A bathroom is a small room with a plumber, an electrician, a tile setter, a waterproofer and a finish carpenter all working in it. That's why a 40-square-foot space can cost as much as a room ten times its size. Here's what bath projects actually close at around Keene in 2026.
The bands
- Powder room refresh — $8k to $16k. New vanity, top, toilet, faucet, lighting, mirror and paint. No tile, no layout change.
- Full bath refresh — $12k to $25k. Same footprint, but new tile floor, a tub-shower with a tiled surround, vanity, fixtures and an exhaust fan.
- Full bath remodel — $18k to $40k. New layout, a tiled shower with glass, heated floor, custom vanity and stone top, and the waterproofing done properly.
- Primary suite — $40k to $80k+. Curbless shower, freestanding tub, double vanity, water closet, custom storage, sometimes a footprint change into a closet or adjacent room.
These assume a standard Monadnock-region bathroom. Moving plumbing, adding a window, or borrowing space from another room moves each band up. Run your own with the budget calculator.
Where the money goes
- Labor & project management — 45 to 55%. More trades per square foot than any other room. Demo, rough plumbing and electric, waterproofing, tile, glass, fixtures and finish.
- Tile & stone — 15 to 25%. Shower walls, floor, niche, curb or curbless base, and the vanity top.
- Fixtures — 15 to 25%. Toilet, faucet, tub or shower valve and trim, glass enclosure. Icera, Gerber and Pfister lines we stock.
- Cabinetry & the rest — lighting, ventilation, mirrors, paint, accessories.
What drives the number up
- Curbless showers. Worth it, especially for aging in place — but they require dropping or building up the floor to slope to the drain.
- Moving the toilet or shower. Relocating a drain means opening the floor, and in a slab or a tight joist bay that's real work.
- Frameless glass. Custom-measured, tempered, heavy hardware — a meaningful line on its own.
- Hidden water damage. Old tub surrounds leak. Once the wall is open, rot and failed subfloor are common — a contingency in the contract keeps a discovery from becoming a standoff.
Where to save without regretting it
Keep the layout. Choose a quality standard-size tub-shower over a custom tiled shower if the bathroom is a secondary one. Use a large-format tile to cut labor hours. And put the money into the waterproofing and the ventilation — the parts you can't see are the parts that fail.
