Bathroom remodeling in Dallas–Fort Worth

Q: Is the water hard here?

Fort Worth's 2025 report gives a range of 108 mg/L to 150 mg/L. Fort Worth Water's 2025 report puts the total hardness of its water at 6 to 9 grains per gallon. Dallas Water Utilities doesn't list hardness in its 2025 report. Dallas Water Utilities draws surface water from seven sources, the Elm Fork of the Trinity River and lakes Ray Roberts, Lewisville, Grapevine, Ray Hubbard, Tawakoni and Fork, and treats it at three plants.

A midrange bathroom remodel in Dallas cost $23,121¹ in the 2025 Cost vs. Value report, below the $26,138² national average. On a slab house, the bigger local factor is the ground: Expansive clay soils swell when they take on water and shrink as they dry, and those cycles can crack foundations and walls, jam doors and tilt floors.³

Call a Dallas–Fort Worth pro(833) 517-7015Answered 8am–7pm CT

Calls are recorded. One independent company that handles bathroom remodels in the Dallas–Fort Worth area answers.

Updated October 12, 2026

Illustration of a remodeled hall bathroom in a 1950s Dallas ranch, with blush-beige tile around the tub, brass fixtures and a charcoal hex floor. — Illustration

What a bathroom costs in Dallas–Fort Worth

Cost vs. Value surveys Dallas but not Fort Worth, so its 2025 Dallas page stands in for the whole metro.

Measure	Dallas	U.S. average
Midrange bathroom remodel, job cost	$23,121¹	$26,138²
Upscale bathroom remodel, job cost	$72,769¹	$81,612²
Universal-design bathroom remodel, job cost	$35,974¹	$42,183²

All three Dallas bath jobs price under the national figures. Floor leveling or a shower drain moved through the slab is where a local quote usually climbs.

What comes back when you sell

The share of a midrange bath's cost the report expects to return at resale:

Measure	Dallas	U.S. average
Midrange bathroom remodel, cost recouped at resale	76%¹	80%⁴

Dallas trails the national figure slightly, so plan the bath for daily use more than for a sale.

How old the houses are

Census year-built counts for Dallas County, with Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth, beside it:

Measure	Dallas County	Tarrant County
Homes built before 1980	45%⁵	33%⁵
Homes built 1950–1969	22%⁵	15%⁵
Homes built 2000 or later	27%⁵	36%⁵

Dallas County's housing is noticeably older than Tarrant's. A Dallas bath is more likely to sit in a postwar house; a Tarrant bath is more often in a house from the last few decades.

What homes are worth here

Home values help keep a bath budget in proportion to the house.

Measure	Dallas County	Tarrant County
Median home value (owner-occupied)	$303,000⁶	$323,900⁶

Against a Dallas County median of $303,000⁶, the midrange bath at $23,121¹ is a modest share of the house, which is why it's the usual choice.

What bathroom trades earn

BLS medians for the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metro, next to the national figures:

Measure	Dallas–Fort Worth metro	United States
Plumbers, median hourly wage	$29.45/hr⁷	$30.67/hr⁷
Electricians, median hourly wage	$28.37/hr⁷	$30.38/hr⁷
Carpenters, median hourly wage	$23.44/hr⁷	$29.12/hr⁷
Tile and stone setters, median hourly wage	$23.04/hr⁷	$26.77/hr⁷

Every bath trade here earns less than nationally, and the tile setter median sits just under the carpenter's.

Heat and freezes at DFW Airport

NOAA's normals at Dallas/Fort Worth International, with summer humidity from Dallas Love Field:

Measure	North Texas
Days a year with a high of 100°F or more	20 days⁸
Days a year with a high of 90°F or more	106 days⁸
Days a year with a low at or below freezing	29 days⁸
July afternoon relative humidity	49%⁹

Summer afternoons here are hot but drier than on the coast; the bigger plumbing risk comes in winter, when nights at or below freezing are common enough that a tub or shower valve on an outside wall needs insulation behind it.

How hard the water is

Fort Worth Water publishes a hardness range in its 2025 report. Dallas Water Utilities' 2025 report lists no hardness figure.

Measure	Dallas–Fort Worth water
Water hardness, low end of range	108 mg/L¹⁰
Water hardness, high end of range	150 mg/L¹⁰
Water hardness, yearly average	No published estimate¹¹

The USGS classes water at 61 to 120 mg/L of hardness as moderately hard.¹² The USGS classes water at 121 to 180 mg/L of hardness as hard.¹² Fort Worth's water runs from the top of moderately hard into hard, enough to spot glass doors and crust shower heads.

