Bathroom Remodel Costs

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The term green has a double-meaning for remodelers: eco-friendliness and dollars & cents. As with any home improvement project, first consider your budget. To complete a whole project, you’ll need to balance your personal finances with cost expectations.

The goal for bathroom remodeling is to invest approximately the amount that it'll add to the value of your home for reselling purposes - even if the point isn’t to sell your house. Optimally, you want to be able to get recouped for double the amount you spent on the bathroom. In order to determine how much a remodeled bathroom is worth, you’ll need to look at the real estate market in your area and possibly talk to an agent.

A good starting ballpark figure for a complete bathroom remodel project is $10,000. While that may seem steep for such a small area of your home, take into consideration how vital that room is to the house. It uses the majority of the home’s water supply and you spend a great deal of time grooming and relaxing there. Bathroom remodels are one of the costliest projects to undertake as far as labor costs go. Because of the arduous plumbing and electrical tasks, a good estimate for any project of this ilk is that you will likely spend 40 percent of your budget on bathroom products, materials and fixtures, and 60 percent on labor.

One way to keep labor costs at a minimum is to leave everything in its place. Moving plumbing pipes or electrical fixtures requires extra time in skilled labor as well as additional materials.

The materials themselves can vary widely in cost, depending on what scale your new bathroom will be. Basic water and electricity-saving fixtures will cost much less than upscale, luxury models. Keep in mind that the goal is to add value to your home, whether it be for your own family or to sell it to the next owners, so keeping to the bare minimum may not be in line with that objective. And it’s nice to have a little bit of luxury in a newly remodeled room.

The best way to determine costs is to have a few bathroom contractors come out and give you estimates. Before calling them, however, have a good idea of what you want - that way you can ensure they are estimating the same materials and design. Otherwise, you’ll be comparing apples to oranges when you look at their bids.

Also, be sure to ask them each to give you an itemized estimate so that you can see where their costs differ on specific items. Once you have estimates to compare, you’ll have a good idea of where you can reduce costs, as well as a better idea of whether or not your original budget was a reasonable one.

Don’t be in a hurry to remodel your bathroom in minimal fashion to cut corners. It’s better to save up for a little while longer or find ways to reduce costs and still get what you want - make it a bathroom you really care about.

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