A 1990s hall bathroom mid-renovation, with the tub removed to leave a bare alcove of exposed studs and a drain opening, an oak vanity with a marble-look top, a stack of blank tile boxes, an orange bucket and a utility knife on a vinyl floor.

Bathroom remodel cost in 2026: where a $10,644 bid actually goes

ByThe Homeowner Files

Nine priced items for a 1990s bathroom, the five you mostly can’t see, and the questions to ask when your own quote arrives.

Every morning the mirror fogs over, the fan hums without clearing it, and the vanity holds about half of what your family wants to keep in it. So before the next contractor walks through your 1990s hall bathroom, it helps to know what the room costs priced item by item. It comes to $10,644, and 58 percent of the bid pays for five costs you don’t shop for and mostly can’t see once the tile is up. HomeAdvisor reports a $12,153 average for a bathroom remodel, and Cost vs Value prices a 5 by 7 foot bathroom project at $26,138.2, 4 Neither is a bid for your room, so here’s one, illustrative and built from published unit prices.

The short version

  • The bid comes to $10,644 for nine items, with the general contractor’s fee at 20 percent of the trades.
  • You pick four of the items: the tub, vanity, toilet and tile. They come to $4,442, or 42 percent of the bid.
  • The other five items mostly stay out of sight in the finished room: waterproofing, plumbing, electrical and ventilation, demolition and permit, and the contractor’s fee. They come to $6,202, or 58 percent of the bid, and we call them The Backstage Costs.
  • Tonight, look for those five on your own quote. If you can’t find one, another price either folds it in or the quote leaves it out, and you can ask which.

The setup

Your bathroom is 5 by 7 feet, 35 square feet, and it went in around 1994. It’s the one the kids use, and the guests, and you when the other bathroom is taken. A fiberglass tub with a molded surround fills one end, the vanity is a 30-inch oak cabinet with a cultured marble top, and the floor is sheet vinyl.

Most of it still works, but a few pieces are what your remodel has to fix. If the shower valve is the original, it may be a plain mixing valve, the kind more common in older homes like yours.10 A mixing valve can’t even out a sudden change in water pressure, so your shower can turn scalding when someone flushes the toilet.10 Then there’s the fan in the middle of the ceiling. Its duct ends somewhere in the attic, but the Department of Energy’s building guide says a bathroom fan should vent directly outside, not into an attic.17

Nothing has broken, yet everything is about thirty years old. So you want the standard mid-range job, close to the one Cost vs Value describes for a bathroom this size: a new 5-foot enameled steel tub with ceramic tile on the three walls around it, a new shower valve, a ceramic tile floor, a new vanity with its sink, and a standard toilet.4 The layout stays put, and one general contractor, a GC, runs the trades. In this bid the job runs in a set order, from the permit to the last inspection.

The bid, item by item

Here’s the whole bid at national installed rates. The chart shows each item’s typical cost and share. Open “See every number behind the bars” for each item’s range and how it splits between materials and labor and fees.

Bar chart of the nine items of the bathroom bid, largest first, from the bathtub down to waterproofing and backer board, with each item's share of the bid and the five Backstage Costs in rust.
The nine items of the bid, largest first, with each item's share, rounded to total 100. The rust bars are The Backstage Costs.
See every number behind the bars (the full table)
Item Low Typical High Materials Labor and fees Share
1. Bathtub, 5-foot enameled steel, installed $700 $2,100 $3,500 $900 $1,200 20%
2. Vanity, 4-foot, with top, sink and faucet $500 $700 $900 $550 $150 6%
3. Toilet, standard two-piece, installed $250 $600 $950 $300 $300 6%
4. Tile, 83 sq ft of ceramic for the tub surround and floor $457 $1,042 $1,627 $544 $498 10%
5. Waterproofing and backer board under the tile, 83 sq ft $166 $457 $747 $62 $395 4%
6. Plumbing: shower valve, drain and supply lines $350 $825 $1,300 $175 $650 8%
7. Electrical and ventilation: GFCI outlet, exhaust fan, vent duct $741 $1,296 $1,863 $236 $1,060 12%
8. Demolition, disposal and permit $700 $1,850 $3,000 none $1,850 17%
9. General contractor fee, 20 percent of items 1 to 8 $773 $1,774 $2,777 none $1,774 17%
Total $4,637 $10,644 $16,664 $2,767 $7,877 100%

Built from the sourced ranges, not a real quote; the fee row is 20 percent of items 1 to 8, the drain and supply changes and the roof duct count as all labor, shares are rounded to total 100, and the arithmetic is under “How we built the bid”.

