Finding a good bathroom remodeler might seem easy since there are tons of online resources listing many ‘highly-rated’ contractors. However, you should know that in Los Angeles County alone, there are over 20,000 licensed General Contractors. With that many options, it may not be so simple to find the best bathroom remodeling contractor for your project. Additionally, a recent study showed that over 50% of homeowners who renovated report having a bad experience with their contractor or remodel. This shocking number confirms how important it is to find the right bathroom remodeler for you!
Here at GreatBuildz, we speak with clients every day who are looking for the best bathroom remodeler for their project. GreatBuildz is a free service that connects homeowners in Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura or San Diego with reliable, pre-screened remodeling contractors, then provides ongoing project support to ensure a stress-free experience.
Give us a call at 818.317.3567 or visit our website at www.GreatBuildz.com to learn more and discuss your project.
Related: Estimate the cost of your remodel with our bathroom remodel cost calculator
How Do I Find the Best Bathroom Remodeling Contractor Near Me?
A good way to find the best bathroom remodeling contractor for you is to ask your friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. if they have a bathroom remodeler or contractor that they’ve used and liked. If you ask for suggestions on Facebook or other social media platform, you can only trust recommendations from ‘real-life’ friends. Other people on social media who you don’t know are often biased (their brother is a contractor, etc).
If you can’t get any good suggestions from the people you know and you need to look elsewhere, consider websites that do really intensive contractor screening and personalized introductions to reliable bathroom remodelers (like we do at GreatBuildz). The absolute last option should be looking online at large, national contractor listing websites.
Because there are so many bathroom remodelers near Los Angeles, there is no good way to tell the quality, reliable ones from the bad contractors. Suspiciously, most of the contractors listed on these sites have a 4- or 5-star rating with lots of glowing reviews and pretty pictures of their work, but it’s hard to know which reviews are real and which are not.
Picking a Good Bathroom Remodeler:
After narrowing your search to a few bathroom remodeling contractors, how do you tell which one is a good fit for you? It’s not as simple as you may think. Too many people hire a bathroom remodeler based on just two factors: 1) who’s got the lowest bid and 2) what’s their ‘gut feeling’ about the quality of the contractor after one meeting.
These factors might be a good start, but they are not enough to tell the good contractors from the bad ones. When you meet bathroom remodeling contractors, please remember that they are trying to sell you, so they are going to be acting on their best behavior. The cost estimate they give you is important, of course, but it doesn’t tell you whether they are good, reliable, and honest.
Therefore, a homeowner should always take further steps in vetting a bathroom remodeling contractor to protect themselves from having a renovation nightmare.
Related: Bathroom Renovation Necessities
Vetting Bathroom Remodeling Contractors:
GreatBuildz has developed a 10-point screening process to find the best bathroom remodelers and screen out the bad ones. Homeowners should consider taking at least the following 5 steps to protect themselves from bad contractors and the risk of having a stressful renovation nightmare:
- Check Online Reviews. Specifically, it’s important to find any negative reviews because these are often authentic. You should ask the bathroom remodeler to explain any bad reviews. If there are many bad reviews (especially in the last several years), you should think twice about hiring this contractor.
- Check their contractor license online. For Los Angeles or anywhere in California, you should look at this link: https://www.cslb.ca.gov/OnlineServices/CheckLicenseII/CheckLicense.aspx. Here, you can see if the bathroom remodeler has an active General Contractors license, find the company owner’s names, determine if they have any violations or complaints against their license, and even find out how long the contractor has been licensed.
- Get a copy of their insurance certificate and call their insurance broker; ask whether they have had any insurance claims in the recent past. Verify that they have General Liability and Workers Compensation insurance.
- You should call and speak to three of their references. Ask their reference if they can send you pictures of the work or if you can visit in person to see the completed bathroom remodel.
- Interview the owner (or the Project Manager who will be your daily contact person during the project). Often, especially with large bathroom remodeling contractors, the person at your first meeting will just be a salesperson, and you’ll never see them again. Ask the owner or project manager: “Do you have experience with similar projects in areas near me?”
Bathroom Remodel Costs
Costs for the same-sized area might vary greatly based on a variety of criteria, such as the types of materials used, layout modifications, and unique components. The cost for bathroom remodels varies by region and in the Los Angeles area prices range from $25,000 for an average-size bathroom while larger bathrooms will cost around $40,000-$60,000. As part of your budget planning, keep in mind that labor accounts for a considerable chunk of the entire cost. Depending on the fixtures and scope, the cost per square foot for a bathroom renovation might range from $100 to $600.
How to Ensure a Positive Remodeling Experience:
If you want to have a positive experience with your bathroom remodel, it’s important that you “do your part”. That means you should be responsible for a few things. First, you need to select, order, or purchase materials early in the process so that material delivery delays don’t hold up the contractor’s progress. Also, you should have a standing weekly meeting with the contractor to walk the project together and review the progress. Finally, check on the job daily. If you see issues or concerns, address them immediately, as they will be harder to deal with later in the project. Bottom line is, don’t be completely hands-off through the process.
When it comes to finding a good bathroom remodeler for your home, you shouldn’t have to go it alone – GreatBuildz can help simplify your renovation experience.
GreatBuildz is a free service that connects homeowners in Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura or San Diego with reliable, thoroughly screened bathroom remodeling contractors and provides project support from start to finish. Call now (818.317.3567) to chat with a real person about your next renovation project or visit our website for more information: www.greatbuildz.com
