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▶Bathroom Remodel Planner
Know the cost. Order on time.
The bathroom is behind plastic, the household is queueing for the other one, and the shower glass cannot even be measured until the tile is grouted. Someone finds rot under the tub, you say yes to a niche, and the vanity light nobody remembered to order is the reason the electrician will not be back this week. A bathroom is small enough to feel simple and wet enough to surprise you: the budget slips one approved change at a time and it runs late one order at a time. This file keeps the number and the dates in one place, so the forecast is always today's and nothing is late to order.
- Budget, one row per cost: estimate, actual, paid and status, with Projected, Variance and Balance left automatic, and the forecast — projected lines plus approved change orders — read against the total budget with the contingency left
- Bids: three quotes per job, with the lowest, your pick, the chosen figure and the saving against the highest read, never typed, so paying over the low bid is a decision you can see rather than one you find out about
- Payments: one row per contractor with contract, deposit, three draws, retainage held, balance owed and percent paid, because one small room still runs to eight contractors on the worked sample and each is owed something different
- Change Orders: every scope change with its reason and its cost; approved rows flow into the forecast the same day and pending rows wait, so the rot under the tub and the heated floor you are still thinking about are two different numbers
- Selections: every product with its lead time in weeks and the day the crew needs it; the file counts back to the ORDER-BY date and flags LATE, ORDER THIS WEEK or the days you have left, then Ordered, On site and Installed, as of the date on Setup
Overview
Know the cost. Order on time.
The bathroom is behind plastic, the household is queueing for the other one, and the shower glass cannot even be measured until the tile is grouted. Someone finds rot under the tub, you say yes to a niche, and the vanity light nobody remembered to order is the reason the electrician will not be back this week. A bathroom is small enough to feel simple and wet enough to surprise you: the budget slips one approved change at a time and it runs late one order at a time. This file keeps the number and the dates in one place, so the forecast is always today's and nothing is late to order.
It is one workbook with 10 tabs and 2,370 formulas, and it opens the same way in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and Apple Numbers because every formula uses the portable function set — no add-ins, no macros, no login and nothing to install. You type in the cream cells only: a cost, a yes or no, a date. The forecast, the variance, the order-by dates, the flags, the Timeline percentages and the Dashboard are read, never typed. One line is one row, and small rooms hide the most: the file holds 200 budget lines, 40 bids, 40 payment rows, 80 change orders and 120 selections if you need them, and the Timeline runs nine phases from design and permits to glass install and the punch list. A worked sample ships inside — the Hawthorne Avenue primary bath, caught in tile week on 28 August 2026, with a $24,000 base budget and 15% contingency, 21 budget lines, five jobs bid three ways, eight contractors on the payment tracker, three change orders and 12 selections with their lead times — so every tab has something to show. Clear the sample rows and the formulas stay.
What's Included
One workbook, 10 tabs, in four color editions:
- Bathroom-Remodel-Planner.xlsx: the 10-tab workbook with 2,370 formulas, opening in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and Apple Numbers
- The same workbook in four color editions — Colorful, Light, Dark and Editorial — every one doing the same arithmetic
- A worked sample inside: the Hawthorne Avenue primary bath in tile week, 21 budget lines, five jobs bid three ways, eight contractors, three change orders and 12 selections, so every tab works on open
- The order board with every product's lead time, its order-by date and the LATE and ORDER THIS WEEK flags, worked out as of the date you set on Setup
- A full narrated video walkthrough on YouTube, linked on your confirmation page
- Five .xlsx files in one ZIP, instant download. Nothing is shipped and there is nothing to install
Key Benefits
Why this one
The Dashboard reads the forecast off the Budget tab — projected lines plus approved change orders — and says it in a sentence. On the Hawthorne Avenue primary bath: forecast $25,679, being $23,749 of projected lines plus $1,930 of approved changes, against a $27,600 total budget, $1,921 under. The $27,600 is a $24,000 base plus 15% contingency, and nothing on the Dashboard is typed.
A change order is where a bathroom's budget actually goes. Approved rows flow into the forecast the same day; pending rows wait and show what they would do. On the sample the $980 heated floor mat is still pending: approve it and the forecast moves from $25,679 to $26,659 and the contingency left drops from $1,921 to $941. You see that before you say yes.
Give each product its lead time in weeks and the day the crew needs it, and the file counts back to the order-by date. On the sample the vanity light is a four-week lead needed on site September 18, so the order-by date was August 21, and on August 28 it reads LATE 7 DAYS. It is a $189 part, and it is what the paint-and-vanity-light week waits on.
Frameless shower glass cannot be templated until the tile is grouted, and then it still takes three weeks. The sample glass is needed September 21, which puts the order-by date at August 31 and the flag at ORDER THIS WEEK on August 28, while the tile is still going up. The Timeline has the template on September 8 and the install in the last two days of the job.
Setup takes the day the bathroom goes out of service and the day it comes back, and the Calculators tab turns that into the number your family actually asks about: days without the bathroom. On the sample it is 46 days, demo on August 10 to the punch list on September 25. No quote has that on the bottom line.
Five jobs, three quotes each, and the lowest, your pick, the chosen figure and the saving against the highest are read, never typed. On the sample the low bids add to $11,175 and the ones actually chosen add to $12,520, so the file states the $1,345 premium plainly and the $1,770 saved against the highest. His number sits next to yours; the forecast you act on is on your screen.
