A full renovation down to the studs, waterproofed properly and tiled by hand, not an acrylic liner glued over the tub you already have. Fixed written price before we start.
·$18,000 to $34,000 for most full renovations, published up front
·Every shower pan flood-tested before a single tile is set
·Three to six weeks on site, and the dates go in your schedule
The fear isn't the price. It's being left mid-build with one working bathroom.
A bathroom is the worst room in the house to have opened up and abandoned. Everyone in DFW knows somebody whose contractor took a deposit and stopped answering, or whose four-week job ran into month three. Here is how we make that impossible, in writing, before you pay anything.
A fixed written price
The number we sign is the number you pay. It moves only through a written change order you approve before any work starts.
A named project manager with a cell number
One person owns your project from demolition to final walkthrough. You get their mobile number on day one, and they answer it.
A written update every Friday
Photos, what happened this week, what happens next, and whether we are on schedule, in your inbox before the weekend either way.
Broom-clean every evening
Floor protection down every morning, tools packed out and floors swept every night. You are living here while we work, and we work like it.
Know what you are buying
A renovation and a one-day refit are not the same product.
Search for a bathroom remodel and you will be served ads for a bath installed tomorrow. Those are real products with a real place. They are not renovations, and the price gap is not a discount. It is a difference in what happens behind the wall.
Comparison of a one-day liner or overlay refit against a full bathroom renovation, by what happens to each part of the build.
What we are talking about
One-day liner / overlay refit
A real renovation
The substrate behind the wall
Stays. Acrylic panels are adhered over the existing surround, usually the original drywall or green board. Whatever condition it is in, it is now sealed inside the wall.
Comes out. We strip to the studs, so we see the framing, plumbing and subfloor before anything new goes in. If there is rot behind your existing tile, this is the only method that finds it.
Existing water damage
Not addressed, and typically not inspected. A soft subfloor or rotted stud stays that way, and is now harder to reach.
Found and repaired before the new bathroom is built, as its own line item. Concealed rot is the most common reason a price changes after demolition.
Waterproofing
Panel joints and the perimeter are caulked, so the waterproof layer is the acrylic plus the sealant, only as good as the bead, and sealant is a maintenance item with a life measured in a few years.
A bonded system behind the tile: sheet or liquid membrane over cement board, with corners, curb and drain flange all detailed and flood-tested before a single tile is set. The waterproofing is a layer, not a bead.
Tile work
None. The finished surface is moulded acrylic, sometimes printed with a tile pattern. No grout lines to clean, which some people genuinely prefer.
Real tile, set by hand over a properly sloped and waterproofed base. Slower, dearer, and repairable one tile at a time in fifteen years.
Layout
Fixed. The new surround follows the footprint of the old tub exactly, because that is what it is fitting over.
Open. A toilet moves off the sightline from the door, a tub becomes a walk-in shower, or a doorway widens.
Time on site
One to two days. This is the genuine advantage, and it is not small.
Three to six weeks for a typical DFW bathroom, driven by tile setting, curing and inspection scheduling rather than labor hours.
What it costs
Commonly quoted around $6,000 to $18,000 here, depending on how much of the room is covered.
$18,000 to $34,000 for most full DFW bathrooms, with the bands and their drivers published below.
None of this makes an overlay the wrong choice; for a rental that needs a working tub in a day, it is the right tool. But if you intend to live with the bathroom for fifteen years, or there is any chance of existing water damage, the surface is not the part that matters.
Real numbers, published
What a bathroom actually costs in DFW.
Almost nobody in this business publishes a number, because a number invites comparison. We would rather you compare. These are the bands real DFW bathrooms land in, what sits inside each, and what pushes a project to the top of its range.
The refresh
$12,000–$20,000
Everything stays where it is. New vanity, toilet, mirror, lighting, hardware and floor tile, with the existing tub or shower kept and re-grouted or re-glazed rather than rebuilt.
What moves the number: Tile choice and whether the existing shower pan is sound. If the pan or the surround has failed, this tier is not honestly available, and we will say so on the first visit, not after demolition.
The full remodel
$18,000–$34,000
Where most projects land
Down to the studs inside the existing footprint. New shower built from the substrate up with a bonded waterproofing membrane, hand-set tile, new cabinetry, new fixtures, and plumbing and electrical brought to current code.
What moves the number: Tile size and pattern, since large-format and herringbone both add days of labor. Then glass, whether the shower becomes curbless, and how far the drain has to travel if the layout changes at all.
Walls move
$34,000–$60,000+
The room changes shape. Taking space from a closet or an adjacent room, relocating the toilet or the shower, a wet room or a fully curbless entry, structural work, a full permit set and inspections.
