Bathroom remodeling in Oakland
Full showers and full bathrooms, at the existing footprint. Plastic pan liner waterproofing, permits on every job. Rockridge to the Hills. Stand in the example room, change what you want and watch the price move with it. CA License #1054501.
What to budget
Bay Area market ranges we see for full bathroom remodels at the existing footprint: demo, waterproofing, tile, vanity, plumbing coordination and permits. Use them as a budgeting guide, not a quote.
- Light refresh: $8K to $15K, 1 to 2 weeks. Fixtures + vanity, no shower rebuild. New vanity, new toilet, new faucet and mirror, repaint, light flooring. Keeps the existing shower.
- Mid-range: $15K to $25K, 3 to 5 weeks. New shower tile + new pan + new vanity + new floor. Full shower rebuild including waterproofing and new pan, plus all the light-refresh items. The most common East Bay bathroom scope.
- Full gut: $25K to $35K, 5 to 8 weeks. Demo to studs + new plumbing + full waterproof + tile + permits. Everything new. For older East Bay homes where galvanized supply lines or cast iron drains need replacing while the walls are open.
Your price comes from a free walkthrough. Scope, fixture selection, tile choice, hidden plumbing discoveries in older East Bay homes, and whether you are doing one bathroom or two all move the number. We quote yours after seeing the bathroom, never off a price list.
How we build it
Plastic pan liner, every job
One waterproofing system on every bathroom: a traditional CPE plastic pan liner. Pre-slope mortar UNDER the liner. Finish slope mud bed ON TOP of the liner. Cement board walls above the liner turn-ups. One proven system done right beats mixing membranes job-to-job.
Pre-slope under the pan
The single most-skipped step in bathroom remodels. Without a pre-slope, water gets stuck in pools against the pan liner and the shower fails from the inside out. We do it on every job, as a separate step before the finish slope goes on.
Cure times are chemistry
Mortar layers need to set between steps. Thinset cures 24 hours before grout. Grout cures 48 to 72 hours before the shower can be used. You cannot compress those windows by throwing more crew at the job. We quote honest timelines that respect the chemistry.
Existing footprint, honest scope
We do full showers and full bathrooms at the existing footprint. No layout changes, no drain relocations, no moving the toilet to a different wall. Layout changes are whole-house renovation territory: a different conversation, a different contract.
What we will not install
Pebble stone shower floors
Looks incredible in magazines and on Instagram. In real life, cleaning between the pebbles is impossible, soap scum and hair collect in the grout crevices, and the uneven surface is painful to stand on. We have been called in to replace pebble floors on bathrooms less than 5 years old.
Small-format floor tile
Anything smaller than 12×12 on a bathroom floor is a grout-maintenance nightmare. We install 12×24 or 18×36 porcelain on almost every bathroom floor: fewer grout lines, easier cleaning, calmer visual.
No-permit shortcuts
We will not skip the permit to save a few hundred dollars upfront. The cost savings on day one turn into insurance denial and failed home-sale disclosure down the road. Every bathroom, every time.
Layout changes
Relocating the toilet, moving the shower drain, carving a new bathroom out of a closet: that is whole-house renovation territory. We will point you to the right conversation, but we do not quote bathroom-remodel prices on what is actually a much bigger job.
Questions we get
Do I need a permit to remodel my bathroom?
Yes, and we pull one on every bathroom, every time. We do not skip permits to save a client money. The fee protects your homeowner’s insurance claim if the bathroom ever fails, keeps the work clean in any future home-sale disclosure, and gives us a free second set of expert eyes on our rough-in plumbing and waterproofing. Pulled through the permit office of whichever East Bay city the project is in. We handle the paperwork.
How long does a bathroom remodel take?
Depends on scope. Light refresh (fixtures + vanity, no shower rebuild): 1 to 2 weeks. Mid-range (new shower tile + new pan + new vanity + new floor): 3 to 5 weeks. Full gut (permits + demo to studs + new plumbing + full waterproof + tile): 5 to 8 weeks. The biggest single wait on any bathroom is mortar and tile cure times: thinset cures 24 hours before grout, grout cures 48 to 72 hours before the shower can be used. Chemistry, not labor. Throwing more crew at the job does not compress them.
What about older homes with original galvanized plumbing?
Pre-1960 East Bay homes (Oakland Craftsmans, Berkeley brown shingles, Alameda Victorians) often have galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains past their service life. When we do a full-gut bathroom, we replace any failing supply and drain lines while the walls are open. Doing it later requires tearing the finished bathroom apart again. If your plumbing is still copper or PEX, we leave it alone. The call is made at demo day, not on the quote.
Bathroom remodeling in Oakland
Full showers and full bathrooms, at the existing footprint. Plastic pan liner waterproofing, permits on every job. Rockridge to the Hills.
CA License #1054501