Bathroom Remodeling in Lexington, Priced in Writing.

What does a bathroom remodel cost in Lexington?

Published cost data puts the typical Lexington-Fayette bathroom remodel at about $17,000 to $32,000. Three things decide where yours falls:

• How much moves. A new walk-in shower where the tub used to be is a contained job. Relocating the toilet, moving the shower drain or taking out a closet wall turns it into a full remodel with more plumbing and framing.
• The shower walls. Acrylic or solid-surface panels cost less and go in faster than a fully tiled shower with a niche, bench and mosaic floor.
• The house itself. The 1920s to 1940s homes in Chevy Chase, Ashland Park and Bell Court often have cast-iron drains and galvanized supply lines behind plaster walls. Replacing them while the walls are open costs less now than later.

The Lexington bathroom remodel cost guide walks through the numbers line by line, and every quote we send is itemized the same way.

Do you need a permit to remodel a bathroom in Lexington?

It depends on what changes. Kentucky handles plumbing permits at the state level, through the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, so moving or adding a fixture or drain needs a state plumbing permit. Structural work, like moving a wall or adding a window, needs a building permit from the LFUCG Division of Building Inspection. A new vanity or a tub swapped in the same spot usually needs neither.

We check the permit path for your job and pull what's required. The Lexington bathroom permit guide has the details.

Keep the tub, or switch to a walk-in shower?

This is the question we hear most. In a primary bath that gets used every morning, a walk-in shower is usually the more practical choice, especially if stepping over a tub wall is getting harder. If it's the only full bath in the house, or you have small kids, keeping a tub often makes more sense for daily life and for resale. We lay out both sides in walk-in shower vs. bathtub, and if you're weighing an acrylic liner against a real remodel, see Bath Fitter vs. a full remodel.