Remodeling? Consider these modern methods to improve your L.A. home’s heating and cooling

Renovating a house in L.A.’s extreme climate requires special measures. Heat is intense during the summer and water is always at a shortage. Sweeten’s L.A.-area general contractors offer advice on what to expect when renovating with heat and water conservation in mind.

Sweeten matches home renovation projects with vetted general contractors, offering advice, support, and secure payments—for free.

Heat conservation in L.A.

“Heat conservation and cool conservation are the same thing,” said L.A.-based Sweeten general contractor Chen. If you can adequately cool the home, you have gone a long way towards conserving the heat, too. The best place to start conserving heat is with airtightness.

Airtightness

“Think of your house as a bucket of water,” said Chen. “If you have any holes in the bucket, that’s water escaping from the bucket. Airtightness is the same with your home.”

The aim is to prevent conditioned interior air from escaping—whether cool or warm air. There are airtight home products that can help with this. For instance, caulk is used around stationary home elements like door and window frames. Weatherstripping is also used for movable components, such as the door itself or the window sash.

Home insulation types

Home insulation is a requirement for all new construction and remodeled homes. Whether holding in heated or cooled air, a wide range of home insulation projects can help.

Sweeten general contractor Jose, also based in Los Angeles, noted that spray foam insulation is becoming increasingly popular. Spray foam insulation is especially good for vaulted ceilings since it conforms to voids in the building envelope.

“More people are adopting spray foam insulation,” said Jose, “though it is a little bit dirtier than some other types of insulation,” meaning that foam will off-gas. But in the end, he noted, when you do a cost-benefit analysis, you might come out ahead environmentally.

While fiberglass is still the main type of home insulation used in remodels, it’s not the only product out there. Every so often, he will use denim insulation, mainly because it is excellent for soundproofing.

Home heating and cooling systems

That traditional feature of Southern California side yards—the hulking HVAC unit—may soon pass into oblivion.

VRF (variable refrigerant flow) units are far smarter than central units, which heat or cool the entire house at once. “These are far better than traditional central air,” said Chen. “These products adapt to the areas of the house where you need the heat or cooling.”

As an example, you might have a 5-bedroom house with separate variable refrigerant flow units in each room. All units are connected to one large outdoor unit. This unit senses the needs and knows how to provide each unit with the right amount of heating or cooling.

Underfloor heating

In extremely cold climates, underfloor heating exists only to make your bare feet more comfortable on tile. But in moderately cool climates such as L.A.’s, underfloor heating can be used for heating rooms.

Sweeten contractor Chen said, “When you think about the physics of heating, heat goes up. So heat that starts at the floor is most effective.” Chen finds that the most efficient type is water-based (hydronic) radiant heating systems, rather than electric cable systems.

Using solar power for home heating and cooling

The final and necessary component of home heating and cooling is solar power.

General contractor Jose does a lot of solar installations but it always depends on the clients’ budgets. He added that many clients like to go off-grid in terms of power. But off-grid doesn’t mean that they’re isolated out in the country. These are homes in the metro area.

Solar power helps reduce the power draw for heating and cooling systems. Robust solar power systems even allow the homeowner to sell back credits to the power company.

Water conservation at home in L.A.

With water being so precious in L.A. and across all of Southern California, water conservation in home remodels is no longer a choice; it’s a given. Luckily, contractors have a number of weather-conserving initiatives to use during remodeling.

What is greywater?

Greywater is any residential wastewater that isn’t septic waste (water from toilets or urinals). Greywater can be drainage from bathtubs, showers, kitchen and bathroom sinks, washing machines, or dishwashers.

Depending on clients’ budgets, Sweeten contractor Jose often does greywater reuse installations. At this time, greywater reuse is only approved for irrigation in Southern California.

Tax credits for greywater reuse may be available. But he cautions that credits likely won’t cover the cost of the greywater reuse installations—at least not for the first few years.

Rainwater collection

Contrary to popular thought, it does rain in Southern California. Just ask a resident during one of the El Niño periods from September to November. Some years get up to 30 to 40 inches of rain, according to the Los Angeles Almanac.

Rainwater collection can be as easy as purchasing rain barrels on your own to collect water runoff from the roof. Or you can speak with your contractor about larger capacity water harvesting systems.

Los Angeles water conservation rebates & credits

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has rebate programs that may help compensate you for water conservation remodels. You may be able to be rebated for drought-tolerant landscapes or high-efficiency washing machines. Read up on the full range of credits and rebates and discuss what your options are with your contractor.

When you’re ready to get started on your home remodel, work with Sweeten to renovate with the best contractors in LA.

