Overview
Every year, we receive many inquiries asking what the bathroom remodeling cost is in Massachusetts. We’ve also realized that there’s a lot of misleading information out there, particularly from contractors who prefer not to provide this level of transparency.
Many folks considering a bathroom renovation have mentioned past experiences with contractors who quote a low initial price, only to introduce many change orders later as they discover issues, often ones they could have known about beforehand. We don’t think this is fair to customers.
So we’d like to provide insight into the main factors driving cost for a bathroom remodel. Our approach at Code Bath is to handle these for you, by offering a fixed upfront cost so you don’t have to worry about whether the price you ultimately pay is going to match what you signed up for. That said, we think it’s useful to see what’s going on behind the scenes so you can understand the complexity involved.
Understanding the bathroom remodeling cost is essential for homeowners to make informed decisions.
Generally speaking there are 3 main drivers that affect the cost of a bathroom renovation: size, materials, and labor. Additionally, the applicability of certain situations or scope can increase the cost further.
Ultimately, knowing the bathroom remodeling cost helps in budgeting and planning your renovation project effectively.
Primary Drivers
Bathroom Size
This one is fairly intuitive, as larger spaces require more work and materials. Additionally, large bathrooms often have more space for reconfiguration, which increases costs. On the other hand, small bathrooms can sometimes be simple but tight spaces can also be associated with complexity because there is often an equal amount of plumbing to fit into a small space so a little extra creativity is required to make it all fit and make sense. Below you can get a directional sense of how typical bathroom renovation costs vary by size in the Boston area.
Material Cost
A significant driver of your bathroom renovation cost is going to be what level of finishes you are looking to incorporate. The level of investment here can vary widely and there’s a range of suitable answers depending on your situation, the property and personal preference.
For example, if your house is a starter home for your growing family, maybe you are ok with a medium level of finishes since you have small children so you just need a functional space for everyday living. On the other hand, if you own a condo downtown where the unit can easily command a high price, perhaps a higher level of finishes commensurate with the neighborhood is warranted since you can recoup your investment and likely earn a return when you go to sell. There are a lot of factors to consider and some research and reflection on this topic is usually well worth the time!
Separately, there are also external factors that impact material cost. For example, the amount of building going on in a particular area can drive up local material costs. Supply chain challenges can have the same effect, and we’ve experienced that in recent years.
Below you can see some directional numbers for how a medium-size bathroom can range in cost depending on the level of finishes you choose.
Labor Cost
Labor represents one of the largest costs in any bathroom renovation, since usually all trade types are involved and there is a meaningful amount of custom work going into a small area.
- Architect or Designer
- Project manager
- Plumber
- Electrician
- Tileworker
- Carpenter
- Handyman
Labor represents one of the largest costs in any bathroom remodeling cost, since usually all trade types are involved and there is a meaningful amount of custom work going into a small area.
Additional Factors
Opening Walls
Whether your renovation is in place or requires opening walls to relocate fixtures has an enormous impact on price. Many folks don’t fully understand this, so it’s important to go into depth on this one. Any project for a Massachusetts home that requires opening up an internal wall requires a permit. It doesn’t matter if you’re simply replacing insulation or gutting the entire bathroom, a permit is needed.
Further, in the process of opening up the walls, you may make discoveries that require you to perform additional work to remain compliant with building code. This is incredibly common in Massachusetts. For example, we often open up walls and discover that there’s no insulation and no fire blocking. Building code requires us to install a particular grade of insulation throughout, in addition to adding fire blocking at the floor line.
Keep in mind, the bathroom remodeling cost can vary based on the complexity and scope of the renovation.
Relocating Fixtures
Relocating fixtures can be particularly expensive for several reasons:
- Architectural drawings showing the new layout are required.
- The contractor needs to make sure that the new layout is compliant with all building code. For example, the center line of the toilet needs to be more than 15 inches away from the bathtub.
- It usually requires new plumbing and occasionally electrical updates to support the new layout.
- It requires opening up walls, which can lead to expensive discoveries, as explained above.
- It requires multiple inspections: typically, one before, one during renovation, and one after.
Remediating Old Housing Stock Issues
Massachusetts has particularly old housing stock; many homes were built over 100 years ago. As a result, much of the plumbing, electrical, and structural work no longer satisfies building code.
This means that if you’re making changes related to some of these features, your contractor will need to bring that aspect up to code. Here are the most common issues we see when renovating bathrooms:
Knob-and-Tube Wiring
This is an older type of electrical wiring that has no equipment grounding conductor. This means there’s no way to legally install a grounded or GFCI-protected outlet, which is required by building code.
This type of wiring also represents a fire hazard, since it’s commonly surrounded with flammable insulation. Knob-and-tube wiring was designed to dissipate heat, so the last thing you want is to have that happen near flammable material. This on its own is a code violation that needs to be remediated.
