What a Full Bathroom Remodel in Tice Actually Entails and What It’ll Cost
A full bathroom remodeling in Tice is a down-to-the-studs rebuild. We strip the room, move or replace every fixture, update the plumbing and electrical to current Florida Building Code, and build back with new waterproofing, tile, vanity, lighting, and ventilation. Most full bathroom remodels in Tice take three to five weeks and land between $9,000 and $28,000 depending on size, material grade, and whether the layout changes. Call (844) 638-7249 to schedule a free on-site estimate with Derek Hollenbeck and the Groundwork Construction Co. team - we’ll walk the space and give you a written, line-item number before you commit to anything.
How a Full Bathroom Remodel Comes Together, Stage by Stage
Knowing what happens and when makes the whole project less stressful. Here’s the sequence most full bathroom remodels in Tice follow, from the first day of demolition to the final walkthrough. Timelines assume no hidden surprises once walls are opened, but we plan for the realities of older Tice homes.
Stage 1: Demolition and discovery (2-3 days). We remove the existing tub or shower, vanity, toilet, flooring, and wall finishes down to the studs and subfloor. This is the moment where the real condition of the house reveals itself - in Tice’s 1950s-1970s concrete block homes, we often find moisture-damaged furring strips behind drywall or rusted-out cast-iron drain lines that looked fine from the outside. You’ll decide: do we stay on the original layout or pivot if a drain pipe needs relocating? We’ll show you what’s there and talk through the cost difference before any new work starts.
Stage 2: Rough-in plumbing, electrical, and waterproofing (4-6 days). With the room opened, our licensed plumber and electrician move or upgrade supply lines, drain stacks, exhaust fan ducting, and receptacle placement to code. This is when layout changes happen - shifting a toilet a few feet or adding a second sink. After rough-in inspections pass, we apply a full waterproofing system to the shower walls and floor pan: Schluter Kerdi membrane or a liquid-applied equivalent, bonded to the substrate, with reinforcing fabric at every seam and corner. No shortcuts here. A shower that gets waterproofed right in Tice’s high-humidity climate stays mold-free for decades. You’ll decide: exact fixture placement, shower niche locations, and whether you want a built-in bench.
Stage 3: Drywall, tile, and millwork (7-10 days). We hang moisture-resistant drywall, tape, and skim-coat to a level-five finish in wet zones. Tile work follows - floor tile first, then shower walls, then any accent or decorative bands. Grout needs 48-72 hours to cure fully before sealing. The vanity, medicine cabinet, and trim go in once tile is set. You’ll decide: grout color (it changes the look more than most people expect) and whether you want a framed or frameless glass enclosure.
Stage 4: Fixtures, trim-out, and glass (3-5 days). The plumber returns to set the shower trim, valve, tub spout, toilet, and sink faucets. The electrician installs light fixtures, switches, and the exhaust fan. If a glass enclosure is part of the scope, we template and measure only after tile and drywall are finished - never before - so the glass fits precisely. Fabrication typically takes a week; we schedule it so there’s minimal dead time.
Stage 5: Final touches and county inspection (2-3 days). Paint, caulk, mirror, towel bars, and any last punch-list items. We coordinate the final building inspection through Lee County’s permitting office in Fort Myers. In Tice - unincorporated county land - inspection queues have run longer post-Ian, so we pre-book the final inspection slot when we pull the permit on day one. You’ll walk the room with the project lead before we call it done, and anything that isn’t right gets fixed under the 730-Day Done Right Promise.
The Choices You’ll Make During a Full Bathroom Remodel
A full bathroom remodel means you pick every surface and fixture. Here are the decisions that reshape the budget and the final result most, with the real trade-offs for each.
- Shower waterproofing system: A bonded membrane system (like Schluter Kerdi) costs more in labor and materials than a traditional PVC pan liner with cement board, but it creates a fully sealed, vapor-tight assembly that handles Tice’s relentless humidity without trapping moisture. For a shower that sees daily use, we recommend it every time.
