Bathroom Remodeling
A great bathroom is more than tile and fixtures — it’s a space that starts and ends your day right. We create bathrooms that combine style, comfort, and durability, from custom showers to heated floors.
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How We Build Better Bathrooms
Bathrooms demand precision. Waterproofing, ventilation, plumbing layout, tile alignment, lighting placement — every detail affects both how the space looks and how long it lasts. We’ve completed hundreds of bathroom remodels across the Bay Area, and that experience shows in the details that most contractors miss.
We help you find the right balance between the bathroom you want and the budget you have. Whether you’re choosing between porcelain and natural stone, deciding on a frameless glass shower enclosure, or debating heated floors versus radiant panels, our team walks you through every option with honest guidance.
Need accessibility features like grab bars, a roll-in shower, or a comfort-height vanity? Want to transform a dated master bath into something that feels like a retreat? Every bathroom we build is tailored to the people who’ll use it every day.
What Shapes the Scope of a Bathroom Remodel
Bathroom projects generally fall into a handful of tiers. A guest or hall bathroom refresh focuses on a new vanity, toilet, tile tub surround, and fixtures. A mid-range primary bathroom adds a tiled walk-in shower, double vanity, stone counter, and upgraded fixtures. A luxury primary bath brings in a wet room, freestanding soaking tub, heated floors, custom cabinetry, and high-end stone. Each tier answers a different question about how far you want to go.
The size and type of bathroom is the first driver. Powder rooms are the simplest because there’s no shower or tub waterproofing. Primary bathrooms are the most demanding per square foot because they pack the highest concentration of plumbing, tile, and glass into a small space. Tile choices range widely depending on the material, pattern, and how much layout work the pattern requires.
Shower and tub choices drive a large portion of the scope. A prefab acrylic shower surround is inexpensive and installs in a day. A fully tiled shower with a linear drain, niche, bench, and frameless glass is a significantly more involved build — waterproofing, tile work, labor, and glass fabrication all compound. Freestanding tubs range from standard acrylic to premium cast-iron and stone resin, each requiring its own floor-mounted or wall-mounted filler.
Behind-the-wall work is the hidden line item. Most Bay Area homes built before 1990 have cast-iron drain lines and galvanized supply lines that should be replaced while the walls are open. Rewiring the bathroom to current code — GFCI outlets, dedicated circuits for heated floors, proper exhaust fan wiring — is usually required on any permitted remodel. Permits themselves add weeks of plan review that should be factored into the timeline.
Common Mistakes Homeowners Make
Skipping proper waterproofing is the single most damaging mistake. We see it constantly on remodels done by lower-priced contractors: cement backer board with no waterproof membrane, a shower pan assembled without proper pre-slope, or a linear drain installed without the slope it needs. The bathroom looks beautiful for two years, then leaks start in the ceiling below. A proper waterproof membrane — Schluter Kerdi, Wedi, Laticrete Hydro Ban, or equivalent — is non-negotiable.
Undersizing the exhaust fan is another frequent issue, especially in windowless bathrooms. Code requires 50 CFM minimum, but a primary bathroom with a shower really needs 80–150 CFM vented to the exterior (not the attic). An undersized fan leads to mildew on the ceiling, swollen cabinet doors, and ruined paint within a year or two.
Choosing tile before the shower glass is specified often causes problems. Frameless glass panels have specific clearance requirements, and certain tile patterns — especially large-format and natural stone — need to coordinate with where the glass clamps will land. Design the shower in 3D first, then pick tile that works with the hardware plan.
Finally, many homeowners forget storage. A beautiful floating vanity with no drawer storage looks great until you realize you have nowhere to put a hair dryer. We plan for a medicine cabinet or recessed mirror cabinet, drawer storage within the vanity, and at least one recessed shower niche at eye level before we finalize the layout.
How Long a Bathroom Remodel Takes
Design and selections for a bathroom usually take 2–4 weeks. Fixture, tile, vanity, and glass choices all need to be locked before demolition begins, because tile patterns affect rough plumbing locations and the glass fabricator needs measurements taken from finished tile walls.
On-site construction typically runs 3–5 weeks for a guest bathroom and 5–8 weeks for a full primary bath. Demolition is a day or two. Rough plumbing, electrical, and framing changes take another 3–5 days. Waterproofing and inspection follow. Tile installation runs 1–2 weeks depending on pattern complexity. Then cabinets, counters, plumbing trim, and glass — glass alone is typically templated after tile is grouted and takes 2–3 weeks to fabricate.
If your home only has one bathroom, plan ahead. We can phase the work to keep the toilet functional for most of the project, but there will be a window of 1–2 weeks when the bathroom is fully offline. Many clients stay elsewhere during that stretch or schedule it around a planned trip.
What to Look for in a Bathroom Contractor
Ask specifically how they waterproof showers and what system they use. A contractor who can’t name their waterproofing method — or who says “green board is fine” — is telling you they build bathrooms that will leak. The right answer is a bonded sheet membrane or a liquid-applied membrane rated for wet areas, with seams and corners detailed per the manufacturer spec.
Check that they pull permits. Unpermitted bathroom work is a liability when you sell the house, and it almost always means the contractor is avoiding the inspections that would catch shortcuts in waterproofing, electrical, and venting. A legitimate contractor will include permits as a line item in the contract.
Look for a contractor who can show you tiled showers they built more than five years ago that are still performing. Anyone can make a shower look good on install day — the test is how it holds up under daily use.
Why Bay Area Homeowners Choose Genesis
Bay Area homes present specific challenges — tight urban lots, older plumbing stacks, seismic considerations, and strict local codes around water use and ventilation. Our team has worked through all of these and knows how to solve them without cutting corners. We’ve built bathrooms in Victorians, Eichlers, mid-century ranches, and modern new-builds, and each one gets detailing appropriate to the house.
Every bathroom project we complete includes careful attention to waterproofing before any tile goes down. The membrane is where a bathroom’s longevity is decided, and we don’t skip steps there.
What Our Clients Say
“Our master bathroom hadn’t been touched in 30 years. Genesis transformed it into something we actually look forward to using. The tile work alone is w...”
James & Linda K.
Bathroom Remodel
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