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Sweeten handpicks the best general contractors to match each project’s location, budget, scope, and style. Follow the blog, Sweeten Stories, for renovation ideas and inspiration and when you’re ready to renovate, start your renovation with Sweeten.

This pre-war Bronx remodel gives a work-downstairs space for its artist owner

“After” photos by Kate Glicksberg for Sweeten

• Homeowners: Steve and Lewis posted their gut renovation project on Sweeten.
• Where: South Bronx, New York
• Primary renovation: A whole-house remodel in the Bronx to create an in-home art studio and a feeling of “warm minimalism”
• Sweeten general contractor and architect, Shannon Reid of Reid Wilson Architects
• Sweeten’s role: Sweeten matches home renovation projects with vetted general contractors, offering advice, support, and secure payments—for free.

Written in partnership with Sweeten homeowners Steve and Lewis

Setting goals for a new home

We bought this house with dreams of a live/work space that would reflect our style and offer plenty of room for our art collection. Steve is a painter, so having his studio at home was a life-long dream. We also wanted a place where our friends and large extended family could come together.

We are Steve DeFrank and Lewis Holman. Steve teaches at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. Lewis is self-employed as a tax accountant. We sold our loft condo in Williamsburg after living in it for nearly 15 years to purchase a small townhouse in the South Bronx.

From a two-family to a single-family rowhouse

The engineer’s report on our 1882 rowhouse in Mott Haven, the Bronx, looked good, but we still wanted a gut renovation. The structure has three stories comprising roughly 1,500 square feet. The home had been divided into two apartments and had eight rooms on two of the floors. We wanted to renovate and convert to a live/work single-family home.

We listed our project on Sweeten and began our search for design-build services. Sweeten’s introduction to our contractor and architect was a valuable service. As first-time renovators, our biggest questions before starting the project were about cost. In addition to an in-home studio, we wanted to open up every floor of the building, giving us fewer walls and more windows. We understood that altering the building in this way would be an investment.

The plan we made with the architect was for the ground floor to be Steve’s studio and a water closet—a bathroom with the sink outside. The middle floor would be the living and dining rooms, plus a kitchen and a half bath. On the top floor would be our bedroom and a home office/guest bedroom, a full bath, and a laundry closet.

We did a true gut renovation—nothing was in good enough shape to retain. Our Sweeten contractors demolished down to the bricks and joists, all of which had to be replaced or sistered; this was necessary to allow removal of the central beam, which had to be done to open up the ground- and middle-floor spaces.

Radiant heat and functional stairs

Throughout the home, we aimed for low-maintenance, design-worthy materials to evoke an aesthetic of warm minimalism. We wanted expansive wall space for hanging artwork. The ground-level studio interior is an open workspace with recessed LED lighting, a lot of artist’s storage, and radiant-heat flooring—which we installed on all levels. To bring as much light as possible to the studio, we opened the rear wall with an 8’ x 9’ three-panel glass sliding door.

We decided to remove the original front stoop and relocate the house’s entrance to the ground floor, which created some challenges. Our architect Shannon envisioned—and our Sweeten contractor produced—a storage unit that divides the entry area from the studio space. We had hoped to save the original interior staircase and railing, but our Sweeten contractor showed us options that made more sense.

Ultimately, we closed the stairs from the ground floor to the first to create more wall space in the studio; we chose a vivid pink hue for the risers, which brightens the whole entrance. On the parlor and top floors, we went with a wood stair-rail that looks simultaneously classic and modern. In the end, we were very happy that we took our contractor’s advice.

Connecting all of the floors

The kitchen cabinets are custom millwork, the front panels are painted a green that evokes the palest verdigris. Our island, which has an angled front, is an homage to artist Donald Judd. We rented nearby during renovations and observed this living area coming together. Visiting the site at least twice a week, we loved seeing the gradual progress, sometimes glacial and sometimes lightning quick.

We understood that altering the building in this way would be an investment.

A dining-area drawer and shelving system provides storage and connects these rooms to the top floor, where the main bedroom and home office also employ coordinating storage units. We had fun with tile in the upstairs full bath, where we mixed matte and glossy tile in a range of sizes and colors, including chartreuse, dark green, and gray-green.

A building exterior refresh

The elimination of the parlor-floor entrance led to an anomaly on the front of the house, with regards to the living-room windows. The window occupying the old door frame is much larger than the window next to it. The architect’s solution—a modular window design, made up of a series of smaller frames, one of which mirrors the smaller window to create a visual connection.

