Bathroom remodel necessary?

Question

My boyfriend and I recently bought a house to flip and the bathroom has a shower/jacuzzi and it’s a fully tiled wall and the color is outdated. It’s just a tan tile that is “ok”. Biggest issue is the jacuzzi has this weird platform that make a step about as tall as my knee to get in. If it was a normal tub/shower combo it would take up a foot LESS of space too.

Our question is: Would we decrease the value of the house by getting rid of the expensive tile and jacuzzi and replacing it with a normal tub/shower that’s more in style and less dangerous to get into? We worry when we get it reappraised that taking it out wasn’t the right option...

(Here’s a picture of it: https://pin.it/3aWsTYy)

Christopher Spear · Answer

HI Riley,

Since your intention is to flip the house, you already know that the quality of your finished product should be similar to, or slightly better than the average home in the neighborhood. I doubt having a "regular" tub vs. a Jacuzzi style will affect the value. Also, from the pic, I suspect that the step is only 6"-8" deep (front to back), and it looks like the right side shower wall is projecting pretty far out past the vanity. So maybe it's not so much the step, but the entire enclosure, that is projecting too far into the bathroom. I would look at the following criteria:

1: What is your projected ARV, and is it in line with prices the neighborhood?

2: Is there money in the budget to make this change? Are you planning to do the work yourself? If so, do you have the skills? This change will be harder than it looks on "Flip or Flop". If you're planning on hiring this work out, have you gotten quotes yet? This change could cost you anywhere from about $3,000-$7,000 (or more), depending on your market, material costs, intricacy of the new tile work, etc.

Side note: This type of job can turn into a can of worms. For example, when you remove the step, you now have a spot in the floor where there is no tile. Do you have extra tile to fill it?  If you reduce the overall footprint, you will need to fix the ceiling, which could mean framing (for drywall nailers), drywall work, matching ceiling texture, etc. Your shower centerline will also change, so you'll need to move the plumbing feeds and waste. You might also end up changing the shower glass. DIY shower glass is several $100's and a pain to install. Professional 3/8" frameless glass installed will cost over $1000. And so on, hence the term can of worms.

3: Is this the only tub in the house? If there is another tub, you theoretically don't even need a tub here. You could turn it into a shower.

If I were you, I would think about getting some opinions from people whose opinions you trust, including a realtor or two. You may come to find that the juice is not worth the squeeze. I hope this was helpful, Riley. Good luck!