What a Full Bathroom Remodel in North Fort Myers Actually Costs and Takes
A full bathroom remodel in North Fort Myers strips the space to the studs and rebuilds everything: new shower or tub, new vanity, new flooring, new fixtures, new lighting, new exhaust fan, and usually new drywall. For the homes we work on across this area, the job typically takes three to five weeks and runs between $9,000 and $28,000 depending on the size of the bathroom, the condition of what’s behind the walls, and the materials you choose. Call us at (844) 638-7249 and we’ll walk you through what your specific bathroom will take, free estimate included.
How We Take a Bathroom From Gutted to Finished in North Fort Myers
Every full bathroom remodel in North Fort Myers starts with a walkthrough where Derek Hollenbeck or one of our lead installers measures every wall, checks the subfloor, tests the water pressure, and opens the access panel to see what the plumbing stack actually looks like. We put the price and the line items in writing before you sign anything because the worst surprises are the ones you don’t see coming. Once we’ve agreed on the scope and pulled the Lee County permit, the real work begins.
Demo and discovery, days 1 through 3. We protect the hallway with floor runners and zip-wall off the work area. Then everything comes out: vanity, toilet, tub or shower pan, tile, drywall, old insulation, exhaust fan housing, any rotted subfloor sections. A full bathroom remodel means we expose the framing and the plumbing rough-ins because we need to see if Ian’s humidity or forty-year-old pinhole leaks left damage behind. If we find rotted bottom plates or termite-chewed studs, we stop, show you photos, give you a price to replace just the affected framing, and get your approval before we move forward. No change orders you didn’t agree to.
Rough-in stage, days 4 through 8. This is where the decisions you made during planning become reality. Our plumber re-routes supply lines and drain positions if you’re moving the vanity or changing a tub to a walk-in shower. Our electrician pulls new 20-amp dedicated circuits for GFCI outlets, adds a new exhaust fan with a timer or humidity sensor, and pre-wires for recessed lights and sconce boxes above the mirror. If the subfloor had soft spots, we replace those sections and screw down new plywood with a waterproof seam treatment. The Lee County inspector comes out to sign off on the rough plumbing and electrical before we cover anything up.
Waterproofing and board, days 9 through 14. In North Fort Myers, the biggest long-term threat to any bathroom is moisture that gets behind the tile and never dries out. We use a full cement-board backer system on shower walls with a liquid-applied waterproofing membrane rolled over every seam and screw head. The shower pan gets a sloped mud bed, a PVC liner, and a second water test that holds water for 24 hours so the inspector can verify no leaks. For the rest of the bathroom, we hang mold-resistant drywall, tape it, mud it, and sand it smooth while the shower cures.
Tile, trim, and fixtures, days 15 through 22. Tile work takes the largest single block of time in a full bathroom remodel and it’s where the skill of the installer shows. We lay floor tile first, then wall tile, setting each piece with spacers and checking for lippage with a level as we go. Once the tile sets, we grout, seal the grout lines, and install trim pieces like Schluter edges and baseboards. The vanity goes in, the countertop gets screwed and caulked, the toilet gets set on a new wax ring, and the plumber returns to install your shower trim kit, faucet, and supply lines. Our electrician hangs the light fixtures, installs the GFCI outlets, and wires the exhaust fan to the switch.
Finishes and walkthrough, days 23 through completion. We caulk every change-of-plane joint, touch up paint, install the mirror and towel bars, and run the exhaust fan for an hour to confirm it pulls moisture correctly. Then Derek walks the finished bathroom with you, checks every drawer slide and shower valve, and hands you a written close-out packet with the permit final inspection card, material warranties, and a reminder that the 730-Day Done Right Promise covers every bit of our work. If something isn’t right, we fix it before we consider the job done.
The Options You’ll Choose Between for Your Bathroom Remodel
When we sit down to plan a full bathroom remodel in North Fort Myers, these are the choices that shape the final price and how the room lives. We’ll walk you through each one during the estimate, but here’s what you’ll be looking at.
- Shower base vs. tiled shower pan. A prefabricated shower base cuts two to three days off the install and costs less, but limits you to standard sizes and a handful of colors. A site-built tiled pan with a mud bed and waterproof membrane fits any footprint, drains beautifully, and lets you use the same tile as the walls, but adds labor and material cost. For older North Fort Myers homeowners planning to age in place, we often recommend a low-threshold or curbless tiled pan with a linear drain.
