7 Steps for Renovating Your Business’ Restroom

Inevitably, certain areas and facilities within the your business building are going to become obsolete or need repair or renovation. Since the restrooms are such a vital part of your businesses’ physical location, it’s important to monitor these areas to keep them clean, functional, and fit for use. Here are seven practical steps to help you get the best result when renovating your business restroom.

• Establish renovation goals: Carefully evaluate your existing restroom facilities and decide what you want to accomplish with your renovations. Do you need more space? Will you require additional functional areas such as showers or more toilets? Will an expansion or revision of the plumbing system be necessary? Decide if you want to install any of currently popular types of water- or energy-saving features such as low-flow toilets or hands-free faucets. If you are renovating a top-end restroom, plan for including fixtures and facilities that will remain stylish and current for as long as possible.
• Establish a budget: Put together a budget to help guide your planning and purchases. If possible, create more than one budget, including at least a “best case scenario” budget and a “closest to reality” budget. Leave some flexibility within the budget to accommodate changes in plan or unexpected opportunities to acquire better equipment and fixtures at a lower-than-expected price.
• Create a schedule: Plan a timeline for renovating your business restroom and stick to the schedule as closely as possible. Customers and employees will be significantly inconvenienced when restrooms are out of service, so do your best to have the facilities open again as quickly as possible. A timeline will also help ensure that the renovation work gets done in a timely manner without cost or schedule overruns.
• Decide on a supplier: Make an early decision on who you will use as a supplier for construction materials, plumbing fixtures, electrical supplies, and other necessary items. Do some research to see who offers the best supplies at the best possible cost. Contact several suppliers and ask for written bids, or see if you can negotiate a discount.
• Purchase all necessary materials in advance: To avoid delays in the renovation process, purchase all of the needed supplies, fixtures, construction materials, and other items before the project begins. If you are installing a specialized type of sink faucet, for example, your project could be halted for days or weeks while waiting on a new delivery of faucets. Having all the raw materials on hand also reduces delays while your contractor looks for simple material such as concrete, tile, grout, mortar, lumber, wiring, electrical fixtures, or nails.
• Find a reliable professional contractor: Use a reputable, well-qualified contractor when renovating your business restroom. Recognize that you may need individual contractors for each element of the job– plumbing, electrical, or construction. You will likely turn to contractors you already know for the job. However, if you decide to use a new contractor, check licensing and bonding, professional qualifications, and reputation for service and quality. Using an established contractor for the renovations may cost a little more, but the peace of mind and assurance of a job properly done, and guaranteed, will justify the cost.
• Have an advisor: Turn to someone you know and trust for advice on the renovation process and what it will take to rework or expand your restroom facilities. This could be your existing contractor, a knowledgeable colleague, or a friend or family member with experience and expertise in construction and plumbing. Your advisors can help you find the best and least expensive materials and the best contractors, and can tell you what to do and expect before, during, and after the renovation.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about Plumbing, HVACR, Fire Protection and Alarm Systems in Mechanical, Commercial and Residential settings. For more information on renovating your business restroom, and to view projects we’ve worked on, visit our website!