That is an interesting website, live_wire_oak. We're a bit lower end finishes than the mid range master, but sizewise pretty comparable. I downloaded the data for the local region (Mountain, Boise: right state, 300+miles off) and adjacent (Pacific, Spokane, WA: wrong state, in the neighborhood geographically). Looking at prices, the Pacific region is probably more accurate. It was very eye opening and I wish I'd come across this at the outset. We were hoping to avoid financing, so my husband and I will need to have a serious discussion about phasing it, maybe starting with porches and saving up for the master, and possibly explore costs for building within the garage, bringing it down to a two car 25x26, which is not our favorite option although there's room to add a 16x36 3rd bay eventually.

Are you working from specific plans so that you can send the plans out to other GC's for bids. In order to get an accurate bid, the plans have to be very specific so that the bids are apples to apples. When I solicited bids, the plans that were submitted were the same plans that were sent to the City for permits - everything was specified and those items which would be supplied by me were specified - e.g. I supplied actual tiles but installation and all materials for installation were part of the bid. The design of the tiles was specified since that impacts the actual cost of installation - and so on. That said, the skilled labor for a bathroom is extremely expensive - it involves licensed plumbers, electricians and skilled tile setters. Moving a shower involves changing the drain for example - when I swapped my bath/shower combo for a walk-in shower, the drain needed to be changed as shower drains are different than tub drains and I would assume different than sink drains. Also there are materials that are used in construction that have costs - which can add up . For example all of the rough plumbing is generally covered by the GC and isn't supplied by the homeowner. In my remodel, I supplied all of the fixtures - e.g. shower trim, toilet, tiles, floor tiles, vanities, sconces but the *boring* stuff was supplied by the GC. Don't forget that you are not just paying for labor in the sense that you hire a plumber to install a toilet. You are paying the GC (or at least a good one) to coordinate everything - hire the skilled trades - supervise them - deal with the inspectors and getting permits. A good GC has a relationship with the inspectors - not in terms of bribing them - but knowing what is needed to pass inspection. My shower was inspected three times and the GC had to be there and wait for the inspector who generally wasn't prompt and would cancel a few times. In my jurisdiction they can cancel up to two times if they run out of time. So you pay the 18% GC fee for their expertise, supervision and also taking ownership of all of the snafus. Personally I am not surprised at the cost based on what my relatively recent remodel cost me (gut remodel of a condo including two bathrooms and a kitchen) but you should bid it out. Baltimore/DC is a high cost of living area so it can't be compared to costs in other places so people from LA, NY, Boston will probably feel your bid was not out of line whereas someone in Plano or Bismark would be able to have it done less expensively,. As a complete non-professional who picked up a LOT of useful information by haunting these forums and relying on the kindness and expertise of houzzers, I can say that hiring a GC who is competent and reliable is worth a premium. This forum is filled with tales of woe - especially for bathrooms - in which people were either unlucky or tried to economize by hiring cheaply instead of wisely and then wound up dealing with additional costs; additional time wasted and additional headaches. My GC and designer were probably not the cheapest but in the end they delivered a beautiful bathroom with no worries about leaks; lippage, gaps or other types of horrors that appear on these pages.

Delta isn't "junk" although the prices on their higher end styles and finishes probably compares to Kohler prices. I am not *shocked* at the prices as I spent more than that on my shower fixtures. When I first started my remodeling I was *shocked* at the prices of things but then just accepted that was the price for the items I wanted. I have a Kohler kitchen faucet and when I looked at less expensive options they were all a bit "off" and I didn't like those as much. There were just subtle differences in aesthetics although I am sure the Delta or Moen similar styles would have performed fine as I had a Delta prior to my remodel which caused no issues functionally. Whether you need to save money is really the only relevant issue - once you know the price you are being quoted is the *accurate* one. By accurate I mean that is the price more or less that it is being sold at by other places. If you can afford to get it and that is the price, why not get it? If you can't afford it or spending money on these items will cause you to need to cut back in some other area, then you decide what is a priority. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I'm glad to see a lot of great feedback for you. Reading your original comment, this is what stands out to me. In your words, your parents are wanting to "make aesthetic updates", but when you're talking about a shower, replacing tile is not an "aesthetic update". That requires demolition down to the studs then completely rebuilding a water tight system from the ground up and then installing tile over top. I've done this this work myself before (not a pro) and it is a huge amount of work. Demolition is hard labor and the materials have to be hauled out, which is far more complicated if you have to exit multi-unit building. Then it's a technical skill to build up a proper shower system before the tile work even starts. Once that shower system is ready for tile, it takes experience, skill, and craftsmanship to install tile properly and beautifully. Quality labor is in high demand in many areas (certainly in mine) so unfortunately that means a lot of expense. If you want to do simple aesthetic updates that would keep the cost down, consider just paint, lighting, mirror, and maybe a vanity or countertops.