How Much Does a Bathroom Remodel Cost in Modesto in 2026?

In Modesto in 2026, a secondary bathroom remodel runs $45,000 to $85,000. A primary bath runs $85,000 to $180,000. A spa-level primary — steam, wet room, premium stone and fixtures throughout — starts at $180,000. For homeowners in Modesto and Stanislaus County, those ranges cover design, permits, demolition, construction, and finishes at the materials tier KHB builds at.

If the numbers surprise you, the rest of this article explains where they come from. If they match what you had penciled in, it explains what separates the bottom of each band from the top.

What do the three tiers actually mean?

A secondary bath is the hall bath or the kids' bath — typically 40 to 60 square feet, a tub-shower combination or a single shower, one vanity, plumbing staying roughly where it is. At $45,000 to $85,000 it gets real tile, a properly waterproofed wet area, a fabricated vanity with a stone top, and fixtures from a manufacturer that will still stock parts in fifteen years.

A primary bath in the houses we work on — 1970s ranches, 1980s and 1990s tract homes across Modesto, Turlock, and Ripon — usually sits between 70 and 110 square feet. At $85,000 to $180,000 the scope typically includes a full gut, a walk-in shower with a frameless enclosure or a freestanding tub (often both), a double vanity, new lighting, a vent fan sized for the room, and plumbing relocations within a modest envelope of the original layout.

A spa-level bath is a primary bath where nearly every line item moves up a tier at once: a true wet room, a steam shower, heated floors, book-matched stone, custom millwork, a lighting plan rather than a fixture list. These start at $180,000 and are usually part of a larger suite renovation that pulls in an adjacent closet or bedroom wall.

What does a bathroom remodel cost include?

Everything from demo morning to the punch-list walk: existing tile and fixture demolition, plumbing rough-in, electrical rough-in for new lighting and a vent fan, framing for the new shower or tub niche, full waterproofing, tile setting on the floor and wet area, a fabricated and installed vanity with stone top, the toilet, the lighting fixtures themselves, the mirror, paint, and a finished glass enclosure where the design calls for one. Design and project management are in the number too — bathrooms are dense little projects, and the coordination is a real cost.

What is not included in a bathroom remodel quote?

Three things consistently catch homeowners. Structural changes — pushing a wall to steal closet space, bumping out for a deeper shower, cutting a new window — are extra and almost always require an engineer's stamp in California. Add $8,000 to $22,000 depending on scope. Addition footprint — actually growing the bath beyond the existing walls — is its own project and prices as an addition, not a bath remodel. Outside designer fees — when a client brings their own designer rather than working with our in-house design team — typically run 8 to 15 percent of construction cost, billed by the designer directly.

What pushes a primary bath remodel toward $180,000?

Four upgrades push a Modesto primary bath toward the top of the $85,000-to-$180,000 band: a steam shower, a true wet room, a smart toilet, and a premium fixture package. Any one of them adds meaningful cost on its own; together they land you at the top of the band or into spa territory. Here is what each one actually costs.

A steam shower. A real one — generator, steam-rated door, sloped ceiling, controls inside and outside the enclosure — adds $9,000 to $14,000 over a normal walk-in. Not something we would talk anyone out of if they will actually use it, but worth knowing the line item.

A true wet room. No curb, no glass divider, the entire bath area waterproofed end to end with a linear drain and a slight floor slope toward it. Beautiful in person, and more expensive to waterproof properly. Add $6,000 to $11,000 versus a standard glass-enclosed shower.

A smart toilet from Toto Neorest or Kohler Numi II runs $7,000 to $12,000 installed once you account for the dedicated outlet, the water-supply work, and the unit itself. Worth it for some clients, completely unnecessary for others.

Premium fixtures. A Waterworks valve, a Lefroy Brooks shower set, a Newport Brass thermostatic with body sprays — these are real names and real prices. A full fixture package at this tier is $14,000 to $22,000, versus $4,000 to $7,000 for a workhorse line like Brizo or Kohler.

The cheapest local bath quote is almost always missing the waterproofing or the stone, and you find out which one a few years after the check clears.

Why do KHB baths cost more than the cheapest local quote?

The honest gap is in two places. First, waterproofing. We build the wet area in layers — a sheet membrane behind the tile, a liquid membrane at every penetration, and a properly sloped pre-pan under the drain. The cheapest quotes use a single layer or rely on the grout, and grout is not waterproofing. When that assembly fails, it fails behind the wall, and the fix is a tear-out. Second, fixture and stone specification. A failed cartridge on a no-name $90 valve is a discontinued part and an open wall. A failed cartridge on a name-brand valve is a stocked part and a twenty-minute swap. Bathrooms are the hardest-working rooms in the house; the difference between a bath that looks new at year ten and one that needs a second remodel is almost entirely in what got installed behind the tile.

This is also where our design-build process earns its keep: because design and construction are one team under one contract, every fixture, slab, and tile is selected and priced during the design phase — on paper, before demolition — so the number you sign is the number you finish at, outside of genuine behind-the-wall surprises.

The takeaway

$45,000 to $85,000 for a secondary bath. $85,000 to $180,000 for a primary. $180,000 and up for spa-level. Add structural work, addition footprint, and outside designer fees if those apply. If a bid lands meaningfully below the bottom of the relevant band, ask very specific questions about the waterproofing assembly, the stone, and the fixture brands — the gap is almost always there. To see what a finished bath at this tier looks like, our Snowbird project is a good reference. We build baths at this level as part of whole-home remodels, additions, and custom homes — if your project is in that territory and you want numbers specific to your house, start a conversation.