A full remodel means the room comes apart and goes back together in a fixed order. Demo, then whatever the demo reveals, then rough plumbing and electrical, then inspection, then waterproofing, then tile, then paint, fixtures, and trim. That order is not a preference. Skip ahead and something has to come back out, and in a bathroom the thing that comes back out is almost always tile.
The unpredictable part sits in the middle. Nobody knows exactly what is under the floor or inside the walls until the room is stripped, and in older Utah houses what turns up is often galvanized supply lines, venting that was never sized right, or subfloor that has been quietly wet around the toilet or the tub apron. A contractor worth hiring tells you what they will do in each of those cases before they swing a hammer.
The biggest single driver is whether anything moves. Keeping the toilet, tub, and shower drains where they are keeps the floor closed; relocating any of them opens it and pulls in more labor and more inspection. After that it is tile: how much surface area, how small the pieces, whether there are niches, benches, or patterns that slow a setter down. Then fixture level, which is the part you control most directly. Then whatever demo reveals, which nobody can quote honestly in advance. And if this is your only bathroom, the schedule itself carries a cost of its own.
Usually yes, if you have another bathroom. Expect dust control at the doorway, tools staged in a hallway, and the water off for stretches. With one bathroom it becomes a real conversation about staging, since the room is unusable from demo until the shower is tiled, grouted, and the toilet is reset and working.
Wet subfloor around the toilet flange or the tub apron, galvanized supply lines that should be replaced while the wall is open, and a bath fan ducted into the attic instead of outside. None of those are unusual in older Wasatch Front homes, and all of them are easier to handle while the room is already apart.
Not always. A lot of layout frustration comes from vanity width, door swing, and where the mirror and lighting sit, none of which require touching a drain. Moving a fixture is worth it when the room genuinely does not work, but it should be a decision you make knowingly rather than one that arrives by default.
They are different projects. The primary bath is typically larger, with more tile and more plumbing; the hall bath is smaller but affects everyone in the house. Doing both together concentrates the disruption into one stretch, which some people prefer, but it also means both rooms are out of service at once.
The most common request we hear, and rarely as simple as pulling a tub out. The drain sits in a different place, the curb and pan have to be built, and the walls behind them get rebuilt too.
Learn more →Tile is what you see. The waterproofing layer under it is what decides whether the wall stays dry, and it is the easiest place on the job to save a few hours and cause a failure nobody finds for years.
Learn more →Some of this is a swap: same footprint, same rough plumbing, new fixture. Some of it moves pipe inside a wall or under the floor, which is a different job with a different level of disruption.
Learn more →Curbless entries, blocking in the walls for grab bars, room to turn around, and a shower you can walk into. Easier to plan while the walls are open than to retrofit after something changes in your household.
Learn more →Which bathroom it is, and whether anything needs to move. That is enough to begin.
