Licensed, Bonded & Insured · Serving Lakeview and the surrounding area
A full bathroom remodel in Lakeview typically runs $28,000 to $44,000 for a main bathroom and $48,000 to $85,000 for a primary suite, and takes four to seven weeks on site. Permits are issued by the Chicago Department of Buildings, and in a condo or a converted flat the association approval and certificate of insurance usually take longer to obtain than the permit does. The thing that decides what is possible here is the shared waste riser: it fixes roughly where the toilet can be, and everything else is designed around it.
Lakeview was built out between about 1890 and 1930 in greystones, brick two-flats and three-flats, a large share of them converted to condominiums between the 1970s and the 2000s. The bathroom in these buildings is usually off a central hall, roughly five by eight, with a tub under a window or no window at all.
Two things are fixed before anyone starts designing. The waste riser is shared with the units above and below, which sets roughly where the toilet has to be. And the floor is shallow — hundred-year-old joists do not leave much depth for a new drain run at a proper fall.
Within those limits there is far more room than people expect. A tub that nobody uses becomes a walk-in shower. A vanity finally fits where a pedestal basin was wasting the only usable wall. Ventilation gets ducted to outside air rather than into a shaft. None of that needs the toilet to move, and all of it is what makes the room usable.
The age and type of the building sets what is possible in a Lakeview bathroom before anyone opens a catalogue.
| Era and building type | What we find on site | What the project becomes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1890–1915 — greystones and brick two-flats | A 5×8 bath off a central hall, cast-iron branch to a shared stack, plaster on lath, shallow joists and often no window. | Full gut with the branch replaced, the floor rebuilt for a proper fall, and extraction ducted to outside air. | $32k – $44k |
| 1915–1930 — courtyard buildings and six-flats | A narrow bath off a rear hall, very little floor depth, a stack shared by four or more units, and a board that approves the work. | Gut in place. The toilet stays on the branch and the room is won back with a proper vanity and a walk-in shower. | $28k – $38k |
| 1970s–1990s — condo conversions | A previous remodel already moved things once. Drywall, a modern panel, and builder-grade fittings near the end of their life. | Straight replacement with the waterproofing done properly this time, which is usually what was skipped. | $24k – $34k |
| 2000s–present — new construction and duplex-downs | Adequate framing and services, bathrooms already sized, finishes that have dated. | Finish-level replacement, with stone, glass and fittings driving the number. | $26k – $42k |
These are the conditions that decide the schedule and the contingency on a job in Lakeview. We price around them rather than discovering them.
Your stack serves the units above and below and it is not moving. That sets roughly where the toilet sits. A vanity or a shower has more freedom, but a new drain run still needs fall inside a shallow floor, so we check the ceiling below before a layout depends on it.
The horizontal branch from your bathroom to the stack is usually original cast iron running inside the floor. Where it is sound we keep it. Where it is not, replacing it means opening the ceiling of the unit below, which is a conversation with a neighbour as much as a cost.
Most Lakeview buildings need the board to approve the scope and require a certificate of insurance naming the association. We supply both as a matter of course, but the approval sits with your board and is more often the critical path than the permit.
Walls are plaster on lath and the bathroom floor has usually been tiled over at least once. Both have to come back to a sound substrate before waterproofing, which is slower and dustier than working in a newer building.
A great many bathrooms here vent into a light well, a shaft or simply the ceiling void. In a masonry building a proper route to outside air takes planning, and it is the difference between a bathroom that dries and one that grows mould in the grout.
Rear-stair-only access, a shared gangway and permit parking are normal. Tile, a tub and a vanity all come up the back stairs, and the demolition goes down them. It is a real line in the schedule rather than an afterthought.
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. Sensible when a previous remodel got the layout right.
To the studs and subfloor, new supply, the branch to the stack replaced where needed, a tub-to-shower conversion, a rebuilt floor and a tested membrane.
Taking space from an adjoining bedroom or closet, a double vanity, a glassed shower, heated floor and usually a structural opening. Priced individually.
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 $35,000 full remodel, the midpoint of what we actually build here. The labour share is higher in a city building than in a suburban house, because every delivery and every load of waste goes up and down a shared back 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 Chicago Department of Buildings. 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 main bathroom taken to the studs and rebuilt generally lands between $28,000 and $44,000. A primary suite usually starts around $48,000. A refresh that keeps every service in place runs $17,000 to $27,000. What moves the number most is whether the cast-iron branch to the stack has to be replaced, because that means opening the ceiling below.
Yes. The Chicago Department of Buildings issues it. Replacing fixtures and finishes in place can often go through the Easy Permit Process; anything that moves plumbing or electrical, or removes a wall, needs a full permit with drawings. We identify the route at the consultation and handle the filing either way.
Usually only a short distance. The waste riser is shared with the units above and below and it is fixed, so the toilet stays on the branch that reaches it. A vanity or a shower has far more freedom. We check what the floor depth allows before drawing anything that depends on it.
A written scope, the hours we intend to work, and a certificate of insurance naming the association as additional insured. We provide all three. Boards vary in how quickly they turn it round, so submit as soon as the scope is settled — it is usually slower than the permit.
Almost always, and it is the most common request in the neighbourhood. The limits are the floor build-up needed for a fall to the drain and whether the drain can move within the joist bay. In a 1910s building that is usually workable, and we confirm it with the floor open.
It needs a fan ducted to outside air, not into a shaft or a ceiling void, which is what we most often find. In a masonry building the route takes planning, and getting it right is the difference between a bathroom that dries out and one that grows mould in the grout.
Four to seven weeks for a full remodel, plus whatever the board takes to approve it. We can usually keep a second bathroom in service, and in a one-bathroom flat we sequence the work to shorten the gap as far as possible.
Yes — Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square and Roscoe Village are all regular ground, and the building types and permit route are much the same across them.
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