Licensed, Bonded & Insured · Serving Evanston and the surrounding area
A full bathroom remodel in Evanston typically runs $26,000 to $42,000 for a hall bath and $45,000 to $75,000 for a primary suite, and takes four to seven weeks on site. Permits are issued by the City of Evanston Community Development Department at 2100 Ridge Avenue. What separates Evanston from the villages north of it is ownership: a large share of the housing here is condominium or a converted two-flat, so an association approval and a certificate of insurance sit alongside the permit, and the building often decides the schedule.
No other town we work in has this range. Within a mile of Evanston’s downtown you will find 1890s frame Victorians, brick foursquares from the 1910s, the courtyard apartment buildings of the 1920s that are now almost all condominiums, and blocks of Chicago-style bungalows running west and south. Add the 1950s ranches at the north-west edge and you have five different bathrooms with five different answers.
The common thread is age. Most of the stock predates the Second World War, which means the room is small, the waste stack is cast iron, and the supply may still be galvanised steel. What changes from house to house is whether you own the walls.
In a single-family house the constraint is structural; in a condo or a converted flat it is procedural. A detached Victorian will let us take space from a closet and move a drain within the joist bay. A third-floor condo will not let us start until the board has the scope, the insurance certificate and the working hours in writing. Both are ordinary. They just need starting at different times.
Evanston is five housing stocks in one city. Which one you own decides the scope far more than the finishes do.
| Era and style | What we find on site | What the project becomes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1890–1915 — frame Victorians and foursquares | A small second-floor bath carved out of a bedroom, cast-iron stack, galvanised supply, plaster on lath, and floors that have moved. | Full gut with new supply and waste, a levelled and rebuilt floor, and usually a tub-to-shower conversion. | $30k – $42k |
| 1915–1935 — brick bungalows and two-flats | The classic bungalow bath: 5×7, tiled to a chair rail, one window, a tub in an alcove and no room for a vanity. | Gut, plus taking width from the adjoining closet or hall so a shower and real storage fit. | $27k – $39k |
| 1920s courtyard buildings, now condos | Shared stacks, a board that has to approve the work, plaster, and limited depth in the floor for anything that has to move. | Gut in place. The drain stays near the riser and the room is won back with better storage rather than by relocating services. | $26k – $38k |
| 1950s–1960s — ranches at the north-west edge | Copper supply, roomier 8×8 baths, eight-foot ceilings, and a slab or crawl space below. | The layout usually stays. A double vanity and a walk-in shower fit without structural work, which makes this the best value in the city. | $22k – $34k |
These are the conditions that decide the schedule and the contingency on a job in Evanston. We price around them rather than discovering them.
Houses and flats that have never had a plumbing overhaul still carry galvanised steel. It corrodes from the inside, so the pipe looks sound and the pressure does not. We price on the basis that supply back to the nearest accessible branch is being replaced.
The vertical stack is original cast iron in most of the pre-war stock. Where it is sound we keep it. Where it is not, replacing a length inside a finished wall on the floor below is the single most common reason an Evanston budget moves after demolition.
Cutting plaster is slower than cutting drywall and it cracks in the next room if it is done carelessly. We score and cut rather than break, and we allow for patching in adjoining rooms instead of pretending it will not be needed.
Almost all of Evanston’s housing predates 1978, which puts the work under the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule. Containment, HEPA cleanup and a certified firm are legal requirements, not extras, and they are built into the schedule.
In a condo or a converted two-flat the board wants the scope, the hours and a certificate of insurance naming the association. We supply all three as a matter of course, but the approval sits with your board and it is more often the critical path than the permit is.
Interior work inside the existing footprint is straightforward anywhere in the city. The moment a project touches an exterior wall for a new window or a vent, a property in the Lakeshore or Ridge districts goes through preservation review, and that takes longer than the build.
Ranges, not a single number. Where a project lands depends on the scope, and we say which band we think you are in before you commit to anything.
Fixtures, tile, vanity, lighting and paint with every drain and supply staying put. The right call when the layout works and the room is simply tired.
Down to the studs and subfloor, new supply and waste, a tub-to-shower conversion or a relocated vanity, and a rebuilt floor with a tested membrane. The common Evanston project.
Taking space from an adjoining room, a double vanity, a separate tub and glassed shower, heated floor, and usually a structural opening. Priced after the framing has been seen.
Most of a bathroom budget is not the things you can see in a showroom. This is how a full remodel here divides up.
Based on a $34,000 full remodel, the midpoint of what we actually build here. The labour share climbs in a pre-war house where supply has to be replaced back to the basement, and in a condo where every delivery comes up a shared stair.
We walk the room, look at the basement ceiling below it and at the stack, and tell you what we can see and what we cannot.
A written scope with allowances you can actually shop against, not a single number.
Submitted to the City of Evanston Community Development Department at 2100 Ridge Avenue. We prepare and lodge it; you will not be at the counter.
Plumbing, electrical and framing inspected before anything is closed. This is where surprises surface, and where we come back to you if the price has to move.
A tested waterproofing membrane before a single tile goes down. This is the step that decides whether the room lasts twenty years or five.
Fixtures, glass, paint and a walk-through list that we close out before the final invoice.
Tell us about the property and what you want to change. We will walk the space, look at what is behind the walls, and come back with a written scope, a schedule and a price.
A hall bathroom taken down to the studs and rebuilt generally lands between $26,000 and $42,000. A primary suite with a separate tub and shower usually starts around $45,000. A cosmetic refresh that keeps every drain in place can be done for $16,000 to $25,000. The figure moves most on what demolition exposes in the plumbing, which is why we price the supply replacement in from the start rather than treating it as a variation.
Yes. The City of Evanston requires a building permit for bathroom work that alters plumbing, electrical or structure, which covers essentially every full remodel. Applications go to Community Development at 2100 Ridge Avenue and the work is inspected at rough-in and at completion. We prepare and submit it as part of the project.
A written scope, the working hours we intend to keep, and a certificate of insurance naming the association as additional insured. We provide all three. Boards differ on how quickly they turn it round, so it is worth submitting the moment the scope is settled — in Evanston the approval is more often the critical path than the permit.
Four to seven weeks for a full remodel. The largest variable is tile and fixture lead time rather than labour, so we order long-lead items before demolition starts. A refresh that keeps the layout is usually two to three weeks.
Almost always, and in the bungalow stock it is the most requested change in the city. The limits are the floor build-up needed for a proper fall to the drain and whether the drain can move within the joist bay. We confirm both with the floor open before committing to a design.
Not for interior work. Evanston’s preservation review applies to the exterior, so a bathroom rebuilt inside its existing walls is unaffected. It engages the moment you want a new window opening or an exterior vent penetration, and in the Lakeshore and Ridge districts that review should be started early.
Yes, and in Evanston it is almost always required. Practically the whole city predates 1978, so the work falls under the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule: containment, HEPA filtration, a certified firm and documented cleanup. It is in the schedule and the price, not an add-on.
Yes. Evanston sits at the southern end of the area we cover most densely — Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park and Lake Forest are all regular ground, and our crews are on the North Shore every week.
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