I can only speak from my experience remodeling. My remodel included a kitchen and two baths (among other things). I hired the designer who drew up plans which were the basis for submitting to the City for permits as well as to the GC's in order to get bids that were apples to apples. You can't get a meaningful bid unless the GC's are bidding on the same specifications. Even the design of the tile (for example) will be relevant as certain tiles, materials and designs are more costly. My designer who was very knowledgable about construction also acted as my Project Manager and so was a very experienced eye and advocate in terms of determining the quality of the work. She could let me know what was normal in terms of stuff and what needed to be corrected. She also had a relationship with the contractor and although I got along great with the guy he obviously had history with the designer and also would be motivated to make sure the job including all of the punch up stuff was right since if things went well he would be more likely to do future projects with her than with me - thus more clout. Clout is also a great thing in terms of having stuff ordered through a designer. They might not care about one customer but they are very likely to make sure a designer is satisfied 100%.

I'm sorry this post is long, but here's my advice. I have had the same frustrations that you detailed in your post. The ONLY times I have had serious problems on a project are the two times that I really felt I needed to hire a GC bc the projects were big. We had some serious problems with a kitchen remodel that can all be attributed to the GC hiring cheap unqualified subs, one of whom didn't know water likes to go down, not up. So when it came time for me to redo the 3 upstairs bathrooms, I was facing the same dilemma as you are now. Over the years, because of other projects, I had met a meticulous painter and a very skilled custom cabinet maker whom I really respect. I had a good plumber and electrician I trusted for small jobs and repairs we had done, and the painters crew had a good handyman on board for tying up loose ends such as installing hardware, lights, etc. BUT I didn't know any skilled tile professionals yet at that point, so I was worried that it would be impossible to find a truly skilled tile pro who was knowledgeable and meticulous about waterproofing. This was about 4 years ago. I decided to do a "semi" remodel at that time where we didn't touch the bath/tub combos bc I hadn't found a tile pro yet. We have the cabinet builder reface the vanities, make new doors and drawers, put the modern soft-closed and full glides. The electrician moved some rough ins; the plumber installed the new toilets and faucets, rejigging the plumbing a bit; a local glass company replaced the mirrors, painters repainted everything and I made pretty new shower curtains. We left the floor tile and the tub/shower combos alone at that time. A couple years later, because of another project I had final found a tile professional who was meticulous about waterproofing. So I had him come and do just the 3 upstairs bathroom floors and tub/showers, one of which he made into a shower only and expanded into the attic to make it bigger. He was able to do all that without messing up the vanities, walls, etc bc he was careful to cover everything. I only had to do a little touch up paint which was easy. Soooo, I did CG the 3 upstairs bathrooms myself, but because of the time lapse, it didn't all happen at the same time. If you do a little thinking about the order of tasks, I don't see why you can't handle the project yourself. I swear, it was actually relaxing, believe it or not, because I didn't spend the whole time afraid of what might go wrong. I trusted the people because I had already had them do some other work for me, and they knew I recognized quality work and was a reasonable customer to work with. I think the order of tasks for me was: - demo (I did some of this, but the cabinet builder sent his younger brother/helped to finish up what I couldn't get out myself. We didn't not demo the vanities, they were on the subfloor with the tile coming up and stopping at the edge. - refacing, making new drawers/doors - electrical rough in which a few needed to be moved a little bit - painting, install lights, hardware, towel bars, etc - install toilet So if you are going to do the bath/shower demo, framing, waterproofing and tile installation as part of this project, you would need to first, find someone qualified and then determine where that work fits into the order of tasks. Also, you'd need to determine who will demo the current bath/shower. In my case, I think if I had asked the painters handyman or my cabinet makers brother to do that they would have done it and just charged me for the day. People always say that having a GC ensures that the project moves along, scheduling is smoother, etc, but that wasn't my experience AT ALL when I had to hire a GC. It was terrible. In theory, it should go smoother with a GC, and I hope it does with other people. It's important that they all have insurance and you should definitely be sure you verify it. In my case the people I hired weren't just random guys. They run their own small businesses and are professionals so they had no problem showing me their insurance info and it was easily verified. IMO the tile professional is the most important person on the job. You can go to https://www.tile-assn.com, and click on "find a contractor" to help you locate someone. Also there's https://www.ceramictilefoundation.org. There's lots of good information on those sites. Also, if you're a nerd like me, buy a downloadable version of this handbook: https://www.tcnatile.com/products-and-services/publications.html It's a handbook explaining industry standards for tile installation. It's only about $40 for a downloadable version It's about 600 pages, but you don't have to read the whole thing. Read the introduction (about 50 pages) and then read the bath/shower or shower only chapters that are relevant to your project. For example bath/shower combo, or shower stall only, steam shower, etc. You can also check out DIY books from the library and read about waterproofing and tile installation on this forum and on the John Bridge forum. Also, now I say this with caution...you can look at Sal Diblasi's YouTube channel to watch his videos all about waterproofing and tiling. Stop there though because you can very easily go down a rabbit hole of misinformation on the internet. You can also of course ask friends, neighbors and colleagues if they know a tile professional, but I bet they don't. They probably all know a tile "dude." Doing all those things I just listed helped me ask the right questions and find a terrific tile professional who I hired directly to handle anything related to framing, waterproofing, and tiling. He did bring in a 2-man demo crew to hack up and take out the 3 bathtubs, and I'm sure if there had been anything else he wanted to sub out he would have, such as if there was electrical or AC equipment in the way when we expanded into the attic. There wasn't, but I trusted him to take ownership of the whole shebang and if he had wanted to get a sub for anything he would have. He and his colleague rebuilt 2 bath/tub combos, and converted and enlarged 1 shower, and they re-tiled all the bathroom floors. Even though there was a gap between the "semi" remodel and getting it all done, I'm glad we waited bc I just had to find someone qualified for the waterproofing and tile work. If you can find your team, you can do it all at the same time, but space the people out so that they aren't trying to work at the same time. Bathrooms are small and cramped placed to work with tools, etc, so you'll just have to try to schedule the people smartly. Best of luck with your project!

The 2022 average cost of a 5x8 3 piece mid grade bathroom remodel is going to come in above 25K this year. More, in high cost of living areas, like where you are. 3 years ago, it averaged just below 20K. Costs have gone up. Available labor is scarce. There aren’t enough plumbers and electricians to do the work demanded these days. Therefore their prices rise. Contractors do not like to use homeowner supplied materials without the ability to approve them before they are bought. Homeowners tend to buy junk thats difficult to deal with, that causes extra time to be needed, or that fail. That gets the pita tax. Homeowners who tell any contractor it’s an ”simple” or ”cheap” job of XYZ and supply materials get the triple pita tax, because they are a triple pita, and there are better jobs to be had that they don’t have to deal with that ish of some know it all telling them how simple or cheap their job should be. What they charge is not up to the homeoener. The market right now is rewarding the trades for decades of being looked down on as inferior to others who command high fees. When you have sewage running through your home, $200 an hour is always better spent on a plumber than an accountant.

The challenge is that once you get down to 12" deep (or even 15" deep) for a vanity, your sink options are extremely limited, so I don't know how much a custom cabinet would necessarily help on that front (apart from getting you something you like stylistically). Personally I'd rather have at least 18" deep to have a more functional sink and just live with the 30" clearance. For ours we stuck with a standard depth vanity because it's the only storage in the room apart from a medicine cabinet, and losing the 3" by dropping to an 18" vanity wasn't worth the extra clearance for me. if you post your layout you might get some other creative solutions, though.