No Existing Exhaust Ventilation
Massachusetts is actually stricter on this requirement than federal building code: we aren’t allowed to satisfy the exhaust ventilation requirement with an openable window or a fan. Massachusetts requires mechanical ventilation exhausted directly to the outdoors.
This requirement also addresses a major health hazard, as unvented bathrooms can cause mold. Finally, trapping that moisture can be highly damaging, resulting in peeling paint, rotted subfloor, and rusted hardware.
Floor Leveling Required
Houses settle as they age. For Massachusetts homes that are particularly old, they’ll have settled more, which means their flooring often isn’t level. It’s common in many older homes to be able to tell that a floor is sloped simply by eyeballing it. Often this means that the floor height changes at least four inches over a 10-foot span.
There are a few ways to address this and the effective approaches aren’t cheap. They require taking off the flooring, the subfloor, and then making adjustments to the joists underneath. This work also requires plans from a structural engineer to ensure it’s safe.
Addressing Safety Issues
Asbestos
Boston-area homes often have asbestos in the walls. This was an insulation material used up until the 1980s, before its adverse health effects were fully understood. That said, it’s still common to find asbestos even in bathrooms that were remodeled more recently.
The most common places we see asbestos in bathrooms are:
- Under vinyl floor tile
- With pipe and boiler insulation
- With joint compound and textured ceilings
Asbestos is harmful when it’s dispersed into the air, allowing particles to enter your lungs. If your bathroom renovation doesn’t impact areas with asbestos, for example, you don’t plan to open up walls or redo flooring, then you aren’t required to remediate asbestos.
Lead paint
Massachusetts has a lead paint law that applies to any residential property built before 1978. In short, if a child under six lives in the unit, this obligates the owner to remove or permanently cover lead paint on accessible surfaces.
After that, they’ll need to obtain a letter of full compliance, proving that they have addressed the lead paint. An interesting note for landlords: if a child is lead poisoned in your pre-1978 unit, you are liable for damages even if you didn’t know about the lead. Ignorance is not an excuse. As you might imagine, de-leading a property is high risk, and as a result, requires a licensed de-leader to perform the work.
Additional Considerations
There are a few other factors driving bathroom renovation cost, many of which don’t occur to some of our customers:
Permitting Difficulty Level and Timelines
Permitting difficulty level and timelines vary meaningfully from town to town. For example, the running joke in Somerville is that the building department wants three inspections to change a light bulb. Even in more lenient towns, complex projects require additional coordination.
Contractor Overhead
Finally, contractor overhead represents a meaningful set of expenses. It’s not cheap to be a general contractor in Massachusetts. Here are some of the main categories:
Insurance
In summary, a clear understanding of the bathroom remodeling cost will help you make better choices during your renovation.
Contractors must maintain general liability insurance and the cost increases in line with revenue.
Workers’ Compensation
Massachusetts It’s one of the more expensive states for workers’ compensation given the relatively generous benefits offered as part of this. If a worker gets hurt on the job, this compensates them for lost income.
Employee Expenses
Massachusetts has one of the strictest independent contractor tests in the country, meaning that most folks working for a contractor qualify as employees. This means the contractor’s responsible for a whole host of expenses, including:
- FICA/Medicare
- MA unemployment insurance
- MA PFML
- Health insurance
- Paid sick time, holidays, PTO
General overhead
- Vehicles
- Equipment, tools
- Storage
- Software
- Legal
- Marketing
- Dump fees
- Unbilled time, including estimating, permit runs, client meetings, etc.
Travel expenses (site distance matters!)
Your contractor will travel to the site every day, and the cost to do so can really add up. This includes time spent commuting, gas, wear and tear on their vehicles, etc. As a result, you’ll typically find that contractors will charge more for jobs that are farther away from them, compared to ones that are closer.
Profit
Finally, there’s no getting around it: contractors are running a business and have to make a profit. This has to be included when considering total cost to renovate a bathroom
Conclusion
Ultimately, being informed about the bathroom remodeling cost will empower homeowners throughout the renovation process.
As you can see there is a lot of complexity which is why it’s difficult to make a blanket statement about renovation costs; hopefully the above ranges and explanations help with understanding the drivers and considerations behind the scenes. If you have more questions don’t hesitate to reach out, and if you’re interested in learning more about our process we’d love to meet you!
Our pricing philosophy
We believe that as consumers, it’s difficult to fully understand the execution risks associated with taking on a bathroom project and the cost escalations that could take place. That’s why we take a fixed price approach, so that what you’re paying for is the certainty of a completed bathroom for a particular price.
We take on ownership of the various costs related to the renovation, some of which are in our control, and all of which are better understood and managed by us. What remains in your control is the level of design and materials investment, and we offer a range of options so that you can choose a package that suits your preferences. Learn more about these options by requesting a quote or setting up a free consultation with us at the link below.
