How Much Does a Bathroom Remodel Cost?

Bathrooms are the most expensive room per square foot in a house. A small room with plumbing, waterproofing, tile, electrical, and ventilation packed into it costs more than a large room with none of that.

So the useful answer is by scope, not by average.

Tier one: finish carpentry and custom vanity, $4,000 to $8,000

This is the range on our bathroom remodeling page, and it is the work we do in our own shop.

A custom vanity built to your dimensions. A linen tower or recessed built-in storage. Wainscoting or paneling. New casing and baseboard rated for a wet room. A mirror frame, a medicine cabinet surround, and trim details that make the room feel finished.

Layout stays, plumbing stays, tile stays. This is the tier most homeowners skip past and then wish they had done first, because it changes how a bathroom feels without touching a single pipe.

Tier two: cosmetic refresh, roughly $8,000 to $20,000

Vanity, counter, mirror, fixtures, lighting, paint, and often floor tile. Plumbing stays in place, the tub or shower pan stays.

Tier three: full gut, same layout, roughly $25,000 to $50,000

Everything out to the studs in the wet areas. New shower pan and waterproofing, full tile, new fixtures, new vanity, electrical and ventilation brought current, new flooring. Permits on most of it.

Tier four: primary suite with layout changes, $50,000 and well up

Moving plumbing, converting a tub to a curbless walk-in shower, relocating walls, heated floors, a freestanding tub, and a fully custom vanity run. In this county that is regularly a six figure project once tile and fixture selections get real.

We are saying this plainly because a lot of contractors quote the low tier and let you assume it covers the high one. Our published $4,000 to $8,000 range is the finish carpentry and vanity scope. A full gut bath with tile, plumbing, and fixtures runs higher, and we will tell you that in the first conversation.

What actually drives the number

Moving plumbing. The biggest single jump. Relocating a toilet flange or a shower drain means opening the floor, and in a slab home that is concrete work.

Tile square footage and pattern. A floor to ceiling tiled shower is many times the labor of a wainscot height one. Herringbone, mosaic, and large format slabs each cost differently to set.

Waterproofing done right. A proper membrane system is not the place to save money. It is invisible and it is the difference between a shower that lasts twenty years and one that rots a wall.

Vanity. Stock, semi-custom, or built for the room. We cover that in custom vanity vs. store-bought.

Fixtures. The spread between a builder-grade valve set and a designer set is thousands, and it is entirely a selection decision.

Ventilation and electrical. Older tract baths frequently need a real exhaust fan, GFCI protection, and proper lighting circuits.

Where the money returns

If you are prioritizing, our honest order is this. Fix anything failing or unsafe first. Then the vanity and storage, because that is what you touch daily. Then lighting. Then tile and finishes.

A bathroom with a beautiful tiled shower and a wobbly stock vanity feels unfinished. The reverse rarely does.

Why we build vanities in the shop

The same shop that produced the Brewster built-in in Temecula, $12,998 for a maple cabinet base with shaker doors, a nickel-gap backer, and grain-wrapped cherry floating shelves, builds our vanities. Same joinery, same hardware, same finish standards, sized to your wall rather than to a catalog increment.

That is why our bathroom scope leads with millwork. It is what we actually make.

Holland & Sons Construction is led by 35 years of hands-on carpentry experience. Family-run, Brian Holland with his sons Wyatt and Waylon. CSLB #1123738, B General Building. We serve Menifee, Temecula, Murrieta, Corona, Norco, Riverside, Wildomar, Winchester, Eastvale, Lake Elsinore, and Moreno Valley.

If you want a scope-honest number for your bath, call (951) 338-8058 or start a conversation.