How the guaranteed price works
There are three numbers in a bathroom project and only one of them binds anybody. Knowing which is which is most of what protects a homeowner, and the distinction is not obvious from the outside, because all three arrive looking like prices.
Last updated September 2026 · No prices on this page; the Estimate Builder carries those · Part of the knowledge base
The three numbers
One, the planning estimate
This is what the Estimate Builder produces. It is a range, built from stated assumptions, before anyone has seen the room. It is for deciding whether a project is worth pursuing and roughly what to budget for it. It is not an offer, it binds nobody, and the site says so on the page rather than in a footnote.
The starting prices it begins from are the whole job, installed and working — demolition and haul-away, the new base and walls, the valve and the head, the plumbing to make it a shower, the protection and the cleanup — so the estimate starts at a finished number rather than at a base that grows once the necessary items are picked. Order the shower exactly as priced and you are done; the few things that add cost are shown with their prices as you pick them.
Two, the written proposal
This is the number that binds. It is produced after we have seen the bathroom, either through the photos you send or at a free in-home consultation, and it is broken out line by line rather than given as a single figure. It is the price you approve, and approving it is what fixes it.
Three, the final invoice
In a project with no approved changes and nothing found behind the wall, this equals the proposal. Where they differ, every difference between them is something you signed.
The condition the guarantee holds under, stated plainly
A proposal built from photographs is guaranteed on the condition that the photographs showed the whole bathroom and that nothing which could add work was left out of them.
That is a real condition and it is not fine print. If a wall the photos never showed has a window in it, or a second door, or a radiator, then the proposal was priced for a room that does not exist. This is the one part of the process where the homeowner genuinely holds the outcome, and the way to hold it well is to photograph the room you have rather than the tidy half of it.
Photograph all four walls, the floor, the ceiling and anything odd. The awkward corner, the boxed-in pipe, the bit of floor that flexes, the door that will not open all the way. Those are the things that change a price, and a photograph of them before we quote costs you nothing. A photograph of them after we quote is a change order.
The only two things that can move the number
After a proposal is approved, exactly two things can change what you pay, and both require your signature before any work happens.
- A change you ask for. You want a different colorway, a glass door instead of a curtain, a second outlet, a bigger shower. That is a change order: written, priced and signed before it is built.
- A hidden condition — and a much narrower set of them than most people expect. Read the next section before you assume this one applies to you.
Nothing else moves it. Not a material price change between signing and starting, not the job turning out to take longer than we thought, not a mistake in our own estimate. Those are ours.
Most of what is behind the wall is already in your price
Hidden conditions have a reputation they mostly do not deserve, because of how the work is done. Every shower we build gets all of its wall backing taken out and replaced and all of its plumbing renewed — that is not an upgrade, it is the job. So the ordinary things a demolition turns up in there are things we were replacing anyway: soft drywall, backing that has taken thirty years of a leaking corner, a patch of subfloor gone spongy under the old pan.
Those are not surprises you pay for, and it does not depend on anyone's goodwill on the day. The agreement you sign says it in as many words: soft drywall and failed backing inside the footprint of the tub or shower we remove are material we were replacing anyway, and if the subfloor directly under the tub or shower we remove is damaged, we replace it, however much of it there is, at no additional charge and without a change order. It is a term of the agreement, not a courtesy, and most customers never hear about it because there is nothing to decide.
The footprint is the boundary, and it is worth being exact about it. The floor under the tub or shower we take out and the walls around it are covered by that term. A soft spot under the vanity or behind the toilet is not, because we were not opening those, and it is handled the way every other hidden condition is: we stop, show you, and price it before continuing.
What genuinely does get stopped for, shown to you and priced before anything else happens is the uncommon end of the range: structural damage — joists, studs, anything holding the house up; a waste stack or main line that has to be moved; and asbestos, lead or mold that needs licensed abatement. Those are real jobs of their own, they are not what we quoted, and before we price any of them we show you photographs of what we found, so nothing is charged for that you have not seen. You decide on each of them in writing before work continues.
What the law says about deposits
Ohio limits what a home improvement contractor may collect up front on larger contracts. The relevant provision is R.C. 4722.04, which caps the initial payment at a percentage of the contract price on contracts above a threshold, plus a share of any non-returnable special-order materials, with the balance paid in milestones as work progresses. Below that threshold a conventional deposit and balance arrangement applies.
The exact amounts for your project are stated in writing before any work begins. The point worth carrying away is not our numbers but the general one: on a large residential contract in Ohio, a demand for most of the money up front is not merely a bad deal, it is contrary to the statute.
What to ask any contractor to put in writing
This applies to us and to everyone else you are considering. Ask for all six and compare the answers rather than the totals.
- The price broken into named line items rather than one figure.
- What the price does not include.
- How hidden conditions are handled, and specifically whether you see and approve a price before that work is done.
- A projected schedule: when work starts, how many days the crew is there, and what happens on each of them.
- The payment schedule, and what each payment is tied to.
- What the guarantee covers, what it excludes, and how long each part of it runs.
Common questions
What makes the proposal price guaranteed?
That it is produced after somebody has actually seen the bathroom, priced line by line, and approved by you before anything is torn out. Once you approve it, the only things that can change what you pay are a change you ask for and sign, and a hidden condition we show you and price before continuing. A material price rising, the work taking longer than we thought, or an error in our own estimate are ours to absorb.
What has to be in the photos for the price to hold?
The whole bathroom, and particularly the parts you would not think to photograph. All four walls, the floor and the ceiling, plus anything odd: the boxed-in pipe, the awkward corner, the bit of floor that flexes, the door that will not open all the way. A proposal built from photos that showed half the room was priced for a room that does not exist, and that is the one condition the guarantee carries.
If you find something behind the wall, who decides what happens next?
You do. We stop, show you what is there, price that work, and wait for you to approve it before continuing. It is not absorbed silently and it is not added to the final bill for you to find later. Any bid you take, from anyone, is worth holding to that sequence in writing, because it is the one place a fixed price usually stops being fixed.
Is the online estimate the same as the proposal?
No, and the difference matters. The Estimate Builder gives a planning estimate: a range, built from assumptions, before anyone has seen your room. It binds nobody and it is for working out whether a project is worth pursuing. The proposal is the binding number and it comes after we have seen the bathroom, in photos or in person.
How much can a contractor ask for up front in Ohio?
On larger contracts, less than most people expect. R.C. 4722.04 caps the initial payment at a percentage of the contract price above a threshold, plus a share of non-returnable special-order materials, with the rest paid in milestones as the work progresses. Below that threshold a conventional deposit and balance applies. Whoever you hire, a demand for most of the money before work starts on a large job is worth questioning.
What should I ask every contractor to put in writing?
Six things, and compare the answers rather than the totals: the price broken into named line items, what it does not include, how hidden conditions are handled and whether you approve a price before that work happens, a projected schedule, the payment schedule and what each payment is tied to, and what the guarantee covers and excludes and how long each part runs. A single-figure bid can be the lowest and still be the worst, because nothing in it can be examined.
See your actual price in about two minutes
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