Crafting Connections and Trends: Mastering Bathroom Remodeling and Embracing Eco-Conscious Design - Episode 52

Ever wondered how the pros build lasting bonds with the movers and shakers in the bathroom remodeling arena? Strap in as I, Chris Kirby, lay out the blueprint for cultivating robust partnerships that will streamline your projects and delight your clientele. From the impact of seamless supplier relations to the intricacies of Alabama's licensing laws, our conversation is packed with insights on why a strong network isn't just nice to have—it's a must-have for your business. Plus, we tackle the art of project management, emphasizing prompt payments and crystal-clear communication with subcontractors to keep your remodels running like clockwork.

Tiles and trends, folks—that's where the magic happens in bathroom remodeling, and this episode has it all. Join me as we navigate the world of tile layouts, discussing the trend towards micro grout lines and the role client collaboration plays in creating the perfect look. We'll also weigh the merits of Luxury Vinyl Plank in wet environments and offer tips on how to nail that durable yet stylish bathroom vibe. And because staying on top of trends is key, we'll take you through the latest in bathroom design, from water barriers to lighting that transforms a space from drab to fab.

Rounding out this episode, we're not just talking about any tiles—we're diving into large format tiles and aging-in-place design that marries elegance with accessibility. Uncover the secrets behind a seamless entry shower and why fold-down teak benches may just be your new best friend. As we wrap up, we give a nod to the green pioneers at Cambria Stone for leading the charge in sustainable countertop solutions, proving that beauty and eco-consciousness can coexist. So don your earbuds and prepare to be inspired; this is an episode that promises to equip you with know-how that'll turn your bathroom remodels into the talk of the town.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The Homebuilding and Remodeling Show. Let's go. Welcome everybody to the Homebuilding and Remodeling Show. My name is Chris Kirby and I'll be your host. I am the owner of three construction companies on the Alabama Gulf Coast. The show is about residential construction. We're going to cover topics of homebuilding and remodeling. Are you thinking of doing a remodel or building a home? Are you a contractor looking to improve your knowledge base or grow your business? Have you ever done a remodel project or built a home? There were so many things you wish you knew or that you could have done differently during the process. Then this show is for you. We break down the process of building and remodeling and how to have the best results during your project. Whether you are DIY-er looking for tips, someone looking to hire a contractor to do a project, or a contractor looking to expand your knowledge base or your business, welcome aboard. Glad to have you. Stay tuned. We kick off the show with my thoughts on homebuilding and remodeling. I'll share best practices and talk about some of our experiences in business and out in the field. These shared thoughts and lessons learned are meant to help you on your very own journey. Let's go.

Speaker 1: 1:27

The second relationship, number two, on the four key relationships that you need to maintain to be a successful bathroom remodeling contractor is your suppliers and vendors. You are going to have to get your materials from somewhere. The more of a relationship you establish with a vendor or a supplier, the better. That relationship is going to be maintained throughout the duration of your contracting career. You want to make sure that you are openly communicating, because and allow them if you have a place of business, if you don't, that's fine, but if you do have a place of business, allow them to come in and talk to you. Take them to lunch, have just an open conversation at lunch. Allow them to let you know when products are coming out, the new products and designs and and different things like that. Vendors and suppliers love to be able to do that. They love healthy relationships with their contractors and that leads to a better result for your project. You're probably gonna be able to save some money. They're gonna let you know when deals are happening on certain products and the timeline. You'll start to maintain a better timeline and be able to produce a better quality project by having a good working relationship with your vendors and suppliers. They're very, very much a key contributor to a successful bathroom remodeling project and for you to have good relationships with them, to have supplies when you need, to have open communication if there's a delay, to get deals when they roll out. All of these things help your client have a better project as well. At the end, that number one relationship has been maintained because the vendor has your back and is taking care of you and your supply needs and timing and deliveries and things like that, and so you can better keep your timeline and budget in check with your client. Number one client relationship management your client is a key relationship to maintain. Your number two relationship to maintain is that of your vendors and suppliers, and we'll move on to number three. The number three relationship you need to maintain in order to be a successful bathroom remodeling contractor is that of your subcontractors.