Permits

Each city runs its own permit office. In Dallas, permits go through the DallasNow portal, structural work needs a building permit, and homeowners may act as their own contractor only on their homestead and only if they do the work themselves. Fort Worth spells out more: moving walls, replacing more than a small patch of drywall, or touching plumbing, including a shower pan, all need permits, while cosmetic work doesn't. In suburbs outside both cities, ask the company which city's office it will file with.

In Dallas, a residential permit is the city's approval to start construction on projects such as remodeling a kitchen, and DallasNow is the online portal for all of the city's permitting.¹³
Dallas says a building permit is generally needed for work on a building's structural elements, and its full list of work that needs no permit is in Chapter 52, Section 301(b) of the city code, including stopping a leak when nothing has to be replaced.¹⁴
Dallas lets homeowners act as their own contractor without registering only on their homestead, and only if they do the work themselves without help from anyone they pay.¹⁵
Fort Worth requires a building permit for changing, moving or repairing walls or floors, for replacing drywall over a total of 16 square feet, and for replacing or adding exterior doors or windows.¹⁶
In Fort Worth, changing, installing, moving or repairing plumbing, including water heaters and shower pans, needs a plumbing permit, and electrical and heating and air conditioning work need their own permits.¹⁶
Fort Worth doesn't require permits for cosmetic remodels such as floor or wall coverings, cabinets, countertops and shelving.¹⁶
A Fort Worth building permit applicant must be a registered building contractor or a homeowner working on a house they own and live in as their primary residence, shown by a homestead exemption from the appraisal district.¹⁶

Checked October 12, 2026

Before you hire

Texas doesn't license general contractors, so ask for the license numbers of the plumber, electrician and HVAC contractor on your job and check them with TDLR or the State Board of Plumbing Examiners.

How to check a contractor's license in Texas

Talk to a pro who handles bathroom remodels in Dallas–Fort Worth

Call now(833) 517-7015Answered 8am–7pm CT

Calls are recorded. You'll be connected to one independent company that handles bathroom remodels in your area. We never call or text you. Privacy Policy ·Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Bathrooms on North Texas slabs

Dallas County built 22%⁵ of its current homes in the 1950s and 1960s, when a brick ranch typically got one hall bath. Slab-on-ground foundations became common in the early 1950s, and light houses on slabs over expansive soil are more exposed to damage when the soil's moisture changes.³

Expansive clay soils swell when they take on water and shrink as they dry, and those cycles can crack foundations and walls, jam doors and tilt floors.³ Cracked grout lines, a door that sticks or a tub that has pulled away from the wall can all point to movement under the slab. Fort Worth requires a building permit and engineered plans for every residential foundation repair.¹⁶ Settle any foundation work before tile, not after.

The EPA lists vinyl floor tile, vinyl sheet backing and flooring adhesives among products that may contain asbestos, which is released mainly when the material is disturbed.¹⁷ The EPA advises having an accredited asbestos professional inspect before a remodel that could disturb suspect materials, and not sanding or power-stripping suspect flooring yourself.¹⁸ The EPA notes that lead can collect inside galvanized pipe and later reach drinking water, and that solder made before 1986 contained high levels of lead.¹⁹

A bath you can stay in

More than one in four adults 65 and older fall each year.²⁰ The CDC's home fall-prevention checklist recommends grab bars in and beside the tub and next to the toilet, and a non-slip surface on tub and shower floors.²¹ The National Institute on Aging suggests non-skid surfaces wherever a floor can get wet and a light left on in the bathroom at night.²²

Cost vs. Value priced a universal-design bath at $35,974¹ in Dallas in 2025. Single-story ranches make aging in place easier than most houses, and a curbless shower on a slab needs the floor recessed, so raise it at the start. NAHB's Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) credential trains remodelers in home modifications for aging in place.²³

What happens when you call

When you call this number, the recorded call goes to one independent company that handles bathroom remodels in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. Scope, schedule and cost are settled directly with them.

We get paid for the call; you pay us nothing, and we don't call or text you later. How we make money

After you're connected

Remodelers don't hold a state license in Texas, but plumbers and electricians do. Check the names on your contract yourself. TDLR's License Data Search lists active licenses only and can be searched by license type, license number, name or business name, city, county or ZIP code.²⁴ The Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners' public license search looks up plumbers by name, by name and license type, by license number, or by city or county.²⁵ Check a Texas license

Questions people ask

How much does a bathroom remodel cost in Dallas–Fort Worth?

