Bathtub Replacement for rental?

Question

Does anyone know the cheapest way to replace a bathtub? I live in Tallahassee Florida. Unfortunately it's beyond repair by just refinishing. We have a service here called 'Bath Fitters" which is a joke. They put a new tub over your old one and charge way too much for it.

Wondering what I should expect to pay for replacement. Looking for the cheapest option.

Dante Pirouz · Answer

We go 2 routes with bathtubs/enclosures:

1. if the tile and tub are in decent shape but discolored or an ugly color we call in a vendor to refinish the tub in all white. That covers the porcelin, tile and any small cracks or blemishes. Cost: $500-$750

2. We rip everything out and put in a new Home Depot tub and enclosure. Costs more but then we can make sure that all of the plumbing is properly done and that there's no water damage. Cost: $1000-$2000

Hope that helps!

Alexander Johnosn · Answer

@Mark Fries you are right. I used Joe from https://tallybak.com/ to refinish mine yesterday and he did it in a day and he a great job. Account Closed It looks brand new. I wish I had a pic from before to show you how ugly it looked. I only ended up paying $400 for over 6 hours of labor. He is going to caulk it for me for an extra $25.

Account Closed · Answer

Hi Alexander, I'm also in Tallahassee.  If it is a metal tub, there's a guy who can fix it in town.  I haven't used him, but I've seen his work and was very impressed.

https://tallybak.com/

Give them a call and see if they'll give you a free estimate.  Worst case, they give you advice on how to proceed.

Mike Conner · Answer

Hey Alexander, On the last property I was renovating, I ran into the issue of the bathroom being rectangular (so the sidewalls were the same distance apart) and the tub was installed on the wall studs. This meant that you couldn't install a new tub without removing the tile above the tub (about 2' above the tub) or removing drywall and trimming the studs from the bathroom wall to allow enough room to set the tub flat and slide it into place. If the bathroom has different dimensions you may be able to replace the tub in an easier fashion.

You can buy a tub at HD for $200 but you will also replace the drain and overflow which can be a little tricky on old tubs.  The work involved in the install will cost easy 3-4x the cost of the tub, at least from the quotes I received (4 contractors).

I made the mistake of letting the contractor doing the full renovation on my place "refinish the tub" bc "he knew what he was doing". Well the new coating came off in 2 weeks. He then refinished it with a premium product and that came off in 3 weeks. $200 down the drain, ba da ba.

My solution was similar to Farhoods above, call a professional refinisher. I understand there are only 2 companies in Tally that can do it all, the one I used - Total Bathroom Solutions and I can't remember the other ones name. These guys can work wonders on old tubs, repairs, refinishing etc. Cost for me to replace the tub was around $1,500, they refinished the tub to new condition for $450.

You may want to have the drain and overflow replaced if they are old and wore out as well. Can't find the picture of the finished tub but below is the tub prior to refinishing.

Christopher Phillips · Answer

@Alexander Johnosn

Bath Fitters isn't a joke. It's a national outfit.

It's cheaper to do that than replace a tub and tile a shower area. A tile job alone can run $3k to $5k.

If you literally just need a tub, you can get them at Home Depot for $200-$300. But if your tub has issues, the rest of the plumbing and tile probably need work.

Dante Pirouz · Answer

No we outsource to a crew of vendors for everything. Those prices include the labor. We either rent a dumpster from our trash service (usually about $200-300) or my husband will do a run to the dump for $10/dump to get rid of the big stuff but I always try to buy buildings that are built post 1940 because the bathrooms are usually configured properly and have good tile and cast iron tubs that are very sturdy which makes them good candidates for refinishing. Anything pre 1920 will have a bathroom jerryrigged into the space or next to the kitchen which is just not ideal.

You should definitely start looking to create a network of vendors who know you and who can handle all the different jobs (plumber, HVAC guy, electrician, refinisher, handyman for specific jobs or demo, painter, roofer, glass vendor, etc.) because these folks can make or break your business. I have all of our vendors on text/speeddial and we pay them what they ask and on time so that they will respond when we really need them. That said I also know that on a regular basis for whatever reason vendor relationships sour and you need to have your bench ready with the next good vendor to jump in if the costs start to rise or the vendor stops responding in a timely way or starts giving you hassles. It's very normal so we refresh our relationships with new vendors if we run into any problems...our business has to run smoothly and with minimal stress and vendors have to contribute to that effort or they get cut!

Bathtub Replacement for rental?

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