Our Proven Process For Your Bath Remodel
Our process is designed to make your experience as smooth, informative, and hassle-free as possible, starting with straightforward professional guidance from your first call.
As our client, we’ll walk you through planning, design, selections, and pre-construction. We’ll keep you on track and on budget, while skipping unnecessary choices and typical contractor games.
Here is the process we follow to get your bathroom remodel RIGHT on the first try:
1. Let's Talk
Our first step is a short introduction call to learn about what you’re wanting to accomplish and why.
We’ll listen, take notes, and have an open conversation about possibilities, timelines and budget ranges. You’ll also have the chance to ask any up-front questions about our company and services.
If you can provide us with a few photos of your current bathroom, this will help you get more accurate information, faster. If you need help sending pictures, we’re happy to walk you through it.
At this stage, it’s helpful to know what overall look you’d like, and what general level of finishes you’re wanting, but we won’t need to know all the fine details just yet.
Before our call wraps up, we’ll discuss your options to proceed to Step 2, where our company owner meets with you in your space.
2. Initial On-Site Meeting
When we meet in person, we’ll dig deeper into your style and material preferences, while developing a more accurate budget than what was possible on our call.
We’ll go over feasibility concerns (examples: can a wall be removed, or plumbing relocated, etc.) and discuss the look, feel, and function you’re after. Some clients share a vision / mood board, or have photos of desired items and features, but this isn’t required.
For most projects, additional meetings are needed to firm up your exact design and product selections. Our initial meeting is typically focused on “big picture” decisions and choices.
All initial site visits are conducted by the company owner, Brian Horton. At the end of our meeting, we’ll provide a clear explanation of next steps to keep your project moving forward. In many cases, we’ll offer you either a design prosposal or a project proposal, depending on our progress.
3. Design & Project Development
During design and development, we’ll iron out the EXACT DETAILS of your project – the unique scope, look, and functionality that works best for you, including precise material selections.
When this step is complete, your project will be ready to go to build. If engineering or other prep work is required, that is normally handled here, as well.
Not all projects require “hardcore” design and development. For some clients with smaller projects, this step only involves a few material selections, then deciding on particulars such as showerhead height, tile pattern, etc. If you’re wanting to keep things simple, we have options for that.
For all projects, the design stage is critical for 2 reasons:
We want you to be thrilled with the final results. If you need more time and guidance here to make that happen, we’re OK with that.
We can only produce a build-ready, fixed-price contract when this step is complete. Many contractors will blow off the fine details to rush you into a bath remodel. “Figuring it out as they go” typically means an ambiguous initial scope of work, followed by periodic change orders that raise your cost. Delaying or ignoring detailed decisions may seem easier up front, but it’s riskier and more stressful in the long run.
When you work with Simplicity, you get design, selections, planning, and building under one roof.
As your builder, we understand the real-world construction costs of your design choices, and we’ll guide you through this process with consistent budget check-ins.
We offer two distinct approaches to selections, depending on your goals
- Our Express program works well for straightforward, “pull-and-replace” remodels where you’d like to move faster by making selections from a limited menu. Sometimes, the complexity of custom can be overwhelming, especially if your most important goals are a fresh look and an easy process. Express minimizes time spent in design and selections to keep things simple.
- For larger, more custom, and more detailed projects, our Design-Build process will help you realize the exact bathroom you want. With design-build, you’ll hand-select faucets, fixtures, tile, and finishes with our designers. In addition, our team can create 2D layouts and 3D concept renderings (as pictured here) to help you visualize your new bathroom. We can update drawings with your exact selections, so you can confirm your choices before committing to the final plan.
*If you’re already working with an interior designer, architect, or engineer, cue us in as early as possible. As custom bathroom builders, we guide you through design based on the actual construction costs and logistics involved in bringing your vision to life. This is particularly important in the early stages, where your project takes shape.
4. Contract & Pre-Construction Planning
Once your design and selections are finalized, and you’re 100% happy with your choices, we’ll sign a contract to remodel your bathroom.