- Tile vs. solid-surface shower walls: Porcelain tile offers endless design flexibility and holds up beautifully when installed over proper waterproofing. Large-format porcelain panels or solid-surface slabs reduce grout lines - fewer places for mold to grab hold - but material costs run higher and the slabs are heavy, requiring careful subfloor support.
- Vanity: stock, semi-custom, or custom: A stock vanity from a brand like KraftMaid gets the job done at the lower end of the price range. Semi-custom gives you drawer configurations and finishes that fit your storage needs exactly. A fully custom built-in cabinet, built on-site, costs the most but uses every inch of a small Tice bathroom efficiently.
- Flooring: porcelain tile vs. luxury vinyl plank: Tile is the durable, moisture-proof standard and what we install in most full bathroom remodels here. LVP is warmer underfoot and quieter, but you must be rigorous about sealing the perimeter in a wet room - any standing water that seeps to the subfloor in a humid slab-on-grade home becomes a problem quickly.
- Exhaust ventilation: Code requires a vented exhaust fan, but the CFM rating and sone level (noise) are up to you. A quiet, high-CFM Panasonic fan moves enough air to keep a Tice bathroom dry even during the summer months when outdoor humidity sits above 90%. Undersized fans lead to peeling paint, rusted fixtures, and mold inside walls - we see it in older Tice homes constantly.
What a Full Bathroom Remodel Costs in Tice, FL
A full bathroom remodel in Tice lands between $9,000 and $28,000. The gap from low to high comes down to five variables that move the final number more than anything else.
Bathroom size. A compact 5×8-foot hall bath costs less in materials and labor than a sprawling master bathroom with a separate tub, a walk-in shower, and a private water closet. Square footage drives tile quantities, drywall yards, and paint gallons - all direct material line items.
Layout changes. Keeping the toilet, sink, and shower in the same locations avoids moving drain lines and vent stacks through a concrete slab. Moving a toilet six feet in a Tice slab-on-grade home usually means saw-cutting the floor - added labor, added days, added cost. If the existing layout works, the budget stays leaner.
Existing condition behind the walls. In Tice’s 1950s-1970s concrete block homes, opening a wall sometimes reveals corroded galvanized supply pipes, cast-iron drains cracked at the hub, or furring strips rotted from decades of trapped humidity. Making it right before closing the wall adds to the scope but prevents a much larger problem two years down the road. We flag it the moment we see it and give you the number before proceeding.
Material and fixture grade. Builder-grade tile and an off-the-shelf vanity sit at the lower end. Porcelain slab shower walls, a custom vanity, polished nickel fixtures, and a frameless glass enclosure push toward the upper end. We spec materials from trusted brands like Kohler for fixtures, with Quikrete and Sakrete products on the substrate and setting-material side - we want the stuff we can’t see to be just as reliable as the finishes you look at every day.
Permit scope and inspections. A full-gut bathroom remodel in unincorporated Lee County requires a building permit, and the scope typically triggers a review of the home’s existing electrical and plumbing systems for code compliance. That’s a Tice-specific reality we plan for from the bid stage. Our written estimates include the permit fee, the county inspection coordination, and the labor to bring the room fully to current Florida Building Code. Nothing hidden.
Every Groundwork Construction Co. estimate for a full bathroom remodeling project in Tice is a fixed-price, line-item document. You’ll see the cost of waterproofing, tile setting, plumbing rough-in, fixture trim-out, and glass before you sign. Call (844) 638-7249 for your free estimate.
What Tice Homes Specifically Do to a Bathroom Remodel
Tice’s housing stock changes how we approach a full bathroom remodel long before the first tile is set. Most homes here are modest CBS (concrete block) builds from the 1950s through the 1970s - solid structures, but ones that predate modern Florida Building Code wind-load and moisture-management standards. That means a permit-triggered bathroom remodel often pulls in layered code-compliance upgrades the original builder never had to think about.