Speaker 1: 3:59

Most remodellers do not possess a key license in every category that they need to successfully remodel a project. For instance, I have home builder slash remodellers license. The state of Alabama requires you to have a state home builders license to build houses and to have that license as well to do remodeling projects over $10,000. So that's just Alabama state specific. Some of you may have different rules and regulations in your state. However, that does not give me the license to perform electrical work. It doesn't give me the license to perform plumbing work, and those are two very key subcontractors that you are going to need.

Speaker 1: 4:41

Maintaining relationships with your subcontractors is just like maintaining relationships with employees if you have them, it's taking care of them, making sure they get paid on time. If there is a delay in payment from the client or it could be as simple as a client is needing to move money over, so the payment gets delayed by a day the last thing you want to do is have your sub expecting money and you can't get it to them. Maintain that relationship and making sure that they're going to prioritize you as the primary contractor and take care of your needs, as long as you are taking care of them, giving them plenty of work, open communication, paying in a timely manner, and sometimes it's even nice to have a get together and invite them to it and become close with your subcontractors, because they are absolutely key to maintaining a successful relationship with the client. Again, they're going to be in the client's home, just like the vendor or supplier some of those vendor or suppliers they may come out to the project to take a look at when stuff gets delivered or if there's stuff that was damaged in delivery a good vendor or supplier they're going to come out and take a look at that on site. Those people are interacting with the client as well. So it feeds back into that number one relationship you need to maintain, that of the client. Number two your vendors and your suppliers. Number three your subcontractors. All of those people are going to have an individual relationship potentially with the client. Having the subcontractor taken care of is a huge factor in the number three relationship that you need to maintain to be a successful bathroom remodeler.

Speaker 1: 6:35

And now we move into shop talk. It's the portion of the show where I bring in a co-host and we cover trending topics in home building and remodeling. Hope you enjoy. Let's go.

Speaker 2: 6:47

Because if you don't do that part at the beginning, then you're having to cheat stuff and make it work and stuff yes.

Speaker 1: 6:56

And it don't look right Because as you start being harder and time consuming, yeah. And so you start at the bottom with a hat and a inch, and then at the top, your towel's got that big and it looks. And it looks crazy, that looks good, yeah, all right. So then you've established that you're level and you're zooming through it. What about brow lines? How do you figure out the proper brow line size, or do you talk to the client about that?

Speaker 2: 7:21

Usually talk to the client about that. Nowadays they want lease grout lines as possible.

Speaker 1: 7:26

Yeah, they're one super, yeah, super, super thin. And then there are also some actual.

Speaker 2: 7:31

Now, the larger format towel, the bigger you can get your grout lines and they don't look bad. But it needs smaller format.

Speaker 1: 7:39

With fat grout lines. It doesn't look right, and the neon bow picked their color. Right. You're in there. You're doing your towel, you do your floor, you do your walls. Whichever way right, you prefer to do first. Whichever way you learn to do first, you do your floor, you do your walls. Talk to me about the trim. Well, or is that the?

Speaker 2: 7:59

I mean we said pretty much such options. We offer is either Schluter trim, towel trim or bull nose. So that's part of the layout process.

Speaker 1: 8:15

Or pencil right.

Speaker 2: 8:17

If you're doing Schluter trim, that goes up before your towel, because your towel overlaps the backing.

Speaker 1: 8:22

So, if you have and it could be the metal, they've got the, I call it plastic, whatever the. But anyway, you put in your Schluter trim in. How's that attached? Well, essentially you've got three walls to. Let's just say you've got three walls to a shower, two sidewalls and a back wall. That Schluter trim is gonna come on your sidewalls wherever you're gonna stop your tile, correct, and you're gonna go ahead. So, before you actually install tile, you're setting your Schluter trims, your Schluter strips, your trim pieces. How's that attached? Screwed in Thins, okay, it is attached via thinset.

Speaker 2: 9:02

Yes, it's got like a. It's not screwed in At an inch and a half to two inch backer on it that you push into the thinset.

Speaker 1: 9:10

Gotcha. Okay, you gotta get that in there Now and we'll go back and we'll kind of hit on timelines and talk through the timeline of all of this. But you've got your tile set. It ran to meet your trim. Everything's done as far as tile. That's the next step. Okay, so we're in a bathroom when I'm just doing the shower. Would you do the shower and the shower floor, that tile before you do floor tile? You would, yeah, and is there a reason that?

