EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
This is a bathroom remodel that I finished a month ago. Client is elderly with a very bad back. His wife has to help him take a shower and they could not fit into the existing shower. Neither of them ever used the corner tub. They wanted a zero lip shower so she could wheel him into the shower if he wasn't able to walk. He can barely walk, but it's very slow and he can't lift his feet.
It's a concrete foundation, so I removed the concrete and then poured new concrete after I relocated the drain. I blocked for 5 grab bars inside the shower. And another by the shelves, where she puts him on a chair to shave his face and cut his hair. They went with a shower curtain, which saved a bunch of money. Glass starts out expensive, and then it gets absurd. I don't have anything to do with glass, and a lot of the time, the only time I ever see it is when I come back to do another job for the client. Sadly, most of my clients hate the glass after it's installed.
On this job I charged $9,000 for labor, and the materials where just over $3,000. I bid it as 3 weeks work and while I was there, they added other things for me to do that made it closer to 4 weeks
It really amazes me what people are able to charge for doing similar work. I personally think that I'm making good money doing this by myself. No helpers, no other contractors are involved. I do all the work; I make all the money. I think when you start hiring people to do each part of the job, it runs up the costs. Another factor is how fancy the house is, or how much money they think you have. I charge the same for everyone. Oddly, the ones that usually balk, or have trouble coming up with the money are the ones in the high-end neighborhoods. The vast majority of my clients are elderly, retired, and widows with middle class homes. Most of my work for the widows is fixing what a friend, or somebodies' husband from church did.
