Bathroom Renovations Built to Stay Dry

A standard main bathroom runs three to four weeks on site. A larger ensuite with a curbless shower, heated floors, and custom cabinetry generally runs five to seven weeks.

Tile and waterproofing drive the schedule more than anything else, because membranes need cure time and flood tests need to be held. We would rather add two days to the calendar than compress a step that protects the whole assembly.

Replacing fixtures in the same locations usually does not require a permit. Moving a toilet, shower, or tub to a new location involves drainage changes that generally do, as does adding a bathroom where there was not one before.

Strata buildings across Metro Vancouver almost always require approval and proof of insurance from the contractor regardless of permit status. We handle both processes.

A curbless shower has no lip to step over, which looks cleaner and makes the room usable at any mobility level. It requires the shower floor to be recessed into the floor structure so the slope to drain happens below the finished floor line.

Whether yours can take one depends on your floor system. Joisted floors on an upper storey usually can with some framing modification. Slab-on-grade main floors are harder and sometimes require a linear drain with a very shallow slope instead. We assess it on site before quoting.

Powder rooms typically start in the low five figures. A full main bathroom gut and rebuild generally runs in the mid five figures. A large ensuite with custom cabinetry, a curbless shower, heated floors, and premium fixtures moves into the high five figures or beyond.

Tile choice has a larger effect on labour cost than most people expect. Large format porcelain, intricate mosaics, and natural stone all take significantly longer to install than a standard subway layout, and that shows up in the estimate.

Yes, and we see it regularly. The usual finding is a shower with no real waterproofing behind the tile, improper slope, or an exhaust fan venting into the attic.

We open a small exploratory area to establish what is actually there before quoting, because remediation scope depends entirely on how far moisture has travelled into the framing and the ceiling below.

Yes. We install electric radiant mats under tile as a standard option, on a dedicated circuit with a programmable thermostat. In a Lower Mainland winter it is one of the upgrades clients mention most often as being worth the cost.

It has to be planned before the floor build-up is finalized, since the mat and self-levelling compound add height that affects door clearances and transitions.