The big one: waterproofing and ventilation. In a 1960s Tice home, the original bathroom might have had a small window for “ventilation” and tile set over green board with no membrane. By the time we open it, there’s often mold colonization in the wall cavity from forty or fifty summers of 90% humidity working against an undersized exhaust fan or none at all. We remediate what we find, then build back with a continuous waterproofing assembly and a high-CFM Panasonic fan vented to the exterior - code today, and just good sense in this climate.
Permitting is another Tice reality that out-of-area crews underestimate. Because Tice is unincorporated Lee County, all permits flow through the county building department in Fort Myers. Post-Ian inspection backlogs mean we pre-schedule the rough-in and final inspection slots the day we pull the permit, not when the work is finished. Skipping that step stalls the job for weeks waiting on a county inspector. We’ve been working in Tice long enough to build that into every schedule from day one.
The homes along streets like Ortiz Avenue and the neighborhoods tucked east of I-75 are textbook examples: concrete block, flat or low-pitch truss roofs, and bathrooms that were last touched during the Carter administration. Nearly every full bathroom remodel here becomes a Bathroom Remodeling in Tice project where the real scope reveals itself at demolition. We plan for that, price for that, and don’t act surprised when the walls tell a story the homeowner couldn’t see. Some homeowners, once they see how much gets opened up, decide to roll Roof Repair in Tice or a Roof Replacement & Installation in Tice into the same project window, since the crew and permit process are already in motion. Our team is built for that kind of multi-trade coordination - it’s what a full-scope Bathroom Remodeling contractor does.
Serving Tice, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Tice area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
Frequently Asked Questions About Full Bathroom Remodeling in Tice
Most full bathroom remodels in Tice finish in three to five weeks. The spread depends on whether the layout changes (moving drain lines through a slab adds days), the tile pattern complexity, and county inspection scheduling. We pre-book inspections at permit issuance to avoid Lee County’s post-Ian queue delays and keep the job moving without gaps.
Yes. A full-gut bathroom remodel in unincorporated Lee County requires a building permit, and the scope typically triggers electrical and plumbing reviews. We pull the permit, coordinate every inspection with the county, and include that cost in the written estimate. Skipping the permit risks code-compliance issues that surface when you sell the home, and in Tice’s older housing stock, those are exactly the issues a sharp home inspector flags.
A full bathroom remodel takes the room to the studs and subfloor and replaces every fixture, the waterproofing, the ventilation, the lighting, and the finishes. A partial remodel might swap a vanity and toilet without addressing what’s behind the wall. In a Tice home built before modern moisture-management standards, the value of a full remodel is that you finally fix the hidden problems - the mold, the corroded plumbing, the undersized exhaust - not just the surface.
It can, and we tell you that before the first swing of the hammer. If demolition reveals rotted framing, corroded pipes, or cast-iron drains that need replacement, the scope expands. We stop work, show you exactly what we found, and give you a written change order with the adjusted number before proceeding. No surprises, no invoice padding. It’s part of our upfront pricing commitment and the 730-Day Done Right Promise.
Every full bathroom remodel by Groundwork Construction Co. is backed by our 730-Day Done Right Promise - if something isn’t done right, we make it right. That’s two full years of workmanship coverage, one of the longest in residential construction. Fixture and material warranties vary by manufacturer, and we walk you through those at selection so you know what’s covered and for how long. Call (844) 638-7249 and we’ll answer every warranty question specific to your project.
Get a Free Estimate for Your Full Bathroom Remodel in Tice
Your bathroom should be a room that works every morning without complaint - no mold, no leaks, no dark corners. Derek Hollenbeck and the Groundwork Construction Co. crew deliver full bathroom remodels in Tice with a fixed price, a clear timeline, and a two-year guarantee. Call (844) 638-7249 to schedule your free on-site estimate. A live person answers, you’ll get a written number, and there’s zero pressure to commit. Built to last, backed in writing.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving communities across Southwest Florida since 2014.