Bathroom Renovations

A bathroom renovation is a waterproofing project with a tile finish. That’s the order we build in, and it’s the reason our bathrooms still look right ten years on. The tile is what you see. The membrane, the slope, the substrate and the sequence are what decide whether you’ll ever see it fail.

We renovate bathrooms across Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, from condo ensuites downtown to primary bathrooms in West Vancouver that are closer to wet rooms than washrooms. Some clients hand us the whole job. Others bring a designer and a builder and want the tile contractor who will build the drawings exactly. Both work.

What a full bathroom renovation includes

When we run the complete scope, the job covers demolition, disposal, framing and subfloor repair, plumbing and electrical rough-in through our trades, waterproofing, tile, grout, fixtures, glass, accessories, and the final clean. You get one contract, one schedule, and one person to call.

The shower is usually the heart of it. Walk-in showers, curbless entries with a linear drain, tub-to-shower conversions, and full wet rooms where the tub sits inside the tiled zone. Heated floors are common now, and we build them with an uncoupling membrane so the tile survives the temperature cycling. The rest of the room, floors, walls, tub decks and niches, is covered under bathroom tile.

Where bathrooms fail, and why ours don’t

Every failed shower we open has the same story. Water got behind the tile, sat in the wall or the subfloor, and stayed there. Grout and caulking were never meant to keep water out. The membrane does that, and in most Lower Mainland homes built before the mid 2000s, there isn’t one worth the name.

We build every wet area as a complete Schluter system. Membrane on the walls and floor, pre-sloped pan or a mortar bed pitched to the drain, bonded flange drain, sealed corners and pipe penetrations, and a test before the tile goes on. It’s the difference between a shower and a tiled box. Our note on what’s behind a tiled shower walks through it with the wall open.

Older homes, new builds, and condos

Character homes in Vancouver, North Vancouver and Burnaby come with framing that has moved and floors that have settled. We plan for substrate correction before anything else, because a bookmatched wall on a crooked room looks crooked. New builds in Surrey, Langley and Coquitlam bring the opposite problem: big rooms and big tile, where flatness and lippage control decide the result. Condo bathrooms are logistics as much as tile. Strata approval, elevator bookings, noise hours, and a shower assembly that protects the unit below.

You’ll find city-specific pages for each area we work in, from bathroom renovations in Vancouver and North Vancouver to Surrey and Langley.

Materials we install most

Large-format porcelain for floors and shower walls, because it’s hard-wearing, flat, and cleans easily. Natural stone where the design calls for it, with the sealing schedule and setting materials the stone actually needs. Handmade ceramic and mosaic in niches, powder rooms and feature walls. Slab porcelain and bookmatched marble where the budget and the room can carry it. We’ll tell you plainly when a material you like won’t survive the spot you want it in.

How the schedule runs

Demolition and rough-in take the first week. Waterproofing and tile the second and third. Fixtures, glass and finishing close it out. The glass installer measures after the tile is done, so plan on a short gap before the shower is usable. We keep the rest of the house liveable: floor protection, dust containment, and a clean site at the end of every day.

Pricing, honestly

Our bathroom renovation cost guide explains how the scope and material choices affect the budget.

A bathroom renovation in Vancouver can run from the mid twenties for a straightforward rebuild to well past sixty thousand for custom stone, curbless showers and heated floors. Where you land depends on the room, the fixtures, and how much of the assembly has to be rebuilt. We put the real number in a written quote after the site visit, and it doesn’t move unless the scope does.

If you’re planning a bathroom, request a quote with a few photos and a rough idea of the tile you like. We’ll tell you what the assembly needs before anyone talks money.