Wise Budgeting for Bathroom Remodeling

by Stevem Moore
(Baltimore Maryland)

Today, individuals are more savvy, and weary when it comes to bathroom remodeling. Everyone knows that educated consumers get the right products, at the right price, and it seems like the general population is striving to become more educated. But the fact of the matter is, when it comes to picking a quality contractor for a bathroom remodeling job, and know the pricing of bathroom remodeling, most people are in the dark. So what are the guidelines for general pricing?

Well, before we get into that, lets establish a blind spot most people have when remodeling a bathroom. People think that they are only paying for material and labor when you are getting a bathroom remodeled by a contractor. That's not true... The contractor has to pay for a complex array of different services and products behind the scenes, that are worked in to the cost of the bathroom. This is unavoidable, and should be expected when remodeling a bathroom.

Contractors are people, and people make mistakes, so they have to work in enough flexible spending to cover for the inevitable little mistakes their employees make. At this point, most people think..They should pay for their own mistakes!

That is true when we speak of personal morals and values, but in the business world, you have to work with a large array of people. You never know what will happen, so marking up material 10%-20% on every job is better than going out of business... It's common practice.

That's just one aspect, they also have to pay for secretaries, marketing, legal services, auto repair, office furniture, even the trash cans! People do not see all of that when they look at the cost of the bathroom, they just think, Cost Of Material + Labor = Cost of Project. So just be aware that these things add up, and someone has to pay for them.



Now let us really look at the typical Cost + Labor equation, and see how much everything works out to (hypothetically).

Labor: It takes about three men working about fifty hours a week for two weeks to complete a total bathroom remodeling. Now we will use twenty dollars an hour as an average for a construction worker (I know that not all of them make that much, but the foreman makes about 25-30, the laborer about 20, and the helper about 10 dollars an hour, so it averages out)


$20 X 3 = $60 an hour total for three workers

$60 per hour X 2 weeks x 40 hours per week of non overtime pay (40 hours per person X 2 weeks) = $4,800 of non overtime pay

$4,800 + $1,800 (overtime pay, which amounts to $90 dollars an hour for 20 hours) = $6,600 in labor

Now add that to the typical $4,000 in material, and you have $10,400 just in labor and material costs

This is why the average cost for a bathroom renovation in the United States costs $16,000

**Note: if anyone tells you they will do a bathroom remodeling and renovation for $7,000... Beware.

As your budgeting for your bathroom remodeling project is set, remember that you should plan on spending about 5 to 10 percent of your home's value on a bathroom remodeling project. For example, let's say that you have a home valued at $200,000. This means you should plan to spend $10,000 to $20,000 on your bathroom remodeling project.

Now, lets discuss a good rule of thumb which will help you with your budget, no matter where you are in this country. Budget approximately 5%-10% of the value of your home for the bathroom remodeling project. So, if you have a 300,000 house, spend between $15,000 and $30,000 on your bathroom.

That being said, there is a method to choosing five or ten percent. If you have a $100,000 dollar home, you are going to spend about 10,000 dollars on your bathroom, because any less will mean you will have a very low-quality job done in your home, and you will make up for that "savings" when it falls apart. If you have a $10,000,000 estate, you will probably not spend a million dollars on a bathroom, unless you are tiling it with gold and diamonds. So be aware that if you are spending that kind of money on a bathroom, know that much of it is going to profit, and not to your bathroom.

So, I hope this article has given you a good perspective on how to budget for your bathroom remodeling project. Bathe well!

This article was brought to you by Budget Bath, a baltimore bathroom remodeling company. We hope you enjoyed our work!