A bathroom renovation in Calgary replaces the shower or tub, tile, vanity, toilet, fan and lighting, and often moves plumbing. HomeStars' 2026 Calgary price guide lists a whole bathroom renovation at $10,000 to $50,000, with most mid-range projects at $15,000 to $25,000. New or altered plumbing needs a City of Calgary plumbing permit. Sela Developments runs bathroom renovations as a general contractor, with the waterproofing, fan venting, permits and trades handled in the right order.
01 · Overview
A bathroom renovation replaces the fixtures and finishes of a bathroom and the systems behind them: shower or tub, tile, vanity, sink, toilet, exhaust fan, lighting and the plumbing that feeds them. It can be as small as a powder room or as large as an ensuite with a walk-in shower, and in a basement it can mean a new bathroom where there was none. The four common types are a powder room with a toilet and sink, a main bathroom with a tub or shower, an ensuite off the primary bedroom, and a basement bathroom built during a development.
New or altered plumbing needs a City of Calgary plumbing permit. HomeStars published these Calgary ranges in its price guide, updated August 21, 2026. They are third-party figures, not Sela prices.
| Bathroom item | Published range (HomeStars, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Whole bathroom renovation | $10,000 to $50,000 |
| Most mid-range projects | $15,000 to $25,000 |
| Shower installation | $2,500 to $10,000 |
| Bathtub installation | $950 to $4,500 |
| Tiling, excluding the tile itself | $1,500 to $32,000 |
| Rerouting plumbing | $3,500 to $8,000 added |
| Toilet installation | $400 to $3,000 |
| Sink installation | $500 to $2,500 |
HomeStars notes that labour is typically 50% to 65% of a standard remodel budget, and that a whole bathroom takes one to two weeks of active work, with basement bathrooms and plumbing reroutes taking longer.
02 · Before you start
Five questions decide whether a bathroom lasts, passes inspection and fits the people using it.
With a membrane behind the tile, not the tile itself. Tile and grout let water through. The waterproofing is a sheet or liquid membrane that runs continuously over the shower floor and up the walls, lapped at every seam and sealed at the drain, the valve, the niche and every corner. A curbless shower needs that membrane to run past the shower onto the bathroom floor, because there is no curb to stop the water.
Yes, or it is only moving the problem. A shower puts a lot of moisture into the air. A fan that blows into the attic or a joist space leaves that moisture inside the building, where it condenses on cold wood. In a Calgary winter that shows up as frost in the attic, wet insulation and mould around the ceiling.
Usually, if anything moves. The City requires a plumbing permit for new plumbing and for extending or altering existing plumbing. Repairing a leak, replacing a faucet or fixture in place, or clearing a drain does not need one. New wiring for a fan, lights or a heated floor needs an electrical permit. Moving a wall or adding a window needs a building permit.
Plan it around the fixtures that fit, not the ones in the showroom. A shower in place of a tub, a wall-hung vanity, a pocket or outswing door and a recessed niche all free up floor space. In a basement, the City requires washroom doorways of at least 30 in, so a tight basement bathroom still needs a door that size.
Level entry, room to move and something solid to hold. That means a curbless shower, a wider door, lever handles, a handheld shower head, slip-resistant tile, enough clear floor for a walker or wheelchair, and solid wood blocking inside the walls where grab bars will go. Planning these during a renovation costs far less than a retrofit after an injury or a hospital stay, when the bathroom has to change in a hurry.
03 · Key insight
Most bathroom budgets go to what you see: tile, vanity, fixtures. The expensive failures come from what you do not see. A membrane with an open seam behind the niche. A shower floor without enough slope to the drain. A fan that vents into the attic. A curbless shower built on a floor that was never lowered. None of it shows on handover day. It shows later, as a stain on the ceiling below, a soft spot in the floor or mould in the attic.
That changes the order of decisions. Choose the shower type first, because a curbless shower changes the floor framing and the membrane layout. Decide where the fan duct will exit. Then pick tile and fixtures. The finish is what you look at, but the membrane, slope and venting are what you are paying a contractor to get right.
04 · How we work
We install the membrane as one system from the shower floor up the walls, lapped and sealed at every seam, corner, niche and pipe. Before any tile goes on, we plug the drain and fill the shower floor with water to check for leaks. We photograph the membrane before it is covered so you have a record of what is behind the tile.
Every fan we install is ducted to an exterior wall or a roof cap, with the duct insulated where it passes through a cold attic. The fan goes on its own switch or a humidity control, and the wiring is covered by the electrical permit.
The licensed plumber takes out the plumbing permit for any new, moved or extended drain and supply line, and the rough-in is inspected before the walls close. Electrical work for fans, lights and heated floors goes under its own permit, and we take out a building permit when a wall or window moves.
We measure the room, the door swing and the drain locations, then show you a layout with real fixture sizes before you order anything. In a basement we check whether the new drain can reach the existing line by gravity or needs the slab cut, because that changes the cost.
While the walls are open we add blocking for grab bars at the toilet, tub and shower, which costs little now and a lot later. Where you want a curbless shower, we plan the floor recess with the framing, and we bring in an engineer before any joist is cut.
05 · In short
A bathroom renovation in Calgary lasts when the membrane, the slope, the drain and the fan are right before the tile goes on. Published 2026 ranges put most mid-range Calgary bathrooms at $15,000 to $25,000, and moved plumbing needs a City plumbing permit. Sela Developments runs the whole job as your general contractor, from permit to final inspection.
Bathrooms and kitchens share the same trades, permits and sequencing, so compare with our kitchen renovations in Calgary. A new bathroom in the basement is part of most basement developments. For how bathrooms fit with additions and layout changes, see home renovations in Calgary. When you are ready, send us your bathroom and we will book a walk-through.
Last reviewed October 22, 2026 by the Sela Developments team. See our editorial policy for how we write and check these pages.
HomeStars' Calgary price guide, updated August 2026, lists a whole bathroom renovation at $10,000 to $50,000, with most mid-range projects between $15,000 and $25,000. Rerouting plumbing can add $3,500 to $8,000, and labour is typically 50% to 65% of the budget. These are third-party ranges, not our prices.
You need a plumbing permit for new plumbing or for extending or altering existing plumbing. Replacing a faucet or fixture in place, repairing a leak or clearing a drain does not need one. New wiring for a fan, lights or a heated floor needs an electrical permit, and moving a wall or window needs a building permit.
HomeStars puts a whole bathroom renovation at one to two weeks of active work, with permits and scheduling adding time. Basement bathrooms and jobs that reroute plumbing take longer. Tile, membrane cure times and inspections set the pace, so we give you a written schedule with each stage dated before demolition starts.
Often, yes. A curbless shower needs the shower floor to slope to the drain with no step, so the floor has to be recessed or the rest of the room built up. On a wood floor that can mean changes to the subfloor and framing, which we plan with an engineer when joists are involved. The membrane also runs past the shower area.
Yes. A bathroom fan exists to remove moist air from the house. A fan that blows into the attic or a joist space moves that moisture somewhere it can condense, which in a Calgary winter means frost, wet insulation and mould. We duct every fan we install to an exterior wall or roof cap.
Send photos of the bathroom, the fan and the ceiling below it if there is one. We check the drains, framing and venting on site and send a written quote with the permits and the schedule.