Bathroom Remodel

[Skip]

Getting ridiculous bids on a jack/jill BR remodel so I'm wondering if I shouldn't piece the job out and just hire for specific work. The situation isn't bad just need new finishes and such. No rotten dry wall/flooring, pretty typical stuff on a mid 90s house in Highlands Ranch.

Things I want to do...

Demo
Install vanity, faucets, mix up supply lines :)
Install toilet
Install little things (towel rack/rod, etc)
Paint



Things I don't want to screw up (will hire out)...

Floor tile
Shower tile
Refinish older cast bathtub
Relocate sink supply lines (plumber) for vanity from floor to wall
Shower fixture, drain


Anyone have any thoughts, suggestions?

The bids are ranging from $6500 - $8700 and I suspect there is some "mark up" on materials because no one seems to want to be transparent on those costs. The last guy said he budgets X amount on materials, buys from Home Depot, and if he goes over adds the overage. Another company said we'd have to pick from their design studio only.

[crays]

Contact Bmac on here. That's right up his alley.

[Wulf202]

Refinishing. Todd @ h&h resurfacing or nu-finish in foco

But if you're doing the tub shoe also its only a savings of a hundred dollars to just replace the whole tub.

If you do that look at the grout/caulk free surrounds

Or by fixture do you mean trim kit? (Replacing what you see)

[Skip]

Contact Bmac on here. That's right up his alley.

Will do, thanks!

[Skip]

Refinishing. Todd @ h&h resurfacing or nu-finish in foco

But if you're doing the tub shoe also its only a savings of a hundred dollars to just replace the whole tub.

If you do that look at the grout/caulk free surrounds

Or by fixture do you mean trim kit? (Replacing what you see)

Thanks for the leads.

I have been told it would be close in dollars to just replace but it saves us the work of trying to pull it. We need a complete refinish not just trim. If the age wasn't bad enough we had a light fixture fall and chip some of the enamel right off. It was a freak thing and thankfully no one was hurt!

(I have replaced that light fixture ;) )

[fj605]

I'm in the same boat with a new bathroom. Looking like I'll be learning more about plumbing and tiling than I thought.

[ray1970]

I'm in the same boat with a new bathroom. Looking like I'll be learning more about plumbing and tiling than I thought.

I schooled myself in a similar fashion when I remodeled both of our bathrooms. Must have done a decent job because that was probably ten years ago and everything is holding up well. No cracks in the tile or grout or anything. I pretty much gutted both of them and installed all new everything, even put in a big jacuzzi tub in the downstairs bathroom. The tile was actually much easier than I thought it was going to be. The old tub in the upstairs bathroom was kind of a pain to remove but other than that everything went pretty smooth. I even replaced the entire sub floor upstairs.

[NFATrustGuy]

I DIY'd all 3 bath remodels at my Mom's house within the last 9 months. One was a complete tear out down to the studs. The other two were new flooring, vanity, toilet, baseboard, and doors... so everything but the tub and shower. On the complete tear out, I replaced a tub/shower with a fiberglass shower enclosure with a sliding glass door. The new vanity was from Menards up in Cheyenne and has a granite top with an undercount sink. The new toilet will flush a dozen golf balls or whatever (though I'm not sure I'd want to pass a dozen golf balls, so I'm not sure of the relevance). I tiled the wall above the shower enclosure all the way to the ceiling. The new fixtures for the sink and shower were American Standard. All told, I think I spent about $2500 on the one bathroom.

Your $6000+ estimates make me feel better about my efforts. I'll be sure to remind my mom how spoiled she is! :-)

Here's a pic of the tile. I hadn't installed the grout at this point. The blue is just the protective covering on the fiberglass shower.

68754

[encorehunter]

A lot depends on the materials you choose. If you are choosing tile that is $6 a foot, your price is significantly higher than $2 a foot. I had a bare concrete floor and stud in my master bath that is around 120 square ft. I used a claw foot tub that was in another bathroom.
For plumbing, I used PEX and sharkbite with plastic piping. Incidentally, I plumbed the house in about 6 hours using this system(kitchen, laundry, one bath and one exterior spigot, along with connections in water closet for second bath).
The tile, I ordered an inexpensive tile saw off Amazon, and used the hell out of it. I found some nice 18x18 tile on sale at Home Depot for $.99 a square foot. I bought extra because I knew I would mess some up. The wife chose a nice tile to go with the floor tile for the shower. It is 18x18 as well. If you are going to build a concrete floor pan, google it and good luck. I just couldn't bring myself to try it yet.
For small jobs, you would probably be best off finding a handyman. Some prices I have seen by contractors around here I thought were ridiculous. It is why I do most of my own work, even if I have to learn it and buy the tools.

