Bath Remodeling Services in Southlake, TX

Scope runs along a line, not down a menu

Most homeowners arrive with a picture rather than a scope. Something in the room has aged badly, a plan forms around fixing it, and the money question gets asked before anyone has said what the work touches. Two bathrooms that look alike in a photograph can differ completely behind the tile.

Picture the work as a line. At one end sits a finishes-only update: paint, lighting, a mirror, a countertop, sometimes a vanity that reuses the plumbing already there. Nothing opens. At the other end sits a room stripped to the studs, with the tub, the shower and the toilet all arriving somewhere new. Between them sit replacement in place, where a shower takes the old tub's footprint and drain, and a partial layout change, where a single fixture shifts.

The further along that line a project sits, the more trades it needs and the longer the room is out of use. Placing your own project on it before anyone quotes it is the most useful hour you can spend.

The question that splits the line in half

Does any plumbing move? Ask it fixture by fixture rather than about the room as a whole.

A toilet is usually the most consequential fixture to relocate, because a waste line is larger and needs a consistent fall to drain. A vanity can often shift a short distance, though the wall behind it has to open. Moving a shower or a tub generally means opening the floor, and a slab-on-grade house makes that a different job from the same move upstairs. What is possible depends on how the house was built, so it is a question to settle with us standing in the room.

Permits follow the same split. Work that alters plumbing or electrical commonly requires one, while a cosmetic refresh often does not. We are responsible for the work meeting code, and the permit is normally pulled by whoever performs it. Put in writing who pulls it and who meets the inspector before demolition starts, and confirm anything unclear with the city yourself.

What moves the price of a quote

No web page can price a bathroom. What it can do is name the things that move the number, so you can see which of your own choices is driving it.

• How much moves: a relocated drain or a new circuit costs hours a swap never touches.
• Tile size and area. Large format and small mosaic set at very different speeds.
• The waterproofing behind the tile, which decides whether the wall survives.
• Glass, templated only once the tile is set, which adds a wait at the end.
• Cabinetry. Stock, semi-custom and custom differ in both price and lead time.
• What turns up once walls open: tired supply lines, a soft subfloor, a floor out of level.
• Whether the household stays put, since protection, containment and cleanup are line items.

Settle the scope in writing first, then read the price against it item by item rather than as one total. A total that drops usually means something has come out of the scope, and the gap reappears as a change order later. Ask us to show the items separately.

What moves the calendar

Materials rule the schedule more often than labor does. A special-order vanity, a tile that has to ship, or glass that cannot be templated until the walls are tiled will each hold a room open while nothing happens in it, so have every selection made and delivered before demolition day.

As a planning range and nothing more: a finishes-only refresh is often measured in days, replacing a shower on its existing footprint commonly runs a couple of weeks, and a room taken to the studs with fixtures moving usually runs several weeks. Those are typical durations for the type of work rather than commitments, and the dates for your room get set once the scope is settled.

Which room goes out of use, and when

Households plan around the room, not around the trade. Decide which bathroom stops working and where the people using it go instead. If the house has a single full bathroom, sequencing matters more than any other part of the plan. If there is a spare, doing the spare first gives everyone somewhere to go while the main room is open.

Trades start early, dust travels further than you expect, and water goes off with little notice. Check the weeks you expect the room to be open against school terms, holidays and visitors.

What a written scope should contain

Settle this much detail before anything is priced, so the quote and the room actually match.

• What is removed, what is reused and what is new, fixture by fixture, with models named.
• Who buys the materials, and what happens when a chosen item is unavailable.
• The waterproofing method behind the tile, named rather than assumed.
• Who pulls the permit and who is present for inspections.
• How a change order is priced and approved, in writing, before that work starts.
• A payment schedule tied to completed milestones rather than to the deposit.
• Daily start and finish times, material storage, and who clears up.

Ask us as well for the license number covering any trade the job requires, and check it with the state yourself. Ask for the certificate of insurance to reach you from the insurer.

Read about the project you have

Each page below takes one type of project and covers what it involves and what tends to complicate it. If none of the five is an obvious fit, describe the room in your own words instead and read our overview of Southlake bath remodeling first.