The cost of a bathroom remodel is usually the first consideration when even contemplating the idea. What dollar amount should I set for my contingency budget? What parts of a bathroom remodel contribute most to the overall cost?
Asking questions like these helps you find out what matters most to you when remodeling your bathroom. You’ll learn how to account for the overall cost of your bathroom remodel by dividing your budget into categories based on the different elements involved with a bathroom remodel.
Organize Your Bathroom Remodel Budget
Building your budget this way helps you prioritize the essentials. For example, you can opt for a modest walk-in shower enclosure rather than a tub-shower combo, saving you money on the additional plumbing costs due to the extra fixtures.
Let’s keep it simple. Say you break your bathroom remodel budget into two categories, services required and fixtures and materials desired.
General Contracting Services
As you may have guessed, the process of completing a bathroom remodel involves a lot more than just the actual construction. While having creative bathroom design ideas of your own is great, you need an interior designer or sometimes even an architect to put your dream on paper.
Without the dimensions of your bathroom’s layout, you won’t know the correct amount of materials to order or whether or not you can fit your desired fixtures.
About 25-35% of your bathroom remodel budget should be allocated to the cost of labor. Some general contractors employ and subcontract all the bathroom remodeling services you’ll need for your project.
Hiring a contractor who recommends and schedules reputable bathroom remodelers and other servicemen, such as plumbers and electricians, excel at giving you a stress-free experience. This also helps streamline the process, reducing the total length of your remodeling timeline.
Know that you’ll require the general contractor to schedule and perform all the rough and final inspections, as well as obtain the necessary permits from your municipality’s building department.
You also need to keep in mind the certain types of niche labor you may require when remodeling your bathroom. Certain high-end countertop manufacturers have their own servicemen to perform delivery and installation.
When installing luxury porcelain tiles your general contractor may recommend a professional tiling company outside of his organization who specialize in that sort of labor.
And of course, for any rip and replace bathroom renovation, you’ll be paying for dumpster rentals and the cost of the demolition crew.
The Cost Of Bathroom Fixtures And Materials
Working with a designer and figuring out exactly what bathroom fixtures you not only want, but can comfortably accommodate, critically impacts how satisfied you are with the results. You don’t want to feel cramped inside your bathroom.
Even more important, you want adequate space between your bathroom fixtures. Imagine installing your new double-sink vanity, later finding out you can’t fully open the bottom doors. You end up scraping the finish off the corner of your wall, additionally resulting in a chip in the tiles.
Accounting for space ensures all your bathroom fixtures will operate correctly without interfering with each other. You want to ensure the rough plumbing of your current bathroom can accommodate any additional fixtures you want to add to your budget.
A common example is when you want to install a separate standing bathtub into a master bath. Of course, you already have the right plumbing configuration for your current walk-in shower, but you’ll need to run separate lines for the new tub.
Usually, adding additional plumbing lines for a separate bathtub is a simple procedure, but if your plumbing isn’t up to code or there’s a substantial problem with the system itself, this can have a significant impact on the overall cost of your bathroom remodel.
You also need to consider the quality tiers regarding different bathroom fixtures. While high-end luxury amenities like bidet-equipped toilets and pressure-controlled handheld shower heads are enticing, special features like these come with a high price tag.
Certain material options for tiles, countertops, and faucets can really jack up the overall price. Natural stone tiles are naturally cheaper than porcelain tiles. A quartz countertop is priced much higher than any prefabricated countertop brand. Faucets that use a bronze or brushed nickel finish are much more expensive than a stainless steel finish.
The cost of the bathroom fixtures and the selection of remodeling materials have a huge impact on the overall cost of your project. While labor and other remodeling services are generally a fixed cost, the price of fixtures and materials can vary drastically depending on your tastes and requirements.
Keep It Simple, Hire Perry Brothers Construction
While we showed you a bare-bones approach to organizing your bathroom remodeling budget, as you might’ve guessed, the process can get a lot more complicated depending on your organizational preferences and the scope of the work.
Working with a bathroom remodel contractor during the planning and budgeting stages of your project can really help you determine what you want vs what you can afford.
For advice, inspiration, or to get started on transforming your bathroom, your best bet is to hire Perry Brothers Construction, the most trusted general contractor in Massachusetts and New Hampshire for almost fifty years. Professional bathroom designers and remodelers who believe customer focus is everything and who only deliver exceptional results.