- Fiberglass vs. acrylic vs. tiled shower walls. A fiberglass or acrylic surround is the fastest and most affordable option, installed in a day, easy to clean, and available in white, biscuit, or gray. Tile walls let you choose porcelain, ceramic, or natural stone in any pattern and color, but they require sealing the grout annually and run significantly higher on the materials line. If you’re in a 55-plus community and want zero maintenance, acrylic wins. If you want the bathroom to feel custom, tile does what nothing else can.
- Vanity: stock, semi-custom, or fully custom. A stock vanity from a big-box store costs $300 to $800 and comes in a box. Semi-custom from a brand like KraftMaid gives you door style, finish, and size options in the $1,200 to $3,000 range. Fully custom built by a local cabinet maker lets you specify every drawer and shelf, but you’ll wait four to six weeks and pay accordingly. We’ll price all three paths so you know exactly what you’re trading off.
- Flooring: vinyl plank vs. porcelain tile. Waterproof luxury vinyl plank installs faster, costs less, and feels warmer underfoot, which matters in North Fort Myers homes with slab-on-grade foundations that stay cool in January. Porcelain tile lasts longer, resists scratches better, and gives you more design flexibility, but it’s harder on the knees and the grout needs occasional upkeep.
- Exhaust fan quality. A basic builder-grade fan moves 50 CFM and sounds like a leaf blower. A Panasonic or Broan humidity-sensing fan moves 80 to 110 CFM, runs nearly silent, and automatically kicks on when moisture rises, which matters in a Florida bathroom that sees steam every morning. The difference in cost is small, but the impact on preventing mold inside the walls is enormous. For bathrooms that sit closed up during summer months when snowbird homeowners head north, a humidity-sensing fan is the cheapest insurance you can buy.
What a Full Bathroom Remodel Costs in North Fort Myers, FL
A full bathroom remodel in North Fort Myers runs $9,000 to $28,000, with most jobs landing between $14,000 and $19,000 for a typical 5-by-8-foot bathroom with mid-grade finishes, a tiled shower, and a new vanity. The same footprint with entry-level materials and a fiberglass shower surround can dip toward the lower end, while a larger bathroom with a custom vanity, floor-to-ceiling tile, and a curbless shower pushes toward the top of the range.
The variables that move the number most: plumbing location changes are the single biggest cost driver, because moving a drain stack or toilet flange means cutting concrete slab and re-routing pipe through the foundation, which adds days and dollars. Subfloor and framing repairs are common in the 1970s and 80s homes around North Fort Myers where we open walls and find moisture damage nobody knew was there; we budget a repair allowance in every estimate so you’re not blindsided. Tile coverage matters more than most homeowners expect: accent strips, niches, and floor-to-ceiling tile on every wall uses double the tile and triple the labor of a basic shower-tub combo with painted drywall above. Vanity and countertop selection spans an order of magnitude: a stock white vanity with a cultured-marble top costs a fraction of a custom cabinet with a Cambria quartz slab. Permit scope in unincorporated Lee County depends on whether you’re swapping fixtures in place or reconfiguring the floor plan; a like-for-like replacement permit is faster and cheaper, while a change-of-scope permit that involves moving walls or relocating drains requires plan review time that adds fees.
Every estimate we write includes the full scope: demolition, debris disposal, all materials, labor, the permit fee schedule, and the Lee County inspection timeline. What it typically does not include, because no contractor can price it before the walls are open, is the subfloor or framing repair allowance we handle as a separate, pre-approved line item if it’s needed. We discuss that number during the walkthrough so there are no surprises when the permit card is already taped to the window.
What North Fort Myers Homes Specifically Do to This Job
Full bathroom remodel projects in North Fort Myers run into the same three realities almost every time, and they’re realities that don’t show up the same way in Cape Coral or Fort Myers proper. First, because North Fort Myers is unincorporated Lee County, all construction permitting runs through the Lee County Building Department, not a city building department. That means the fee schedule, the inspection call-in procedure, and the post-Hurricane Ian code amendments that require elevation certificates even for interior remodels on certain floodplain parcels are all Lee County’s, and they’re different from what a Fort Myers city permit office would hand you. We pull permits weekly from their satellite office in Cape Coral and we know what triggers a plan review and what clears at the counter.