Nearly three quarters of this bid is labor and fees rather than materials. Spread over its 35 square feet, the $10,644 bid works out to $304 a square foot, inside HomeGuide’s $100 to $500 a square foot band for a bathroom remodel.1 But that band is wide, and HomeGuide says costs run higher in urban and high-demand areas,1 so expect a big-city quote to run higher than this national bid.

Bar chart splitting each of the nine bid items into materials and labor and fees; labor and fees are 74 percent of the whole bid.
Every item split into materials and labor and fees using the guides listed under Sources. The contractor fee and the demolition and permit count as all labor and fees.

Why do the averages and the Cost vs Value report sit so far apart?

An average blends many different bathrooms, while Cost vs Value prices one defined project. HomeAdvisor’s $12,153 average comes from a survey of more than 10,000 customers,2 and the chart sets it beside Fixr’s and This Old House’s averages.3, 5 The Cost vs Value report prices an update of a 5 by 7 foot bathroom at $26,138.4 That price is about two and a half times this bid’s $10,644, and the report doesn’t itemize it.

Bar chart comparing the total for the four things you pick, this bid, three published averages and the Cost vs Value project, from smallest to largest.
Three published averages and the Cost vs Value project, next to this bid.

So an average can’t tell you what your quote includes. Two quotes for your bathroom can both come to $12,153 while one prices nine items separately and the other prices four, and the four-item quote either folds the other five items into its prices or leaves them out.

Five of this bid’s nine items are The Backstage Costs: the work under the tile, inside the walls and above the ceiling, the tear-out and permit, and the contractor’s fee. Together they’re more than half of this bid. The guides do price each one, one at a time, and that’s where this bid’s numbers come from.

What does it cost to tear out the old bathroom and pull a permit?

In this bid’s order of work the permit comes first, then your old bathroom leaves the house on demo day, and together those two jobs come to $1,850. Demolition is $1,300, the middle of HomeGuide’s range for bathroom demolition,1 and this bid counts the hauling in that price. The permit is $550, the middle of HomeAdvisor’s range for permits.2

A permit is usually needed when a remodel involves major plumbing or electrical work or changes the layout,1 and your new valve, drain, outlet and fan duct may count as major work. So call your city, and find out who pulls it.

Demo day is also when you find out what’s behind the old surround. The bid assumes the wall behind your surround is sound. If it isn’t, the repair is extra: HomeGuide puts wall repairs for hidden damage found when a tub comes out at $200 to $700,9 and this bid doesn’t carry them.

Nearly 1 in 4 of the homeowners This Old House surveyed met unexpected water damage,5 so before the old surround comes off, settle how much to hold back. HomeGuide suggests setting aside 10 to 20 percent of the bid for unexpected expenses,1 which on this bid is $1,064 to $2,129. Ask before demo day: “If the wall behind the surround isn’t sound, what will the repair cost, and will you call before you start?”

Why does swapping a tub bring a plumber into the wall?

With the old surround gone, your plumber works in the open wall: the new shower valve goes in, and your new tub’s drain has to meet the old pipes. The plumbing comes to $825. A new pressure-balancing valve is $375 of it, and the other $450 pays for changes to the tub’s drain and supply lines, both the middle of HomeGuide’s ranges.9, 10

The open wall behind a bathtub, with a brass shower valve and the pipes running to it between the studs.
The new valve and its pipes in the open wall behind a tub.

The decision here is which valve. A pressure-balancing valve, the kind this bid uses and the Cost vs Value project includes,4 keeps the shower from turning scalding when someone flushes.10 A thermostatic valve holds the temperature itself, and HomeGuide calls it the safest option for homes with small children.10 A thermostatic valve costs more, though: $250 to $900 installed, against $150 to $600 for a pressure-balancing valve.10 With kids in the house, decide now: in this bid the wall is open only once.

The demolition and permit item and the plumbing item together come to $2,675 of The Backstage Costs so far. The question for the plumber: “Is the new valve in this price, and does the price cover your work inside the wall or only the tub?”

Does a bathroom fan have to go through the roof?

Next comes the electrician, while the walls are still open. Your fan should vent outside,17 through a wall or the roof,14 and from the middle of the ceiling the bid takes the roof. A new fan averages $396 installed,14 and a duct to a roof vent runs $350 to $950, so we’ve used the middle, $650.14

Looking up from an attic floor at a round bathroom fan housing between the joists, with a silver duct running up to a roof vent.
A bathroom fan in the attic, with its duct running to a vent in the roof.

