My time estimate is 3 days to rip out and install tub, rough plumbing, prepare walls and floor for tiler. (Then we wait for tiler?) Say he comes on day 4, he is expected to take several days at least. Floor can't be walked on for a day, then needs grout, etc. Then vanity install. Then granite install. Granite has a turn around time of a week? Plumbing fixtures, lights, not sure if wainscoting goes up when? I'm figuring 2-3 weeks over which the bath will be unusable and workmen will be coming and going. Maybe we'll be lucky and it will be done in 2 weeks. But there are sometimes delays between sets of workers. I know people who get a kitchen in 2 weeks, and ones who take 6 months. It depends on what you are having done. Also where you live. As soon as anyone comes into my neighborhood their price goes up. Not bragging, we got a smaller house in a nice neighborhood that was run down and have been fixing it up slowly for years. But the contractors all seem to assume we have "money"! LOL! We went with our plumber because we've known him for years and he's very reliable. I'm sure there are people who might be less, and I KNOW there are people who are MORE! If you get a good recommendation, and can see their work, that's what counts.

Thanks for the replies! ROOBEAR, I think the other bathroom is about the same size as your master, it's really long and narrow. It has a ridiculously long vanity with 1 sink in it. I'm going to be redoing that one as well. Thought, if there was some way to tap in to that bathroom and utilize some space for the master...have to get in there and see once we get the house. I'll get a plumber to get under there and let me know how hard it would be to switch the plumbing, may not be as bad as I think. PKSPIGS, that wall where the dresser is from door opening to door opening is exactly 7" across. The dresser you see in the pic is 5'4" across. My dresser is the same size. So that gives me 20" to work with. Now, on the other side of that wall is the shower stall which measures 3" wide IN THE INTERIOR (my realtor must love me and my measuring tape!). Three feet/3ft+ would have to come off that wall before I could put in a doorway to clear the stall. Plus another 2'4" for the new doorway. Let's call that 6ft to be safe? I'm left with 1 foot, plus the old door opening of 2'4" for 3'4" - not enough to put the dresser. Am I thinking correctly?? HUDSONLEIGH-plz see my reply above regarding measurements. That's the shower stall you see. The purple shower curtain you see is the left side and the shower head is to the right, behind that wall, next to the vanity. I want to cut that wall in half and put in a glass shower enclosure. Can't do anything on the other side, the doorway in to the bedroom, that's the hallway and you can't extend anything out to there. JJAAZZY, yes, furniture will be as current owners have it. Really the only way ours will fit. That's my whole issue, having to stare straight in to the bathroom - and I sleep on the left! Me, I'm in and out, but my OH - geez, he's in there forever, every time it seems! The tile is in great condition, but really needs to be updated. It looks white, but it has little specks of a mustardy-gold color. Since it's so small, will replace everything. I just wouldn't be happy to have to live with it the way it is. The bathroom I have now is great. I won't even be able to sit and do my hair in this one, my current one has a spot for me to sit and do my girly things - will be moving that elsewhere in this house - had to give up somethings for others to finally find a house!!! Hopefully, no major hidden expenses to come up, had it inspected by one inspector, waiting for 2 others. If I did have to keep the toilet where it is - can anyone suggest a good door to put there. I'm not sure a pocket door will go or not. There's an outlet on the wall behind the dresser that's 33" from the doorframe. The bathrooms side of the wall has the wall heater. I can remove that when I retile. Other than a pocket door (and no more ugly accordian doors) is there anything else worth looking at? Thanks again everyone!

Rebeccamom - My project is scheduled for just after Labor Day. I had to move it out because of work and a family vacation. The extra time has been really great for sourcing and research and I would strongly encourage a 4-6 month window if at all possible. It seems there are so many decisions to be made in a bathroom reno. As far as measurements, my bathroom is a bowling alley! 4.5 feet wide by 11 feet long, not including the shower which is 4 X 2.75 off the long wall. Just to clarify, the $10K estimate is for labor only. I'm trying not to add up the cost of materials as I acquire them. It's painful having expensive taste on a middle class budget!

Many thanks to everybody who answered, you have all been very helpful in clarifying my very muddled thoughts. Here is a hopefully clearer description of the situation: The house is a 50's ranch style, with 3 bedrooms and a hall bath (4.5x8.5 ft) clustered on one side of the house, and the kitchen, office/den and another hall bath (4x9 ft) on the other side of the house, with a great room in the middle. We plan to stay in this house as long as we can, but we are in this city for my husband's work, and if something happens (although unlikely with his kind of job), we know we'll have to move somewhere else; therefore, we'd like to make updates to the house while keeping resale in mind. Our (excellent) realtor said that for resale we should have an ensuite. After reading the comments, I have to clarify with him if he thinks a lack of ensuite will narrow down the market significantly, or if we 'simply' would not get the best price for the house. Most houses in the area are old (in the whole city actually), and we saw plenty without ensuites. We saw two of the neighbors' houses, and they did not have ensuites. This is what we considered: 1. Redo the bathrooms with the existing footprint (not that we have room to change anything inside), but we can go far into making them pretty, 2. Add a door from the master bedroom to the hall bath next to it, and close access from the hall. This I think would be a bad idea, not only because the people in the other two bedrooms will have to go across the house to the other bathroom, but also because the master bedroom will end up with windows on two walls, three closets on another, and two doors on the fourth side. Not restful. 3. Add another bathroom next to the master bedroom where the closets are, with one closet door transformed into a bathroom door. This bathroom would be 4.5x12 ft, although it could go to 5x12 if need be (but no more, because we'll hit a big window), which will have a shower but no bathtub. We talked to a professional who said it will fit fine with the caveat that the toilet will likely be the first thing you see in front of the door because of the current clearance requirements. 4. Build an addition. This again I think would be a very bad idea, since it would be blindingly expensive and the house is already on the higher side of square footage for the surrounding area. We will of course fix everything that is broken. The interior doors are the original 50s doors, hollow core dark wood look with lots of scuffs and holes, and they were cut short to fit the now non-existent carpet, so I would qualify changing them as fixing what is broken (and they bug me every time I look at them... ). The windows are a perk; we are still divided on those. I tend toward option 1, while my husband is going for option 3, although he agrees we do not need another bathroom. The reason I feel ill equipped to make this decision is that I'm originally from Europe, and even after so many years here I feel mildly perplexed about the North American love affair with bathrooms. Our previous rental was built in the last ten years and had a huge ensuite which I didn't like. I found it hard to keep as clean as I thought it should be, and it was so large I felt as if I was doing my business in public. Given the bathroom pictures on Houzz, I'm clearly in a minority. Your comments help ensure that I don't miss anything that might otherwise be obvious, so thanks again. And extra thanks to whoever makes it to the end of this post...