What a full bath looks like
A full bath at MBR runs $15K to $19K. That’s the room down to studs, waterproofed, retiled, refixtured, and put back together. New vanity, new toilet, new shower or tub, new exhaust fan, new lighting. Tile on the floor and around the shower. Properly done.
Glass enclosure is a $2,200 add-on if you want it. Most clients do. It opens the room up and it lasts.
If we’re doing an aging-in-place or ADA build, we add grab bars (anchored into studs, not just drywall), a curbless walk-in, a bench seat, and wider clearances where the layout allows.
Cost breakdown
| Scope | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Half bath / powder room | $6K–$9K |
| Full bath (standard, no layout change) | $15K–$19K |
| Primary suite (soaking tub + walk-in shower) | $22K–$40K+ |
| Frameless glass enclosure (add-on) | $2,200 |
What we include by default
Tile on the floor and the shower surround. Vanity and faucet. Toilet. Exhaust fan vented to the exterior, not to the attic. GFCI outlets. Backer board behind the tile, not drywall. Proper waterproofing membrane in the shower pan. These are the things you can’t see once the tile goes up, and they’re the things that matter in five years.
The Baltimore rowhome bathroom
City bathrooms are small and they’re stacked. In most rowhomes the second-floor bath sits directly over the kitchen or the first-floor bath, which means the plumbing runs in a chase you can’t always see from inside the room. When we open a wall and find the original cast-iron stack still in service, common in pre-war Canton, Hampden, and Pigtown houses, we’ll tell you whether it’s worth replacing while it’s exposed. It almost always is.
Older baths also hide water damage. A toilet that’s been weeping at the flange for a decade rots the subfloor and the joist below it. We check for soft spots and wet rot on the first visit and price the repair into the estimate instead of springing it on you after demo.
Tight footprint is the other reality. A lot of rowhome baths are five feet wide. We’ve fit a full walk-in shower, a real vanity, and a linen niche into rooms that size, it comes down to where the door swings and which wall the plumbing lives on.
Tub or shower
Worth thinking through before we quote.
A tub-to-shower conversion opens up a small room and reads as an upgrade to most buyers. It’s the move for a primary bath or a main bath the adults use. We do these regularly with tile walls, a tiled pan or a low-profile base, and a glass door.
Keep at least one tub if you have young kids or you’re selling soon, appraisers and family buyers still want a bathtub somewhere in the house. If you’ve got two full baths, convert one and leave the other.
Going curbless and aging-in-place? A zero-threshold walk-in with a bench and grab bars anchored into blocking is a clean upgrade now and a non-issue later. See our ADA bathroom page for how we build those.
Baltimore neighborhoods we work in
We do bathroom work throughout Baltimore City and the surrounding counties. Rowhome bathrooms in Canton, Fells Point, Hampden, and Federal Hill. Colonial and cape homes in Towson and Lutherville. Ranchers and split-levels in Catonsville, Ellicott City, Dundalk, and Brooklyn. The access points and wall configurations differ, we’ve been in enough of these houses to scope it fast.
How the process works
Day 1, Site visit. We walk the bathroom, measure the room, check for wet rot behind the walls if we can, verify the fan vent path. Written estimate within 48 hours.
Week 1, Demo and rough-in. Everything comes out. Plumbing and electrical rough-ins adjusted if we’re moving anything. City inspection before we close the walls.
Week 2, Waterproofing and tile. Backer board on shower walls and floor. Waterproofing membrane in the pan. Tile goes in. This is the longest phase, we don’t rush tile.
Week 3, Fixtures and finish. Vanity, toilet, shower fixtures, glass enclosure if ordered, exhaust fan, lighting, paint touch-up, trim. Final inspection. Done.
Timing and permits
Two to three weeks start to finish for most full baths. Quick refresh jobs, fixtures and paint only, can be done in a few days. Baltimore City and County require permits for plumbing and electrical. We pull them; you don’t deal with the city.
Bathroom remodel FAQ
How much does a bathroom remodel cost in Baltimore? A full bath runs $15K to $19K. A powder room or half bath is $6K to $9K. A primary suite with a soaking tub and a separate walk-in shower runs $22K to $40K and up. A frameless glass enclosure is a $2,200 add-on.
How long does it take? Two to three weeks for a full bath. Tile is the phase we won’t rush, proper waterproofing and cure time is what keeps the room dry in five years. A fixtures-and-paint refresh can be done in a few days.
Do you do tub-to-shower conversions? Yes, often. Tile walls, a waterproofed pan, a new valve, and a glass door. We’ll tell you whether converting makes sense for your house or whether you should keep the tub.
Do I need a permit? Plumbing and electrical changes need one in both the city and the county. We pull it and handle the inspection. A like-for-like fixture swap usually doesn’t.
What about waterproofing? Membrane in the shower pan, backer board behind the tile instead of greenboard, exhaust vented outside instead of into the attic. The stuff you can’t see after the tile goes up is the stuff we don’t cut.
Where we work
We remodel bathrooms across Baltimore City and the surrounding counties, Canton, Federal Hill, Fells Point, Hampden, and out to Towson, Catonsville, and Lutherville. Planning more than one room? Our kitchen remodeling and full gut rehab pages cover the bigger scopes, and the pricing page shows where each number comes from.
What we won’t cut corners on
Waterproofing behind the tile. The right pan slope. Backer board not greenboard. Exhaust fan to the exterior, not the attic. The things you can’t see after the tile goes up are the things that cause rot and mold in three years. We do them right.