A bathroom renovation covers everything from swapping fixtures and refreshing surfaces to a full gut — down to the studs, new plumbing, new layout, rebuilt from scratch. Most projects land somewhere in the middle: the existing footprint stays, but the tile, vanity, tub or shower, lighting, and ventilation are all replaced.
This page is for homeowners who want to understand their options before committing to anything. Whether you're dealing with a dated ensuite, a powder room that hasn't been touched since the house was built, or a main bath with water damage you've been ignoring, the decisions are the same: what type of bathroom, what materials, what upgrades are worth the money, and what to realistically expect during the work.
BuildNRGY handles bathroom renovations across the Greater Toronto Area with our own in-house crew — plumbers, tilers, carpenters, and electricians who work together on every job rather than a rotating cast of subcontractors.
Full bathroom. The standard family bath — tub or tub/shower combo, vanity, toilet. Usually 35–50 sq ft. This is the most common renovation and the one where waterproofing and ventilation decisions matter most, since it gets daily use from multiple people.
Ensuite. Attached to the primary bedroom. This is typically where homeowners spend more per square foot — larger showers, double vanities, better finishes — because it's a private space used every day. Ensuites are also where most layout changes happen, like removing a rarely-used tub to build a larger walk-in shower.
Powder room. A two-piece (toilet and sink), often on the main floor. Small footprint, but guests see it, so it's a common candidate for bolder tile or wallpaper and a statement vanity. Powder rooms are the fastest and least expensive renovation on this list, and a good first project if you want to see how a contractor works before committing to a bigger job.
Wet room. A fully waterproofed bathroom where the shower area isn't separated by a curb or enclosure — the whole floor is tiled and sloped to a drain, often with a freestanding tub inside the shower zone. Wet rooms look clean and work well in smaller ensuites, but they demand meticulous waterproofing and drainage work. This is not a place to cut corners on labour.
Accessible / aging-in-place. Curbless showers, grab bars anchored into blocking (not just drywall), comfort-height toilets, wider clearances, lever handles, non-slip tile, and hand-held shower heads. If you're renovating a bathroom you plan to use for the next 20 years, it costs very little extra to rough in blocking for future grab bars now, even if you don't install them yet. We recommend it on almost every full bath and ensuite we do.
Tile is where most of the visual character and a good chunk of the budget lives. The realistic choices:
Wall vs floor: floor tile needs a slip-resistance and durability rating; wall tile doesn't, which opens up glossy and delicate options. Don't put wall-only tile on a floor.
Heated floors: electric in-floor heating mats go under the tile and are controlled by a programmable thermostat. In a GTA winter, this is consistently the upgrade homeowners tell us they'd never give up. It has to be decided before tiling starts — it can't be added later without ripping the floor out.
Vanities. Stock (off-the-shelf, limited sizes), semi-custom (set styles, adjustable dimensions), or fully custom. Custom makes sense when the space is an odd size, when you want a specific wood species or paint colour, or when storage layout matters — deep drawers instead of doors, built-in outlets for hair tools. Floating (wall-mounted) vanities are popular for the open look and easier floor cleaning, but need solid blocking in the wall.
Countertops.
Fixture finishes. Pick one and carry it through faucets, shower trim, towel bars, and door hardware:
Glass shower enclosures. Framed (least expensive), semi-frameless, or frameless (10mm glass, minimal hardware, the cleanest look and the highest cost). Frameless glass is measured and ordered after tiling is done, which adds several days to the end of a project — plan for it.
Niches. Recessed shelves built into the shower wall for shampoo and soap. Cheap to add during framing, impossible to add after. Decide the location and size early; a niche in an exterior wall costs insulation space, so interior walls are preferred.
Waterproofing is the whole ballgame. Tile is not waterproof — grout absorbs water, and it's the membrane system behind the tile (sheet membranes or liquid-applied systems, properly lapped and sealed at every corner, curb, and niche) that keeps water out of your walls and framing. Most bathroom failures we're called in to fix trace back to skipped or sloppy waterproofing on a previous renovation. It's invisible when done right and expensive when done wrong, so ask any contractor exactly what system they use and how they treat corners and the curb.
Moving plumbing costs real money. Keeping the toilet, sink, and tub/shower where they are keeps costs down. Relocating fixtures means opening floors or ceilings below, rerouting supply and drain lines, and sometimes structural work — typically adding thousands, not hundreds, to the job. Sometimes a layout change is absolutely worth it; just make the decision knowing the price of it.
Ventilation prevents the problems you can't see. An undersized or unused fan means humidity, which means peeling paint, mould in corners, and eventually rot. The fan should vent outside (not into the attic — a surprisingly common finding in older GTA homes), be sized to the room, and run for 20–30 minutes after showers. A humidity-sensing fan removes the human error.
Typical timeline: 2–4 weeks for a full bathroom, start to finish, once materials are on site. Powder rooms run shorter; wet rooms, layout changes, and frameless glass push toward the long end. The most common cause of delays isn't labour — it's material lead times. Vanities, custom glass, and specialty tile can take weeks to arrive, so we order everything before demolition starts rather than mid-project.
Common mistakes to avoid:
Budget drivers, roughly in order: moving plumbing, tile choice and coverage area (floor-to-ceiling tile vs a tub surround), custom vs stock vanity, frameless glass, and fixture brand tier. Two bathrooms with identical layouts can differ significantly in cost based on these choices alone, so this is where trade-off conversations pay off.
Our crew is in-house — the same plumbers, tilers, and carpenters job to job — which matters in bathrooms because the trades overlap constantly and sequencing mistakes (tiling before the waterproofing cures, glass measured before tile is done) are what blow timelines. Custom vanities and built-ins can come out of our own fabrication shop, which shortens lead times and means odd-sized spaces get cabinetry that actually fits. After ten years of bathrooms across the GTA, we've opened enough walls to know what older Toronto-area housing stock hides — galvanized plumbing, missing vapour barriers, fans vented nowhere — and we price and plan for it up front rather than surprising you mid-project.
Fill out the online form with a few details about your bathroom and what you're hoping to change. We'll follow up to talk through options and set up an on-site look at the space.