What moves the number: Structural scope and drain relocation. Moving a toilet more than a few feet on a slab means cutting and re-pouring concrete, the single largest step change in bathroom pricing here.
Bands assume a DFW bathroom of roughly 35 to 90 square feet, plumbing walls staying put unless noted, and no concealed damage, the one thing no honest contractor can price before demolition. We carry it as an itemised allowance rather than padding the headline number, and unused allowance comes back to you.
Refit versus renovation. Drag the line.
Two different bathrooms, not two states of one room. We have not published our own project photography yet and will not pass off someone else's finished job as ours. What these show is the difference described above: where a surface refit stops, and where a renovation keeps going.
BEFOREAFTERDrag to reveal
Drag to compare the two approaches.
Materials and detail
The parts you will still be touching in ten years.
A bathroom is judged at arm's length: the reveal under a vanity, the way a niche is lit, whether the grout lines hold their spacing across a wall. These are the finishes and fittings we build with.
Rift-sawn white oak, mitred stone top, brass bar pulls set to one line.
Recessed niche, concealed warm LED, mitred stone returns.
One brass family throughout: valve, handheld and rain head.
Everything that matters here is behind the tile, and you only find out which builder cared about four years later.
Bonded waterproofing, flood-tested before tile
Five steps, no surprises.
The durations below are ranges, because they are honest. Anyone quoting you a single figure for a tiled bathroom before they have seen your subfloor is guessing.
01
Walkthrough and consult
1 visit
We measure, read what your existing shower is telling us, and tell you which cost band you are in before we leave. No pressure, no sales script.
02
Design and selections
1–3 weeks
Layout, tile, fixtures, glass and lighting locked down before anything is ordered. Decisions made now are free; decisions made mid-build cost days.
03
Fixed written proposal
~1 week
One itemised number, signed by both of us, with any concealed-damage allowance as its own line. It changes only through a change order you approve first.
04
Build
3–6 weeks
Demolition, rough-in and inspection, waterproofing and flood test, tile, then fixtures and glass. One project manager on site, floor protection down daily, a written update with photos every Friday.
05
Walkthrough and punch list
1 day
We walk every detail together, you tell us what is not right, and we fix it before the final invoice, which matches the contract.
What actually drives the cost of a bathroom
Four things account for almost all of the variation between an $18,000 bathroom and a $45,000 one, and only one of them is the tile you picked. Understanding them is how you have a useful conversation with any contractor, including the ones you do not hire.
Whether the drain moves
This is the biggest single lever in DFW and most homeowners have never heard of it. Much of the metro sits on slab-on-grade foundations, so waste plumbing runs inside the concrete rather than under a floor you can crawl beneath. Keeping a toilet and shower drain where they are is inexpensive; moving a toilet more than a foot or two means saw-cutting the slab, excavating, re-plumbing, inspecting and re-pouring.
That is a several-thousand-dollar step change, and it lands before any of the parts you can see get installed. If moving the vanity and the door solves your layout problem instead of moving the toilet, that saves more than downgrading every finish in the room.
The shower, and what is behind it
A tiled shower is not a surface, it is an assembly: sloped mortar bed or pre-formed pan, bonded waterproofing membrane, seam and corner detailing, the drain flange, then tile and grout. Grout is not waterproof and never was. The membrane is what keeps water out of your framing.
It is also where a bathroom is most often built badly, because when it is done wrong nothing looks wrong for about four years. We flood-test every shower pan before tile goes on, and we will show you the test. It is the cheapest insurance in the project.
Tile size, pattern and labor
Tile cost is dominated by labor, not by the tile. A 12×24 in a straight stack is fast; the same tile in a herringbone is a different job: more cuts, more waste, more layout time, and every cut edge on an outside corner needs mitring or a trim profile. Large-format tile also needs a flatter substrate than most existing walls provide, so it usually brings leveling work with it.
None of this is a reason to avoid the pattern you want. It is a reason to choose it before the proposal is written rather than after, so it lands in the fixed price instead of in a change order.
What the room is hiding
The honest answer to 'what will this cost' has an asterisk on it until the wall is open. Concealed rot, a failed shower pan that has been quietly wetting a joist, or cast-iron waste pipe at the end of its life will all change the number.
A contractor who quotes a gut renovation with no allowance and no caveat is not more confident than us. They are planning to have that conversation later, from a stronger position.
Bathroom remodeling questions, answered straight.
What is a realistic budget for a bathroom remodel?
