How to Plan a Bathroom Remodel Budget

What you need

Written quotes for fixtures, tiling, plumbing, electrical work and labour, a tape measure, and the patience to list everything before you spend anything. The quotes are the budget: this site publishes no prices, and neither should your budget — it must come from real quotes for your bathroom, not from figures you found online.

Step 1 — List every line item

Write down every cost as its own line: fixtures, tiling, plumbing, electrical, vanity, shower or tub, labour, and other (permits, disposal, finishing touches). Nothing goes in as "misc" — misc is where budgets die, because a line with no number gets no money and still has to be paid. If a quote lumps things together, ask the contractor to break it out: you cannot compare or track a lump sum.

Step 2 — Get real quotes

Get two or three written quotes for the same written scope, and compare them like for like — the guide on comparing contractor quotes explains how. A quote that is far cheaper than the others is usually missing something: disposal, waterproofing, permits or the finish you asked for. The cheapest number on paper is often the most expensive job in practice.

Step 3 — Add contingency and tax

Add a contingency of 10–20% — bathrooms hide the worst surprises: leaks, rot and old plumbing that only show up when a wall is opened. Then add tax on the subtotal plus the contingency, because tax is charged on what you actually spend, not on the pre-contingency figure. The bathroom remodel calculator does the arithmetic: enter your own line items, and it gives you the subtotal, contingency, tax and total — and the cost per square foot if you add the area.

Step 4 — Track against the budget

Enter your total budget and the category costs in the home improvement budget calculator: it shows the estimated total, what is left and what percentage of the budget is used. Check it every time a quote changes or a surprise appears. If the total goes over budget, cut scope — a cheaper fitting, a smaller tile — rather than cutting the contingency, because the contingency is the only thing standing between you and an unfinished bathroom.

Worked example

Using the calculator's example line items — fixtures $2,500, tiling $3,000, plumbing $2,000, electrical $1,000, vanity $1,200, shower $2,500, labour $5,000 and other $800 — the subtotal is $18,000. A 10% contingency adds $1,800, and 8% tax on ($18,000 + $1,800) is $1,584, for a total of $21,384. For a 60 ft² bathroom that is $356.40 per ft² ($3,836.26 per m²). These are example figures to show the method — enter your own quotes for your own bathroom. Those are exactly the numbers the bathroom remodel calculator gives you.

Common mistakes

• No contingency. A bathroom without a contingency is a budget that fails on the first surprise — and bathrooms always have one.
• Forgetting tax, permits and disposal. They are real costs and they are never in the headline quote. List them as lines of their own.
• Comparing quotes that do not include the same work. One quote with waterproofing and one without are not two prices for the same job.

Safety

Plumbing and electrical work in a bathroom must be done by qualified professionals and meet your local building code — water and electricity in the same small room is not a place for guesswork. Waterproofing (tanking) is not optional: a bathroom without it will leak, and the damage shows up in the room below. Moving plumbing or electrics often needs a permit — check your local rules before work starts, and never do gas or mains electrical work yourself.

Try these calculators

• Bathroom Remodel Calculator — cost by line item, with contingency and tax.
• Home Improvement Budget Calculator — track a whole project against its budget.
• Plumbing Cost Calculator — plumbing costs for a project.