Licensed, Bonded & Insured · Serving Highland Park and the surrounding area
A full bathroom remodel in Highland Park typically runs $30,000 to $46,000 for a hall bath and $52,000 to $88,000 for a primary suite, and takes four to seven weeks on site. Permits are issued by the City of Highland Park at 1707 St Johns Avenue. The single biggest cost variable here is the era of the house: a 1920s Colonial means replacing galvanised supply and working around a cast-iron stack, while a 1960s ranch on a slab means the drain route, not the plumbing, sets the limit.
Highland Park is really two towns. East and central, around the downtown and Ravinia, the housing is pre-war: Colonials, Tudors and shingled houses from the 1910s and 1920s, many of them on ravine lots that fall steeply towards the lake. West of Green Bay Road the stock turns over to 1950s and 1960s ranches, split-levels and a notable run of mid-century modern houses.
That split matters more than anywhere else we work. The pre-war houses give us tall ceilings and deep joists to route a drain through, and hand us ninety-year-old supply lines to deal with. The post-war houses give us modern copper and a roomier bathroom, and put the waste run in a slab or a shallow crawl where it is far less willing to move.
So the first question here is not what you want, it is what year the house was built. It decides whether a relocated toilet is a half-day of framing or a week of concrete work, and it is the reason two identical-looking bathrooms in this city can be $15,000 apart.
Highland Park is split down Green Bay Road, and the two halves behave completely differently once the floor comes up.
| Era and style | What we find on site | What the project becomes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910–1935 — Colonials, Tudors and shingled houses | Small hall baths inside large bedrooms, cast-iron stack, galvanised supply, plaster on lath, deep joists with room to route a drain. | Full gut with new supply and waste, width borrowed from a closet, and a properly built shower floor. | $32k – $46k |
| 1950s–1965 — ranches and split-levels | Copper supply, roomier 8×8 baths, eight-foot ceilings, and the waste run in a slab or a shallow crawl. | Layout normally stays. A double vanity and a level-access shower fit without structure, and the fan finally gets ducted outside. | $25k – $36k |
| 1955–1975 — mid-century modern | Wide glazing, low-pitch roofs with no attic, exposed structure that cannot simply be boxed in, and original fittings worth keeping. | Careful gut that respects the detailing, with ventilation and waterproofing solved without spoiling the ceiling line. | $30k – $48k |
| 1990s–present — rebuilds and infill | Modern rough-in, adequate framing, primary baths already sized, and finishes that have dated. | Finish-level replacement, with the stone and the glass driving the number. | $26k – $40k |
These are the conditions that decide the schedule and the contingency on a job in Highland Park. We price around them rather than discovering them.
Anything east of Green Bay Road that has not had a plumbing overhaul is likely to be on galvanised steel. It closes up from the inside, so pressure fails long before the pipe looks bad. We price the replacement in rather than discovering it.
The stack in a 1920s Highland Park house is original cast iron. Usually sound, occasionally not, and replacing a length inside a finished wall on the floor below is the most common reason a budget moves here after demolition.
West of Green Bay Road the waste run is often cast into a slab or sits in a crawl with very little fall to work with. Moving a toilet more than a short distance means cutting and repouring concrete, so we establish the route before a layout is drawn.
Both halves of the city are largely pre-1978, which puts the work under the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule: containment, HEPA cleanup and a certified firm, built into the schedule rather than added to the invoice.
The mid-century houses have shallow roofs and almost no attic to run a duct through. Getting a bathroom fan properly ducted to outside air, rather than into the roof space, takes planning and it is skipped often enough that we check what the existing fan actually does.
Interior work is unaffected, but on the ravine side of town the approach to the house, the skip position and any exterior penetration have to be planned around the grade and the city review that comes with it.
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 service staying put. The right project in a ranch where the room is already the right size.
To the studs and subfloor, new supply and waste, a tub-to-shower conversion or a relocated vanity, and a rebuilt waterproofed floor.
Space taken from a bedroom, a double vanity, a separate tub and glassed shower, heated floor and a structural opening. Priced once 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 $37,000 full remodel, the midpoint of what we actually build here. In the pre-war half the labour share rises with the plumbing replacement; in the ranches it rises with concrete work if a fixture has to move. Same finishes, very different invoice.
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 Highland Park at 1707 St Johns 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 rebuilt to the studs generally lands between $30,000 and $46,000, and a primary suite usually starts around $52,000. A refresh that keeps the services in place runs $18,000 to $28,000. The era of the house moves the number more than the finish level does.
Yes. The City of Highland Park requires a building permit for bathroom work that alters plumbing, electrical or structure, which covers every full remodel. Applications go to 1707 St Johns Avenue and the work is inspected at rough-in and completion. We handle the filing.
Sometimes, but it is a concrete job rather than a plumbing job. The waste run is cast into the slab with a fixed fall, so relocating a toilet means cutting, re-routing and repouring. Moving a vanity or converting a tub to a shower is usually far easier. We establish what the slab allows before drawing anything.
Yes, and it is worth doing. The detailing in these houses — the ceiling line, the glazing, the original millwork — is the reason they are valued. We solve ventilation and waterproofing without dropping a bulkhead across the room, which is the usual damage done to them.
Four to seven weeks for a full remodel, two to three for a refresh. Tile and fixture lead times drive the schedule more than labour does, so long-lead items are ordered before demolition.
In the mid-century stock, often not. A shallow roof leaves little room for a duct, and fans get terminated into the roof space where the moisture simply stays in the building. We check it at the first visit and put a proper ducted run in as part of the work.
Yes. Most of Highland Park predates 1978, so the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies: containment, HEPA filtration, a certified firm and documented cleanup. It is priced and scheduled in, not added later.
Highland Park sits within our densest service area. Glencoe, Winnetka, Lake Forest, Wilmette and Deerfield are all regular ground for the same crews.
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Office: (773) 345-6358