In DFW, most full bathroom renovations land between $18,000 and $34,000. That covers taking the room to the studs inside its existing footprint, rebuilding the shower over a bonded waterproofing membrane, hand-set tile, new cabinetry, and new fixtures brought to current code. A cosmetic refresh keeping the existing shower and layout runs $12,000 to $20,000; once walls move or the toilet relocates on a slab, budget $34,000 and up. If you want one number to plan around before anyone has seen the room, $25,000 is a realistic center of gravity for a primary bath here.
Is $10,000 enough for a bathroom remodel?
For a full renovation with a rebuilt tiled shower, honestly no, not in this market, and we would rather say so now than after you have taken time off work for consultations. $10,000 does buy a worthwhile cosmetic update: new vanity, toilet, mirror, light fixture, faucets and floor tile in a small bathroom, keeping the existing tub or shower and layout. It also funds a well-executed powder room, where there is no wet area to waterproof. If a quote at that level does include a new tiled shower, ask what waterproofing system is being installed and whether the pan will be flood-tested.
Is $5,000 enough to remodel a bathroom?
Not for a remodel, but $5,000 is a real budget for targeted improvements: a new vanity and top, a new toilet, new faucet and shower trim, a properly sized exhaust fan, paint, and professional re-grouting of a shower that is structurally sound. That last item matters more than it sounds. Failed grout at the base of a surround is the leading cause of the hidden damage that turns a $20,000 project into a $30,000 one. Spend at this level on the things that stop water getting where it should not, not on the things that photograph well.
What should you avoid when renovating a bathroom?
Four things, in order of how expensive they are to get wrong. Treating grout and sealant as waterproofing. The membrane behind the tile is what keeps water out, and a shower built without one fails in years four to seven, once the warranty is gone. Skipping or undersizing ventilation, or ducting a fan into the attic rather than outside. Choosing finishes after the contract is signed, which turns free decisions into paid change orders. And moving plumbing for aesthetic reasons without pricing it first, because on a slab that means a saw-cut and a re-pour. Underneath all four is one mistake: spending on what is visible at the expense of what is behind the wall.
How long does a bathroom remodel take?
Three to six weeks on site for a typical full DFW bathroom. The critical path is rarely labor hours. It is the fixed waits: rough-in inspection, waterproofing cure and flood test, mortar and grout cure, then glass, which cannot be measured until tile is finished and adds one to two weeks of fabrication. Where walls move or the drain relocates, six to ten weeks, because of the extra inspection cycles. Anyone promising a fully tiled bathroom in a week is either not tiling it or not curing anything.
Is a bath liner or one-day bath remodel worth it?
It depends entirely on what is behind your existing surround. An acrylic liner or overlay is fitted over your current tub and wall board, so it is genuinely fast and genuinely cheaper, usually $6,000 to $18,000 here. What you are not getting is any inspection or repair of the substrate, any change to the layout, or a waterproofing layer independent of the sealant at the joints. For a rental that needs a working tub tomorrow, that trade is often correct. But where there is any sign of existing water damage, such as soft flooring, a musty smell or failed grout at the base of the surround, sealing the problem inside the wall is the expensive option, not the cheap one.
Do I need a permit to remodel a bathroom in DFW?
If you are altering plumbing, electrical or framing, yes, and requirements differ by municipality, so Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano and Southlake do not all handle it identically. Fort Worth adds a step inside its historic districts, which we cover on the Fort Worth bathroom page. Cosmetic work such as replacing a vanity, a toilet in the same location, or re-tiling a floor generally does not. We pull permits and manage inspections as part of the fixed price. This matters more to you than to us: the permitted parts of a bathroom are the parts sealed inside a wall, and the inspection is the only independent record they were built correctly. Unpermitted work also surfaces during a future sale.
What does a curbless or walk-in shower add to the cost?
Typically $2,500 to $6,000 over a standard curbed shower of the same size, and it is the upgrade we most often tell people is worth the money. The cost is structural rather than decorative: the shower floor has to sit level with the bathroom floor, which means recessing the subfloor between the joists or building the whole floor up to meet it, plus a linear drain and more demanding waterproofing. It is a design-stage decision, and an expensive change order once framing is closed up.
What happens if you find damage after demolition?
You get a photograph, a written cost, and a decision to make before we do anything. The proposal carries an itemised allowance for concealed conditions rather than a hidden contingency, and if we do not use it, it comes off your invoice. What does not happen is a phone call telling you the price has gone up when the bathroom is already in pieces.
What is different about a bathroom in your city
The method and the prices on this page are the same across the metro. What changes is the building stock and the rules, and those change a lot. Each of these pages covers only what is genuinely different about doing this work there.
