categories that can really swing price quite a bit, depending on what type of finishes you're looking for on your project. If the homeowner stays within that range — and there are plenty of great options in that range — they'll be at that number. They can even be below it if they choose more economical items. But that number is my best guess, based on the finishes in the rest of the house and the things I know they like, at what we're going to spend on finishes.

So all in, like I said, this bathroom came to around $37,000. But again, that's with a very strategic scope — not a full gut, no major changes to the layout, and certainly none structurally. If you're planning your own bathroom remodel, here's how I would think about it. If there are some key components in your existing bathroom that you like, or that can be worked around in a different way — a different tile surround around the same tub — those types of decisions can save you a lot of money and put you in that $30,000 to $40,000 range, compared to the $50,000 to $75,000 of a true full-gut renovation in our Goldilocks tier.

The big takeaway here is that being strategic in what you change, what you keep, and how you work around existing items can make a huge impact on your overall budget. Like I said, this one decision saved these homeowners $10,000. I don't know about you, but for me, that's a lot of money. So it's something I really recommend you spend a lot of time planning and thinking about. If you as the homeowner have a better understanding of where the money goes in the project, you can make much better decisions. That's why if you're working with me here at Rockin' K, you're going to get a detailed proposal with a clear scope and a price for every line item for every step of the process. If you'd like to work with us, you can book a free call through our website, rockinkgc.com. And if you don't live near us, feel free to subscribe, follow along, and send me any questions you've got about projects you're thinking about doing.