Who It's For
Built for
- Homeowners planning or mid-way through a bathroom remodel with a contractor, who want their own number sitting next to his
- DIY remodelers running their own trades, ordering their own tile, glass and vanity and scheduling the gaps between them
- Anyone who has learned that the glass is measured after the tile, and learned it in week five
- Households with one bathroom, or one that matters, who need to know how many days it will be out and what it will cost by then
How It Works
Up and running in minutes
Your budget and contingency, how you are paying with the monthly loan payment worked out, the start and finish dates, the days the bathroom is out of service, your contractors and every drop-down list.
One row per cost on Budget, three quotes per job on Bids. Projected, Variance, Balance left, the lowest and the saving against the highest are all read.
The reason and the cost, approved or pending. Approved rows move the forecast the same day; pending rows sit there as what they would cost you.
The weeks it takes and the day the crew needs it, on Selections. The file counts back to the order-by date and raises the flag as of the date on Setup.
The forecast against the budget, under or over, the contingency left, paid to date, what is late to order and the next order-by date, on one screen and in one sentence.
Why It's Different
Not another template
Most remodel spreadsheets are a budget with a column for actuals, and the dates live in a text thread with the contractor. This one carries the calendar as arithmetic. Every product on Selections has a lead time in weeks and the day the crew needs it, and the file counts back to the order-by date and flags LATE, ORDER THIS WEEK or the days you have left, as of the date on Setup — which is the half of a bathroom that actually goes wrong, because the vanity takes six weeks and the shower glass cannot be measured until the tile is grouted. The money side is honest in the same way: the forecast is projected lines plus approved change orders, so the day you say yes to the heated floor is the day the number moves, and the contingency left is a figure rather than a hope. It is one room, so the calculators are the ones a bathroom needs — floor tile boxes, shower and wall tile with waste, paint gallons and days without the bathroom — and the file is honest about its limits too: what is behind the wall, the permit and the code are your contractor's call, and the loan payment is an estimate to confirm with your lender.
Delivery & Compatibility
Instant, and it opens in what you already use
As soon as your order is complete you get instant access to download the ZIP, so you can fill in Setup tonight and read the order board before the week is out.
Five .xlsx workbooks (the planner plus Colorful, Light, Dark and Editorial editions) delivered as one ZIP, instant download. Opens in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and Apple Numbers using the portable function set only — no add-ins, no macros, no login and nothing to install. The file ships with a worked sample remodel so every screen works on open; the images and video show that sample. The order-by dates and the flags are worked out as of the date you set on Setup, and the monthly loan payment is an estimate to confirm with your lender. This is a digital download; nothing is shipped.
FAQ
Questions, answered
My contractor has his own spreadsheet. Why do I need this?
His number is his. This one is yours, and it sits next to it: your budget, your bids, your change orders and your order dates, with a forecast you can check on a morning without asking anyone. On the sample the five bid jobs come to $11,175 at the low bids and $12,520 at the ones actually chosen, and the file says that $1,345 premium out loud rather than burying it.
I am not a spreadsheet person. How much do I have to type?
You type in the cream cells only: a cost, a yes or no, a date. Every other cell is a formula, 2,370 of them. The forecast, the variance, the order-by dates, the flags, the Timeline percentages and the Dashboard are read, never typed.
It is only a small bathroom. Is this too much file?
One line is one row, and small rooms hide the most — a bathroom packs more trades and more waterproofing into fewer square feet than anything else in the house. The sample is a primary bath with 21 budget lines and 12 selections, and the file holds 200 budget lines, 40 bids, 80 change orders and 120 selections if you need them.
What are the ten tabs?
Start Here; Setup; Budget; Bids; Payments; Change Orders; Selections; Calculators; Timeline; and Dashboard. Each does one job.
How does the order-by date work?
Every product on Selections carries a lead time in weeks and the day the crew needs it on site. The file counts back — the needed date minus the lead time — to the ORDER-BY date, and reads it against the as-of date on Setup: LATE with the days, ORDER THIS WEEK, or the days you have left, and then Ordered, On site or Installed as the product moves. On the sample the vanity light is a four-week lead needed September 18, so the order-by date is August 21, and on August 28 it reads LATE 7 DAYS while the shower glass reads ORDER THIS WEEK.
What happens when the contractor finds something?
That is what Change Orders are for. Every scope change gets a row with its reason and its cost, and a yes or no. Approved rows flow into the forecast the same day; pending rows wait and show what they would do. On the sample the $1,650 subfloor repair under the tub was approved on August 13 and is already inside the $25,679 forecast, while the $980 heated floor mat is pending: say yes and the forecast goes to $26,659 and the contingency left falls from $1,921 to $941.
Does it work out how much tile and paint to buy?
Yes, on the Calculators tab. Floor tile comes in boxes from the room size: on the sample a 10 by 6 foot floor is 60 square feet, and at 10% waste and 11 square feet a box that is 6 boxes. Shower and wall tile is measured wall by wall with the openings taken out and waste added, 100 square feet plus 15% being 115 to buy. Paint is gallons from coats and coverage, two on the sample. And the last one is the one no quote gives you: days without the bathroom, 46 on the sample.
What is the difference between the four color editions?
Only the look. Colorful, Light, Dark and Editorial are the same 10-tab workbook with the same formulas in a different palette, and all four ship in the download.
Is this a quote?
No. It is a planning tool that does the arithmetic on the costs, bids, changes and dates you enter; it is not a quote, an engineering opinion or financial advice. What is behind the wall, the permit and the code are your contractor's call, and the loan figures are estimates to confirm with your lender.
For personal use. A planning tool that does the arithmetic on the costs, bids, changes and dates you enter; not a quote, an engineering opinion or financial advice, and the loan figures are estimates to confirm with your lender. © 2026 NicheToolkitHub — no resale or redistribution.
