Bathroom Renovations in Victoria, BC
The whole room, managed and installed by the owner: demolition, subfloor, waterproofing, tile, heated floor and finishing. You see it in 3D before anything is ordered, and you deal directly with the people doing the work — not a sales office.
Bathrooms we have finished in Greater Victoria
Thirty-odd completed rooms, photographed at every stage — including the parts that get covered up. The full set is in the project gallery.
What a full bathroom renovation includes
Demolition & disposal
Old tile, tub, vanity and flooring out and hauled away. The room is protected, the dust contained and the debris gone the same week — not left in your driveway.
Subfloor & framing
Rot, flex and out-of-level floors get dealt with before anything goes down. In older Victoria homes this is where the real surprises live, which is why we look at it during the estimate rather than after demolition.
Waterproofing
Full Kerdi and Schluter membrane systems, flood-tested where the design calls for it. The step that decides whether the room lasts twenty years or two.
Tile & stone
Floors, walls, shower surrounds, niches and benches — ceramic, porcelain, large-format slab and natural stone, set with levelling systems so nothing lips.
Heated floors
Electric mat or cable under the tile, levelled and tiled over, with the thermostat connection coordinated with your electrician. Quoted per room.
Finishing
Grout, silicone, trim, fixtures set and the room cleaned. We coordinate plumbing and electrical so the trades arrive in the right order and you get a finished bathroom back.
What a bathroom renovation costs in Victoria
These are labour prices for the whole room, in Canadian dollars, before GST: demolition, plumber, electrician and fan, waterproofing, tile, drywall, paint and baseboards. We coordinate every trade and you get one written price. Tile, vanity, toilet, fixtures, glass and other materials are bought by you — most clients choose their own tile. The firm number comes after we measure.
Where the money goes in a walk-in shower bathroom
Our labour for a walk-in shower bathroom, trade by trade, before GST.
Add the lines up and a walk-in shower bathroom starts from $7,000 in labour. A bigger room, moved plumbing, large-format tile or an older house pushes it up — we price your room after a free measure. Waterproofing and ventilation are the two things that fail expensively later, so they are the wrong place to save.
What pushes the price up
Moving the plumbing. Keeping the toilet, sink and shower drain where they are is the biggest saving there is. Moving a drain means opening the floor and re-running lines with the right slope.
Tile format and layout. Straight-laid porcelain goes in quickly. Large-format slabs, stone, mosaic and herringbone take far longer to plan, cut and set — the per-square-foot rates are on the rate card.
An older house. Pre-1960 homes often hide cast-iron drains, soft subfloors and walls that are out of plumb. Homes built before 1990 need a hazardous materials test before demolition; if asbestos is found, certified removal is quoted separately.
Budget tip. Keep 10–15% aside for what shows up once the walls are open — closer to 20% in a pre-1960 house. If we find something, we show you photos and price it before we carry on.
Every job comes with a written contract and a 3-year workmanship warranty. Want the room drawn before you commit? See how Novo Preview works.
What will my job cost?
Three questions and you get the starting price we would normally quote for that kind of room. It is a starting point, not a promise — but it is built from our published rates.
Pick a room above and the range appears here.
What renovating a bathroom in Victoria actually involves
Victoria housing stock pulls in two directions and a bathroom shows it faster than any other room. Character homes in Fairfield, Rockland and Oaklands were built before anyone standardised a floor joist — walls are rarely square, floors slope, and under the old tile there is often a mortar bed and a subfloor that has been quietly absorbing water around the toilet flange for decades. None of that is a problem if it is found at the estimate. All of it is a problem if it is found on day three.
Downtown and Songhees condos are the opposite: square, level, and wrapped in strata rules. Elevator bookings, protected corridors, quiet hours, an acoustic underlay rated to the building's requirement, and a council that wants insurance and WorkSafeBC paperwork before anyone lifts a tile. We work to that as a matter of course, so the sign-off is administrative rather than a negotiation.
The other Victoria-specific factor is moisture. This is a coastal rainforest climate and bathrooms here dry slowly. A shower that was waterproofed with a painted-on coat over drywall will fail — not immediately, but reliably. A full membrane system costs a few hundred dollars more on a job of this size, and it is the difference between a room that lasts and a room we get called back to rebuild.
Bathroom renovation FAQ — Victoria, BC
How much does a bathroom renovation cost in Victoria, BC?
Our labour for a full bathroom starts from $5,700 with a tiled tub surround and from $7,000 with a walk-in shower. Large ensuites with a separate tub and shower start from $10,400. Those figures cover demolition, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing, tile and materials, fixtures and finishing, before GST. The firm written price comes after we measure the room and look at the subfloor.
How long does a bathroom renovation take?
Four to twelve working days from demolition to grout for most bathrooms. A tub surround sits at the shorter end, around four to seven days; a walk-in shower with a niche, bench and linear drain runs seven to twelve. Older Victoria homes sometimes add time because the subfloor needs rebuilding or plumbing sits in an awkward spot — we tell you that at the estimate rather than mid-job.
Do you do the whole renovation, or only the tile?
The whole room. Demolition and disposal, subfloor repair and levelling, waterproofing, tile, niches and benches, and finishing. We coordinate the plumbing and electrical so the trades arrive in the right order, and hand back a finished bathroom rather than a tiled shell.
What waterproofing do you use?
Full Kerdi and Schluter membrane systems, flood-tested where the design calls for it. This is the step most often cut short by others and the single most common reason we get called in to redo someone else's shower two years later. It is not the place to save $300.
Can I see the bathroom before you build it?
Yes — every renovation starts with Novo Preview. We model your room by hand in SketchUp and render it in D5, so you choose tile, layout and colour on screen instead of guessing from samples. It is included with every renovation, and nothing is ordered until you approve it.
Do you install heated floors?
Yes, and in a Victoria bathroom it is one of the few upgrades people still mention years later. We install the electric mat or cable, pour the levelling layer, tile over it and coordinate the thermostat connection with your electrician. It adds a day or two and is quoted per room.
Can you work in a condo or strata building?
Yes. We book elevator times, protect corridors and the lobby, keep to quiet hours and use acoustic underlay rated to your building's requirement. Insurance and WorkSafeBC documents go to the strata council before work starts, which is usually what they ask for first.
Do you offer free estimates?
Yes — free on-site measurement and a written quote anywhere in Greater Victoria, with no obligation and no sales pressure. Call (778) 676-7365 or send us the details of your project.
Where we renovate bathrooms
Across Greater Victoria and the Westshore, with dedicated pages for Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay and Langford. Replacing floors elsewhere in the house at the same time? That is priced on the flooring page.
Bathroom services & guides
Get a firm written price for your bathroom
Tell us about the room and we'll come and measure. Honest pricing, clean work, one team from start to finish.
- Free on-site measurement across Greater Victoria
- One firm written price — not an hourly rate that grows
- I’m on site for every job — tile and waterproofing are never subcontracted
- Novo Preview: your room in 3D, included with every renovation