The hardest part of a small bathroom remodel isn’t the tile or the vanity. It’s that every square inch is already spoken for, so any real change means deciding what moves and what stays.
The question we hear most is some version of “can we actually make this bigger?” Often, yes. But the honest answer depends on where the walls sit, where the plumbing runs, and how much you want to change at once. Here’s how a small bath goes in our hands, day by day, and what it costs to do it right.
Our small bathroom remodel schedule: four weeks, no downtime
When we start a bathroom on a Monday, we’re in that room Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 5, until it’s done. That’s usually about four weeks.
We’re not waiting on another trade, and we’re not waiting on materials, because you and our design team (Carlie helps clients through selections) picked everything months earlier. As Brian puts it, “There’s not a day when something isn’t happening in your bathroom.”
The front half of that schedule surprises people. The first week to ten days is all prep:
- Protect the house and contain the dust.
- Strip the room to the studs.
- Fix any mold or mildew we find, then strengthen the shower floor and framing.
- Waterproof, with concrete board or the Wedi® system behind the tile so water has nowhere to go.
Only after that do tile and cabinets go in. Then come the vanity, electrical, exhaust, lighting, the mirror, drywall, and paint. Our crews on kitchens and baths are 100% in-house: our own people, not a rotating cast of subs.
If you want the full breakdown of why four weeks is normal and what stretches it, we covered how long a bathroom remodel takes in a separate post.
We’re in that room Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 5, until it’s done. That’s usually about four weeks.
What is the best design for a small bathroom?
The best design for a small bathroom remodel starts by cutting what you don’t use and spending that space on what you do. In many older primary baths, that’s a freestanding or Jacuzzi tub. Pull it, and you can give the shower real room.
On a recent small primary bath, we moved a wall to enlarge the shower, removed the Jacuzzi tub, and put in a new vanity, all-new tile, new lighting, quartz countertops, and a zero-degree entry shower on all-new plumbing. It was essentially a from-scratch rebuild, which is how most primary baths we touch end up going.
A few moves make a tight room feel larger:
- Zero-degree entry showers. A curbless shower reads as part of the room instead of a box inside it, and the floor runs unbroken to the drain. It’s also a big part of the aging-in-place work our clients ask for when they plan to stay put.
- A larger mirror and good light. Pairing the mirror with proper fixtures opens the wall visually and makes the whole room easier to use.
- A vanity sized to the space, not a catalog. We source cabinets from many manufacturers (Omega most often) and will order or build full custom when a stock size won’t fit the wall you actually have. Moen is our default for fixtures.
Moving a wall to enlarge the shower: worth it or not?
Moving a wall to enlarge a shower is one of the biggest cost drivers in a small bathroom remodel, and it’s often the thing that makes the room finally work. Changing the footprint means relocating plumbing and reframing, so it’s not a trim decision.
But when a shower is cramped and the only unused space is a tub alcove nobody uses, shifting that wall is usually the difference between a nicer version of a bad layout and a genuinely better room.
We won’t guess at it. Before you sign anything, you see a 3D rendering of the finished bath, so the layout is settled on screen, not discovered mid-demo.
Before you sign anything, you see a 3D rendering of the finished bath, so the layout is settled on screen, not discovered mid-demo.
Heated bathroom floors and the other upgrades that move the number
Heated bathroom floors run roughly $3,500 to $5,000 on top of a remodel, depending on size. We install electric heat, not hydronic. In Brian’s words, “the electric heated floor system is a safer more reliable system then pumping water through the floor of a bathroom.”
We use Schluter DITRA-HEAT, and the mat goes down with the concrete board during that prep stage. The programmable thermostat lets you set from your phone when the heat comes on, how warm it gets, and when it shuts off.
It’s not worth it in every room. Skip heated floors in a bath that already holds heat and runs naturally warm. They pay off where a bathroom sits far from the furnace or over a garage, where tile is brutal on a cold winter morning.
Along with changing the footprint and a curbless shower, heated floors are one of the three features that most change what a small bathroom remodel costs.
What does a small bathroom remodel cost here?
A bathroom refresh runs $20,000 to $40,000, and a complete primary-bath redo like the one above lands at $50,000 to $70,000, with high-end work past $70,000. Most master baths settle between $40,000 and $80,000, and more push past $80,000 than sit near $40,000.
Those are the ranges we’re comfortable publishing, because scope sets the number. A cost-per-square-foot figure tells you almost nothing about a room with a custom shower in it.
People sometimes ask whether a cosmetic budget can cover a gut rebuild. It can’t. A fixture-and-paint update is a different project from a reframe-and-rewaterproof job, and we’d rather tell you that up front than start something we can’t finish to our standard.
When homeowners ask why custom costs what it does, Brian doesn’t argue the point: “I agree things are very expensive. To get something custom, at the highest quality, it does cost.” There’s a deeper look at bathroom remodel cost in Cincinnati if you want the full picture before your consultation.
We build allowances into the proposal so the price stays predictable instead of drifting every week. No flat-fee gimmicks, no per-square-foot math, and no financing. The first in-person visit is always free; we charge only for a rendering or drawing when that work is required.
The first in-person visit is always free.
Serving Loveland and the east side
We work out of Loveland and take on bathrooms across Montgomery, Mason, Hyde Park, Madeira, and Indian Hill, mostly the eastern corridor up I-71 and north of I-275. We’ll travel as far as West Chester to the west and Bethel to the east.
We’re a family business, so you’re reaching the people who run it, not an 800 number. TMC is insured and bonded, carries a $2M liability policy, keeps workers’ comp current, and backs the work with a one-year labor warranty, plus help navigating any material manufacturer’s warranty. We’re a Best of Houzz company and a Certified Therma-Tru door installer. You can see finished rooms in our bathroom remodeling portfolio.
The comment we hear more than any other has nothing to do with tile: homeowners tell us we’re the cleanest contractors who’ve been in their home. We contain the dust, vacuum and dust at the end of every day, and you’re never stepping over tools. People often say we leave it cleaner than when we got there.
See your small bathroom remodel before we build it
If you’ve got a tight bathroom in Loveland that fights you every morning, the first step is a free in-person visit so we can look at your walls and plumbing and talk through what will actually fit. From there, you’ll get a 3D rendering of the finished room before any commitment.
Call us at (513) 781-3000 or email team@tmcbuild.com to set it up. If you want a wider look at our work first, meet our bathroom remodeler in Loveland team.