[Skip]

[snip]

All told, I think I spent about $2500 on the one bathroom.

Your $6000+ estimates make me feel better about my efforts. I'll be sure to remind my mom how spoiled she is! :-)

Here's a pic of the tile. I hadn't installed the grout at this point. The blue is just the protective covering on the fiberglass shower.

68754


That looks awesome! You should feel very good about your $2,500!

I'm not afraid to spend on the skilled work for things that have a learning curve and I don't have time for (tile for example). So I'm okay spending there. I just get these estimates and think there is a lot of inflation somewhere but of course the contractors aren't really transparent.




A lot depends on the materials you choose. If you are choosing tile that is $6 a foot, your price is significantly higher than $2 a foot. I had a bare concrete floor and stud in my master bath that is around 120 square ft. I used a claw foot tub that was in another bathroom.
For plumbing, I used PEX and sharkbite with plastic piping. Incidentally, I plumbed the house in about 6 hours using this system(kitchen, laundry, one bath and one exterior spigot, along with connections in water closet for second bath).
The tile, I ordered an inexpensive tile saw off Amazon, and used the hell out of it. I found some nice 18x18 tile on sale at Home Depot for $.99 a square foot. I bought extra because I knew I would mess some up. The wife chose a nice tile to go with the floor tile for the shower. It is 18x18 as well. If you are going to build a concrete floor pan, google it and good luck. I just couldn't bring myself to try it yet.
For small jobs, you would probably be best off finding a handyman. Some prices I have seen by contractors around here I thought were ridiculous. It is why I do most of my own work, even if I have to learn it and buy the tools.

Absolutely and that is my problem with both bids. The first insisted we pick from their "design studio" with no idea of cost and no ability to shop around. The second just threw an estimate in the bid that isn't itemized with an understanding that if we go over that number, we pay more.

I'd rather just buy materials on my own and then pay for the labor (even at market rates) to have it done right.

Vanity, toilet, fixtures, paint, lighting are all things I can wrestle with. I want my money to go to the things that need to be done right; tile, drywall, etc.

[O2HeN2]

...Shower tile
Something you may want to consider instead is manstone or a similar product.

Pros: No grout to maintain, far easier to clean and maintain than tile.

Cons: More expensive.

O2

http://www.manstone.com/

[CS1983]

Tiling isn't hard. Watch some YouTube videos and see if you feel comfortable with it.

[Wulf202]

If they can't stand behind their bid don't go with them. If you want it itemized ask in the beginning.

Remodeling like brick and mortar stores has overhead. That free bid you got is rolled into the work. The design studios rent and utilities get rolled into your job. The guys truck costs is part of your bid.

[jslo]

Ridiculous, how? Bids are too high or differences between them? Who's pulling the permit? Who's insurance, if needed, will be used? If you're doing the demo, and other parts of the job, and some ting comes up that you're not ready, who pays?
I charge an hourly rate on labor and pass my direct cost, matrials and subs, on to my clients.
Doing this for over 25 years and I still find it amazing people don't question paying $90/hr to have their car repaired but question anything over $50/hr to work on their largest asset.

[ray1970]

I still find it amazing people don't question paying $90/hr to have their car repaired but question anything over $50/hr to work on their largest asset.

That's because vehicle repairs are complex and intimidating but anybody can do carpentry, plumbing and electrical.

[Sarcasm2]

[brutal]

Zombie thead.

Going to be doing 2 full baths and while I'm so far happy with the initial estimate and design/GC guy I'm using for our kitchen, and he sounded reasonable on the smaller bath (tub/tile/floor/small vanity sink top) he seemed very high on the MBR rough guestimate. Haven't seen anything on paper yet, due tomorrow. Small shower, new pan/door, floor tile, 6' vanity w/sinks - more floor tile. He was at least $5k over my high estimate. Said the tear out and prep was a metric ton of labor.

JSLO, you still doing this kind of work?

Anyone used BMAC? He hasn't logged on here for a long time.

[jslo]

Zombie thead.

Going to be doing 2 full baths and while I'm so far happy with the initial estimate and design/GC guy I'm using for our kitchen, and he sounded reasonable on the smaller bath (tub/tile/floor/small vanity sink top) he seemed very high on the MBR rough guestimate. Haven't seen anything on paper yet, due tomorrow. Small shower, new pan/door, floor tile, 6' vanity w/sinks - more floor tile. He was at least $5k over my high estimate. Said the tear out and prep was a metric ton of labor.

JSLO, you still doing this kind of work?

Anyone used BMAC? He hasn't logged on here for a long time.

I am, still plugging along

[BladesNBarrels]

Wow, you are getting people to come bid.
I wanted a bathroom installed in the basement - it is roughed in alreay.
Nope, too busy, too small a job, too, too, too!