Licensed, Bonded & Insured · Serving Winnetka and the surrounding area
A full bathroom remodel in Winnetka typically runs $28,000 to $45,000 for a hall or guest bath and $50,000 to $85,000 for a primary suite, and takes four to seven weeks on site. Work is permitted through the Village of Winnetka Community Development Department at 510 Green Bay Road. Most of the budget variance in this village comes from what is behind the wall rather than what goes on it — galvanised supply lines, cast-iron waste stacks and undersized 1920s framing are common in houses here and are found only once demolition starts.
Winnetka’s housing stock is overwhelmingly pre-war. Colonial Revival, Tudor and Prairie-influenced houses built between roughly 1910 and 1935 make up most of the village east of the Metra line, with a layer of 1950s and 1960s ranches and split-levels further west. The houses are generous. The bathrooms, as originally built, are not.
A typical second-floor hall bath in one of these houses is five by eight feet or smaller, with a tub in an alcove, one small window on the gable end, and a single vanity pushed against the door swing. The room was designed around a family that shared it and around fixtures that no longer exist. Nearly every project we run here starts with the same question: can we take space from the linen closet, the back stair landing or an adjoining bedroom to get a proper shower in, and what does that cost structurally.
The answer is usually yes, and the cost is usually in the floor. These houses were framed with true dimensional lumber running in one direction only. Moving a toilet more than a few feet across the joists means either a new waste route or a sistered-and-headered opening, and that decision is made with the framing exposed, not on paper.
Winnetka is not one housing stock, it is four. Which one you own decides the scope far more than the finishes do. These are the ranges we actually quote.
| Era and style | What we find on site | What the project becomes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1900–1929 — Colonial Revival, Tudor, Prairie | A 5×8 hall bath, tub in an alcove, cast-iron waste stack, galvanised supply, plaster on lath, one small gable window. | Down to the studs and subfloor. New supply and waste, tub-to-shower conversion, rebuilt floor with proper slope and a tested membrane. | $32k – $45k |
| 1930s–1940s — smaller Colonials and Cape Cods | Original 4×7 baths, often one per floor, tight stair access for materials, low headroom under a sloped ceiling. | Gut, plus borrowing width from a linen closet or a stair landing to make a shower and a real vanity fit. | $30k – $44k |
| 1950s–1960s — ranches and split-levels west of the Metra | Copper supply, cast iron or early plastic waste, roomier 8×8 baths, eight-foot ceilings, slab or crawl below. | The layout usually stays. A double vanity and a walk-in shower fit without structural work, which is why this is the best value in the village. | $24k – $38k |
| 1990s–present — teardown rebuilds | Modern rough-in, adequate framing, primary baths already generously sized, and finishes that have simply dated. | Finish-level replacement. The number is driven by the stone and tile you choose, not by what is behind the wall. | $26k – $40k |
These are the conditions that decide the schedule and the contingency on a job in Winnetka. We price around them rather than discovering them.
Houses that have not had a plumbing overhaul still carry galvanised steel supply. It corrodes from the inside, so the pipe looks fine and the pressure does not. We price a bathroom here on the assumption that the supply back to the nearest accessible branch is being replaced in PEX or copper, and tell you before demolition if we think it runs further than that.
The vertical stack is usually original cast iron. It is often still sound, and we keep it where it is. Where it is not, replacing a section inside a finished wall on the floor below is real work and it is the single most common reason a Winnetka bathroom budget moves after the walls come open.
Cutting into plaster is slower and messier than cutting into 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 rather than pretending it will not be needed.
Practically every house in this part of the village predates 1978, which puts the work under the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule. Containment, HEPA cleanup and a certified firm are not optional and are built into the schedule.
Second floors that were never fully rewired can still have live knob-and-tube in the ceiling bays. Anything we open, we bring to current code, and a bathroom circuit gets its own GFCI-protected run.
Interior work inside the existing footprint is straightforward. The moment a project touches an exterior wall for a new window or a vent, it goes through Winnetka’s zoning review, and in the older lakefront blocks 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 where it is. Worth doing when the layout works and the room is simply dated.
Down to the studs and subfloor, new supply and waste, tub-to-shower conversion or a relocated vanity, new floor build-up and waterproofing. This is the common Winnetka project.
Taking space from an adjoining room, a double vanity, a separate tub and a glassed shower, heated floor, and often a structural opening. Priced individually after the framing is 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 $36,000 full remodel, the midpoint of what we build in Winnetka. The labour share climbs in a pre-war house where supply lines have to be replaced back to the basement, and it is the reason two bathrooms with identical finishes can be $10,000 apart.
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 Community Development at 510 Green Bay Road. We handle 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 or guest bathroom taken down to the studs and rebuilt generally lands between $28,000 and $45,000. A primary suite with a separate tub and shower and a double vanity usually starts around $50,000. A cosmetic refresh that keeps every drain in place can be done for $18,000 to $28,000. The figure moves most on what the demolition exposes in the plumbing, which is why we price the supply replacement in from the start.
Yes. The Village of Winnetka requires a building permit for any bathroom work that alters plumbing, electrical or structure, which covers essentially every full remodel. Applications go to the Community Development Department at 510 Green Bay Road, and the work is inspected at rough-in and at completion. We prepare and submit the application as part of the project.
Four to seven weeks for a full remodel. The largest single variable is tile and fixture lead time, not labour, so we order long-lead items before demolition starts rather than after. A refresh that keeps the layout is usually two to three weeks.
Almost always, and it is the most common request we get in Winnetka. The limits are the floor build-up needed for a proper slope to drain and whether the drain can move within the joist bay. In a 1920s house with true dimensional framing there is usually room to do it properly. We confirm it with the floor open before we commit to a design.
It changes the sequence and the contingency, not the outcome. Expect galvanised supply lines, a cast-iron stack, plaster walls and lead-safe containment under the EPA RRP rule. We plan for all four and tell you at rough-in inspection whether anything beyond them has turned up.
For a bathroom inside its existing footprint, no architect is needed and we handle the layout, the fixture selection and the tile plan. If the project takes space from a bedroom or touches a bearing wall, we bring in a structural engineer for that element and coordinate it.
Floor protection from the entry to the work area, a zipped containment wall, HEPA filtration and daily cleanup. In a pre-1978 house that is a legal requirement rather than a courtesy, and it is the part most clients notice.
Yes. Winnetka sits in the middle of the area we cover most densely — Wilmette, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest and Evanston are all regular ground for us, and most of our crews are on the North Shore every week.
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Office: (773) 345-6358