Steve and Lewis’ renovation advice

Throughout the job, we enjoyed a collaborative exchange with the architect and contractor. As first-time (and last!) renovators, we’d embarked on possibly the most stressful project of our lives. Luckily, we had chosen our team carefully. Our contractor and crew kept a sense of humor during a long, arduous process.

Our advice to other homeowners ready for a renovation: Anticipate bad news and delays, and roll with the punches. Be grateful for the opportunity you have, even when you wonder why you ever thought it was a good idea! And remember, issues that arise and seem monumental during the process get solved, and are forgotten once you move in. Now when we enter our home, we feel serene.

Thank you for sharing your Bronx remodel story with us, Steve and Lewis!

Renovation Materials

WHOLE HOME RESOURCES: Wall and ceiling in Super Matte paint; interior doors, trip/castings, window sills, stair risers, and stringers in Cliffside Gray pearl paint: Benjamin Moore. Radiant heat flooring: Warmboard, Inc. Engineered Hickory Heirloom, ¾” thick, tongue and groove softened edge, 5” face widths, Veiled White satin prefinished wood flooring: Carlisle. Mini Orb stairwell lights: Allied Maker. Light switches: Lutron.

ARTIST STUDIO RESOURCES: Interior doors and door trim in Super White pearl; studio floor and cellar stairs in Platinum Gray glossy floor/porch paint; storage cabinet in Pacific Ocean; stair risers in Hot Lips pearl; stair stringers in Cliffside Gray pearl: Benjamin Moore. Continuum 23 series architectural LED linear fixture: Alcon Lighting. No. 8 LED, flush mount recessed lighting: Dulanski. 

KITCHEN RESOURCES: Custom millwork cabinets: Custom by contractor. Cabinets in Antique Jade paint: Benjamin Moore. Dekton countertops and backsplash in Zenith: TK Quartz and Granite. Refrigerator, dishwasher, and cooktop: Bosch. Electric oven: Appliances Connection. Discus Pendant 2 light over kitchen island: Mattermade. 

DINING AREA RESOURCES: Tolomeo variations light over dining table: Artemide. Dining area drawer and shelving system: Vitsoe.

FULL BATHROOM RESOURCES: Field tile, 6×6 in color P210 (dark green), 6×3 in color R203 (chartreuse), 3×3 tile in color P94 (gray-green), 3×3 in color S1 (off-white, behind sink): Pratt & Larson. Blu Bathworks series 1200 wall-mount vanity and matte white #SA1200-01m sink top; Duravit Darling New wall-mounted toilet; matte black single-function shower head; black Del Rp71751.Bl shower arm; black wall-mounted hand shower set: AF New York. Gravity mirror: Ex.T. Mini Dome light: Allied Maker.

HALF BATH RESOURCES: Adriatic 3×12 lava stone subway tile: Tilebar. Jason Wu sink faucets: Brizo. Nivis wall-mounted sink: Agape Design. Gravity mirror: Ex.T. White Darling New wall-mounted toilet: AF New York. Endless Dome light: Allied Maker. Contempo II black matte towel bar: Manhattan Center for Kitchen and Bath.

BEDROOM RESOURCES: Drawer and shelving systems: Vitsoe. Tolomeo variations wall-mounted bedside lamps: Artemide.

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ADUs or accessory dwelling units can transform into home offices, living space for family or as a rental, or a retreat.

Sweeten handpicks the best general contractors to match each project’s location, budget, scope, and style. Follow the blog, Sweeten Stories, for renovation ideas and inspiration and when you’re ready to renovate, start your renovation with Sweeten.

Ready to renovate? Here’s what you’ll need to calculate the cost of a bathroom remodel in NYC, including materials, labor, and permits 

UPDATED: Click to read our most up-to-date NYC Kitchen Remodeling Costs here and Bathroom Remodeling Costs here

With an abundance of Pinterest boards and design blogs, it’s easy to imagine how your dream NYC bathroom could look. If you’re ready to turn those daydreams into reality, the first crucial step is creating a bathroom remodel budget. To get you started, Sweeten offers a roadmap of elements that will impact the cost of a bathroom remodel in New York City. Sweeten’s guide to bathroom remodeling costs, covering building requirements, permits, and design will help nail down your scope and better align real costs with a realistic budget.

Sweeten matches home renovation projects with vetted general contractors in NYC, offering guidance, tools, and support—for free.

