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 timelines and budget ranges, while giving you the opportunity 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’re not sure how to send pictures, we’re happy to walk you through it.
At this stage, it is helpful to know what overall look you’d like, but we won’t get into the fine details just yet. When our call is wrapping up, we’ll discuss your options to proceed to Step 2, where our company owner will meet with you in your space.
If you’re a Houston area homeowner, simply pick up the phone and call us, or fill out our Contact Form and we’ll set up a call at a time that is convenient for you.
2. On-Site Meeting
When we meet in person, we’ll further evaluate your project and dig deeper into your style and material preferences, while developing a more accurate budget than what was possible on our call.
The purpose of our visit is to develop the “bones” of your bathroom remodel or custom shower. We’ll look at photos, videos, and samples, while checking your space for feasibility (examples: can a wall be removed, can the shower be relocated, etc). For most of our projects, additional meetings are needed to firm up your exact design and product selections, as our initial meeting is most often focused on “big picture” decisions and choices.
All initial site visits are conducted by the company owner, Brian Horton. In most cases, you’ll receive either a design prosposal or a project proposal at the conclusion of this meeting, along with a clear explanation of next steps to keep your project moving forward.
3. Design, Selections, Plans, & Renderings
Many of our clients tell us this part is the most fun of all!
During design and selections, we’ll spend time together getting the particulars of your project exactly the way you want, so you’re thrilled with the finished product. There are two ways we do this.
- For straightforward, “pull-and-replace” remodels where you’d like to move faster by making selections from a limited menu, our Express program will serve you well. Sometimes, the complexity of custom can be overwhelming, especially if your two most important goals are a fresh look and an easy process.
- For larger, more custom, and more detailed projects, our Design Plus process will help you realize the exact bathroom you want. This includes hand-selecting faucets, finishes, and fixtures with our interior designer, while our design team creates 2D floorplans (as in the visual below) and 3D concept renderings (as in the perspective to the left) of your new bathroom, with your selections included. We will update our drawings as you make design choices and finalize selections, then we’ll present a fixed-price build proposal once design is finished. If engineering or formal building plans are required, we will produce these as well.
4. Contract & Pre-Construction Planning
Once your design and selections are finalized and you’re 100% happy with all your choices, we’ll sign a contract to remodel your bathroom. To ensure that your entire experience is as worry-free as possible, you will receive the company owner’s personal cell phone number.
At this time, we will put together a list of expectations for our workmen that is custom-tailored to your project, and then adjust this plan during construction if necessary. We will discuss parking, pets, paint touch-ups, permits, and the like in order to put together our daily access plan.
Our back-end, pre-construction processes now go into high gear, with our team ordering and receiving your materials, planning and scheduling with our trades, and setting up permits with the city of Houston (or other municipality), where required. The time we’ll need to get your bath ready to build varies depending on the nature of the project, the lead time of selected products, and our scheduling cue. We’ll provide you with an estimated job start timeframe at contract, then keep you updated as your anticipated job start date approaches.
5. Construction
It’s time to build your new bathroom! Rest assured, this won’t be one of those HGTV nightmares.
While most projects are completed within a few weeks, larger and more involved projects can take longer, and you will know this up front. All clients receive an estimated kick-off date and project duration before we start. We’ll keep you updated on any timeline changes as your project proceeds.
Your start date will be hard-confirmed before we begin. Occasionally, we may 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 help 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).
You will also receive plastic coverings for adjacent bedding and furniture items during demolition (as in the far right photo), and we’re happy to move furniture and other sensitive items where needed.
The “cherry on top” is our USA-made air scrubbers with HEPA filtration, which provide heavy-duty dust control. These are able to extract about 90% of the dust from your air. We can also install ZipWall® systems for particularly sensitive remodels.
With these careful measures in place, you’ll find your home to be much cleaner and more livable throughout construction, versus a standard construction experience.
6. Clean-Up, Punch List, & Warranty
Partial Guest Bath Remodel in Richmond, TX
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.
- 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 project information.
- 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. If you have specific questions or concerns regarding our cleanup process and what you can expect, give us a call and we will be happy to discuss.
- Your warranty begins at completion. We’ll be here to serve you if there are any issues, and can guide you through any concerns you have down the road. You call or text us at 832-464-7251, or email info@simplicitybath.com, with any warranty concerns.
FYI – we have an extremely low service rate, meaning very few of our projects actually require a warranty visit after project completion. This is due 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 love to hear from our customers, and we’re happy to discuss your bathroom remodel. 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, Memorial, 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.