Bathroom remodels here in Salt Lake City are among the most exciting and fulfilling home improvement jobs that you can do. They are also, almost invariably, the most expensive ones. The reason is not that contractors deceive you by lowballing the price, nor that it is impossible to estimate materials accurately. It is simply that most homeowners here in Salt Lake or The Avenues do not know the right questions to ask when they first engage in discussions.
Even before the demolition starts — whether you are planning bathroom remodeling in Salt Lake City or anywhere else in the country — here are the questions that you should discuss with yourself first.
Why Is My Contractor’s Quote So Different from What I Actually Pay?
The answer lies in the nature of an estimate. It is merely a picture at a given moment, not a fixed commitment. It represents only those things that your contractor is able to see, measure, and plan for at the point in time when it is being done. What it cannot predict is the state of what is concealed behind your walls, under the subfloor, or in the very thoughts of how the project might change.
Here is the thing that most people find quite shocking: the quote does not get updated when your scope changes. Whenever you say “while you’re at it” or “can we just add…” you are creating a change order, whether it is written or not. A heated towel bar here. A rainfall showerhead there. A better vanity because the original one looked smaller in person. None of these are bad decisions individually. But collectively, they’re how a $18,000 bathroom becomes a $24,000 one.
The solution: finalize the scope of work before the work begins, and consider every change as a formal decision with a real price attached. Additionally, watch out for companies that offer financing as the interest rates can often be above 10%.
What Are the Costs Nobody Actually Warns Me About?
The ones that hurt the most are not even the obvious ones on your list— they are the ones that pop up only when you remove the walls.
Old plumbing that is so corroded that it cannot be used anymore. A slow leak situation behind the shower has been causing the rotting of the subfloor for quite a few years. Mold found during demo that not only has to be removed, but also has to be done legally and before anything can proceed. These situations are not the worst-case ones — they are actually very frequent discoveries in bathrooms that have not been renovated in a decade or more. Besides, unlike finish selections, you don’t get to choose whether or not to fix them.
Another one is permits. Say you are moving plumbing or electrical at your remodel — even just slightly — the chances are that permits will be required. They cost money, they take time, and if you don’t get them, a potential problem can arise during a future house sale.
And there is also the showroom effect: the invisible budget leak that occurs when you are looking at gorgeous fixtures and everything seems like a very good upgrade. You should come to those selections with hard price limits in mind.
Do I Really Need a Contingency Budget?
Definitely – and it’s worth seriously thinking about why most people simply resist the idea.
Setting aside 15 to 20 percent above your estimate appears as if you are getting ready for failure. It’s not. You’re getting ready for reality. Opening up parts of the house that have not been opened for years during the process of bathroom remodeling means that surprises are bound to happen. The reason why the contingency fund is there is not because something will surely go wrong, but so that if something does, you will not have to make the choice between fixing it properly and staying solvent.
Those who invest in a buffer rarely, if ever, regret doing so compared to those who skip it, almost always regret it.
How Do I Make Sure My Budget Actually Holds?
Here in Utah, we are lucky to have relatively reasonable pricing when it comes to bathroom and kitchen remodeling. We stay in close touch with companies in California like Camp Constructors who offer bathroom remodeling in Temecula CA and it’s amazing to hear how different our bids are for very similar work.
Think about the price first, and not the visual design. Most budget excesses start when a homeowner is madly in love with a design idea and then tries to make a budget fit around it. Do it the other way round: figure out what the exact amount of money you can afford to spend without it causing you heavy stress, and then make your scope fit that number.
Learn the areas where costs increase most rapidly. Even a slight relocation of plumbing can lead to a substantial rise in labor costs since it will result in the need for rough-in work behind the walls and under the floors. If you are counting every penny, then one of the best ways to keep your expenses down without affecting the overall result is to leave the fixtures in their current locations.
And put your priorities in the right order. Waterproofing and plumbing should always come first. A bathroom may look gorgeous, but if it has a faulty moisture barrier, it is a disaster waiting to happen. Focus on getting the structure right first, and then, with whatever remains, you dress the room up.
One Last Thing Before You Start
Bathrooms that are remodeled within the budget are not those where nothing went wrong, but are those where the homeowner was prepared, the scope was locked, contingency was realistic, and the understanding of where the money went was clear even before the first tile was pulled.
Good remodeling is not about trying to avoid situations that you did not anticipate. It is about expecting them. If you are at the beginning of the planning process and want to get the numbers right from the start, then the experienced team at Bathcrest will be happy to assist you in making a plan that is clear, detailed, and can be counted on.
