Small Bath Remodel: ‘Handyman Special’ To Spa Bath Transformation

Even a small bath remodel can make a huge difference. Moving a window was key to being able to update this bathroom with more storage, better lighting and an improved layout. 

Small Bath Remodel

Summary

This bathroom was a poorly done “handyman special” done by the previous homeowner.

It was terrible. It lacked storage and proper lighting, the shower was moldy and impossible to clean and it just plain looked bad. Even though this was the master bathroom they almost never used it.

Main Issues With Current Space

The bathroom was an eyesore and the shower would not come clean no matter how hard they tried. The vanity was small and there was a lot of wasted space in the bathroom.

Project Goals

Though this was a small bath remodel it was the primary bath so they wanted to be a funcitional as possible.

Their list of goals included adding a pocket door, better storage, better ventillation and a nicer shower.  The big concerns were moving a window in a brick wall and adding the pocket door in a load bearing block wall.

Before Floorplan Vs After Floorplan

After: Large vanity, lots of light, great ventillation and a gorgeous shower with custom glass. 

Small Bath Remodel

Scope Of Work

This small bath remodel was a complete gut renovation. Critical Parts of this project were installing a pocket door in a block wall and moving a window in a brick wall at the front of the house. These were challenging elements but nothing we had not tackled before.

• New Shower with 1/2 wall and rain glass enclosure
• larger vanity with linen cabinet
• Upgrade toilet – same location
• Add ceiling lighting, bath fan and sconces at vanity
• New pocket door and custom storage with hamper
• New double hung window

Before / After Photos

Challenges And Solutions

There were a few challenges we knew about before starting and few surprises along the way.

We knew there was some wood rot in the shower area but because we did not know the extend of the damage we left that out of the contractor price and would address it as a change order after demo.

During demo the block wall turned out to be more of a challenge than expected there was some poured concrete mixed in with the block and the walls had been plastered with cement making demo more difficult.

So difficult in fact that our subcontracted demo crew quit on day 2! We had been working with this crew for more than a year and had done a dozen or more projects together but on this job they acted very unprofessionally. Needless to say we will not be hiring them again.

Fortunately though we had another demo partner who was able to respond quickly and we only lost a day of project time. The change in demo teams cost more money but of course we absorbed that. The new crew did a fantastic job.

The only other issue on the project was a backordered mirror. Even though we ordered the mirror 3 months before the project started it did not arrive until 2 weeks after the project was complete!  It’s a gorgeous mirror though so worth the wait.

Timeline

• Proposed project start date:  Oct 25th, 2022

•  Actual Project Start Date: Oct 25th, 2022

• Proposed Completion Date: Dec 7th, 2022

• Actual Completion Date: Dec 13th (except for a backordered mirror that did not arrive until 2 weeks later) 

Budget vs Final Price

The budget we presented for this project was $56,193. The final fixed price proposal we presented was for $$61,117, about 8% more than the original budget.

The main reasons for the increase was a material spluge on the rain glass shower enclosure (totally worth it) and labor costs came in a little higher than we projected.

There were a few change orders on the project so the final total was $62,804

Change Orders

From the beginning we were planning on a change order for the hidden woodrot we knew was in the shower. There were also two other change orders on this small bath remodel project.

• Change order to repair wood rot was $825
• The client requested a change order to replace the trim in the master bedroom which cost $755 (base, door and window trim).
• The client added some accessories which cost $106.

Small Bath Remodel

Materials and Fixtures:

• Cabinets Counters and hardware
  • RTA Cabinets from JSI Cabinetry
  • Silestone Eternal Gold Countertops installed by A1 Granite
  • Upton Door Style in Brown Stain Finish
  • Contemporary Metal Pull from Richelieu
• Shower and Tile
  • Bedrosians Cloe 2.5 x 8″ Ceramic Tile in baby blue for the Shower
  • Bedrosians Cloe 2.5″ x 8″ Ceramic Tile in White Outside the shower
  • Bath floor tile from Crossville Tile: Extract by Stile 12×24
• Fixtures and Accessories
  • Delta Linden Monitor Shower Fixtures
  • Kohler Hint Vanity Faucet
  • Fluted Glass Indoor/Outdoor Sconces from West Elm
  • Broan Flex 110 CFM Bath Fan
  • Vertical Rain Texture Shower Glass From Glass Pro Shop

Before Photos

Final Project Photos