A bathroom is a small room with a plumbing system, a drainage system, a ventilation system and a waterproofing system inside it. The finishes are what you see. The waterproofing is what decides whether the room is still perfect in ten years.
Before the finishes
Nobody goes looking for a contractor in the abstract. These are the three things we hear first, and what we do about each of them.
Membrane, sloped bed, sealed corners and penetrations — specified and inspected before a single tile goes on.
Built and checked, not eyeballed. It is why a shower dries between uses.
Documented before it is closed, so ten years from now somebody knows what is in there.
A door that swings the other way, or slides, is often the whole problem.
A smaller vanity with better storage beats a large one you edge past.
A clear screen gives the eye the whole floor and makes a small room read as one space.
It is cheap while the floor is open and expensive afterwards.
Sized, ducted outside and on a timer. Most bathroom problems are humidity.
Grab-bar blocking and a niche in the right place cost almost nothing at framing.
Three ways to do it
Stone, timber, brass and plaster are what the room is judged on; the waterproofing behind them is what decides whether it still looks like this in ten years. The photographs are references for a treatment rather than our own projects — bring us the one you keep coming back to.
Our process
Six stages, in order, with what you get at the end of each one. Nothing here starts until the stage before it is finished and signed off — which is the whole reason the schedule holds.
Existing falls, stack position, joist direction and what is under the floor. In an older house the answer to “can the bath go there” is usually decided by a joist you cannot see.
A clear answer on what can move and what cannot.
Fixtures placed against clearances and sightlines — what you see from the door matters more in a bathroom than in any other room. Niches, benches, screens and controls are positioned now, not improvised at tiling.
A plan, elevations for every wall, and a setting-out drawing for the tiler.
Tile, stone, brassware, sanitaryware, glass and lighting. Brassware is chosen early because the valve bodies go in behind the wall at first fix, and changing your mind later means opening it again.
A schedule with lead times, so nothing arrives after the trade that installs it.
Services, then the part nobody photographs: full tanking, correct falls to the drain, and a flood test before a single tile goes on. This is where bathrooms fail, and it is not visible afterwards.
Photographs of the tanking and the flood test, in your file.
Set out from the drawing so cuts land where they should — full tiles where the eye goes, cuts in the corners. Underfloor heating zoned and tested before it is buried.
A set-out you approve before adhesive is mixed.
Sanitaryware, brassware, glass, and the extraction commissioned and ducted outside rather than into a loft. Then the snag walk.
Commissioning notes, and the list closed with you.
What’s included
Need inspiration?
Bring us the pictures you keep coming back to and our designers take it from there — working from the exterior style of the house, its proportions, its era and its materials, so every room reads as part of the same building rather than a set of separate good ideas.
One vision, carried through, inside and out. The image here is a reference for a treatment, not a photograph of one of our own projects.
Talk to a designer →Before and after
Nothing moved but the fittings and the finishes — the window, the door and the drain are exactly where they were. Most of what makes a bathroom feel new is specification and workmanship rather than square footage, which is why a room this size is usually the best-value work in the house.
What it takes
The figure under each level is where that scope typically starts in the Charlotte market — a starting point, not a quote. What follows is the work those numbers buy: what falls inside each level, in the order the decisions actually get made. The same three names run through our finish levels below, because the two questions — how much work, and to what standard — are answered together.
Starting at$100k
Starting at$130k
Starting at$180k
Same Queen Boss craftsmanship at every level. Scope and finish are what move the number, never quality of workmanship — and you get an exact figure for your own project after the walk-through and the drawings, not before.
Define the finish
Two rooms of exactly the same size can cost dramatically different amounts, and the difference is selections. Cabinetry, countertops, tile, fixtures, lighting, appliances, doors, trim and hardware all move the number. These three tiers give us a shared language, so when you say “a $50,000 kitchen” we can talk immediately about what that realistically includes.
A clean, well-built home using quality builder-grade materials — the right choice when maximising budget toward square footage and structure matters most.
Upgraded materials and brands throughout that elevate everyday livability and long-term durability — without moving into full custom pricing.
A full custom finish package with premium brands, natural materials, and designer detailing — built for clients who want the home to be a showpiece.
Per square foot, finishes only — excludes land, site work and structural. Same Queen Boss craftsmanship at every tier: the difference is customisation and material investment, never quality of workmanship.
Pre-construction investment
| Pre-construction stage | Scope | Investment |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — Design & Architectural | Complete plan set: layouts, selections, construction drawings & renderings | $2,000 – $4,000 |
| 2 — Structural Engineering | Site evaluation, calculations & engineer’s stamp (if required) | $2,000 – $4,000 |
| 3 — City Permit | Plan submission & city stamp · permit fees billed at cost | At cost |
| Total pre-construction | Final range confirmed once scope & areas are set | $2,000 – $8,000+ |
Design, engineering and permit are priced separately from the build, so you can stop at any stage with a set of drawings you own outright.
Financing
A renovation is usually worth more than the house was before it. RenoFi is built on that: their lending partners underwrite against your home’s after-renovation value rather than what it is worth today, which is why the number they can reach is so often larger than a standard home-equity offer.
RenoFi is not a lender; it works with lending partners who make the loans. Queen Boss Construction is not a lender or a broker, does not arrange credit and takes no part in the application or the decision — we point you at them because clients keep asking who to talk to. All terms, rates and eligibility are between you and the lender.
What moves the number
We do not publish prices, because a price quoted before the drawings exist is a number that changes. These are the four things that decide it, so you know what you are choosing between.
Relocating the WC means new falls to the soil stack, and sometimes a new stack. The single biggest variable in a bathroom.
Worth it in almost every bathroom, but it raises the floor build-up, which affects doors, thresholds and sometimes the drain.
Large-format and stone need a flatter substrate and more labour. Mosaic in a wet area is more grout, and more time.
Frameless and made-to-measure is a template, a lead time and a delivery. Off-the-shelf is neither.
In their words
Robert is a great communicator and we love working with him and his team.
Adam Peter S.They are always professional and strive to provide exemplary customer service.
Shannon L.Common questions
In a wet area, yes. A tiled surface is not waterproof — the tanking behind it is, and a failure there is a ceiling downstairs a year later. It is the cheapest insurance in the whole job.
Often, and it will cost less. We will tell you honestly whether the layout you want is worth the move or whether the room works where the services already are.
It depends on scope, but the drying and curing times are fixed and cannot be rushed — screeds, tanking and grout all take what they take. We build those into the schedule rather than discovering them.
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A conversation and a walk through the rooms you are thinking about — no charge, and no obligation at the end of it.
