Nanaimo & Central Vancouver Island
Bathroom remodels designed around the room you actually have — with the waterproofing behind the tile treated as carefully as the tile in front of it.
The approach
A bathroom is the smallest room in the house and the one where the most trades overlap. Plumbing, framing, electrical, ventilation, waterproofing and finish carpentry all land inside a few square metres, in the order they have to happen, with no room to hide a compromise.
Most bathrooms get renovated around the catalogue — a 48-inch vanity in a space that wanted 52, a shower base that forces the door to swing the wrong way, a niche placed where the studs happened to fall rather than where a bottle needs to sit. Building to measure removes that compromise, and it usually returns storage the room was never getting from a stock unit.
Coastal houses ask more of the waterproofing. Long mild wet months on Vancouver Island mean bathrooms stay damp between uses, and marginal details behind the tile fail years before they would inland. That layer is detailed first here, because it is the one nobody can inspect once the job is finished.
Bathrooms are the specialty. Other renovation work is available on request.
What shapes the work
Not a list of adjectives — the three decisions that actually change how a finished bathroom looks and how long it lasts.
Vanities, benches, niches, shelving and shower layouts are made to the dimensions the room has. Awkward alcoves, sloped ceilings and the older core's five-by-eight bathrooms stop being obstacles once the cabinetry is drawn to fit them.
Tile and grout are a wearing surface, not a waterproof layer. The plane underneath has to be continuous through corners, over the curb, around the niche and behind the bench, tied to a vapour strategy that suits the wall and a fan ducted to the exterior.
Pre-war and post-war housing in Nanaimo's older neighbourhoods, strata buildings with their own alteration processes, rural properties south of the city, and steady demand for accessible layouts through Parksville and Qualicum Beach.
Quotes are broken out line by line so it is clear what is in and what is not, the scope goes into a written contract, and anything that changes mid-project is priced and agreed before it is carried out.
Services
Whole-room bathroom remodels and targeted renovations, from powder rooms to ensuites, with the full scope itemised in writing before work begins.
The whole room is planned and priced as one scope, itemised in writing before work begins, so changes are priced as they come up rather than settled at the end.
Bathroom design, layout and space planning drawn to measured dimensions, with fixture and finish selection resolved before pricing.
Custom showers, walk-in and barrier-free builds, tub-to-shower conversions, freestanding and alcove bathtubs, enclosures and glass.
Custom single, double and floating vanities, built-in bathroom storage, recessed cabinets and shelving made to the room's real dimensions.
Quartz, natural stone and solid surface bathroom countertops with undermount, vessel and integrated sink installation, templated on site.
Shower, wall and floor tile installation with the waterproofing assembly beneath it detailed, inspected and tested before tiling begins.
Bathroom plumbing rough-ins and reconfiguration, plus toilet, faucet, showerhead and handheld system installation and fixture upgrades.
Bathroom floor installation in tile, vinyl and laminate, with heated floor systems and subfloor preparation planned as one assembly.
Bathroom electrical rough-ins, vanity and mirror lighting, correctly sized and ducted ventilation, and heated bathroom features.
Drywall, wall finishes, painting and wallpaper, ceilings, trim and moulding, mirror installation and bathroom hardware.
Bathroom insulation, vapour barrier installation, moisture-resistant construction, and mould or moisture damage addressed while the walls are open.
Barrier-free and aging-in-place bathroom renovations: low-threshold and walk-in showers, seats, grab bar blocking and accessible layouts.
The structural half of a bathroom renovation: demolition, framing, subfloor prep, trade coordination, permits where required, and final finishing.
Where the drain sits and which way the joists run usually decide it. That conversation is worth having before you settle on a design.
Service area
Custom bathroom renovations across Nanaimo, from Harewood bungalows and Old City Quarter houses to Hammond Bay ensuites and waterfront condos.
Bathroom renovations across Lantzville, from the 1970s houses of Lower Lantzville to the well-served acreages in the Winds, the Foothills and Winchelsea.
Bathroom renovations across Nanoose Bay, from Madrona, Wall Beach and Red Gap to Beachcomber, Dolphin Beach and the Fairwinds golf and marina development.
Bathroom renovations across Cedar, from the town core to Yellow Point, Cassidy and the rural properties on private wells and septic.
Bathroom renovations across South Wellington, from the acreages off South Wellington Road and Quennell Road to the rural parcels toward Cedar and Cassidy.
Bathroom renovations across Cassidy, from the manufactured-home parks in the rural village to the properties along the Trans-Canada corridor and out toward South Wellington and Cedar.
Bathroom renovations across Parksville, from Craig Bay and the patio-home strata to the Downtown Core, Springwood and the houses above Parksville Bay.
Bathroom renovations across Qualicum Beach, from the Village Neighbourhood to Chartwell, Eaglecrest and the 1990s subdivisions, with accessible layouts as the default question.
Bathroom renovations across Chemainus, from the pre-war houses near the water to the low-rise strata and the rural properties beyond the containment boundary.
Bathroom renovations across Ladysmith, from Old Town's pre-war cottages on the hill to the Holland Creek subdivisions and the town's manufactured-home parks.
Questions
That the cabinetry and the wet areas are built to the room's real dimensions instead of the room being adapted to fit stock units. A vanity sized to the exact wall, a niche placed where it is useful, a bench built into the shower rather than dropped in afterwards. In small bathrooms it is usually the difference between adequate storage and none.
Bathrooms are the specialty and the majority of the work, because concentrating on one room is what makes the detail in it worth getting right. Other renovation work is available on request — ask when you get in touch and it can be discussed as part of the same scope.
With a look at the actual room: measurements, what is behind the walls where that can be established, what the drainage and framing will allow, and what you want the space to do. Scope follows from that, then an itemised written quote, then a written contract before anything is demolished.
Yes. Nanaimo Custom Bathrooms is licensed and insured and carries WorkSafeBC coverage. Work is built to the BC Building Code, and where the scope requires permits they are coordinated as part of the job rather than left with you.
The quote is itemised, so the line items show what is covered and — just as usefully — what is not. Scope is then set out in a written contract. If something behind a wall changes what the work involves, the change is priced and agreed before it goes ahead rather than appearing at the end.
Nanaimo and the surrounding Central Vancouver Island communities, roughly from Ladysmith and Chemainus in the south through Cedar, South Wellington, Cassidy, Lantzville and Nanoose Bay, up to Parksville and Qualicum Beach.
Send through the bathroom, the house it sits in and what you want the space to do afterwards.