Every day someone on the Nextdoor app is soliciting help, venting about the exorbitant costs of renovating some space or another. Bathrooms are a constant source of distress for many homeowners. I usually scan the comments section, looking for signs of reasonable persons, before inserting my two cents. Let’s keep it real–I’m not even wasting my time or energy responding if the thread is full of uninformed persons who just want an audience, overzealous tradesmen, and neighbors who won’t listen to reason or accept my reasoning as an Interior Stylist and Renovation Specialist. I usually keep my thoughts to myself and exit the app.
On the rare occasion I encounter persons who I think might listen, I drop a few knowledge nuggets and leave. I would like to engage people in many a forum, to sort of get my name out there and drum up some business; however, you know I’m of the opinion that we as pros must screen our potential clients as they would screen us as providers. All money aint good money. And not all clients will respect that you are a specialist, with years of experience and costs associated with the training, licenses, insurance and bond you most likely pay for monthly–even though they make it explicitly clear they want a professional who is all the above. The customer pool is full of folks who want something for nothing, and those who simply don’t have a clue how any of this works.
Today, I choose to come in peace. I figure I should outline exactly what goes into a project like a bathroom renovation so my neighbors and potential clients will better understand why the cost is neither simple nor small in most cases. Exhibit A: 2021 bathroom renovation in Cheltenham MD.
First things first: Demo. Everything (usually) must go. Someone must carefully remove the old fixtures, tiles and adhesive from the floor and walls before the project can commence. The space is usually taken down to the studs and subfloor.
Occasionally, a client will keep the current bathtub, saving a few hundred dollars on the cost of the new tub or tile and labor that would replace the tub. Demo can take hours or days, and the workers are compensated at a daily or hourly rate, depending on the contractor employing them. Who pays for the dumpster/disposal? The client, of course.
Next comes the plumbing. If you’re keeping all the fixtures in the same places (toilet, shower head, tub, sink, etc), you’ll just need a few tweaks behind the wall to bring it up to today’s building code specifications. This part is performed by a plumbing specialist who likely pays fees for being licensed, bonded, and insured. They charge you for using all of that on your project.
Depending on the age of your pipes, some or all of the skeleton will need to be replaced and secured. Oftentimes, though, the prior plumbing job will have issues you couldn’t see behind the wall. Like in this case, a missing access panel behind the bathtub–which we corrected. And your new showerhead/tub combo will likely not fit the existing valve. You’ll need a new one that fits that particular fixture. Pro tip: Always buy a shower fixture with the valve included.
After your plumbing corrections are done in the wall(s), the new drywall/cement board enclosure can go up and get prepped. More extensive plumbing jobs like relocations and reconstructions can take several days to complete. There are endless valves, elbows, adapters, couplings, fittings, drains, etc that make this skeleton work. And they’re pretty costly when you put it all together.
You’re likely paying this specialist a rate that factors in location, transportation/fuel costs, time, materials and expertise, but you’ll probably see a single figure in your contract. Oh, and did you need any electrical moved or updated with that? Maybe a new fan installed? Dimmer switch or something? That’s another specialist, likely with an hourly rate, along with materials, license, insurance and bond, plus transportation costs….
If all goes well, you could realistically see your new bathroom start to take shape in less than a week. That beautiful, custom, glossy or matte, expressive tile with the perfect shape can go down on the floor with the adhesive, and set up for a couple of days. Once that dries enough to walk on, your wall tile can start to go up. Yes, a specialist installs that for you too. He’s very precise about alignment and symmetry and such.
A few days later you will see grout go on, and paint go up….
It’s going to be awesome! You can start to get excited, because you can SEE it now. It’s starting to make sense to you….
Here’s where I come in. Well, if you hired me, I was overseeing the entire project–planning, personnel, purchasing, production and presentation. Now I’m actually putting your space together by hand, the way we discussed, with all the personalized touches I promised you. The lighting, double showerhead, vanity/sink, new toilet, accessories, textiles, decor, etc are all in place and the water is turned back on.
Wow, it’s everything you ever dreamed…. Fresh, bright, clean, ready for you to show it off and enjoy it. It’s all yours. And you don’t even mind that you had to pay me too, because you didn’t have to deal with all the surprises, issues, supply shortages and delays. All you had to do was tell me how you wanted the space to function and feel for you, then choose from a few colors and materials. I took care of the rest.
Enjoy your beautiful, new, customized bathroom, courtesy of The Signature Movement.