Your contract will include all material selections, as well as your entire scope of work, in writing, with no questions left unanswered. This clarity helps prevent change orders and misunderstandings, which are very common in construction (typically due to poor planning!).
At this time, our pre-construction planning goes into high gear.
We’ll start by putting together a list of expectations for our staff and trade specialists. This will be custom-tailored to your unique project. We’ll discuss parking, pets, paint touch-ups, permits, and the like in order to put together our daily access plan.
To ensure your entire experience is as worry-free as possible, you’ll also receive the company owner’s personal cell number.
Our pre-construction process also includes ordering and receiving your materials, planning and scheduling with our trade partners, and setting up permits with the city of Houston (or other municipality), where required. Pre-construction timeframes vary based on the nature and complexity of your project, materials lead times, and our scheduling cue.
We’ll provide you with an estimated job start timeframe at contract, then keep you updated as your date approaches.
5. Construction
It’s time to build your new bathroom! Rest assured, this won’t be one of those HGTV nightmares.
We’ll go over the schedule and expected project duration before work begins. We’ll also keep you updated on any timeline changes as your project proceeds.
While some projects are completed within a few weeks, larger and more involved projects can take longer, and you will know this up front.
Occasionally, we’ll need to set up product deliveries or project management visits prior to our start date. No one will show up to your home unannounced.
When construction starts, you can rest easy knowing our crews will follow the game plan set up in Step 4. You will know who is showing up and what work will be done each day, and our employees and trade partners will be courteous and respect your home, yard, and furnishings. Your home is not just another job site – it’s your most prized space, and we appreciate that.
At each day’s end, we’ll clean up our path and can review next steps, if you’re available. All job trash and debris will be hauled away and disposed off-site.
To keep your home cleaner throughout the project, we use special flooring protection, customized to your floor type. In the pictures to the right, you see our base layer of floor protection for hardwood and tile (in white) and carpet (in red).
We’ll place temporary plastic coverings over adjacent bedding and furniture during demolition (as in the far right photo), and we’re happy to move furniture and other sensitive items where needed.
In addition, we use USA-made air scrubbers with HEPA filtration for heavy-duty dust control. These are able to extract about 90% of airborne dust in the area. We can also install ZipWall® systems for particularly sensitive remodels.
With these careful measures in place, your home is cleaner and more livable throughout construction, versus a standard construction experience.
6. Clean-Up, Punch List, & Warranty
When your bathroom remodel is totally finished, we’ll walk the project with you, take photographs, and collect your final payment.
- If there are any “punch list” items, these will be addressed immediately. Nail “pops” and paint touch-ups are two infrequent items we see.
- We consider cleanup an important part of our job, and we know you do, as well. We’ll leave your bathroom clean and ready for use (once any grout and silicone have cured), along with any areas in the yard, or garage, where we worked.
- Your warranty begins at completion. We’ll be here to serve you if there are any issues. Call us at 832-464-7251, or email info@simplicitybath.com with any warranty requests.
- Don’t be surprised if your project photos show up on our website, Google business page, and social media! Of course, we will get your express permission before posting any pictures or video with personally-identifiable information.
Our company has an extremely low service rate. This means very few of our projects require a warranty visit after completion. We attribute this to our Fair Trade Remodeling approach, careful project management, and our insistence on higher-end materials for plumbing, waterproofing, and tile setting.
Houston, Let’s Get Started
Working with us is easy – simply call or fill out our Contact form when you’re ready to get started. We’ll start with a simple, no-pressure conversation about your bath project. If we’re not the right fit for you, we’ll do our best to point you in the right direction.
We serve most of Greater Houston area, including Katy, Richmond, Cinco Ranch, Cypress, Energy Corridor, The Memorial Villages, Bellaire, West University, Midtown, and Downtown. If you’d like to inquire about our availability or areas of service, call us at 832-464-7251.