Speaker 2: 9:40

you would want to do that. That way, I know where to stop the floor tile.

Speaker 1: 9:43

Okay, because you're gonna set your curb really.

Speaker 2: 9:46

You're gonna run it to it and then that way, if you do like. Some people like tile on the face of their pony wall. Some people like she rocked it.

Speaker 1: 9:55

Just to.

Speaker 2: 9:56

Okay, Especially when it's Now. If they're getting tile, I would do the flooring first and then run the tile on top of it. Okay, but if they're doing she rock, do she rock, run the flooring to it. Then your base floor covers.

Speaker 1: 10:12

Gotcha Okay, you run your floor tile. Now can you put LVP in bathrooms. Is that becoming more common?

Speaker 2: 10:20

Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1: 10:22

You don't like what LVP? Lvp Like overall or just in a day, right, yeah, me either. I'll be honest with you. I'm not right, but it is popular and some of the more.

Speaker 2: 10:35

I mean it's easy, I mean it's great stuff to work with, but I'm just seeing in like a lot of like high traffic areas and stuff and places that have had it for a few years is not holding up.

Speaker 1: 10:47

Yeah, it went on there you can get a lot of buzzer lighting and.

Speaker 2: 10:50

But if it's just like a couple that lives in a home with no kids and stuff like that, yeah.

Speaker 1: 10:56

Well, I'll say for us, we have it now too, but we bought a wider plank and to me that makes the difference, the actual cost of it and the material you can get the cheapest of the cheap, and that stuff is you get what? It's fair? Yeah, it's terrible If you do, even in a high traffic area, if you don't have a lot of money to spend on flooring, I would prefer glue down over Glue down, but it's way better yeah, floating yeah.

Speaker 1: 11:31

And the thing people get afraid of the glue down right, because it's different. It's not just as easy as snapping and pop and lay right, but if you know what you're doing, we lay down. We lay down, yeah, and I prefer that. In a high traffic area I've seen less issues with that compared to like even in our building right now. We've got luxury vinyl planks and where you're rolling your chair and all of that. It makes a huge difference. But in the bathroom for the most part it is supposedly. It's water resistant, not waterproof. But do we put a barrier down underneath? We pretty much always do now. Even though some of it comes and it has the backing on it, we still put a barrier down and Minimum a six mil plastic.

Speaker 2: 12:25

Yeah, you know what I mean, at least now. If a customer wants to invest more in like a better underlayment that's more soft, and you know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 12:35

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 12:36

Those are nice this time consuming, laying that stuff. But it just all depends on what the customer wants, and I mean, if you want a better quality floor with that stuff, that's what you need to go with.

Speaker 1: 12:49

Yeah, all right, you've put in your plank or you've put in your tile. You got your floor stud. Do you put in bandages before or after?

Speaker 2: 12:57

Bandages are towards the end of the project.

Speaker 1: 13:00

Okay.

Speaker 2: 13:00

We go in demoed. You know we did the shower, got the flooring. We usually put protectant down on that, but also before we do the flooring, we skipped over this like to get any of the sheet rock were done.

Speaker 1: 13:17

Yeah, You're patching and all that done, right If it's, especially if it's going to take, if it's larger patches and multiple coats yeah, go ahead and do that, Do that, do your texture paint.

Speaker 2: 13:27

You know, the less you can do on top of your floor, the better.

Speaker 1: 13:31

Yeah, because if you come in there after the fact and you still have to sand, it's a nightmare, even if you've covered it up right. It is a pain and Especially before the towel in.

Speaker 2: 13:44

We grow out in the white powder. It's all in your grow lines. Yeah, it's a nightmare to get clean. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 13:50

I also would recommend, if possible and depending on time of year and season and all these different things, but shutting off the HVAC system if we're in a large you know what I mean If we're in a large area and we're going to be doing a lot of sanding and drywall patching. Now we're going to move into the portion of the show where we talk interior design. We're going to bring in an interior designer and we're going to talk trending design and products. Hope you enjoy. Let's go.