Cost vs. Value's 2025 Dallas page priced a midrange bath at $23,121¹, an upscale one at $72,769¹ and a universal-design bath at $35,974¹. There is no separate Fort Worth figure. Slab and floor repairs are the usual reason a real quote runs higher.

Do I need a permit for a bathroom remodel in Dallas or Fort Worth?

Usually, once plumbing or walls are involved. In Fort Worth, changing, installing, moving or repairing plumbing, including water heaters and shower pans, needs a plumbing permit, and electrical and heating and air conditioning work need their own permits.¹⁶ Fort Worth doesn't require permits for cosmetic remodels such as floor or wall coverings, cabinets, countertops and shelving.¹⁶ Dallas says a building permit is generally needed for work on a building's structural elements, and its full list of work that needs no permit is in Chapter 52, Section 301(b) of the city code, including stopping a leak when nothing has to be replaced.¹⁴

Is the water hard here?

Fort Worth's 2025 report gives a range of 108 mg/L¹⁰ to 150 mg/L¹⁰. Fort Worth Water's 2025 report puts the total hardness of its water at 6 to 9 grains per gallon.¹⁰ Dallas Water Utilities doesn't list hardness in its 2025 report. Dallas Water Utilities draws surface water from seven sources, the Elm Fork of the Trinity River and lakes Ray Roberts, Lewisville, Grapevine, Ray Hubbard, Tawakoni and Fork, and treats it at three plants.¹¹

Who will I be talking to?

The call reaches one independent company that handles bathroom remodels in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, and its own staff take it from there. Since we don't look into anyone's licensing, confirm the plumber yourself. In Texas, no one may do plumbing without the license, registration or endorsement the plumbing law requires, and license holders must carry the license with them while they work.²⁶

Sources

Page updated October 12, 2026. How we source our numbers

Zonda / Journal of Light Construction, Cost vs. Value 2025, Dallas, TX. Released 2025. Dallas, TX (Cost vs. Value market). Industry source.
Zonda / Journal of Light Construction, Cost vs. Value 2025, national. Released 2025. United States. Industry source.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research, Cityscape Vol. 25 No. 1: Residential House Foundations on Expansive Soils in Changing Climates (Tabassum and Bulut). Released 2023. View source.
Zonda / Journal of Light Construction, Cost vs. Value 2025, Cleveland, OH. Released 2025. United States. Industry source.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year, table B25034. Released January 29, 2026. Dallas County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year, table B25077. Released January 29, 2026. Dallas County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Released May 15, 2026. Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, TX metro, Plumbers, United States, Electricians, United States, Carpenters, United States, Tile and stone setters, United States.
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020. Released 2021. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (station USW00003927).
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Comparative Climatic Data, average relative humidity, data through 2023. Released November 2024. Dallas Love Field (WBAN 13960), the Dallas station with humidity data.
City of Fort Worth, Fort Worth Water, 2025 Water Quality Report. Released 2026. Fort Worth Water.
City of Dallas, Dallas Water Utilities, City of Dallas Water Quality Report (Water Quality Data Report for 2025). Released 2026. Dallas Water Utilities.
U.S. Geological Survey, Water Science School: Hardness of Water. No publication date. View source.
City of Dallas Planning & Development, Permitting & Inspections, Residential permits. No publication date. View source.
City of Dallas Planning & Development, Permitting & Inspections, Building Inspection FAQs. No publication date. View source.
City of Dallas Building Inspection, Homeowner's Exemption from Registration as a Contractor. Released January 1, 2018. View source.
City of Fort Worth Development Services, Residential Permitting. No publication date. View source.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Learn About Asbestos. Released July 13, 2026. View source.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Protect Your Family from Exposures to Asbestos. Released June 25, 2026. View source.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Sources of Lead in Drinking Water. Released August 2017. View source.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Facts About Older Adult Falls. Released September 4, 2026. View source.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, STEADI: Check for Safety, a home fall prevention checklist for older adults. No publication date. View source.
National Institute on Aging, Preventing Falls at Home: Room by Room. Released September 12, 2022. View source.
National Association of Home Builders, Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS). No publication date. View source. Industry source.
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, TDLR License Data Search. No publication date. View source.
Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, Public License Search. No publication date. View source.
Texas Legislature, Occupations Code chapter 1301, Plumbers. No publication date. View source.