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Bathroom remodel cost
A bathroom is the most expensive room in a house per square foot, and it is density rather than luxury — every trade in the house works inside 40 square feet. Refreshing one is around $5,600; replacing everything in the same layout is $12,800, and the difference is that the tile comes off. This allocates a budget by trade, counts the days as well as the money, and names the one line that is invisible when it is finished.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-22 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
Forty square feet, every trade in the house
A bathroom costs two to three times a kitchen per square foot, and it is density rather than luxury. What sets the tier is whether the wet area opens up — because that is where the waterproofing lives and it is the half nobody can see.
A full bathroom is usually 35 to 60. A powder room is 15 to 25.
New floor, new tub or shower with a new surround, new vanity, new everything — all landing where the old ones were. The wet area opens up, so the waterproofing is renewed, which is the part that matters and the part nobody sees.
A proper vanity with a stone top, porcelain tile, a decent shower valve, a quiet fan. This is what the national average figure describes.
Eighteen. Old enough that the shower pan may have been leaking gently for a decade, new enough that the pipework is recognisable.
It changes which number governs the project. There is no microwave equivalent for a bathroom.
Without one, mechanical ventilation is a code requirement rather than a preference.
Optional. A bathroom generally returns what it costs up to about ten per cent of the home's value.
Used only to pick a regional labour rate. It stays in your browser.
Replace — same layout
$15,104
$10,384 – $19,824 · $320 a ft² · 12 days
This is a budget, not an estimate
It divides a bathroom of this scope between trades, so you can brief a job and spot a quote that is the wrong shape. Every line below with a page behind it links to the calculator that works it out from your own measurements.
How it adds up
The contingency runs higher than a kitchen’s on purpose. Eighteen. Old enough that the shower pan may have been leaking gently for a decade, new enough that the pipework is recognisable.
Where the money goes
Installed cost, so each trade already carries its own labour. Click a line to work that one out properly.
| Trade | Share | Budget | Calculate it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tile — floor and wet wallsThe biggest line once anything comes off, and the one where the labour dwarfs the material — a shower wall is a day of cutting around a valve and a niche, whatever the tile cost. | 20% | $2,560 | Tile |
| Tub or showerRefinishing in a refresh, a new unit once the wall is open. It is also the fixture that decides whether the bathroom is usable by everybody who lives there. | 16% | $2,048 | Bathtub |
| Vanity and topThe visible half of a bathroom and the easiest thing to change on its own. In a refresh it is most of the budget; in a gut it is a line like any other. | 13% | $1,664 | Bathroom vanity |
| PlumbingThe line that defines the tier. Fixtures that stay put are connections; a drain that moves needs fall, and fall means opening the floor. | 12% | $1,536 | not ours |
| ToiletThe cheapest fixture in the room and the one with the best payback, because an old one is pouring money down itself every day. | 5% | $640 | Toilet |
| Waterproofing the wet areaThe membrane behind the tile and under the pan. It is a small line, it is completely invisible when finished, and it is the single thing that decides whether this bathroom lasts twenty years or ruins the ceiling below. | 5% | $640 | not ours |
| Taps, valve and accessoriesThe shower valve is the one that matters — it is behind the tile for ever, so it is the last thing to economise on and the first thing people do. | 7% | $896 | not ours |
| Electrical, lighting and the fanLighting, a GFCI circuit, and the extractor fan — which is a code item, is almost always undersized, and is what decides whether the new bathroom grows mould in the corners. | 8% | $1,024 | Recessed lighting |
| Walls, ceiling and subfloorPatching in a refresh; cement board, moisture-resistant board and often a new subfloor once it opens up. Bathroom floors have usually been wet at some point. | 7% | $896 | Drywall |
| Design, permits and managementDrawings, permit, inspections and somebody sequencing six trades through a room two people cannot stand in at once. | 5% | $640 | not ours |
| Everything elseSkip hire, protecting the route through the house, the mirror, the towel rail, and the second trip to the merchant that every job has. | 2% | $256 | not ours |
The lines without a page are the ones that are not really products: plumbing labour, waterproofing, brassware and professional fees. The waterproofing is the one to notice — a few per cent, entirely invisible once tiled, and the single item that decides whether this bathroom lasts.