Speaker 1: 14:25

So, well, on another one, I'll call myself out again. I don't do any work at home, okay it's very tough.

Speaker 1: 14:32

Yeah, so check this out. We have the, we have lights over our mirrors and the the vanity lights. Then we have an overhead light, but the shower Actually does not have a light in it and it's actually darker back. Yeah, so I need to go in and put in a you know a light over the shower. I just haven't done it, but I could tell you it does. It makes a difference and and where the lights are located, the light placement in our master bathroom is terrible, so I can speak to how important it is for lighting to be proper in a bathroom remodeled.

Speaker 3: 15:11

And that is one thing about remodels that people don't realize is that home wasn't built for you.

Speaker 1: 15:15

Yeah, you know, and it wasn't built with you in mind.

Speaker 3: 15:17

So when you're going into a remodel, it is you know you're looking at it. As how is this now going to benefit me?

Speaker 1: 15:24

That's right. That's what it needs to do. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 3: 15:26

Yeah, so like awesome. The next one after that is soaking tubs Soaking tubs, okay, soaking tubs. People are more into. You know relaxing work, life balance, yeah, health. What that means to us we're starting to realize. You know, running the rat race at home.

Speaker 1: 15:42

You know you want to go home but listen, you're not talking about garden tubs, right? So let's clear that up.

Speaker 3: 15:51

No we had.

Speaker 1: 15:52

We had all these homes where people Wanted garden and jetted tubs and things like that that was a trend and then our company, over the past seven years have been ripping those out and putting these big old walk-in showers in its place. Yes, and now we're kind of it's not the same because it's not a garden tub. No, it's not, but we are going into the soaker tubs right back into the we don't need this tub to fit four people like a garden.

Speaker 3: 16:19

Yeah, I mean, it's gonna fit one person comfortably too, if you're really friendly. Yeah, absolutely but that also speaks to One of the other trends that we were gonna pop onto and I'm just gonna hit it a little early as aging in place. Okay so one of the big reasons why garden tubs are coming out is because of, like we were talking about pre, this is baby boomers Getting up into that age bracket. Sure getting in and out of those garden. I don't want to do it. Right imagine anything else wanting to do.

Speaker 3: 16:44

I mean I've got my glass of wine in one hand and a slippery surface down. No, yeah. So again it's going into aging in place soaking tubs. You have a tiny lip on the edge of it, so much easier to get in and out of, and especially if you want that muscle relaxation at focusing more on that. You know Massage aspect of it. That's what we're getting so.

Speaker 1: 17:02

So let's dive into some of the agent in place, because that's a it's a longer topic than just the list. With the agent in place, you're basically making it to where, as they get older and they may eventually need a walker or wheelchair or things like that. Let's hit on a couple of the specific things. So for us, we have put in things like the seamless entry into the shower.

Speaker 3: 17:28

That is huge, that's huge, okay, and not only for being ADA compliant if you're a rental home or what have you, but also I've worked with a lot of clients Whose children have disabilities you're getting them, walking them into a shower with a zero entrance, and then, of course, yeah, so you get older and we all don't want to think about it, but it's good to think about it.

Speaker 3: 17:47

It is we want to be able to take care of ourselves in our own homes. Yeah, that's a big, big part of why aging in place has become so important, and if you have the space that will allow you to stay in your home comfortably, why wouldn't you invest that money into it?

Speaker 1: 18:01

Absolutely yeah having to move to somewhere else and spend additional funds or go you know right and and some of the additional things besides, like the ADA aspect, like grab bars and things is like, sometimes lower in the countertops to the appropriate height, you know, and different things and features like that, even when you do the Walk-in showers that are seamless. We're also putting in benches, yeah, and what is popular and I love it is the. I think they're more like a teak that the fold down. Yes, I love those.

Speaker 3: 18:36

They look good you know they're also great for space. So if you are needing to use a walk or a wheelchair and you have to bring it in the shower with you, it's much easier to get your chair or get your walker in there, fold it down and then sit down versus maneuver around a stationary bench.

Speaker 1: 18:51

I wasn't even thinking about the space saving aspect, I just like the feature yeah okay, awesome. Okay, so aging in place.

Speaker 3: 18:59

That's one of the big ones right now. We are also seeing a lot of large format tiles.