Second, the housing stock here tilts heavily toward 1970s and 1980s manufactured and mobile homes in 55-plus land-lease communities, along with older CBS single-family homes on canal-adjacent fill lots. In both cases, the bathrooms we gut frequently have thin-gauge copper supply lines that have been sweating inside the walls for forty years, particle-board subfloor that crumbles once the tile comes up, and undersized exhaust fans that have been pushing moisture into the attic for decades. We expect to find rot behind the shower valve and we budget for it. Third, the wave of post-Ian rebuilds across the Pine Island Road and US-41 North corridor means that full bathroom remodels inside existing homes are happening alongside full home rebuilds, so the inspector schedules are busier than pre-2022 norms. We build that lead time into the project calendar and communicate it clearly before we start.
For homeowners who also need a wider renovation, our full bathroom projects often fit inside a larger Bathroom Remodeling in North Fort Myers scope that might touch multiple bathrooms in the same season. Some clients, especially those in aging manufactured homes where the roof took Ian damage we didn’t see until we opened the ceiling, pair the remodel with Roof Repair in North Fort Myers to fix a leak that ran down the vent stack and into the bathroom fan housing. And on properties where the home is being re-leveled or the roofline needs replacement, homeowners sometimes bundle the bathroom work with Roof Replacement & Installation in North Fort Myers so the entire envelope is tight before we install new drywall and tile. Our Bathroom Remodeling crew coordinates with every other trade so the sequence makes sense and nobody has to tear out finished work to get behind it later.
We’ve worked on bathrooms in communities all across North Fort Myers and we understand the permitting rhythm, the soil and flood-zone reality, and the construction types we’re going to find behind the drywall. That local knowledge means our estimates are honest and our timelines are built around what actually happens here, not a generic schedule from a template.
Serving North Fort Myers, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
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Frequently Asked - Full Bathroom Remodeling in North Fort Myers
Most full bathroom remodels in North Fort Myers take three to five weeks from demolition to final inspection, assuming no major subfloor or framing surprises. The tile work, the waterproofing cure times, and the Lee County inspection windows set the pace. A bathroom that moves plumbing drains through the slab adds about a week. We’ll give you a firm timeline during the estimate and update it if anything changes.
Yes. Lee County requires a permit for any bathroom remodel that touches plumbing, electrical, or structural elements, which a full bathroom remodel always does. We pull the permit, schedule every inspection, and post the permit card on-site. If a contractor tells you a permit isn’t necessary for a gut remodel, walk away. Unpermitted work becomes a problem when you sell the house and it shows up on the disclosure. Call (844) 638-7249 if you want to understand what your specific scope requires.
Yes, and doing so keeps the cost toward the lower end of the $9,000 to $28,000 range because you avoid cutting the concrete slab and re-routing drain lines. If the toilet, shower, and vanity stay in their original positions, the remodel is faster, the permit is simpler, and the labor hours drop significantly. Many North Fort Myers bathrooms in older manufactured and CBS homes are sized so that the existing layout is already the most efficient use of the space, so keeping the plumbing where it is often makes practical sense.
The 730-Day Done Right Promise covers every aspect of our workmanship for two full years. If a grout line cracks, a drawer slide sticks, a caulk joint separates, or a tile comes loose because of how it was installed, we come back and fix it at no charge. The materials themselves carry their own manufacturer warranties, and we register every product warranty in your name and hand you the paperwork at close-out. Derek Hollenbeck stands behind every bathroom we finish because his name is on the permit and the contract.
It often is, provided the home’s structure, roof, and subfloor are sound. We assess that before we quote anything. In the 55-plus communities throughout North Fort Myers, a full bathroom remodel can replace a deteriorating fiberglass tub surround that’s been leaking into the floor for a decade, add grab bars and a curbless shower for aging-in-place accessibility, and install a humidity-sensing exhaust fan that protects the rest of the home from moisture that the original, undersized fan never handled. The key is knowing what you’re working with before you spend a dollar, which is why our free estimate starts with a thorough inspection, not a sales pitch.
Get a Free, Detailed Estimate for Your Full Bathroom Remodel in North Fort Myers
We’ll come to your home in North Fort Myers, measure everything, check the subfloor and the plumbing, and hand you a written, line-item estimate that spells out exactly what the job costs and how long it takes. No vague numbers, no change-order games, no pressure. Call (844) 638-7249 to schedule yours. Derek Hollenbeck or one of our lead installers will walk you through the scope in plain English and answer every question before you commit to anything. The estimate is free, the pricing is upfront, and the workmanship is backed by the 730-Day Done Right Promise.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving North Fort Myers with full-scope home construction and remodeling.