You might want to sit down and brace yourself. Naturally, the cost for a bathroom renovation in Toronto can vary depending on the size, finishes, and custom work required.
The costs for a bathroom renovation in Toronto have gone up about 20% in the last two years on average. What cost $10,000 two years ago is now $12,000.
For a basic budget level bathroom remodel what use to cost $5,000 is now upward of $7,000. For a luxury bathroom renovation with high-quality materials, the cost is $20,000 and up.
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How to save money on your bathroom renovation in Toronto?
Obviously, you want to save as much money as you can on your bathroom renovation. But the work you do yourself might not save you as much as you’d hope it would. We’re going to break down a typical bathroom renovation into each step to help you decide if you want to take this on as a full DIY or partial DIY project, or if you want to leave it all up to the pros.
Plan the project
Before you start tearing apart your bathroom it’s important to plan out your project from beginning to end. If you want a good tool to help you manage your renovation projects, track costs, timelines, and contingencies try Monday.com.
Get some design tips and inspiration from YouTube.
Buy the materials
If you want the project to move swiftly you’ll need to think through everything you’ll need. It can take a lot of time and energy to dive to the hardware store every time you discover you need another item or tool to complete a task and move forward to the next stage.
A good quality solid wood vanity with a quartz countertop is around $1000 and up. Shower base, doors, and fixtures can vary. A middle to above average ballpark cost would be around $3,000 and up.
Demolition
For some people, this is where the fun begins. But don’t get too excited. Put the sledgehammer down before you break a pipe in the wall.
You can save some money if you do the demolition yourself, but you will need some tools and a way to dispose of the old stuff you’ll be removing.
If you do decide to do the demolition yourself you can rent a Uhaul and make a trip to the dump for around $150 if you DIY. But it will probably take you half a day to pick up the Uhaul, load it will waste, drive to the dump, and return the Uhaul.
If you need to buy materials you can plan to kill two birds with one stone. While you have the Uhaul rented you can swing by and pick up your bath or shower pan, doors, vanity etc.
Be careful some of these items can be extremely heavy.
Once you have the bathroom stripped down to the studs it’s a good time to meet with any contractors you’ll be hiring. When they see the bathroom fully demolished they will know you’re ready to go and should give you a better price since you’ve already done some dirty work and heavy lifting yourself.
If you don’t want to get involved with demolition or project planning call up a couple of general contractors and have them give you a quote.
Plumbing
Do you need to relocate a shower valve, install a tub or shower base, or move a vanity drain? To give you a general idea, you’re looking at around $1,000 and up to have a plumber renovate your basic bathroom.
Electrical and Lighting
Electrical wire has been a product that’s seen high inflation. Do you want a new fan, pot lights, and heated floors in your new bathroom? Call an Electrician. The cost will vary but expect to budget $500-1000 and beyond.
Carpentry
Do you need a niche built, walls moved, or your subfloor fixed? Don’t expect the plumber or electrician to do carpentry work. Some will but make sure you ask upfront or hire a carpenter to have the site ready for the other tradesmen.
Tile
There have been some supply shortages for products like Schluter Kerdi board and waterproofing system so check it first. Some details to work out before you talk to a tile guy are:
What type and size tile you’ll be using. i.e 12×24 rectified porcelain tile
What tile pattern do you want. Full height stone slabs with a 50% offset for shower walls and floor. Smaller grout lines are easier to clean.
Edge details, make sure there are no unfinished edges. Edges need to be finished with aluminum trim or with bullnose tile.
Make sure you use the best quality grout. The grout color should match the tile.
For a shower niche centered on the wall, make it 4 to 5 inches beyond the tallest shampoo bottle.
Paint
You can use the Benjamin Moore paint calculator to get an estimate of how much paint you’ll need for your bathroom.
Bathroom Renovation Planning and Materials Checklist
- Buy Shower Door, Base, Drain, shower head, and faucet
- Order Delivery of Shower Doors, base etc.
- Buy Toilet
- Pick out and buy Tile Wall Tile, Floor Tile, Quartz threshold, Extra Tile
- Wall Tile
- Floor Tile
- Quartz threshold
- Extra Tile
- Buy Kerdi Board Shower Kit
- Schedule Plumber
- Ask to check height of vanity, ask about sound proofing options
- Schedule Tile Setter for precise quote
- ask to include tile as baseboard.
- Buy Ditra underlay and allset
- Buy Kerdi Niche at home depot
- Buy Vaniety and pick up quartz counter top
- Buy new over vanity light
- Buy Paint
- Buy mirror for vanity
- Buy accessories ie, towel rack
Bathroom Renovation Execution Checklist
- Demo Bathroom, remove tub and walls, floor
- Dispose of Waste, rent Uhaul to make trip to dump.
- Patch Walls
- Prime areas where paper is exposed before applying mud
- Vacuum, wash floors with sponge.
- Install shower base
- Install Shower Doors
- Install Tile
- Subitems Name
- Install Vanity
- Buy new trap for vanity. ABS pipe and ABS glue
- Mitre cut the corner vanity quartz backsplash
- Skim coat walls before painting
- Paint Door and Trim
- Paint Bathroom Walls and Ceiling
- Silicone around shower
- Install Shower Head
- Install Toilet
- Install Mirror and accessories
- Install towel rack and accessories
- Touchup paint
Completing a successful bathroom renovation in Toronto is not easy but when everything is finished you’ll feel satisfied with a fresh feeling and that you’ve increased the value of your home.
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