Licensed, Bonded & Insured · Serving Lincoln Park and the surrounding area
A full bathroom remodel in Lincoln Park typically runs $30,000 to $48,000 for a main bathroom and $52,000 to $92,000 for a primary suite, and takes five to eight weeks on site. Permits are issued by the Chicago Department of Buildings, and much of the neighbourhood sits inside a landmark district where exterior changes need Commission review. A great many houses here have already been gut-rehabbed once, so the real question is usually what the previous contractor did behind the tile rather than what the building started with.
Lincoln Park was built out earlier than the neighbourhoods north of it, mostly between 1880 and 1905, in greystones, brick rowhouses and frame cottages. Much of it sits inside a landmark district. Alongside that there is a substantial layer of 1990s and 2000s single-family new construction, and a great many of the older houses have been gut-rehabbed at least once.
That last point is what makes this neighbourhood different. In Lakeview or Roscoe Village we are usually the first people to open the wall since 1915. Here we are frequently the second or third, and what we find is a 1998 rehab: a shower pan that was never properly formed, a fan vented into a soffit, a drain run at almost no fall.
So the survey matters more here than anywhere else we work. A bathroom that looks fifteen years old can be hiding a failure that is already moving through the ceiling below. We open enough to know what we are dealing with before we price, rather than finding out in week two.
Lincoln Park is older than the neighbourhoods north of it, and more of it has been rebuilt once already.
| Era and building type | What we find on site | What the project becomes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880–1905 — greystones and brick rowhouses | Original plan with the bathroom carved out of a bedroom, cast-iron branch, plaster on lath, shallow joists, and a landmark district over the top. | Full gut with the branch replaced and the floor rebuilt, often combined with an adjoining room to make a proper suite. | $36k – $48k |
| 1880–1910 — frame cottages, many raised | A cottage lifted over a new basement at some point, so services are a mix of eras and the floor levels rarely line up. | Gut with the services rationalised, and the floor build-up corrected before anything is tiled. | $32k – $44k |
| 1995–2010 — gut rehabs and new single-family | A previous rehab of variable quality: shower pans without fall, untested membranes, fans ducted into soffits. | Strip back to a sound substrate and rebuild properly. Often less work than it sounds, and it stops a leak that is already running. | $30k – $42k |
| 2010–present — recent construction | Adequate framing and services, generous bathrooms already in place, finishes that have simply dated. | Finish-level replacement, with stone, glass and fittings driving the number. | $28k – $46k |
These are the conditions that decide the schedule and the contingency on a job in Lincoln Park. We price around them rather than discovering them.
Most Lincoln Park bathrooms have been rebuilt before. Shower pans formed without a proper fall, membranes that were never tested and fans ducted into a soffit are all common findings. We open enough to know before quoting rather than discovering it with the tile off.
In a two-flat or three-flat conversion the stack serves more than your unit, which fixes roughly where the toilet sits. In a single-family greystone there is more freedom, but the floor depth still limits how far a drain can travel at a proper fall.
The most requested project here is combining a small bathroom with an adjoining bedroom or closet. Whether the wall between them carries the floor above decides whether that is a day’s framing or a sized beam with an engineer’s letter.
In a converted building the board wants the scope, the hours and a certificate of insurance naming the association. In a single-family house none of this applies, which is why two apparently identical projects here can have very different start dates.
Interior work is unaffected anywhere in the neighbourhood. A new window or an exterior vent on a building in the Mid-North, Sheffield or Armitage-Halsted districts needs Commission review, and that should be started early.
The original housing here is nineteenth century, so the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies: containment, HEPA filtration, a certified firm and documented cleanup, scheduled and priced in from the start.
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 — viable only where the previous rehab did the waterproofing properly.
To the studs and subfloor, supply and branch replaced, a tub-to-shower conversion or a relocated vanity, and a rebuilt floor with a tested membrane.
Space taken from an adjoining bedroom or closet, a double vanity, a freestanding tub and glassed shower, heated floor and a structural opening. Always 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 $39,000 full remodel, the midpoint of what we actually build here. Where a previous rehab has to be stripped back to a sound substrate the demolition and waterproofing shares both rise, which is the most common reason a Lincoln Park quote sits above a Lakeview one for the same room.
Work completed by Revive 360 Renovations in this area. Every project links to its own page and photos.
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 rebuilt to the studs generally lands between $30,000 and $48,000, and a primary suite usually starts around $52,000. A refresh that keeps the services in place runs $19,000 to $30,000, but it is only worth doing where the previous rehab got the waterproofing right.
Not necessarily, and sometimes the opposite. A rehab of that era frequently used a shower pan formed without proper fall, a membrane that was never tested and a fan ducted into a soffit. Stripping that back to a sound substrate is real work, and it is why we open enough to know before we price.
It is the most requested project in the neighbourhood and it is usually possible. The question is whether the wall between them carries the floor above: if it does, it needs a sized beam, posts to a bearing point and an engineer’s letter with the permit. That is answered with the ceiling open.
A permit from the Chicago Department of Buildings is required for anything that moves plumbing or electrical, or removes a wall. The landmark districts concern the exterior, so an interior bathroom is unaffected — it engages only if you want a new window or an exterior vent.
A written scope, working hours, and a certificate of insurance naming the association. In a single-family greystone none of that applies, which is why two very similar projects here can start weeks apart. We tell you which situation you are in at the consultation.
Five to eight weeks for a full remodel, a little longer than Lakeview because more of these projects involve taking space from an adjoining room. A refresh is two to three weeks.
Yes. The original housing here is nineteenth century, so the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies in full: containment, HEPA filtration, a certified firm and documented cleanup, all priced and scheduled in.
Lincoln Park sits at the southern end of our Chicago work. Lakeview, Lincoln Square and Roscoe Village are all regular ground for the same crews.
info@reviverenovations.com
Office: (773) 345-6358