Nobody can quote your bathroom over the phone. But you can understand what moves the number, and that's most of what you need before you start calling contractors.
Keeping the toilet, sink and shower where they are is dramatically cheaper than relocating them. Moving a drain means opening the floor, re-running waste lines and getting a permit. If your budget is tight, keeping the existing layout is the highest-leverage decision you can make. A cosmetic-layout remodel and a full reconfiguration are genuinely different projects.
In older Puget Sound homes, we routinely open a tub surround and find soft framing and a rotted subfloor. That repair isn't optional and it isn't cosmetic. Any honest estimate for an older home should include a contingency for what's found during demo, because tiling over compromised substrate is how you end up doing this twice.
Large-format tile and natural stone require a flatter substrate than small tile does. That means more floor leveling and float work before anything gets set. Two tiles at the same price per square foot can have meaningfully different installed costs.
Premium fixtures in a bathroom with unaddressed substrate problems. A high-end faucet doesn't help if the shower pan leaks. Spend on waterproofing, substrate and quality tile setting first — those are the things you cannot easily fix later. Fixtures can be upgraded anytime.
Ventilation. An undersized or unvented bath fan in a Pacific Northwest bathroom causes mold and finish failure. It's a small line item that protects everything else.
A written, itemized estimate after a site visit is the only meaningful number. Be suspicious of a quote given without someone looking at the space, and be suspicious of a bid that's dramatically lower than the others — it usually means something was left out.
These figures move with your specific house. In Puget Sound homes, the biggest single budget variable is almost always what's discovered during demo — older framing, failed waterproofing, or plumbing that needs replacing while the walls are open. We build a contingency into every estimate for exactly that reason, and we'd rather tell you about it up front than surprise you in week two.
We'll look at it, tell you honestly what it needs, and put an itemized estimate in writing. No charge, no pressure.
Get a Free Estimate 📞 (206) 396-2959No, and neither should anyone else. Without seeing the space, any number is a guess that will change. We do free site visits and give itemized written estimates.
Usually scope, not price gouging. One bid excludes demo and disposal, another includes substrate repair, a third assumes lower-grade materials. Insist on line items and the differences become obvious.
About the author: Veniamin Plotnikov is the owner of Builders Enterprise, Inc., a general contracting and remodeling company based in Renton, WA. He has worked in construction across the Puget Sound since 1998, including years specializing in natural stone and countertop fabrication.
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