Four tiers, in money and in days
Same room, same finish level, in all four.
Worth knowing
- This is a budget allocation, not an estimate. It says how a bathroom of this scope divides between trades so you know what to brief and which quote is the wrong shape, and every line with a page behind it links to the calculator that works it out properly from your own measurements.
- A bathroom costs two to three times a kitchen per square foot, and the reason is density rather than luxury: every trade in the house works inside 40 ft². It is also why everything becomes a "while we're at it" — retiling a 40 ft² floor is a rounding error against the rest of the job, so it always gets done.
- The tiers are steps rather than a slope. Going from "replace — same layout" to "change the layout" adds about $8,968 and 6 days, and what triggers it is one thing: moving the toilet, the shower or a wall.
- The wet area is coming open, which means the waterproofing gets renewed — about 5 per cent of the budget and completely invisible when it is finished. Cement board is stable when wet. It is not waterproof — water passes straight through it. The wet area needs a bonded membrane over the board, or a sheet system, and it is impossible to tell from the finished tile whether anybody bothered. It is a few hundred dollars on a job of many thousands and it is the difference between a bathroom that lasts and a ceiling that comes down. Ask which system is being used and ask to see it before the tile goes on, because that is the only moment anybody ever can.
- Ventilation: 50 cfm for a room this size, and with no openable window it is a code requirement rather than a nicety. A bathroom without an openable window needs mechanical ventilation, ducted to the outside — not into the loft, which is where a startling number of them go. The rule of thumb is one cubic foot a minute per square foot with a floor of 50, and the fan that is already there is almost certainly below it and almost certainly noisy enough that nobody runs it. Budget $360 and check where the duct actually goes.
- Contingency here is 18 per cent — $2,304 — and it runs higher than a kitchen's for a reason. Eighteen. Old enough that the shower pan may have been leaking gently for a decade, new enough that the pipework is recognisable.
On this page — 4 sections
Forty square feet with every trade in the house inside it
The short version
- Two to three times a kitchen per square foot, and it is density rather than luxury.
- The tier is set by whether the wet area opens. From $5,600 to $12,800 on the same 40 ft² room.
- If it is the only bathroom, the days govern — 3 against 25.
- The waterproofing is 5 per cent and invisible, and it is the only line whose failure is structural.
A bathroom is the most expensive room in a house per square foot, and people assume that is about marble. It is not. It is that every trade in the house has to work inside 40 square feet — plumber, electrician, tiler, waterproofer, plasterer, carpenter — and none of them get cheaper for having less room to do it in.
It is also why a bathroom budget creeps in a way a kitchen budget does not. Retiling a 40 square foot floor is a rounding error against the rest of the job, so it always gets done. So does the paint, and the fan, and the towel rail. In a room this small everything is a “while we’re at it”, and the sum of them is real money.
| Tier | 40 ft² | Days | Wet area opens | What takes you to the next one |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refresh — fixtures and paint | $5,600 | 3 | no | Taking the tile off |
| Replace — same layout | $12,800 | 12 | yes | Moving the toilet, the shower or a wall |
| Change the layout | $20,400 | 18 | yes | Going back to the studs, or taking in space |
| Down to the studs | $30,000 | 25 | yes | Structural work, or stealing a room next door |
Mid-range finishes, before contingency. The step between the first and second rows is the one to look at — it is where the tile comes off.
$12,800
Replace in place
40 ft², mid-range
$7,600
What moving the toilet adds
A drain needs fall, so the floor opens
20%
Tile
The largest line, and mostly labour
5%
Waterproofing
Invisible, and the one that matters
MaterialsEstimator, Bathroom remodel budget survey — by scope tier and by trade · checked 2026-09-22
The expensive half is behind the tile
In a kitchen, the hidden cost is moving the sink. In a bathroom it is something you cannot see at all and cannot check afterwards, and it is worth understanding before anybody quotes.
