Current Cost of Bathroom Renovation

You can have a very nice looking bathroom for 30k. The prices have not changed that much over the years. Of course it always depends on the finishes , you can use beautiful porcelain tile for $6.00 a sq ft. or tiles that cost $100 a sq ft.

30k if you are making an Taj Mahal. Try some website where you can get an estimate and labor should be around 12-15k plus whatever materials you want.

F1 champ,

Are you in Manhattan? Does that include a licensed plumber? How are you coming up with the 12-15? How much for labor? how much for material?

f1champ: Primer05 is usually very accurate on pricing. Since this in the only bathroom and is small, I don't want to be too cheap on the materials but don't want to go overboard with top of the line stone. But, this has to be a gut renovation since the bathroom is so worn. When the building's plumber was in working on my kitchen, I had him give me an estimate for the work in the bathroom and it was hefty! I'm just hoping I can get away with 30K on this because:

-The building requires a new subfloor with laticrete once I change the floor tile.
- There's a lot of stuff that's not up to current building code: plumbing, capped pipes from radiator that was removed, door.
- I have a flushometer toilet with odd placement of intake water pipe
- The walls are a bear to deal with because they're some sort of cement compound.
- Jack hammers are not permitted for tile removal and these tiles are SOLIDLY in place; lot of manual labor.
- I have a cast iron tub built in between 2 walls and is not a current standard size. This means adding a filler wall. I was told I could have the tub refinished, but usually that doesn't last long.
- To boot, the building requires the contractor, plumber, and electrician to each provide their own insurance for 2 million dollars.

Jelj13,

You should be fine. Any good GC has at least a 2 million umbrella as 98% of the buildings require that. Many buildings are also requiring the Laticrete waterproofing as well, not very cheap but will not break the bank. I dont really care for reglazing a tub either. You still should be able to do it for 30k.

jelj13,

Pricing has not necessarily changed from 2012 to present. Your material choices and who supplies them will affect your budget more than any great change in labor pricing, licensed plumber etc. The $30K budget sounds reasonable as a ballpark with the info you have provided.

Thank you for the information, Primer05 and CAPITALcraft. I want to spend some time researching the material choices before I get started.

I'm on the board of a nursing home/rehab center and am on the committee for the bathroom renovations. Their bathrooms are even older than mine, so this is a good learning process for me. These are institutional bathrooms that have to accommodate the handicapped. I'm not interested in the walk-in tubs they will have to install. However, to stay competitive homes/rehabs are now implementing spa like designs closer to what you would find in your home. The committee will chose the design and materials to be implemented.

jelj13:
You have my respect for being on the board of a nursing home/rehab center.
The walk-in tubs are very important, so I hope that you will have input into that aspect of the bathroom renovations.
If I may ask:
are you involved/on the board of the nursing home; through your church activities?
Either way, it's very charitable of you (and your fellow church congregation members), to take the time and effort .

I agree with Edwinyc.

The costs of a residential bathroom can be kept down or you can go for broke. For example, a shower curtain and rod will cost about $3000-4000 less than tempered glass frameless door and barrier. Bath faucets and shower head can be had for $200 or ten or twenty times that. If you get a nickel plated thermostatic valve with rain shower and hand held attachment in the more reasonable range, budget about $2000. Many great ceramic tile options that won't cost much at all. Want calcatta gold marble? Then that's a few thousand. Medicine chest? Well, Home Depot has them for $90 or you can pay $1500 for a Robern. So when people say $30,000-ish for a bathroom your size, it means the nicer finishes and more upscale finished product. But it can also be done on a strict budget for a very basic end product for perhaps $15,000. Primer's estimates are reliable--particularly for the mid to high end work he specializes in.

Based on the comps in the building, I have to go with at least mid end work. This is based on the bathrooms I have seen in apartments sold in the building over the past 5 years, both on StreetEasy and in person.

The apartment we bought lingered on the market for a year because it hadn't been upgraded since 1952, except for kitchen appliances in 1991. Think of pink tile in the bathroom with Peptop Bismal pink semi-gloss paint on the ceiling, walls, and door to boot. We have done nothing to the bathroom except paint it linen white for our own sanity and rewire.

I have been considering using a porcelain version of stone tile. We had to replace the floors in the bathrooms of the apartment we just sold. We used a porcelain version of calacatta gold and it looked pretty close while being easy to clean.

