Bathroom Remodeling in San Lorenzo - Fixed Price, Set Finish Date

Fast, Reliable Bathroom Remodeling Across San Lorenzo

Bathroom remodeling in San Lorenzo typically runs $9,000 to $28,000 for a full renovation, with smaller projects like a tub-to-shower conversion landing between $3,500 and $10,000. That’s the honest range for this market, where nearly every home is a Bohannon tract house from the late 1940s and early 1950s. We’ve worked on enough Lewelling Boulevard, Via Arroyo, and Bockman Road homes to know exactly what hides behind those 70-year-old walls. If you’re planning a remodel, call (877) 610-1318 and we’ll walk you through the numbers before you spend a dime.

Call (877) 610-1318

Tom Barrett founded Barrett & Sons Construction in 1998, and his sons run the crews that serve San Lorenzo every week. We’re not a franchise dispatching strangers. We answer our own phone, we pull every permit, and we put every price change in writing before work starts. That matters here more than most places, because San Lorenzo has its own layer of review on top of Alameda County permitting. More on that below.

Why Barrett & Sons Construction Is San Lorenzo’s Preferred Bathroom Remodeling Company

We’ve spent years earning trust in San Lorenzo the slow way, one bathroom at a time. Homeowners here know each other. If we did shoddy work on Via Manzanas, the whole street would know by Saturday. That’s the way it should be. Tom Barrett publishes his name, his address, and his license number. You can look us up before you sign anything. Ask anyone on your street, or check the license yourself.

Our crews know the Bohannon-built housing stock better than any out-of-town outfit. When we open a bathroom wall in San Lorenzo, we’re not surprised by 24-inch joist spacing or original knob-and-tube wiring. We plan for it. That’s why our Bathroom Remodeling team budgets for what’s behind the wall, not just what’s in front of it.

Every job is backed by the 90-Day Done Right Promise, written on the contract. If something’s not right, one call brings Tom back. We also offer a Free Second Opinion on Any Written Estimate, so if another contractor handed you a number and you’re not sure it’s fair, bring it to us. We’ll tell you straight.

Our Bathroom Remodeling Services in San Lorenzo

Full Bathroom Remodeling

A full bathroom remodel in San Lorenzo runs $9,000 to $28,000. That covers everything from layout to finishes, and it usually means correcting 70 years of deferred maintenance along the way. We handle the demo, the rough-in corrections, the waterproofing, the tile, the fixtures, and the final inspection. You get a written scope before we start and a written change order if anything changes. No surprises.

Walk-In Showers & Shower Remodeling

Walk-in shower installation in San Lorenzo runs $4,500 to $12,000. Most of these homes have original tubs crammed into 5-foot alcoves, and converting that space into a zero-threshold or low-curb shower changes how the whole bathroom feels. We use Schluter waterproofing systems on shower walls and pans, which is a name you can look up and a product that holds up for decades. On a Lewelling Boulevard job, we opened the wall for a walk-in shower and found original knob-and-tube wiring running through the wet wall and joists spaced 24 inches on center instead of today’s 16. We pulled the county permit, coordinated the inspection sign-off, and corrected the load-bearing framing before the inspector arrived, so the shower was never sitting exposed waiting on a committee.

Tub-to-Shower Conversion

Tub-to-shower conversion in San Lorenzo runs $3,500 to $10,000. It’s the most common project we do in this community because the original 1950s tubs are cast iron, scratched, and hazardous for homeowners who want to age in place. We remove the tub, inspect the subfloor, correct any framing or plumbing issues, and install the new shower with proper waterproofing. Grohe and Sterling fixtures are two brands we install regularly in San Lorenzo homes. Both hold up well with the East Bay’s hard water, and parts are easy to source locally if you ever need a cartridge replacement down the road.

Vanities, Tile & Fixtures

Bathroom vanity installation in San Lorenzo runs $800 to $3,000. The original Bohannon bathrooms usually have a small built-in vanity with no storage and a top-mounted sink. We replace those with furniture-grade vanities, vessel or undermount sinks, and properly sealed countertops. Tile work is where the craftsmanship shows, and it’s where cheap contractors cut corners. We don’t. Every tile job gets a properly sloped Schluter pan, straight layout lines, and grout that’s sealed and cured before you use the shower.