A wall vent would cost less: HomeAdvisor puts a wall duct at $250 to $800, below the roof duct’s range at both ends.14

While the electrician is there, your bathroom gets one GFCI outlet, the kind with test and reset buttons that shuts off the power when it senses current leaking. One runs $150 to $350 installed, and we’ve used the middle, $250.15 The outlet, the fan and its duct come to $1,296 for electrical and ventilation. Added to the demolition and permit item and the plumbing item, that brings The Backstage Costs to $3,971. Ask the electrician: “Where does the fan’s duct end, and is the roof patching in this number?”

What goes behind the new tile, and what does it cost?

Once the plumber and the electrician are done, your open walls get the work that disappears under the tile: cement backer board and a waterproof membrane on the three walls around your tub and on the floor. It comes to $457 at the middle of HomeGuide’s installed price per square foot.8 $395 of that is the installer’s time and the other $62 is the board and membrane, split as shown under “How we built the bid”. Your old surround was one molded piece, but the new wall is tile set in grout, and HomeGuide lists backer board and waterproofing among the requirements of a custom tile shower.7 Backer board is water-resistant but not fully waterproof, which is why a membrane goes over it.13

A bathtub alcove where gray backer board is screwed to wood studs, the seams taped and coated with blue-gray membrane, with a few white tiles set in the corner above a white tub.
Backer board and membrane in a tub alcove, with the first tiles going on.

It’s the smallest of The Backstage Costs and easy to overlook, because once the tile goes on, nobody sees it again. With the waterproofing, the four Backstage Costs before the contractor’s fee come to $4,428. If the tile item on your quote reads “tile, installed” and nothing else, it either folds the membrane in, carries it as an allowance (a placeholder amount in the contract that can change), or leaves it out. So put this to the contractor in writing: “Does the tile price include backer board and a waterproof membrane on the walls and the floor, and which product?”

Where does the contractor’s 20 percent go?

The job ends at the last inspection. A typical bathroom remodel takes 3 to 8 weeks,1 and on this bid the contractor’s fee, $1,774 or 20 percent of the trades, pays one company to keep every trade and the inspector moving in the right order through all of it.

How much of the fee is profit? Of what remodelers kept after paying for their jobs in 2024, about four fifths went to running the company and about a fifth was profit, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ 2026 cost-of-doing-business study.6 If this fee behaves like the average remodeler’s margin, most of it is overhead.

With the fee in, The Backstage Costs come to $6,202, or 58 percent of the bid. The decision is whether to pay the fee at all. If you hire the trades one at a time, you don’t pay it, and the scheduling becomes yours: in this bid’s order, the plumber and the electrician before the backer board, the tile setter before the vanity and the toilet, and every inspection your city asks for. If you hire a GC, check the deposit too: most contractors require 10 to 25 percent of the contract price up front.16 Then ask the GC: “What percentage is your fee, and are permits inside it or billed at cost?”

The four things you pick, and the wrinkle in each

Together the four come to $4,442, and each has one wrinkle a showroom price doesn’t tell you.

Bathtub, $2,100. More of this price pays the installer than the tub: $1,200 for the installer against $900 for the enameled steel tub, both the middle of HomeGuide’s ranges.9 So the tub you pick sets the smaller part of this price.

Vanity, $700. Your new 4-foot vanity, wider than the old 30-inch cabinet, costs the middle of HomeGuide’s range: $550 for the unit and $150 for the installer.11 Most vanities include a cupboard, sink and faucet, so check that yours does. If it doesn’t, a new sink and faucet adds $600 to $2,000.11

Toilet, $600. The unit and the plumber’s labor each come to $300 here, the middle of HomeGuide’s range for each.12 Ask whether the price includes hauling away your old one, or whether the hauling is in demolition.

Tile, $1,042. The tile price covers 83 square feet at the middle of HomeGuide’s ranges: $5.50 a square foot for the tile and $6 a square foot for the installer, plus thinset and grout (the full split is under “How we built the bid”).8 But installation runs $10 to $15 a square foot in HomeAdvisor’s guide,13 which would about double the installer’s share of this price.

Most tile setters also charge a $500 to $750 minimum,8 and your tile labor in this bid is $498, just under the smallest of those minimums, so in a bathroom this small the minimum may set the price. For the tile setter: “Is the tile labor priced by the square foot or as one number, and what’s your minimum charge?”

A bathroom like this at three budgets

A bathroom like this can be priced three ways. If you keep the tub and its old surround, it comes to $2,885. If you replace the tub and tile the walls and floor, it comes to $10,644. If you build the fuller version Cost vs Value prices for a bathroom the same size, it comes to $26,138.