Cement board is stable when wet. It is not waterproof — water passes straight through it. The wet area needs a bonded membrane over the board, or a sheet system, and it is impossible to tell from the finished tile whether anybody bothered. It is a few hundred dollars on a job of many thousands and it is the difference between a bathroom that lasts and a ceiling that comes down.
That is the whole of it. It is a few hundred dollars on a job of many thousands — 5 per cent of this budget — and when it is done the finished bathroom looks identical either way. There is no test a homeowner can run and no sign to look for. The tile is beautiful and the wall behind it is either protected or it is not.
| Done properly | Cement board and hope | |
|---|---|---|
| What is behind the tile | A bonded membrane or sheet system | Cement board, which water passes through |
| Cost difference | About 5% of the budget | Nothing saved that matters |
| How it looks finished | Identical | Identical |
| Year one | Fine | Fine |
| Year five | Fine | A stain on the ceiling below |
| The fix | — | All the tile off, and everything under it |
The other things that are behind tile for ever
- The shower valve. It is buried for the life of the bathroom, so it is the last thing to economise on and the first thing people do.
- The pan or the tray, and the way it is bonded to the membrane. A tiled pan is where a bad membrane shows first.
- Blocking for a grab rail, whether or not one is going in now. Framing it while the wall is open costs almost nothing; adding it later means opening the wall.
- The niche, which has to be waterproofed as part of the wall rather than as a shelf added to it.
- Any pipework that runs in an outside wall, which in a cold climate wants insulating behind it.
- The subfloor, if it turns out to have been wet. This is the commonest find and the reason the contingency is what it is.
- The duct from the extractor fan, which must reach the outside and frequently stops in the loft.
- Electrical for anything on the wet wall, which has to be arranged around the membrane rather than through it.
Where the money goes
Once the tier is settled, a bathroom divides between trades in a way that stays surprisingly consistent — and differs from a kitchen in one obvious respect: no single line dominates the way cabinets do.
Every figure is installed cost, materials and labour together, which is why there is no separate labour line.
| Trade | Refresh | Replace | Change the layout | Down to the studs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tile — floor and wet walls | 6% | 20% | 18% | 16% |
| Tub or shower | 14% | 16% | 15% | 14% |
| Vanity and top | 22% | 13% | 12% | 11% |
| Plumbing | 8% | 12% | 18% | 19% |
| Toilet | 8% | 5% | 4% | 4% |
| Waterproofing the wet area | — | 5% | 5% | 6% |
| Taps, valve and accessories | 16% | 7% | 6% | 6% |
| Electrical, lighting and the fan | 10% | 8% | 9% | 10% |
| Walls, ceiling and subfloor | 8% | 7% | 6% | 11% |
| Design, permits and management | 4% | 5% | 5% | 2% |
| Everything else | 4% | 2% | 2% | 1% |
Read across a row to see what each trade does as the scope grows. The vanity falls from most of a refresh to a line like any other; plumbing more than doubles.
International Code Council, International Residential Code — R303.3 and M1505, bathroom ventilation (2021) · checked 2026-09-22
What goes wrong
01Not asking about the waterproofing
Cement board is not waterproof, the finished bathroom looks identical either way, and the failure appears years later as a stain on the ceiling below.
Instead — Ask which system, and ask to see it before the tile goes on. It is the only moment anybody can, and a photograph settles it for ever.
02Remodelling the only bathroom without a plan for washing
12 to 25 days with nowhere to wash, and there is no equivalent of a microwave. It is discovered on day three, which is too late to arrange anything.
Instead — Decide where everybody washes before the first tile comes off. And consider whether a refresh at 3 days answers the actual complaint.
03Treating the tiers as a smooth scale
They are steps. The wet area opening triples the budget over a refresh, and moving a drain adds a floor job and an inspection on top of that.
Instead — Decide what moves first and price that tier. Two honest quotes for different tiers can be three times apart and both be right.
04Economising on the shower valve
It is behind tile for the life of the bathroom. It is also the one component where failure means taking the wall apart rather than swapping a part.
Instead — Spend there and save on the tile, the fittings or the vanity — all three are replaceable in a weekend by comparison.
