Barrie & Simcoe County · The quote explains itself
A fixed price on a Barrie bathroom is a guess about your plumbing
Houses built here between 1978 and 1998 are plumbed with Poly-B. Pre-1960 Barrie and Orillia run on cast iron and galvanized. Nobody can see any of that in a photograph, so Barrie Bathrooms prices the finish firmly, carries a named allowance for the wall, and gives the allowance back when the wall is sound.
- The finish priced firmly, the wall priced as an allowance
- Photographs at demolition before the number moves
- An answer within one business day
Where to start
What is actually wrong with the bathroom?
The symptom decides the job, and the job decides whether this is a five-figure renovation or a two-day repair. Barrie Bathrooms would rather route you to the cheap answer.
- The shower leaks into the room below Shower rebuild Don't wait
- Grout is cracked along the bottom corner of the shower Shower rebuild Don't wait
- The tub surround is stained and the wall behind it feels soft Tub to shower Don't wait
- Somebody in the house is finding the tub hard to get into Accessible bathroom Don't wait
- The room works, it just looks like 1994 Full renovation Book ahead
- Nobody has used the bathtub in five years Tub to shower Book ahead
- Five by eight room, nowhere to put anything Small bathroom Book ahead
- The powder room smells damp and has no fan Small bathroom Book ahead
- There is a capped pipe in the basement floor Basement bathroom Book ahead
- The floor is unbearable in February Heated floor Book ahead
Not sure which one you have? Describe the room and the year the house was built and you will get a straight answer within one business day. (249) 555-0142
What we do
Seven jobs, and they are not variations of one job
A tub to shower conversion and a full renovation share a room and almost nothing else. A basement bathroom is a drainage problem wearing tile. The seven below are priced separately because they are separate work.
-
Full bathroom renovation
Down to the studs and back: layout, plumbing, waterproofing, tile and fixtures, with what is behind the wall priced after it is open.
Quoted after the walls are open Written allowance for what the demolition finds -
Tub to shower conversion
Taking out a tub nobody uses and putting in a shower that drains properly, including the drain move the acrylic companies avoid.
Quoted per room Tiled and acrylic priced separately, with the difference explained -
Tiled showers
Bonded waterproofing membrane, sloped base, movement joints and a niche that drains. The part of the job that is invisible when it is right.
Quoted per enclosure Membrane system named on the quote -
Small bathrooms
Main bathrooms of five by eight feet and powder rooms under the stairs, where every inch is a decision and the fan is usually wrong.
Quoted per room The smallest rooms are not the cheapest per square foot -
Basement bathrooms
Adding a bathroom below the sewer line: rough-in stubs, up-flush systems, and the permit that this job always needs.
Quoted after the slab is checked Whether a rough-in exists changes the job entirely -
Accessible bathrooms
Curbless entry, blocking for grab bars, a seat that takes weight, and a layout that works with a walker rather than around one.
Quoted per room Blocking and structure priced separately from fixtures -
Heated floors
Electric mat under tile, set in the same pour as the levelling, with the sensor placed where it can be replaced.
Quoted with the tile Cheap during a renovation, expensive afterwards
Barrie housing stock
What the wall holds, by building era
Four building eras, four different things behind the tile. This is why Barrie Bathrooms asks for the build year before it gives a number, and why a price quoted from a photograph has a risk premium hidden inside it.
| Era | Where in the county | What is in the wall | What it does to the quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before 1960 | Downtown Barrie, Allandale, Orillia core, Holland Street, old Alliston | Cast iron drain stack, galvanized supply, shallow joists | Largest allowance; stack section often replaced while open |
| 1960 to 1978 | Letitia Heights, Codrington, Sunnidale, Angus | Copper supply, early plastic drain, single-layer subfloor | Moderate; subfloor and vent corrections are the common finds |
| 1978 to 1998 | Painswick, Holly, Alcona, Midhurst estates, late Alliston | Poly-B supply with crimped acetal fittings | Supply replacement priced as its own line, room first |
| After 1998 | Ardagh Bluffs, Innis-Shore, Bradford subdivisions, Bond Head | PEX supply, and a minimum-spec fan ducted to the soffit | Smallest allowance; the money goes into ventilation and finish |
| Any era, on a well | Springwater, Minesing, Elmvale, rural Essa and New Tecumseth | Hard water through limestone ground | Changes the glass and the stone, not the labour |
| Any era, on septic | Rural Innisfil, New Tecumseth, Essa, Springwater | A bed sized for the original fixture count | Adding a fixture can bring the sewage system into the permit |
Where we work
Seven towns, and the wall holds something different in each
Alcona went up through the Poly-B years. Orillia is on cast iron. Bradford is new enough that the plumbing is fine and the exhaust fan is not. The town tells us what to expect before we arrive.
FAQ
What homeowners ask before they spend five figures
How much does a bathroom renovation cost in Barrie?
The finish is the predictable half and the wall is not. Barrie Bathrooms prices tile, fixtures, glass and labour firmly from a drawing, then carries a separate named allowance for what the demolition finds — larger on a pre-1960 Allandale house, smaller on a 2006 Bradford one. The allowance is returned when it is not needed. A single fixed number for both halves is not more accurate, it is just less visible.
What is Poly-B and why do you keep asking about it?
Poly-B is polybutylene supply piping, used in Canadian houses from roughly 1978 to 1998. It is grey and joined with crimped acetal fittings, and the fittings are what fail. In Barrie that covers most of Painswick and Holly and almost all of Alcona in Innisfil. A bathroom renovation is the one time the wall is open, so it is the one cheap opportunity to replace it.
Do I need a permit to renovate my bathroom?
Not for like-for-like replacement: a new vanity, toilet or tub in the same place is maintenance. Yes for moving a fixture, adding one, altering the drain or removing a wall. The application goes to the City of Barrie, or to Innisfil, Springwater, Essa, New Tecumseth, Bradford West Gwillimbury or Orillia depending on the address, and the rough-in inspection happens before anything closes up.
How long will my bathroom be out of use?
Three to five weeks for a full renovation, two to three days for an acrylic tub-to-shower conversion. The calendar is longer than the working days because cure times cannot be rushed and, where a permit applies, the inspection sits in the middle. If it is the only bathroom in the house, say so early — it changes the sequencing.
Why does my bathroom fan not seem to do anything?
Usually because it is undersized, ducted with uninsulated flex, and terminating at the soffit. In a snow-belt winter the warm wet air condenses inside the cold duct and runs back, and a soffit termination sits under the attic intake vents so the attic breathes its own exhaust. The stain that appears on a bedroom ceiling two years later started at the bathroom fan.
Will hard water ruin my new glass shower?
On a private well in Springwater, Minesing or rural New Tecumseth, untreated hard water will leave permanent mineral deposits on plain glass within about a year. Treated or coated glass and polished porcelain rather than honed stone deal with it. Where a house has no water treatment at all, the better spend is a softener rather than a larger glass panel.
Talk to a Barrie bathroom renovation contractor
Barrie Bathrooms needs two things to give you a useful number: the year the house was built and a photograph of the room as it stands. The year decides what is likely inside the wall, and the photograph decides the finish. That is usually enough for a written range before anybody visits.