Pricing and quoting a bathroom remodel: ranges, good-better-best, deposits, and how price shapes your marketing
How a bathroom remodeler should present prices online and in the home, why three options close more estimates, deposit terms, and how price shapes your leads.
Two remodelers bid the same tub-to-shower conversion. One emails a single number, $13,800, with a two-line description. The other sits at the kitchen table with three options on one page, $11,900, $14,600 and $18,200, each with a photo of what that tile and glass look like, and a monthly payment under each. The second one wins more often, usually at the middle price, and the homeowner feels like she chose. Pricing is not just what you charge. It is how the estimate is read.
Everything below is about presentation, not about what your margin should be. Your numbers are yours.
Put ranges in public
The first pricing decision is whether to show prices at all. The case for ranges on the website and in ads is simple: they filter. "Tub-to-shower conversions from $9,500" sends the $4,000 shopper to someone else and tells the $15,000 buyer she is in the right place. Companies that say "call for a quote" spend their estimator's time on calls that were never going to close.
Ranges, not fixed prices, because a conversion with porcelain tile and a framed door is not a conversion with large-format slab and frameless glass. A workable format for a service page or a Google Business Profile service line:
- Tub-to-shower conversion: $9,500 to $16,000
- Walk-in shower, accessibility build: $11,000 to $19,000
- Full bathroom remodel: $18,000 to $35,000
- Shower tile replacement: $6,500 to $11,000
- Half bath refresh: $7,500 to $12,000
Add one sentence on what moves a project within the range: tile choice, glass, moving plumbing, structural surprises. The website guide covers where the ranges go on the page.
Good, better, best
A single number invites a yes-or-no decision, and the default answer to a five-figure yes-or-no is "we need to think about it". Three options change the question from "should we" to "which one". In this trade the three tiers write themselves:
Good. Standard tile from your stocked lines, a framed or semi-frameless door, standard valve and fixtures, your base layout. This is the price that matches your advertised "from" number, so the homeowner never feels baited.
Better. Upgraded tile, a niche and a bench, frameless glass, a better valve. This is where you build the most margin and where most people land.
Best. Large-format tile, a linear drain and curbless entry, heated floor, premium fixtures, a rain head. A few will take it. The rest see "better" as reasonable because "best" exists.
Present all three on one page with a photo of each tier from your own past projects. Lead with the middle one. Price the top one honestly; it is not a decoy if someone can actually buy it.
Financing is part of the price
For projects over $8,000, roughly half of buyers finance some portion. A monthly payment next to each tier is often the number that closes:
- Good, $11,900: about $661 a month at 0% for 18 months
- Better, $14,600: about $811 a month
- Best, $18,200: about $1,011 a month
Lenders charge the contractor a fee for promotional terms, typically 3% to 12% depending on the term. Build it into the price for everyone rather than discounting for cash; a "cash discount" sounds like you were overcharging. Check your lender's disclosure requirements before you print payments on an estimate.
Deposits and the payment schedule
A clear schedule on the estimate prevents the awkward conversation at the end. A common structure for a three-week project:
- 30% to 40% at signing, which covers tile, glass, fixtures and the schedule slot
- 30% to 40% at rough-in complete or tile start
- The balance at the final walkthrough, before the review ask, not after
Check your state's rules; several states cap deposits for home improvement contracts, and some require specific contract language. Put the schedule on the estimate itself, with dates tied to milestones, not calendar days.
Include a change order policy in one sentence. "Changes after tile is ordered are priced and signed before work continues." It saves the project.
Allowances versus specified selections
An allowance ("$8 per square foot for tile") lets you quote fast and leaves the price open. It also leads to the moment where the homeowner picks $22 tile and feels like you tricked her. Specified selections, where she picks from three tiles per tier before you sign, take an extra hour in a showroom or with samples at the table, and the price on the estimate is the price on the invoice. Reviews that say "the price did not change" are worth a lot in a trade where everyone fears the overrun.
How pricing decides your leads
Your advertised price range chooses your customer. Advertise "bathrooms from $4,995" and you will get volume and a crew that is always busy and never profitable, and you will be compared to the one-day franchises on their terms. Advertise "tub-to-shower conversions from $9,500" with tile photos and you get fewer leads that close at a higher ticket.
The comparison page against the one-day acrylic systems is the sharpest version of this. State what they cost, state what you cost, and show the difference in the photos. A homeowner about to spend $12,000 on an acrylic liner who learns that tile is in the same range is your best lead of the month. The Google Ads guide covers bidding on that comparison.
Raising prices
If you are booked more than six weeks out and closing more than half of estimates, you are underpriced. Raise the "from" numbers 8% to 12% on the next printing of everything, website first, then the profile, then the estimate template. Close rate drops a little, revenue per project rises more than that, and you get a few weeks of calendar back. Do it once a year in January when the phone is quiet anyway.
What to track
Three numbers per month: estimates given, estimates sold, and average sold price. Close rate between 25% and 40% with a rising average is healthy. Close rate above 60% means raise prices. Close rate under 20% usually means the estimate presentation or the follow-up, not the price. The missed-calls guide has the post-estimate sequence.
Frequently asked
Should I charge for the in-home estimate? For most markets, no; a free in-home visit with a written price is the offer that gets the appointment. If you are booked out and want fewer, better appointments, a $150 design fee credited to the project filters hard. Try it in the busy season only.
How do I handle "the other guy was $3,000 cheaper"? Ask what was in his number. Usually it is an allowance, no glass, no permit, or an acrylic system. Walk through the three tiers again and show where the $3,000 lives. If it is a straight tile-for-tile match at a lower price, let them go; that company will not be around to honor the warranty.
Should the estimate expire? Yes, 30 days, stated plainly. Material prices move and your calendar fills. It also gives the follow-up call a reason: "Your price is good through the 20th, want me to hold the slot?"
If you want the pricing pages, the estimate template and the follow-up built for you, any service on this site is a free 14-day trial, no card.
Steven has spent the last several years running growth campaigns for local service businesses, bathroom remodeling companies among them, and builds the benchmark datasets on this site from public Google listings. About the editor