Licensed, Bonded & Insured · Serving Rogers Park and the surrounding area
A full bathroom remodel in Rogers Park typically runs $24,000 to $38,000 and a primary suite $40,000 to $70,000, taking four to six weeks on site. Permits come from the Chicago Department of Buildings, with association approval alongside. The shared riser fixes roughly where the toilet sits; everything else — a walk-in shower where the tub was, a vanity that finally fits, extraction ducted to outside air — is available without moving it.
The bathroom in a Rogers Park courtyard building is usually five by seven, off a central hall, with a cast-iron tub in an alcove, a pedestal basin and often no window. It was built in about 1925 and in a great many flats it has never been taken back to the studs.
Two things are settled before design starts. The waste riser is shared, so the toilet stays close to the branch that reaches it. And the floor is shallow, which limits how far a new drain can travel at a proper fall.
Neither stops the room being transformed. The tub nobody uses becomes a level-access shower, the pedestal basin becomes a vanity with real storage, and the fan finally goes to outside air instead of into a shaft. That is the project here, and it is a smaller job than most people assume.
Rogers Park is flats almost throughout, and the building decides what the bathroom can become.
| Era and building type | What we find on site | What the project becomes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1915–1930 — courtyard apartment buildings | A 5×7 bath off a central hall, cast-iron tub in an alcove, pedestal basin, shared stack, often no window. | Gut in place with the branch replaced where needed, a walk-in shower, a real vanity and extraction ducted outside. | $26k – $38k |
| 1915–1930 — vintage walk-ups | A larger bathroom with higher ceilings, original tile in a mortar bed, and services altered by earlier conversions. | Full gut with the floor build-up rebuilt and the services traced back to something sound. | $28k – $40k |
| 1900–1925 — two-flats west of Clark | A bath off a rear hall, a stack shared with one other unit, and a basement below with room to work. | More freedom to move a drain than a courtyard building allows, so a genuine replan is on the table. | $25k – $37k |
| 1960s–1975 — Sheridan Road towers | A concrete slab that cannot be cut, a fixed riser, and builder-grade fittings at the end of their life. | Finish replacement with the waterproofing done properly and the fixtures kept where the slab dictates. | $22k – $34k |
These are the conditions that decide the schedule and the contingency on a job in Rogers Park. We price around them rather than discovering them.
The toilet stays on the branch that reaches the stack. Where that branch is original cast iron running inside the floor, replacing it means opening the ceiling of the flat below — a conversation with a neighbour as much as a cost.
A written scope, working hours and a certificate naming the association. We supply all three, and it is the item most likely to set your start date.
A bathroom last done in the 1990s frequently has no tested membrane behind the tile. In a building with neighbours below, that is the failure that matters most, and it is why the floor comes up even on a finish-level project.
A great many of these bathrooms vent into a light well or simply the ceiling void. A proper duct to outside air takes planning in a masonry building, and it is the difference between a room that dries and one that grows mould in the grout.
Walls are plaster on lath and the floor has usually been tiled over at least once. Both come back to a sound substrate before waterproofing, which is slower and dustier than working in a newer building.
Tile, a tub and a vanity 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 — viable only where the existing waterproofing is sound, which we check first.
To the studs and subfloor, supply replaced, a tub-to-shower conversion, a rebuilt floor with a tested membrane and extraction ducted outside.
Space taken from an adjoining room or closet, a double vanity, a glassed shower and heated floor. Less common in this housing but achievable in the larger walk-ups.
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 $30,000 full remodel, the midpoint of what we actually build here. Waterproofing takes a larger share here than the percentage suggests, because in a building with a neighbour directly below it is the one thing that cannot be got wrong.
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 $24,000 and $38,000. A refresh that keeps every service in place runs $14,000 to $22,000. 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.
Only a short distance. The waste riser is shared with the flats above and below and it is fixed, so the toilet stays on the branch that reaches it. A vanity and a shower have far more freedom, and that is where the room is actually won back.
A written scope, the working hours we will keep, and a certificate of insurance naming the association as additional insured. We provide all three. It is worth filing the moment the scope is settled, because in this neighbourhood the board is usually slower than the permit.
It needs a fan ducted to outside air rather than into a light well or the 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 within a year.
Almost always, and it is the most requested change in the neighbourhood. The limits are the floor build-up needed for a fall to the drain and whether the drain can shift inside the joist bay. We confirm both with the floor open before committing to a design.
It is the reason we build the way we do. A tested waterproofing membrane goes in before a single tile, and the floor comes up even on a finish-level project so we can see what is underneath. A shower that leaks into the flat below is the most expensive thing that can go wrong here.
Four to six weeks for a full remodel, plus whatever the board takes to approve it. In a one-bathroom flat we sequence the work to keep the gap as short as it can be.
West Ridge, Edgewater, Uptown and Lincoln Square are all regular ground for the same crews, and we work north into Evanston as well.
info@reviverenovations.com
Office: (773) 345-6358