Take a look at the overall average cost to remodel a bathroom in New York City, based on Sweeten renovations:

• Budget remodel: Starting at $600 psf (per square feet) or $21,000 (based on a 35-sq-ft space)
• Mid-grade remodel: Starting at $700 psf or $24,500 (based on a 35-sq-ft space)
• High-end remodel: Starting at $850 psf or $68,000 (based on a 80-sq-ft space)

Pro tip: Do not wait. The pandemic has caused a backlog in the supply of materials in many sectors. For homeowners interested in a bathroom renovation, it’s smart to schedule and sign with a contractor to lock in your material prices. You’ll also want to book a start date on the contractor’s schedule. If you do wait, prices will continue to go up and your material order will start at the back of a long queue.

Remodeling an NYC bathroom all at once

While it can be tempting to apply à la carte prices to individual elements of the work, a full bathroom renovation is an integrated process that involves design, materials, installation, and plumbing. If your bathroom has one or two areas of concern, you might decide to swap out an individual fixture or two. You can replace a toilet or vanity or take on some limited retiling and pay solely for the cost of the new fixtures and the hours of installation work.

However, it can be misleading to break up and price out each step of a bathroom remodel. Even if you are just redoing fixtures and tile work, you may discover that you need to replace the sheetrock on the wall or address issues behind the walls, like old valves and ancient drain pipes. A gut renovation, which addresses the whole bathroom space, allows you to plan more broadly. By doing a gut renovation, you can get more work done, in the right sequence, and more cost-effectively.

Budget to high-end costs for bathroom materials and finishes

Listed below are the visible parts of a bathroom renovation, and probably the aspect you’ve spent the most time thinking about. Review the range of pricing for various fixtures, materials, and finishes in the chart below. On the budget side, you’ll find items sourced from big-box stores like Home Depot, Walmart, or IKEA. Prices increase if you choose to use their interior boxes but upgrade or customize the function or style, such as the door fronts. On the high end are highly customized, handmade, or imported items.

How much will materials for a bathroom remodel cost?

• Wall and floor tile: Budget – $3 per square foot (psf), Mid-grade – $15 psf, High-end – $35 psf
• Sink: Budget – $50, Mid-grade – $150, High-end – $500 and up
• Vanity: Budget – $250, Mid-grade –  $1,000, High-end – $2,000 and up
• Sink and shower fixtures: Budget – $40/fixture, Mid-grade– $100/fixture, High-end – $350/fixture
• Bathtub: Budget – $150, Mid-grade – $600, High-end – $2,000 – $3,000
• Shower enclosure: Budget – $350, Mid-grade –  $1,000, High-end – $2,000
• Toilet: Budget – $150, Mid-grade – $400, High-end – $1,000 and up
• Medicine cabinet: Budget – $50, Mid-grade – $150, High-end – $500 and up
• Accessories (hooks, towel bar, paper towel holder): Budget – $10/item, Mid-grade – $50/item, High-end – $100  and up
• Lighting: Budget – $25/fixture, Mid-grade – $150/fixture, High-end – $300 and up
• Ceiling vent: Budget – $50, Mid-grade – $200, High-end – $500 and up
• Radiant floor heating: Budget – $6 psf, Mid-grade – $8 psf, High-end – $12 psf

Bathroom remodel costs for permits, design, and everything behind-the-scenes

In contrast to visible upgrade items, there are unavoidable behind-the-scenes investments to consider when creating your budget.

Building requirements impact bathroom remodeling costs

For those in apartments, building requirements can play a significant role in dictating design and budget needs. These requirements can range from insurance coverage minimums, which limit your ability to work with professionals who aren’t carrying high-value insurance policies, to general alteration agreements that require anyone doing any work in the building to have far-reaching coverage for problems they may never encounter, like asbestos removal or collapse scenarios.

Sweeten NYC contractor Thomas explained, “Buildings are becoming less flexible on their [insurance] requirements which cause us to raise prices to keep up with those needs.” The contractors who can afford to work in buildings with more extensive requirements tend to have higher operating costs and can meet higher insurance requirements, more stringent debris removal expectations, limited noise and hours-of-work requirements, and stricter parking rules. While there is no exact figure on this, you may see this translate into higher rates overall for teams that can meet those demands. 

NYC permit costs for a bathroom remodel

• Plumbing services: $2,000 – $3,500 and higher
• Plumbing permits: up to $2,000 and as high as $5,000 per permit
• Electrical permits: $900
• Asbestos inspection: $500 to $1,000

Tackling a NYC bathroom remodel means planning for plumbing services and permits. Any plumbing work that exceeds a minor repair or a direct swap of a similar fixture requires a permit from the City’s Department of Buildings, which can run up to $2,000 and as high as $5,000 per permit. Plumbing is a specialized trade that often comes with hourly rates; expect to budget between $2,000 and $3,500 (or higher) for a full bathroom remodel.