Before I put my last apartment on the market, I had to replace the bathroom floors because they were shot. I used a porcelain version of calacatta gold marble that the potential buyers loved.

Jelj13,

Nothing wrong with a nice porcelain tile. We have used them in 90% of the bathroom renovations we have done in the last 5 years. Nemo tile has a very nice selection.

I did bathroom work for around $15,000 but not high end with marble on all the walls, $1000+ faucets, etc. I would recommend searching online a website which finds you renovation contractors and there are a lot of new aggressive contractors who can do good work and work for half what Primer thinks is reasonable

$20k is plenty for a small bathroom, especially if not going overboard on the tub/fittings etc.
People in NY are oblivious to what things cost "in the real world"

If you live in NY, it is the real world for you.

Udderly

The real world? is that a TV show?

F1champ:

New aggressive contractors? Is that a good thing? Did you do a full gut renovation of your bathroom that cost 15k? What finishes did you buy?

I'm with Primer05 on this one, f1champ's numbers sound right if you use the budget buddy who's willing to take little margin, uses his friends for manpower and may or may not have proper insurance.

I just completed a very high-end gut bathroom renovation (substantially larger) with all the stupid fixings that kylewest suggested can tip the scale upward. (E.g. $8,000 on exotic marble tile throughout, custom wood paneling, wall-length 1/2" tempered glass door, 8 ft. custom vanity with 3cm marble slab...etc.). My GC's labor and his materials (drywall, plumber, electric) came in around $20k. He said I could "get away with" 12k for fixtures, tile...etc. Well, triple that and you get my $55k bathroom. and I was reasonable on fixtures (Restoration Hardware, not Kalista or Waterworks) tub, and toilet, all of which you can spend ten of thousands on if you wanted to.

$30k is a good number, and if you're lucky you'll come in lower by making some prudent cost decisions.

This is very interesting Primer05, I have a question. My apartment has what I would call a 3/4 bath --- it is about 3.5 x 5.5 with a stand up shower. I don't want to move any plumbing but simply want a new sink, toilet and to replace the floor/wall/shower tile and shower enclosure with mid-range finishes. Any idea what I am looking at ballpark?

Lz3: that's all you need for the reno. You can trust primer .

LZ3,

That still sounds like a complete renovation. I will still expect labor to be anywhere from 14-18k and then you have to purchase the finishes. That includes a licensed plumber and bringing all the branch lines back to the riser.

Nyc 10007 really explains it perfectly. Everything adds up and as crazy as it sounds for a bathroom renovation it is what it is.

Thanks Primer. I know you are trustworthy so I believe your estimate. I have re-done bathrooms before (albeit in the suburbs but a well-monied one) much larger than this and it is crazy that this is the realistic cost. It is literally small enough where I could demo all of the tile myself and remove the existing fixtures in about an hour but unfortunately, I live in NYC so if I want to do this properly, that is what this will cost. SMH.

When you look at the home renovation TV shows filmed in Las Vegas, certain areas of California, Texas, and Minnesota, the prices they list for the renovations are unbelievably low. On Flipping Las Vegas, Scott Yancy complains and whines throughout the show about the unexpected costs and his wife's unnecessary upscale design. I have to laugh when they list the total renovation cost at the end. They've put in a new kitchen (granite countertop), 2 bathrooms (various stone tiles and new pipes), new flooring (wood and tile), a new whole house a/c unit, and landscaping for what I paid to renovate a small kitchen in Manhattan. That's the way it goes ....

Once you add major plumbing and electrical the price hits 30K easily. If just redoing look (tiles, fixtures) the cost is really up to you for materials. Labor is pretty well fixed.

NYC10007, Curious: What was the size of your bathroom? I'm looking to do a renovation where the bathroom will end up being 8' by 16'.

Primer05 estimates are pretty accurate for a NYC bathroom. We usually give a $28-32K estimate for a complete bathroom reno. It all depends also if you are not changing things to significantly and the finish products you chose. Also condo and coop boards can be very stringent with bathrooms and might require some work that was not originally intended to be included in the renovation.

Viking gal,

Most bathrooms in Manhattan are 5 x7 so your bathroom will cost more. Not necessarily more for plumbing or electric but tiles and waterproofing, etc

I only want to replace the vanity, sink, faucet....keeping the same 24" footprint, don't want to disturb the existing tile. It's "old fashioned" but now, very "in." Also change the shower head and handle (the trim). The tub and toilet are fine. I can re-grout the shower tile. Does anyone do a small job like this?