Bathroom remodeling in Charlotte

Here is a question worth asking any contractor before you hire them: what is behind your shower tile right now? Most homeowners cannot answer it, and most builder-grade bathrooms from the 1990s and 2000s were built to a code minimum, not to a Charlotte-summer standard. That gap is where bathroom remodels go wrong years after the fact, in the form of a soft spot in the subfloor or a stain spreading across a ceiling below.

Waterproofing is not optional here

Charlotte runs humid for most of the year, which means a shower assembly has to manage moisture that never fully leaves the air, not just water that hits the tile directly. On every shower and tub surround we build, that means a full waterproof membrane over the substrate, not paint-on sealant alone, sloped mortar bed to the drain, and a fan sized and vented to the exterior, not into an attic where it just relocates the moisture. It is slower than tiling straight over cement board, and it is the difference between a shower that lasts twenty years and one that needs its subfloor replaced in eight.

The 1990s builder bath, specifically

A huge number of the bathrooms we touch in Ballantyne, Huntersville, and Waxhaw share the same layout: a garden tub in a corner that nobody uses, a separate fiberglass shower stall, a long vanity with two sinks and not much counter between them, and 12x12 beige tile on the floor. The garden tub is almost always the first thing to go. It takes up more square footage than any other fixture in the room and gets used a handful of times a year. Pulling it out usually buys enough space for a larger shower, a linen cabinet, or both.

Tub-to-shower conversions

This is one of the most common single-item requests we get, separate from a full bathroom remodel, and it is worth treating as its own decision:

Exact cost depends on which of these you are doing and your finish level; the quiz gives a Charlotte range for each in about three taps.

Permits and inspections, not paperwork theater

Any bathroom remodel that touches plumbing or electrical gets a permit pulled in Mecklenburg County, Union County for the Waxhaw and Matthews side, or York County, South Carolina for Fort Mill and Tega Cay. That means a rough-in inspection after the plumbing and electrical are run but before the wall goes back up, an insulation inspection where relevant, and a final inspection before you use the room. We schedule around these, not against them. A contractor who skips the rough-in inspection is betting that nothing behind your wall will ever need to be seen again, and in a bathroom, that is a bad bet.

What the fixed number covers

Design happens first: measurements, a 3D render if you want to see the layout before demo, and every tile, fixture, and vanity selection in a physical book. Then one price and one completion date, good for 60 days. If we open a wall and find something the original builder should have caught — a leaking p-trap that has been slowly rotting a subfloor, wiring that predates GFCI requirements — that is covered by the contingency built into the number. You get a photo and a call, not a change order.

Small bathrooms, real constraints

Not every bathroom has room to grow. A hall bath in a 1960s Cotswold ranch might be five feet by eight with a single small window and no square footage to borrow from a closet. In those, the gains come from fixture choices: a shower base that fits the existing footprint better than the original fiberglass unit, a wall-hung vanity that opens up floor space, a mirror sized to the room instead of a standard 36-inch stock piece.

What we will not do

• We will not tile over cement board without a waterproof membrane in a wet area, regardless of what the previous owner's bathroom looked like.
• We will not skip a permit on plumbing or electrical work to save a week.
• We will not vent a bathroom fan into an attic.

One project manager runs your bathroom from contract to the 90-Day Walk-Through, when we come back to re-caulk, adjust a door, and fix anything that only shows up after you have actually used the room for three months.

Questions about this