Most bathroom remodels are run by a remodeler who subcontracts the plumbing — which means the riskiest, least reversible part of the job is handled by whoever was available that week, managed by someone who cannot really check it. We run it the other way round. The plumbing is ours from the first day, and so is everything that goes on top of it.
A finished walk-in — onyx-look porcelain, linear drain, lit niche.
Why that order matters
Tile can be replaced. A drain buried under a new slab with the wrong fall cannot.
A shower valve set to bare stud instead of finished wall thickness means trim that will not sit flush — discovered after the tile is on.
Old cast iron behind a wall is cheap to replace while the wall is open and expensive forever after.
Waterproofing gets rushed when the tile setter is booked and the schedule has slipped.
When one company owns the whole job, nobody gets to blame the trade before them.
What the job includes
Demolition and protectionStripping the room back, with the rest of the house protected from dust and traffic. You get a start date and an actual finish date.
Rough-in plumbingRelocating supply and drain for the layout you want, proper fall on every drain, and the valve set to finished wall thickness rather than bare stud.
Waterproofing and shower panThe step that decides whether the room below stays dry. It gets the time it needs rather than the time left in the schedule.
Tile, vanity and finishesFloor and wall tile, vanity, mirror, lighting points and trim — coordinated by us, not left to you to chase.
Fixtures and final setToilet, faucets, shower trim and glass, set and sealed at the end.
Permits and inspectionPulled at the start and seen through to sign-off, so the work is on record when you come to sell.
What a rough-in actually looks like
Rough-in on another remodel — new copper supply runs, the shower valve set on its backer, and the drain opened up in the floor.
This is the stage that decides whether the finished bathroom holds up, and it is the stage nobody photographs because there is nothing pretty about it. Every run is set to the finished wall, not the bare stud, and the drain gets its fall re-established before a single tile goes near it.
The same bathroom, before and after
BeforeAfter
Mold that far into the grout is not a cleaning problem — the water had been getting behind the tile for a long time. Everything came out to the studs, the wall got waterproofed properly, and it went back together in large-format porcelain.
More finished work
Marble-look porcelain with brushed gold fixtures and a frameless sliding door.A shower valve set in the wall before anything closes up.Tub supplies set to a laser line, so the trim lands where it should.A laundry rough-in, boxed and ready for the wall to go back.
Condos, associations and slab bathrooms
Two things make bathroom work here different. Most South Florida bathrooms sit on slab, so moving a toilet or shower means opening concrete and re-establishing fall in a shallow depth — doable, but it has to be planned before demo rather than discovered during it. And if you are in a condo or an HOA community there is nearly always an approval process, restricted working hours, rules about shut-offs affecting neighboring units, and often a requirement to show permitting before anyone starts. We deal with that paperwork as part of the job, because it is the part that most often stalls a remodel in week one.
What it costs
We quote the whole remodel flat-rate once we have seen the room, the layout you want and what is behind the existing walls, with permits included rather than added later. Where the age of the building makes it likely that demo exposes old pipe, we say so up front and price the possibility, instead of presenting it as a surprise in week two.
Common questions
Do you do the whole remodel, or just the plumbing?
The whole thing — demo, plumbing, waterproofing, tile, fixtures and final inspection. One company, one number to call, one schedule.
Can I move the toilet or shower to a different wall?
Usually yes. On a slab that means opening concrete and re-running drain with proper fall, which is very much a decision to make before demo rather than during. Tell us the layout you want at the quote stage.
How long does a bathroom take?
Most bathrooms are a matter of weeks rather than months, and the schedule is part of the quote. The honest variable is what demo exposes in an older building, which is why we flag that possibility up front.
Do I need a permit?
Generally yes in South Florida municipalities, and we pull it. Unpermitted bathroom work has a habit of resurfacing at the worst possible moment, which is when you sell the property.
Let’s get it fixed.
One call gets you a real plumber, a fixed price, and a job done right. No callbacks, no surprises, no runaround.
Cornerstone Plumbing