05Carrying a kitchen-sized contingency
Bathroom floors have usually been wet at some point, and nobody finds out until the tub is out and the tile is off. A twelve per cent allowance on a pre-1980 house is optimistic.
Instead — 25 per cent on anything older than 1980, in the budget from the start rather than as an argument later.
06Leaving the extractor fan out
It is a code item without an openable window, it is almost always undersized, and it is what decides whether the new bathroom grows mould in the corners within two winters.
Instead — One cfm per square foot with a floor of 50, ducted to the outside — and check where the duct actually goes, because a startling number stop in the loft.
07Moving the toilet because it would look better
A drain needs fall — about a quarter of an inch per foot — so moving a toilet even three feet means opening the floor to rerun the waste, and that brings a permit and an inspection.
Instead — Price it as the tier change it is before agreeing to it. Sometimes it is worth it; it is never incidental.
08Skipping blocking for a grab rail
While the wall is open it is a piece of timber and ten minutes. Afterwards it is taking tile off a waterproofed wall, which is most of a bathroom.
Instead — Frame it in now whether or not anybody needs it yet. It costs nothing and it is the one future-proofing decision in a bathroom that is genuinely free.
- 01Decide whether the wet area opensThat is the line between a refresh and everything else. If the tile comes off, the waterproofing is renewed and the budget roughly triples.
- 02Count the bathrooms in the houseIf this is the only one, the days matter more than the money and the scope should be chosen accordingly. There is no microwave equivalent for a bathroom.
- 03Measure the roomFloor area is enough for a budget. A full bathroom is usually 35 to 60 square feet, and a powder room with no wet area is a different animal entirely.
- 04Read the allocation as a briefTile around a fifth, the tub or shower around a sixth. If a quote puts the vanity above a quarter of a full remodel, something has been left out.
- 05Calculate the big lines properlyTile first, because it is the largest and most misquoted, then the tub or shower. Both are pages here.
- 06Add contingency as a line, and more than a kitchenTwelve to twenty-five per cent depending on the age of the house. Bathroom floors have usually been wet.
- 07Insist on seeing the waterproofingBefore the tile goes on. It is the only moment anybody ever can, and it is the item that decides whether this lasts twenty years.
Tile is about a fifth of a full bathroom and it is mostly labour — a shower wall is a day of cutting around a valve and a niche. That page works out tile, thinset and grout from the trowel the tile actually needs, and prices the waterproofing separately, because it is separate.
Start with the largest line- Wet area
- The shower or tub enclosure and the walls around it. Whether this opens up is what separates the cheap tiers from the expensive ones, because that is where the waterproofing lives.
- Waterproof membrane
- A bonded sheet or liquid layer behind the tile and under the pan. Cement board is stable when wet and is not waterproof — water passes straight through it — and this is the layer that stops it.
- Scope tier
- How much of the bathroom moves. Four tiers, each adding a trade the one below it did not need, and each one a step rather than a point on a scale.
- Installed cost
- Materials and the labour to fit them together. Every figure here is on that basis, which is why there is no separate labour line in the allocation.
- Fall
- The slope a drain needs to run — about a quarter of an inch per foot. It is why moving a toilet three feet is a floor job rather than a plumbing job.
- CFM
- Cubic feet a minute, the measure of an extractor fan. The code minimum is 50 intermittent for a bathroom without an openable window, and the rule of thumb is one per square foot.
- Contingency
- Money set aside for what is found once the tile comes off. In a bathroom it runs higher than a kitchen, because bathroom floors have usually been wet at some point.
- Shower valve
- The mixing valve behind the tile. It is buried for the life of the bathroom, so it is the last thing to economise on and the first thing people do.
- Subfloor
- The structural deck under the finished floor. In a bathroom it is the thing most likely to have been quietly damp for years, and the thing nobody can assess until demolition.
- Powder room
- A bathroom with no shower or tub — usually 15 to 25 square feet. No wet area means no waterproofing and a completely different budget.
- Cost to value
- The remodel as a share of the home's worth. A bathroom generally returns what it costs up to about 10 per cent; past that it is being bought for its own sake.
- Sequencing
- The order the trades come in. In a room two people cannot stand in at once, it is most of what a contractor is actually managing.