Speaker 1: 19:04

Yeah, large format tiles, oh goodness, and you guys are blowing my mind with the tile that we're getting into our showroom. And then you showed me what did you call that? A match? What was it?

Speaker 3: 19:16

It's called book match.

Speaker 1: 19:18

Book match.

Speaker 3: 19:18

So book match basically means when you have tile and I'm just going to use this, which is funny because it is trends and influences.

Speaker 1: 19:24

There you go Nice.

Speaker 3: 19:26

When you're looking at a piece of tile, it's not book match. It just means that the pattern kind of goes everywhere. Yeah, and usually in a bundle there's about four to six tiles that have their own pattern. Yeah Well, when they're book matched, it means that you actually have tiles that when you put them side by side, the picture goes across it fluidly.

Speaker 1: 19:45

Yeah, and after, after we get done with cordon, I want to go and show the audience how cool because y'all blew my mind with that because it was not two of the same pattern, tiles or color, it was a floral pattern, two completely different and a and it matched it's not different patterns, it actually is just different colors. Okay, yeah, yeah, the patterns the same, but it looks different because of the colors. Got you?

Speaker 3: 20:10

Okay. So that's huge, but not even on a large format scale for like showers. We talked about this at market is. You know most people are looking at for a shower wall to save money a 24 by 42 or 16 by 36. Well, now they're doing and getting better at it. The porcelain sheets Gotcha and I don't know if you've seen those yet or not We've got some at the wholesale distribution center. So a whole porcelain sheet basically can redo one shower.

Speaker 3: 20:34

Wow it can do the back wall and the side walls in the pattern flows across the whole shower. Okay, it's unbelievable. Now you do have to have you know, some knowledge, and take some training courses, like you all supply, before you start to dive into those kinds of things.

Speaker 1: 20:51

So is this? Is this kind of like the Onyx, where you know, onyx, it's a whole sheet that we stick in onto the walls, or but it's porcelain. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 21:01

So Onyx in its capacities only has, it can only do so much.

Speaker 2: 21:06

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 21:07

Porcelain. With the way that they ink, jet everything, it will replicate the look of marble.

Speaker 1: 21:12

Gotcha.

Speaker 3: 21:13

I mean it will fool you. It will. I'm in a designer and I can look at small sheets and until I turn it on its side and realize that the vein doesn't go all the way through, sometimes I can't tell.

Speaker 1: 21:22

Wow.

Speaker 3: 21:23

So that's how amazing that stuff is. So, yeah, so large formats is definitely a huge, huge hitter, and that helps with grout lines too. Yeah, you can age, you can play, so you don't want to be scrubbing your shower.

Speaker 1: 21:32

Well, we're getting that a lot too, and why people are going to the alternative materials, such as an Onyx shower system, is because there are a lot of people who cannot stand to clean grout, and so the larger format you have, very, you don't have as many grout lines, right, exactly? So, okay, makes sense.

Speaker 3: 21:49

Exactly, and all these for the most part have. You know we've talked about four rectified edge. Yes, Very minimal grout lines, so large format. Sustainability is another one. Okay, that hit a little harder on the West Coast. It's slowly easing its way over here to the East Coast. But you know, having a sustainable product, you know for tax benefits but also to for the future.

Speaker 2: 22:10

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 22:10

You know if you're going to be selling that home or if your children are going to be moving into it. That makes a huge impact.

Speaker 1: 22:17

Right.

Speaker 3: 22:17

On overall your money.

Speaker 1: 22:19

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 22:20

Also the environment. I'm a huge green person. One of my favorite countertop companies is Cambria Stone.

Speaker 1: 22:25

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 22:25

They recycle even their own water. They recycle their own quartz dust.

Speaker 1: 22:29

Wow, I mean, I'm just spending the extra money for a company who cares that much about my future, absolutely, and sustainability, you know, and design and everything. So it's more about the energy efficiency and call savings as well. People don't understand that something like a bathroom can save you money when designed properly. Thanks for joining us today. As always, we are grateful for our listeners and your continued support. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Follow us on social media via Facebook, instagram and Tik Tok. Get more info at our website, wwwtheshomebuildingshowcom. And, as always, for who we are the home building and remodeling show.