No way to know at all - best to get a minimum of three estimates from vetted contractors - and make all apples to apples by having your materials and fixtures picked out and clearly listed.

15-20 is on the very very low end - especially for your area.

We are doing almost exactly the same project (except likely also swapping out the toilet for a wall-hung) in the East Bay. $50K or more (sometimes much more) is pretty typical if you work with a GC, and I assume your area is even pricier than ours. I am hoping to do our bathroom for closer to $20K, but that's coordinating all of the work and permitting ourselves and hiring out the trades. (Luckily we don't need to do electrical since we did that as part of a whole house rewire and all but one switch is still to code, so we can easily do that swap ourselves.) Even then I'm not sure it will be possible to do with that budget, and it requires being without the bathroom for a stretch (since you may have to wait between phases of the work until the next contractor is available).

If you want to go this route, you will need a good plumber, electrician, drywaller, and tilesetter at minimum, plus things like a painter and carpenter if those aren't things you want to do yourself. You'll also need to be willing to demo yourself or hire that out separately. (We used The Reuse People for our kitchen many years ago, and I believe they still do this work.) It's not for the faint of heart--we did our kitchen this way and although we saved a great deal of money, it cost us plenty of time and gray hairs. Our current project is a lot simpler and we're coming off of a bathroom project with a GC that wasn't a great experience (plus already have tradespeople we like), so I'm willing to tackle it again, but I have no illusions that it will be quick. There's a reason GCs charge what they do!

If you want to use a general contractor, for sure get a range of bids, and make sure to call places further afield, too. If they don't work in your area, ask if they know people who do. (And similarly, if they don't take on projects that small--a common problem we encountered when getting bids for our last project--ask if they have friends in the field who do.)

I did a similar sized bathroom in LA in 2017. It was completely gutted and total for labor and material was around $32K. A couple of higher cost items in my project were a Robern LED medicine cabinet and custom sized vanity, but everything else was good quality, but not high end.

How well do you know the designer? She/he might be the reason you might be paying more. Are they getting a percentage from the GC, for everything?

I always like to keep materials and labor separate. Of course, not including the materials that go behind walls as part of plumbing and electrical, that is part of the contractor's labor and costs. I buy the materials myself from established good local plumbing showrooms, who also provide good customer service, when there are issues with a product.

We are in the East Bay also and are renovating 2 bathrooms. Contractors are in high demand and they can have their pick of jobs. It’s a lot more expensive now than it was 7 years ago when we last did big renovations. $70k doesn’t surprise me at all.

You will really only know what the cost will be after you get bids based on the EXACT design plans because the design will impact the final cost.

You will actually be lucky to find a contractor let alone three contractors who will give you an actual bid on the project since that requires significant time and effort to do properly.

And I suspect that many contractors aren't interested in a small bathroom project because there isn't enough profit in it to make it worth it when they could be working on larger more profitable projects. I was only able to get one GC to bid and mine was a major gut remodel of an entire condo with two bathrooms, kitchens plus everything else.

You are really not saving anything in terms of what the cost of a bathroom remodel are and unless you have bought a good toilet in the past year or so, you might do well to replace your toilet with a very good model when your bathroom is gutted so you don't have to deal with issues with flooring or equivalent.

That said, the size of a bathroom really has very little impact on price unless you are dealing with a huge bathroom. The reality is that all of the expensive work - electrical, plumbing and even tile is the same for most bathrooms. I did a gut remodel of two bathrooms in a high cost of living area and the benefit of the smaller size enabled me to spurge on expensive finishes - i.e. it costs the tilesetter as much to use inexpensive tiles as more costly tiles - sometimes more if you use cheap inferior tiles with lots of flaws and lipping but that's a different issue.

One more recommendation, try to get bids from contractors who have done jobs for friends/coworkers. When you have started the job, treat those contractors well and you will have built a relationship you can benefit from in future renovations.

Hi TeeDee. Would you mind messaging me the info for the five contractors you got quotes from? (I can't find a way to message you privately.) Thanks!

I am in SoCal and have been getting quotes for a total gut and remodel of a small secondary bathroom, without moving walls or changing the footprint. I had initially estimated $40K for everything, but soon realized that $60 is more realistic. I may do this as an owner-builder project because I am finding it difficult to hire a GC for a small project.

Several GC's declined to bid on the project. Several designers declined to help me, saying it was too small a project for them.

One GC gave me a quote of $58K and wanted $50K deposit on Day 1 (not legal in CA). The quote was for labor and rough materials plus an exhaust fan and a custom vanity.

Another GC gave me a quote of $32K for labor and rough materials but wanted me to start right away and forego getting a City permit for a structural remodel (which is needed because I am replacing the tub/shower with a standalone shower).

A third GC gave me a quote of $30K for labor and rough materials, but he had no employees and was coy about whether his subcontractors were licensed or were handymen (a handyman can be paid no more than $500 per job in CA).

A fourth CG wanted me to purchase all materials through him and pay a significant markup to him for the finish materials (tile, sink, toilet, showerheads, ... ).

None of the above quotes offered a spreadsheet -- just a single line item with a one-page vague statement of work.

I don't know if this helps, but I have allocated my $60K budget as follows:

$25K for labor and rough materials (demo, framing, insulation, plumbing, electrical, water-proofing, tile setting, drywall, finish carpentry, and painting)

$15K for the following: City permits, custom vanity, one slab of e-stone or natural stone, labor for fabricating countertop and shower curb, frameless glass shower enclosure

$16K for finish materials that I choose and purchase directly: tile, plumbing fixtures & fittings, towel bars / hooks, and a pricey lighted LED mirror

$3K for a designer to provide drawings to the City and advise on the design plan -- although the City said that I can draw these myself on the back of an envelope

$1K contingency for repairing damage caused by water or termites (replacing the plywood subfloor)