How to Choose a Bathroom Remodeler in Knoxville

What actually separates one bathroom remodeler from another?

Not the photographs. Every remodeling site in Knoxville shows the same finished bathrooms, shot on the one day everything looked perfect.

The things that do separate them are fairly boring, and you can check all three yourself in an afternoon.

• The license. Tennessee runs a public lookup. Either the license is in there or it is not.
• The written scope. A remodel is a long list of decisions. If the list is not on paper, you have the argument later, with the wall already open.
• A number that gets confirmed in the room. A phone estimate from a named market range is honest when it says where it comes from; the exact number comes when the crew stands in the room before any work starts.

Here is how to check each one.

How do you check a Knoxville remodeler's license?

Tennessee regulates this work through the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors, which licenses contractors, home improvement contractors, limited licensed electricians and limited licensed plumbers. Knox County matters here specifically, because it is one of a short list of counties that adopted the state's home improvement law. Residential remodeling inside the state's defined project-value band calls for a home improvement license, and work above that band calls for a contractor license. The state publishes the current bands, and they move, so read them there rather than here.

Where to look it up

The state's public license search at verify.tn.gov takes a company name and returns whether the license exists, what class it is, and whether it is current. It takes about a minute. If the name on the truck and the name on the license do not match, ask about that before anything else gets discussed.

The remodeling crew on the job is licensed, bonded and insured. Run the same search on them. If you do the check and hire somebody else, that's fine. Just do the check.

What should be written down before work starts?

What a real scope names

A scope that says "bathroom remodel" is not a scope. The version you should sign names the things that later turn into arguments.

• Which fixtures stay where they are and which ones move. That single decision moves the budget more than any tile, and the Knoxville cost guide explains why.
• The tile, where it stops, and how the shower is waterproofed behind it.
• The vanity, the storage and the lighting, named by product rather than by adjective.
• Ventilation, which is a code item rather than a preference. Our lighting and ventilation page covers what the exhaust is actually there to do.
• Who removes the debris, and what happens to the old fixtures.

Who is pulling the permit?

Whether your job needs a permit is Knox County Codes Administration's call, not a contractor's opinion and not this page's. Both homeowners and licensed contractors can apply, so the question is not academic: somebody has to, and which of you it is should be settled before work starts rather than discovered at an inspection. Our permits and inspections page covers what the county publishes, including the number to call.

How do you tell a real estimate from a number?

By what came before it. A price given sight unseen was worked out by somebody who never saw your subfloor, your drain lines or how old the supply plumbing is, and in older Knoxville houses those are usually what decides the job. A number after a visit is an estimate. A number before one is a sales pitch.

Market ranges are still useful before anybody comes out. The cost guide has them with the sources named and linked. They will get you in the neighborhood. They are not your price, because what the range measures is scope, and the full bathroom remodel page lays that out.

What questions are worth asking when the crew is on-site?

• What is the license number, and which license class is it?
• Does this scope need a permit, and who is applying for it?
• What is the sequence, and what is each stage waiting on? The remodel timeline explains why that gets a better answer than asking how long.
• What happens to the estimate if the subfloor turns out to be wet under the old pan?
• Who is on site day to day, and who do I call when something is not right?

Want the free estimate? Call (865) 269-6735 and bring this list with you. Take the same list to whoever else you are talking to. Either way, good luck with the room.