How To Spend Less Than $10,000 On Your Bathroom Renovation Living on Long Island, NY
Renovating a bathroom on a budget can be challenging, especially in high-cost areas like Long Island, New York. However, the experience we've had in our 15+ years transforming homes on L.I is that with careful planning and budget-smart decisions, it's possible to keep your bathroom renovation cost below 10k and still end up with an absolutely beautiful bathroom.
With many options available to us when it comes to tile, vanities, shower doors, plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, etc, you don't have to be stuck with a basic, outdated, unappealing bathroom when you're trying to keep costs down. In fact, you don't even have to salvage old parts or fixtures (Yes, that is a request some clients have with the idea being saving money...).
Lets see what we can do to keep your bathroom renovation under $10,000 😃
Budget Friendly Flooring
There are quite literally 100's of options for flooring. But our focus is going to stay on what types of flooring are not only cost effective for your bathroom remodel, but also aesthetically pleasing, and durable enough to last.
Tile (Ceramic)
Ceramic Tile is a phenomenal choice for a beautiful yet budget friendly floor in your bathroom renovation. Not only is ceramic tile naturally resistant to water, already making them an excellent choice for bathroom renovations, they're also easy to clean with regular sweeping and occasional mopping.
Ceramic Tiles have come a long way, available in a vast array of colors, patterns, textures, and sizes, they allow for versatile design options to match any aesthetic preference. From wood floor look tile (featured above), to natural stone look, there are an unbelievable amount of options available to you when it comes to ceramic tile. With suppliers like Home Depot and Floor & Decor, you can expect to spend anywhere from as low as 80 cents per square foot (Yeah, we're not lying, 80 frickin cents) to as high as, staying within budget of course, roughly 3 dollars per square foot. To give you a reference, tiling the floor and bath-tub area (up to the ceiling) of a standard bathroom, you're looking at 85-115 square feet.
LVP & LVT (Vinyl Plank & Vinyl Tile)
Vinyl flooring is a relatively new product, considering from its introduction in the 70s until the early 2000s it was absolutely horrendous. There's no denying its improved far beyond what we all expected when it first came gained popularity in the early 2000s. Nowadays, pretty much all of the trusted names in Vinyl Flooring guarantee lifetime warranties in residential applications, as well as a waterproof designs with incredible scratch resistance.
LVP & LVT are cost-effective flooring options for bathroom remodels compared to natural stone or high-end porcelain. Modern vinyl flooring mimics the look and texture of natural materials such as hardwood, stone, or ceramic tiles, offering a realistic and aesthetically pleasing finish. With a vast array of designs, colors, patterns, and textures, this stuff really brings a versatile range of options to match various interior styles and preferences, and all at an incredibly affordable price.
Budget Friendly Shower / Bathtub Surrounds
When you walk into a bathroom, besides the floor you're walking on, whats the first thing your eyes get drawn to? I'd guess your answer would be the bathtub/shower area, or the vanity. For now, we're going to focus on the bathtub/shower area.
Fiberglass Surrounds
When it comes to cost effectiveness vs. durability, you'll be hard-pressed to find something better than a quality fiberglass tub/shower surround.
Not only do fiberglass surrounds offer an incredibly clean appearance, they're also arguably one of the most durable surround options. Anyone who has ever has to cut one of these out of an old bathroom understands immediately that these things are made to last. You can expect to find a surround similar to what's pictured above for anywhere from 350 to 600 dollars.
There are slightly more expensive styles of pre-fabricated surrounds, and as to be expected the variety and quality are a step above the high gloss white surrounds we saw earlier. You can expect to spend anywhere from $750 to $1500+ dollars on a pre-fabricated surround like this. In comparison to natural stone or porcelain, even the most expensive of surrounds is 20-30% of the cost.
Tile (From Subway To 12x24)
When we hear from a new client that they always thought they couldn't afford to do a bathroom remodel "like this" it breaks our hearts. Bathroom renovations DO NOT have to be that expensive to look beautiful for a lifetime. Subway tile is another cost effective way to get the bathroom of your dreams.
You can you incorporate a mosaic tile detail to really bring out the color/style you're looking for, or utilize a mosaic tile for the floor to compliment the grout (as pictured to the right).
There's a myth that tile work has to be expensive. That's really not always true.
Look, there's always prep and waterproofing for any bath or shower system, there's no cost to be cut there. The good news is that with proper prep and an adequate waterproofing system, a less expensive tile can be be installed properly and not only look beautiful but also last a lifetime.
True to our point that proper preparation paired with an adequate waterproofing system, a less expensive tile can look great and last a lifetime, we want to make sure you know... you don't HAVE to go with a small subway tile. Before we get your hopes up, you can't go with a 48"x48" behemoth of a tile. What you can do, is go as big as 12x24, or even 15x30 without it becoming any extra work for your installer (which should be our team after you read this post 😏).
Proper preparation for a tile install 100% requires the walls to be plumb, with no bowing. As long as that is addressed before the tile installation, working with any ceramic or porcelain tile up to 15x30 is incredibly cost effective.
Budget Friendly Ways To Shop Smart
Unfortunately there's a real negative tone towards chain home improvement suppliers in the home improvement space. We're going to debunk that right now. Firstly, to clarify what we mean by chain home improvement suppliers, we're talking Lowes, Home Depot, Floor and Decor, etc.
Speaking strictly in terms of interior home renovations, meaning kitchens, bathrooms, basements, and bedrooms, there's only two discernible difference we've noticed in our 15+ year transforming homes on Long Island.
A) The chain suppliers have more stock...
B) The chain suppliers are less expensive...
We've shopped everywhere for home improvement material, building and aesthetic, and the only real differences we've noticed are the available inventory and the price. We want to make something abundantly clear here...
Unless you're dealing with HIGH-END RENOVATIONS, we're talking about the $60,000-$80,000 bathrooms, the quarter million dollar kitchens (yeah, renovations get that pricy...), there's no noticeable difference in the quality of material used. Pressed wood vanities are pressed wood vanities, porcelain is porcelain, and ceramic is ceramic, chrome is chrome, and to be completely honest, neither one us can tell the difference from $100 light fixture to an $1000 light fixture if they're the same style. At the end of the day until you make the transition from mass manufactured to individually made, you don't really have to worry about quality in that sense.
We're not saying to buy garbage. We're saying to shop smart and zoom out a little bit when looking at what you're trying to do (get a long lasting, beautiful bathroom for 10k or less). There is an abundance of good quality material, everything from light fixtures to vanities, that you can find and purchase without spending your communion money.
To Summarize
Renovating a bathroom on a budget can be challenging, especially in high-cost areas like Long Island, New York. However, with careful planning and smart decisions, it's possible to keep your bathroom renovation cost below $10,000.
We put together this article for the everyday homeowner to be able to get some insight as to how they can remodel a bathroom affordably, and still make it beautiful.
Email us at info@pinnovationscorp.com or call us at (631)364-7773 to schedule a free consultation!
We're also on all social media at Precision Innovations Corp.