Trusted Brands We Service in San Lorenzo

We stock and install brands you can research yourself: Schluter for waterproofing, Sterling and Grohe for fixtures, and GAF for any adjacent roofing work if your bathroom remodel ties into a vent stack or skylight repair. We don’t put mystery brands off a van into your home. If a product fails, you want a manufacturer warranty that means something and local parts availability. That’s why we stick with names that have stood up in San Lorenzo’s specific conditions, including the East Bay’s mineral-heavy water.

Common Bathroom Remodeling Problems We See in San Lorenzo Homes

• Knob-and-tube wiring in the wet wall. Many original Bohannon homes still have live knob-and-tube in bathroom walls. We’ve opened dozens of them. It’s safe when left alone, but once you expose it for a remodel, county code requires correction before inspection sign-off.
• Undersized framing and 24-inch joist spacing. The postwar construction boom meant speed over consistency. We regularly find joists at 24 inches on center, which doesn’t meet today’s deflection standards for tile floors. That has to be corrected before we set a shower pan, or your tile cracks within a year.
• Expansive clay soil cracking slabs. San Lorenzo sits on East Bay clay that shrinks in summer and swells in winter. Over 70 years, that movement cracks bathroom slabs. If your floor has a persistent crack under the old linoleum, we’ll level and repair the slab before tiling.
• SLVHA approval gaps. Homeowners sometimes pull a county permit but skip the San Lorenzo Village Homes Association Architectural Control Committee review. When the HOA finds out, usually because a neighbor called, the project gets a cease-and-desist letter mid-demo. We file both reviews before we swing a hammer.

Pricing for Bathroom Remodeling in San Lorenzo, CA

Why San Lorenzo’s Dual Approval Layer Changes Everything

Here’s something most contractors won’t tell you until it’s too late. San Lorenzo is one of California’s first large-scale postwar planned communities, built almost entirely by the Bohannon Development Company between roughly 1944 and 1952. Nearly every home here is a virtually identical 900 to 1,100 square foot wood-frame tract house. The houses are so uniform that bathroom layouts rarely surprise us. The surprises are behind the walls, where 70-year-old knob-and-tube wiring and undersized framing from rapid postwar construction frequently turn a simple tub-to-shower conversion into a subfloor and rough-in correction.

On top of that, the San Lorenzo Village Homes Association (SLVHA) adds an extra layer of architectural review for any exterior work. For a bathroom remodel that changes a window, a vent, or an exterior wall, you need SLVHA Architectural Control Committee approval before or at the same time as your Alameda County building permit. Skip the SLVHA step, and you can get a cease-and-desist letter even after the county permit is issued. We’ve seen it happen. That’s why we file both reviews ourselves and schedule around the committee calendar so your bathroom doesn’t sit half-finished waiting on a decision.

What Gets Approved in San Lorenzo, and Who Files It

The SLVHA cares about what the neighbors see. For a bathroom remodel, that usually means the exterior window trim, vent placement, paint colors if visible from the street, and any changes to roof lines. Interior finishes, tile choices, and fixture selections are yours to make. The submittal packet needs drawings showing the exterior dimensions of any window changes, the finish materials, and a scope of work. Review typically adds a week or two to the front end of the project, sometimes less if the committee is meeting regularly.

We file the packet. We attend the hearing if one is required. We coordinate the SLVHA approval with the county permit so both come through around the same time. Then we order materials and schedule your start date. That’s the part homeowners get wrong when they go with a contractor who doesn’t know San Lorenzo: they pull the county permit, start demo, and then the HOA letter shows up. By the time they call us, the bathroom is torn apart and the project is frozen. Don’t let that happen. Call (877) 610-1318 first.

We Also Serve Cities Near San Lorenzo

If you live in San Lorenzo or the surrounding communities, we cover your area too. That includes Ashland, San Leandro, Cherryland, and Castro Valley. Our scheduling and dispatch run from the San Francisco Bay Area office, and our crews serve San Lorenzo locally every week. Same team, same 90-Day Done Right Promise, same written change orders on every job.

FAQs - Bathroom Remodeling in San Lorenzo