Bathroom remodeling in Orlando — one crew, one number, no surprises.
Most people who call me about a bathroom have already heard a story. A three-week job that ran four months. A crew that showed up for demo and disappeared. A price that started at one number and became another.
I'm Johnny Kaplan. I own Kaplan Remodeling & Construction, I'm a licensed Florida General Contractor (CGC#1540583), and my family lives here in Lake Mary. When you call, you get me — not a salesperson, not a call center. I walk your bathroom, I write your number, and my own crew does the work.
We come to you — no showroom, no pressure
I come to your house and stand in the bathroom with you. Who gets up first. Which door bangs into the vanity. Whether the tub has been a laundry basket for six years. Then I measure, check the attic and under the sink, and tell you what I see — including the parts you may not want to hear. By the end you'll know what's realistic in that footprint, what's expensive and why, and whether I'm the right guy for it.
A real plan with a real number
You get one written price. Labor and construction are fixed. Finishes — tile, vanity, fixtures, glass — sit in an itemized allowance so you can shop without guessing. Choose above or below that allowance and the difference is handled by a simple written change order before we order. The labor stays the same.
What's actually included
- Floor protection and dust containment from the front door in
- Demo, debris hauling and a broom-clean site every afternoon
- Plumbing rough-in, slab cutting, drain relocation, and replacing deteriorated galvanized or cast iron line in the work area
- Electrical: GFCI protection, dedicated circuits, lighting and fan wiring
- An exhaust fan sized for the room and ducted outside
- Framing and blocking for grab bars, niches and benches
- Bonded waterproofing and a flood-tested shower pan
- All tile, vanity, top, sink, faucet, toilet, valves, trim and custom glass
- Drywall, paint, trim, mirrors
- Every permit and inspection
- 1-year workmanship warranty, plus all manufacturer warranties on materials
Building a bathroom that holds up in Florida
A bathroom here is a different animal than one in Ohio. Hot, humid climate. Concrete block on a slab. Plumbing buried in that slab.
Waterproofing goes behind the tile
Tile and grout are not waterproof. Cement backer board isn't either — it just doesn't fall apart when it gets wet. The waterproofing is a bonded membrane, sheet or liquid-applied, run over the substrate and lapped into the drain before a single tile goes up. We flood-test pans, and we treat corners, curb, niche and bench as the failure points they are. Nearly every leaking shower I'm called to repair failed at one of those spots.
Ventilation sized for the room
An undersized fan in Florida gets you peeling paint, black spots on the ceiling and a warped vanity in three years. The common rule is roughly one CFM per square foot of floor in a normal-sized bath, with larger or compartmentalized rooms sized by fixture; code sets a minimum and we size above it. The duct goes outside — roof or wall cap with a backdraft damper, never into the attic. Up there we run insulated duct and slope it so condensation drains out instead of onto your ceiling.
Cutting the slab
Move a toilet, shower drain or tub waste and we're cutting concrete. In a typical Central Florida block home the drains were cast into the slab, so relocating a fixture means saw-cutting, trenching, re-plumbing to correct fall, backfilling and pouring back. We scan before we cut. In 1960s and 70s homes that line is often cast iron, and once it's open we'll tell you honestly whether it has life left in it.
Block walls and humidity
Exterior walls here are block, furred out with thin strips and no real cavity, which changes how we hang backer and anchor a floating vanity. It also means no interior plastic vapor barrier — in this climate that traps moisture on the wrong side of the wall.
Tub to shower conversions
The most requested job we do. A tub to shower conversion in Central Florida means pulling the tub, correcting drain location and fall, building a properly sloped pan, waterproofing the wet area, tiling up and setting frameless glass. If accessibility is the goal we go curbless with a linear drain and put grab bar blocking where you'll actually reach for it. With two full baths, my advice is usually keep one tub, convert the other.
How long it takes
A hall bath in the same footprint typically runs three to five weeks on site. A full gut with a layout change and slab work, five to seven weeks. A large primary suite, seven to ten weeks.
What moves it: permit review time, whether we're cutting slab, large-format or mosaic tile that sets slower than people expect, special-order vanities and stone tops, and shower glass, which can't be templated until the tile is done and then has its own lead time. What doesn't move it is us. We show up every day we say we will.
What this actually costs
I won't put a fake number on a website. But you deserve a real range before you start calling people. These are typical Central Florida ranges, not quotes — your number comes from your bathroom.
- Tub to shower conversion, existing footprint: mid-teens to low twenties
- Full hall bath, same layout, mid-grade finishes: low twenties to mid thirties
- Full gut, moved plumbing, custom tile and glass: mid thirties to high fifties
- Primary suite, larger and higher-end: often sixty thousand and up
What moves it, roughly in order: whether fixtures move, since slab work is real money; the size of the tiled area and the tile itself; glass, because frameless costs multiples of framed; vanity and countertop selections; and whatever we find once the walls are open. A bathroom remodel in Lake Mary prices about the same as one in Orlando.
Permits are my problem
We pull every permit this project requires and handle all inspections from start to finish. As a licensed Florida General Contractor (CGC#1540583), that's part of our job, not an add-on or an upsell.
Questions homeowners actually ask us
Can we still live in the house?
Yes, and most of our clients do. We contain dust, protect the path in, and put the site back together every afternoon. If it's your only bathroom, we stage the work so the toilet goes back early and tell you which days are hardest.
Do I need a permit to remodel a bathroom?
If we're touching plumbing, electrical or structure — nearly every real remodel — yes. Swapping a vanity and painting doesn't. I'll tell you which one you have, and if it needs a permit, I pull it.
Can you move the toilet or the shower?
Usually. It means cutting and trenching the slab, and it's the biggest single cost driver in a bathroom. Sometimes it's worth every dollar. Sometimes rotating the vanity solves the same problem for a tenth of the money.
Who picks and buys the tile and fixtures?
You pick, we buy. Your allowance is itemized so you know what you have to spend on each item, and we order and receive everything ourselves.
What if you find something bad behind the wall?
You get a call, a photo and a number the same day, and nothing moves forward until you say yes in writing. The usual finds are rotted subfloor under a tub, corroded cast iron, and a pan that's been leaking for years.
Is it the same crew every day?
Yes — my crew, not a rotating cast of subs. The tile setter who starts your shower finishes it.
Do you work outside Lake Mary?
All over Seminole County and Central Florida: Lake Mary, Heathrow, Longwood, Sanford, Winter Springs, Oviedo, Altamonte Springs, Winter Park and Orlando.
What's the warranty?
1-year workmanship warranty, plus all manufacturer warranties on materials. You keep my cell number after the job.
Same bathroom. Different mornings.
Ready for a real conversation about your bathroom? You'll get an honest read and one clear number in writing. I'd be glad to earn your business.
"Your house stays your house, even mid-project." — Johnny Kaplan
Talk to the owner, not a call center.
Kaplan Remodeling & Construction · Licensed Florida General Contractor CGC#1540583 · Lake Mary, FL