Three bars showing a bathroom like this at a short, medium and long budget, with the long budget by far the longest.
Three budgets for a bathroom like this one.

The short budget keeps your tub and its fiberglass surround and replaces what’s easy to reach: the vanity, the toilet, floor tile, a GFCI outlet and a fan that vents outside. This budget prices no demolition, and with the trades hired one at a time there’s no GC fee. There’s no permit either, which runs $100 to $1,000,2 and it’s the first thing to add back. Even if a tile setter’s minimum adds $362 to $612 for the floor, this budget, before the permit is added back, costs less than the bottom of HomeGuide’s $3,500 to $5,300 range for a minor renovation of a 35 square foot bathroom.1 The arithmetic is under “How we built the bid”.

The medium budget is the full $10,644 bid, inside HomeGuide’s $8,800 to $17,500 range for a full remodel of a 35 square foot bathroom.1 Add the contingency you set aside before demo day. This Old House recommends setting aside 20 percent for the unexpected,5 the top of HomeGuide’s 10 to 20 percent of the bid.1 About 1 in 3 homeowners in This Old House’s survey spent more than they expected.5

The long budget is Cost vs Value’s, for a bathroom the same size at $26,138. The real estate professionals it surveyed think it would resell for $20,915, which is 80 percent of what was spent.4 The report doesn’t itemize the $15,494 difference from this bid. Some of it you can see: its project adds a solid-surface vanity top, a recessed medicine cabinet with a light and vinyl wallpaper,4 and this bid prices none of the three. So settle which of the three budgets your quote belongs to before you compare a single price.

The finished room

When the job is done, the new tub is tiled in and the vanity is wider. The new fan sends the steam outside instead of into the attic, and the mirror clears. More than half of what you paid for goes to The Backstage Costs, $6,202 in all, and they mostly stay out of sight: the membrane behind the tile, the valve in the wall, the duct above the ceiling, the permit in a folder. A quote that lists only the tub, vanity, toilet and tile has no place to show them.

What to do tonight

Tonight, pull any bathroom quote you already have, or a calculator printout, and look for five items: waterproofing, plumbing, fan and electrical, demolition and permit, and the contractor’s fee. Write down any you can’t find. Tomorrow morning, ask about each of those: is it inside another item’s price, an allowance or missing? If you want a one-page sheet for laying three bids side by side, drop your email here.

How we built the bid

Items 1 to 8 use the guides’ national installed rates at their midpoint or average. The tub takes 12.5 of the room’s 35 square feet, leaving about 23 square feet of floor, and the three walls around it run 10 feet long by 6 feet high, which is 60 square feet.

  • Bathtub, $2,100. HomeGuide’s $300 to $1,500 for an enameled steel tub plus $400 to $2,000 for installation, midpoints $900 and $1,200.9
  • Vanity, $700. HomeGuide’s 4-foot single premade vanity: $400 to $700 for the unit, midpoint $550, plus $100 to $200 of labor, midpoint $150.11
  • Toilet, $600. HomeGuide’s two-piece toilet at $100 to $500 for the unit and $150 to $450 for labor, midpoints $300 and $300.12
  • Tile, $1,042. 83 square feet at $12.55 a square foot: tile at $5.50, installation at $6.00 (midpoint of $4 to $8) and thinset and grout at $1.05, all HomeGuide midpoints.8 Materials come to $544 and labor to $498.
  • Waterproofing and backer board, $457. 83 square feet at HomeGuide’s $2 to $9 installed, midpoint $5.50, with materials at $0.50 to $1 a square foot (midpoint $0.75), which is $62 of materials and $395 of labor.8
  • Plumbing, $825. HomeGuide’s pressure-balancing valve at $150 to $600 installed and its $200 to $700 for changes to a tub’s supply lines, drains or valves, midpoints $375 and $450.9, 10 The valve has its own price, so the $450 is for the drain and supply changes. The valve unit, the middle of $50 to $300, is $175 of materials. The rest is labor.
  • Electrical and ventilation, $1,296. A GFCI outlet at $250, HomeAdvisor’s $396 average for installing a bathroom fan and $650 for a roof vent duct, the middle of $350 to $950.14, 15 Unit prices of $12 to $40 for the outlet and $20 to $400 for a ceiling fan set the materials at $236.14, 15
  • Demolition and permit, $1,850. HomeGuide’s $600 to $2,000 for demolition, midpoint $1,300,1 plus $550, the middle of HomeAdvisor’s $100 to $1,000 for permits.2
  • Contractor fee, $1,774. 20 percent of the $8,870 of trades, the top of HomeGuide’s 10 to 20 percent for a general contractor.16 We use 20 percent on every bid with a general contractor, so bids stay comparable. NAHB’s 2026 study supplies only the overhead and profit split: operating expenses took 23.6 percent of revenue and net profit was 6.3 percent.6
  • Short budget, $2,885. Vanity $700, toilet $600, floor tile $289 (23 square feet at $12.55 a square foot), GFCI outlet $250, fan $396 and roof vent duct $650.8, 11, 12, 14, 15 A tile setter’s $500 to $750 minimum, replacing $138 of floor labor, adds $362 to $612.8