Common questions
- How much does a bathroom remodel cost?
- For a typical 40 square foot bathroom at mid-range finishes: around $5,600 to refresh the fixtures and paint without touching the tile, $12,800 to replace everything in the same layout, $20,400 if the toilet or the shower moves, and $30,000 back to the studs. Those are four different jobs rather than four points on a scale, and the thing that moves you between them is whether the wet area opens up.
- Why does a bathroom cost more per square foot than a kitchen?
- Because of density rather than luxury. Every trade in the house works inside 40 square feet — plumbing, electrical, tiling, waterproofing, drywall, carpentry — and none of them get cheaper for having less room to do it in. It is also why everything becomes a "while we're at it": retiling a 40 square foot floor is a rounding error against the rest of the job, so it always gets done.
- What is the biggest cost in a bathroom remodel?
- Tile, at about 20 per cent once anything comes off — and it is labour rather than material. A shower wall is a day of cutting around a valve, a niche and a curb, whatever the tile cost per square foot. The tub or shower is next at about 16 per cent.
- How long does a bathroom remodel take?
- 3 days for a refresh, 12 to replace everything in the same layout, 18 for a layout change and 25 back to the studs. If it is the only bathroom in the house, that number governs the project rather than the budget — and dropping a tier is a far bigger lever on the calendar than any finish choice.
- What is the waterproofing and why does it matter so much?
- Cement board is stable when wet. It is not waterproof — water passes straight through it. The wet area needs a bonded membrane over the board, or a sheet system, and it is impossible to tell from the finished tile whether anybody bothered. It is a few hundred dollars on a job of many thousands and it is the difference between a bathroom that lasts and a ceiling that comes down. It is about 5 per cent of the budget, which is why it is so easy to leave out, and it is the only line where the consequence of getting it wrong is structural.
- Do I need a permit for a bathroom remodel?
- Not usually for replacing fixtures in place. Almost always once plumbing moves, a circuit is added or a wall comes out. It matters more in a bathroom than most rooms, because unpermitted work involving drains and waterproofing is exactly what a survey looks for, and putting it right retrospectively means taking the tile off again.
- How much contingency should I allow?
- 12 per cent for a house built after 2000, 18 per cent for a house 1980 to 2000, 25 per cent for a house before 1980 — higher than the equivalent figures for a kitchen. The reason is specific: bathroom floors have usually been wet at some point, and nobody finds out until the tile is off and the tub is out.
- Is a bathroom remodel worth it for resale?
- Up to about 10 per cent of the home's value, generally yes — and a dated bathroom puts off more buyers than a dated kitchen, because it reads as a hygiene problem rather than a style one. Past that band it stops returning what it costs, which makes it a purchase rather than an investment. Both are legitimate; they are just different decisions.
- What size extractor fan do I need?
- About one cubic foot a minute per square foot, with a floor of 50 — so 50 cfm for a 40 square foot bathroom. Without an openable window it is a code requirement rather than a preference. The rule of thumb is one cubic foot a minute per square foot with a floor of 50, and the fan that is already there is almost certainly below it and almost certainly noisy enough that nobody runs it.
- Can I remodel a bathroom while living in the house?
- If there is a second bathroom, comfortably. If there is not, there is no equivalent for a bathroom. if it is the only one in the house, the number that governs the project is the days, and the honest options are a portable arrangement, a very understanding neighbour, or staying somewhere else for the duration. Plan that before the first tile comes off rather than on day three, and consider whether a refresh at 3 days answers the actual complaint.
- What should I not economise on in a bathroom?
- The waterproofing and the shower valve, in that order. Both are buried behind tile for the life of the room, so neither can be improved later without undoing everything in front of them. Tile, fittings and the vanity are all replaceable in a weekend by comparison — economise there if the budget is tight.
- Is this calculator an estimate?
- No, and deliberately so. It is an allocation: it shows how a bathroom of this scope divides between trades so you can brief a job and recognise a quote that is the wrong shape. Every line with a page behind it links to the calculator that works that trade out properly, and those numbers should replace these as soon as you have them.
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About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
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