If you’re adding outlets or doing electrical work, an electrical permit may be needed, which can run close to $900. You may also need an asbestos inspection, depending on the building requirements and your plumbing plans, which cost $500 to $1,000.

How design affects bathroom remodel costs

In the design stage, plan to collaborate with the experts you hire to produce detailed drawings that account for all physical elements of the bathroom. A schematic drawing is usually presented to the building board as part of the approval process, which needs to outline the locations of the major fixtures as well as specifications for the vanity and tub/shower, and lighting.

If you plan to move the plumbing to convert a bathtub to a shower or vice versa, the permit alone to change the plumbing in NYC is $6,000. This is because you’ll need to hire a registered architect to file a permit application certifying that the plan complies with applicable codes and laws. An architect or interior designer will typically charge 15 to 20 percent of the project’s construction costs for his or her fee.

Sweeten general contractors can help provide architect referrals for a range of services, saving homeowners a step.

Demolition and site prep for bathroom renovations

In this stage, labor is needed to ensure that your bathroom renovation maintains its value over time. Old materials and fixtures need to be disposed of, which can be complicated on busy city streets with limited parking. This difficulty will be reflected in the contractor’s rate. Almost without exception, your contractor may need to strip the walls and flooring to frame and level before any installation occurs. This behind-the-scenes step is critical and labor-intensive and can cost an average of $2,000. 

If your home is new or the sub-floor is concrete, any leveling needs may be minimal. Otherwise, you probably need to account for floor leveling and new drywall or plastering before any surface work can get going.

Exposing the existing conditions inside walls while leveling and framing will also allow your contractor to address plumbing or electrical issues before you hook up a new plumbing fixture. It may be necessary to replace all horizontal plumbing work to the building’s “stack” (the main vertical lines that run throughout the building) and run new wiring to head off plumbing and electrical problems that you may have unwittingly inherited. 

You’ll want to factor in costs that support the success and longevity of the work. Examples of this are prep work to protect floors and valuables (which can add $600 to $900) and waterproofing steps (which can add $1,000). This is critical for the project’s foundation alignment and infrastructure.

Installation

Installation is the final stage to incorporate all of the bathroom renovation materials you’ve purchased. The craftsmanship involved in the installation of all the pieces will depend on the size of your bathroom and the degree of customization you need to make all of the pieces fit.

PRO TIP: Expect to spend 30 percent or less of your total project cost on visible materials, fixtures, and finishes. The rest will go to behind-the-scenes costs, like labor, permits, and fees.

Behind-the-scenes for a bathroom renovation costs

Raw materials for bathroom renovations

For 2021, Sweeten general contractors are seeing wood materials as the main increase in costs. “These material costs have increased approximately 3x the amounts mainly due to Covid-related issues, from what we have seen,” said Sweeten contractor Thomas. “These, in turn, relate to higher costs for plywood subfloors, kitchen cabinets, and other woodwork-related projects.”

Overhead costs

General contractors always factor in a percentage of the project to cover overhead costs, including insurance, administrative support, and the inevitable costs of growing a business. Sweeten contractors range from two-men crews to much larger entities that employ dozens of staff (including designers, project managers, millworkers and laborers, bookkeepers, and operations staff). No matter the size of your contractor’s business, however, you will absorb some of the cost increases they bear from year to year, though not necessarily dollar for dollar.

Sweeten NYC contractor Aaron explained that in the last year, there have been specific increases of compliance, certificates, and safety measures imposed on MEP subcontractors (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) by the Department of Buildings leading to higher costs. While Sweeten contractors attempt to explore all avenues to stay competitive, it is an industry that is affected by trade. The prices you’re quoted at any given time may not be the same six months or a year from now. Prices on labor and materials fluctuate and this will be reflected in your overall quote. 

Bathroom remodeling costs in New York in 2021

You have a fair amount of choice in deciding what to spend on the material aspects of a bathroom renovation. Less obvious are the costs that are the backbone and labor of the work overall, no matter what you spend on materials. Knowing what impacts cost during a bathroom renovation will allow you to better align your budget while avoiding surprises. 

When you’re ready to get started on your bathroom or home remodel, work with Sweeten to renovate with the best contractors in NYC.

A note on fixture and appliance deliveries: If you’re on a tight timeline, Appliances Connection has over 50,000 items in stock and ready to ship nationally. If you’re in the NY/NJ metro area, in-stock items typically deliver within 2-3 days.

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Sweeten handpicks the best general contractors to match each project’s location, budget, scope, and style. Follow the blog, Sweeten Stories, for renovation ideas and inspiration and when you’re ready to renovate, start your renovation on Sweeten.