This bid’s Labor and fees column, $7,877, is 74 percent of the total, above the 40 to 65 percent HomeAdvisor gives for labor,2 because it counts the contractor’s fee and the permit. Without them, labor is $5,553, or 52 percent of the bid, inside that range.

Sources

  1. HomeGuide, “How Much Does a Bathroom Remodel Cost? (2026)” (2025-06-20). https://homeguide.com/costs/bathroom-remodel-cost – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  2. HomeAdvisor, “How Much Does a Bathroom Remodel Cost in 2025?” (2026-06-17). https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/bathrooms/remodel-a-bathroom/ – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  3. Fixr, “How Much Does It Cost to Remodel a Bathroom? (2025)” (2025-03-26). https://www.fixr.com/bathroom/remodeling-costs – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  4. Zonda / Remodeling, published at JLC, “2025 Cost vs. Value Report, national averages: Bath Remodel | Midrange” (2025-06-20). https://www.jlconline.com/cost-vs-value/2025/national/ – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  5. This Old House, “Bathroom Remodel Cost (2026) Guide and Budgeting Tips” (2026-07-02). https://www.thisoldhouse.com/bathrooms/reviews/bathroom-remodel-cost – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  6. NAHB (Eye on Housing), “Remodelers Saw Profit Margin Gains in 2024 (2026 Remodelers’ Cost of Doing Business Study)” (2026-04-08). https://eyeonhousing.org/2026/04/remodelers-saw-profit-margin-gains-in-2024/ – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  7. HomeGuide, “How Much Does Shower Installation Cost? (2026)” (2025-10-07). https://homeguide.com/costs/shower-installation-cost – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  8. HomeGuide, “How Much Does It Cost To Retile a Shower? (2026)” (2023-11-08). https://homeguide.com/costs/cost-to-retile-shower-or-bathroom – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  9. HomeGuide, “How Much Does Bathtub Replacement Cost? (2026)” (2025-08-20). https://homeguide.com/costs/bathtub-installation-replacement-cost – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  10. HomeGuide, “How Much Does a Shower Valve Replacement Cost? (2026)” (2025-08-29). https://homeguide.com/costs/shower-valve-replacement-cost – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  11. HomeGuide, “How Much Does Bathroom Vanity Installation Cost? (2026)” (2025-06-03). https://homeguide.com/costs/bathroom-vanity-installation-cost – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  12. HomeGuide, “How Much Does Toilet Installation Cost? (2026)” (2025-09-22). https://homeguide.com/costs/toilet-installation-cost – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  13. HomeAdvisor, “How Much Does Tiling a Shower Cost in 2026?” (2026-06-20). https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/bathrooms/retile-bathroom-shower/ – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  14. HomeAdvisor, “How Much Does It Cost to Install a Bathroom Fan in 2026?” (2026-06-20). https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/bathrooms/install-a-bath-fan/ – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  15. HomeGuide, “How Much Does It Cost to Install or Replace a GFCI Outlet? (2026)” (2025-08-29). https://homeguide.com/costs/gfci-outlet-cost – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  16. HomeGuide, “2026 General Contractor Charges, Hourly Rates & Fee Percentage” (2023-09-05). https://homeguide.com/costs/general-contractor-cost – retrieved 2026-10-19.
  17. U.S. Department of Energy, Building America Solution Center (PNNL), “Bathroom Exhaust Fans” (2022-12-04). https://basc.pnnl.gov/resource-guides/bathroom-exhaust-fans – retrieved 2026-10-19.

About this article

How this article was made: The Homeowner Files uses AI tools to help research, draft and illustrate articles. Every cost figure traces to a public source listed under Sources, and a person reviews and approves each article before it publishes.

All content on The Homeowner Files reflects general industry knowledge and publicly available data. It is not construction, legal, financial, or professional advice. Consult licensed professionals for your specific project. None of it reflects the views, positions, or confidential information of any employer.

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply