Remodeling contractor · Fort Worth
Bathroom remodeling in Fort Worth
Fort Worth bathrooms split into two jobs, and which one you have depends almost entirely on when your house was built. We price both the same way: a fixed number in writing before anything comes off the wall.
- Fairmount and the near south side were platted between 1883 and 1907
- Pier and beam changes what moving a drain costs, against a slab
- Exterior work in a historic district needs commission approval first
Two very different houses, one city
Near the south side, the Fairmount district covers about a square mile of homes on subdivisions platted between 1883 and 1907. Ryan Place, Berkeley and Mistletoe Heights are the same era. These houses sit on pier and beam, which is good news and bad news in the same breath.
Pre-war, pier and beam
The good news is that moving a drain is realistic. There is a crawl space under the floor, so a plumber can reroute waste lines without breaking concrete. On a slab house the same change means saw-cutting the floor, and the price reflects it.
The bad news is what else is down there. Homes of this age often still carry the original cast iron waste line and galvanized supply pipe. Both have a service life, and both are usually past it. Finding failed cast iron under a bathroom you are already opening up is the single most common surprise in this part of town.
Post-nineties, slab on grade
West and north of the city the picture flips. Alliance, Walsh and most of the growth since the nineties is slab on grade with copper or PEX supply. Those bathrooms are younger, drier and more predictable, and the conversation there is usually about layout rather than about what is rotting.
The age of the house decides the job before anyone opens a wall.
Near south side, platted 1883 to 1907
What moves the number here
These are the three things that most often separate a Fort Worth bathroom from the metro price band, in the order they tend to cost you.
What the old lines are made of
Cast iron waste and galvanized supply are common in pre-war houses and are usually at the end of their life. We look before we quote where we can, and where we cannot see, the allowance for it is a named line in your proposal rather than a change order later.
Pier and beam versus slab
On pier and beam, relocating a toilet or moving the shower drain is a day of work under the house. On a slab it is saw-cutting, re-plumbing and re-pouring. The same drawing can be thousands of dollars apart depending on which one you have.
Borrowing space from a closet
Original bathrooms in these houses are small, often five by eight, and the usual fix is taking the adjoining closet or a slice of hallway. Opening that wall brings framing, sometimes a load path, and always the question of where the closet goes instead.
Real numbers, published
What a bathroom costs in Fort Worth.
The same published bands as the rest of the metro, because the work is the same work. What changes in Fort Worth is which band you land in, and the section above is why.
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.
Historic district rules, in plain terms
If your house sits inside a Fort Worth historic district, exterior work needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission before it starts. Work that stays inside the existing walls does not touch that process at all.
It matters the moment your plan reaches the outside. Adding or enlarging a window, cutting in an exterior vent, changing anything visible from the street: all of that goes to the commission.
Plan around the calendar rather than the paperwork. Applications are due the third Monday of the month and the commission hears them the second Monday of the following one, so an exterior change realistically adds about a month before demolition can start. We build that into the schedule up front instead of discovering it in week two.
Permits are separate and simpler. Moving plumbing or altering electrical needs one. Swapping fittings, retiling and painting inside the existing footprint does not. We pull whatever the work requires and the inspection dates go in your written schedule.
Every residential permit the city has issued since 2024 is mapped here, matched to the county appraisal roll.
Bathroom remodeling in Fort Worth, answered
Do I need approval from the historic commission to redo my bathroom?
My house is pier and beam. Does that make a bathroom remodel cheaper?
How long does a Fort Worth bathroom take?
The parts that are the same everywhere
How a tiled shower is actually built, why grout is not waterproofing, what separates a renovation from an acrylic refit, and the full question and answer on cost across the metro all live on our bathroom remodeling page. This page covers only what is different about doing the work in Fort Worth.
The permit rules, the review calendar and everything else that is true of the place regardless of which room you are doing are on the Fort Worth page.
Also remodeling in Fort Worth: kitchen remodeling in Fort Worth, whole-home remodeling in Fort Worth.
Get your fixed price.
Two quick steps. We already know it is a bathroom, and the last step is the only place we ask for your number.
Step 1 of 2
Project: Bathroom
The fear is not the price. It is being left mid-build.
These four commitments are in the contract rather than on a badge.
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.