Every Atlanta homeowner who calls us about a bathroom remodel asks two questions in the first five minutes: how much, and how long. We covered how much in another post. Let’s talk about how long it actually takes, with a week-by-week breakdown of what’s happening in your house.
This timeline assumes a full primary bathroom remodel (we’re moving fixtures, redoing tile, new vanity, new shower, new flooring). Not a quick refresh. If you’re doing a smaller refresh, divide everything by half.
Week 0 — Before we lift a hammer.
This is the part most homeowners don’t realize takes time. From the moment you sign the contract, there’s a 2-4 week lead time before demo starts. That time is for: ordering cabinets/vanity (often the longest lead item, 3-5 weeks), ordering slab counters, scheduling slab template, pulling permits, finalizing tile and fixture selections.
If your contractor wants to start demo immediately without this prep — be very, very nervous. That’s how you get a half-demoed bathroom and a 6-week wait on cabinets.
Week 1 — Demo & rough-in.
Days 1-2: demo. Everything comes out — vanity, toilet, tub, shower, tile, sometimes drywall. The room becomes studs and subfloor. There’s a lot of dust. We hang plastic at the doorway and run a HEPA air scrubber. Your floor protectors cover the path from the door to the bathroom.
Days 3-5: rough-in. Plumbers reroute water lines for the new fixtures. Electricians pull new wire for lighting, outlets, exhaust fan, and possibly heated floors. If we’re adding can lights or moving switches, this is when. Drywall repair starts.
Week 2 — Waterproofing & subfloor.
This is the part you’ll never see in the finished bathroom but it’s the most important part of the entire project. We waterproof the wet areas using a system like Schluter Kerdi or Wedi. The whole shower floor, walls, and any area within 18 inches of the shower opening gets a fully waterproofed assembly under the tile.
This step takes 2-4 days because each layer has to cure. Skipping it is how you get water damage hidden behind tile in two years. A good contractor will not skip this.
Mid-week, the subfloor in the bathroom gets leveled, repaired where soft, and prepped for the new flooring. If you’re getting heated floors, the heating mat goes down here.
Week 3 — Tile install.
Tile is where the bathroom starts looking like a bathroom again. Floor tile usually goes down first (so it can cure under cover while wall tile is being set). Then wall tile in the shower and any feature walls. Then niche tiles.
This week is also when grout color decisions get finalized. We do test samples in a hidden corner before grouting the whole bathroom. Once tile is done, we let it cure for 24-48 hours before sealing.
Week 4 — Vanity, fixtures, and counters.
Vanity gets set and leveled. Slab counters get templated against the actual installed vanity (slab fabricators don’t trust drawings — they want to template against the real thing). Slab fabrication takes 5-7 days from template, so the counter often arrives in week 5.
Meanwhile: toilet gets installed, faucets get installed, mirror/sconce locations finalized, shower glass measured (glass takes 7-10 days to come back from the shop, so it arrives in week 5-6).
Week 5 — Glass, counters, finish.
Slab counters arrive and get set. Vanity faucets get hooked up. Shower glass arrives and gets installed. This is the week the bathroom suddenly looks finished — even though there are still details to sort out.
Towel bars, hooks, mirrors, sconces — all the small fixtures get mounted. We touch up paint, caulk every seam, and clean every surface.
Week 6 — Punchlist and walkthrough.
Last week is the part that separates good contractors from bad ones. The punchlist. Every small thing that needs fixing — a slightly crooked towel bar, a paint touch-up, the silicone seam at the tub, the cabinet door that needs a hinge adjustment, the showerhead aim.
We walk through with the homeowner, write down every single item, and fix them within a few days. If a contractor doesn’t do a real punchlist walkthrough, you’re going to be living with annoyances for years.
What can blow up the timeline.
Three things, in order: permit delays in certain Atlanta jurisdictions (some cities take 2-3 weeks for inspections), surprise issues opened up during demo (old pipes, rotted subfloor, electrical not to code), and slab/material backorders (especially imported marble or specialty zellige tile).
A good contractor anticipates these and tells you up front. We add buffer for typical Atlanta permit timing and we order materials before demo starts so backorder surprises happen before the bathroom is gutted.
Real-world bottom line.
A full master bathroom remodel in Atlanta takes 5-7 weeks from the day demo starts to the day we hand you the keys. Add 3-4 weeks of pre-demo lead time and you’re at 8-11 weeks from contract signing to fully finished.
Want a real timeline for your specific project? Call or text us — we’ll walk your space, scope the project, and give you a real week-by-week plan.