Bathroom Remodeling in Sarasota, FL

Where a Woodshop Fits in a Bathroom Renovation in Sarasota

Most bathroom renovation in Sarasota involves three kinds of work: wet trades (plumbing, shower pans, waterproofing, tile), electrical (fans, lighting, outlets) and the cabinetry and woodwork people touch and see. Our shop owns the third part from drawing to install. A licensed plumber sets valves, drains and supply lines; a tile setter handles the shower and floor; a licensed electrician handles fans and lights.

Because the cabinetry is the piece with the longest lead time and the most decisions, it usually sets the rhythm for the rest of the room. Once the vanity drawings are approved, the plumber knows exactly where drains and supplies must land, and the tile setter knows where the backsplash stops.

Four Bathroom Projects We Design and Build

Custom vanities

Floating, double, furniture-style or with a seated makeup area, custom bathroom vanities are the heart of most bath projects we take on. Each one is sized to the room and to where the drains already sit, or to where your plumber plans to move them.

Primary bathrooms

A primary bathroom remodel brings the most cabinetry together: his-and-hers vanities, a linen tower, a storage wall for towels and toiletries, sometimes a dressing area that runs into the closet.

Accessible and aging-in-place baths

For accessible bathroom remodeling, we build sink cabinets a wheelchair can pull under, drawers placed where a seated person can reach them, and wood blocking so grab bars can be mounted now or later.

Powder rooms

A powder room remodel is small enough to justify a statement vanity in figured walnut or a paneled wall, and it rarely needs the plumbing moved.

Bath cabinetry is one branch of our wider custom cabinetry work, and the same shop builds the cabinets behind kitchen remodeling in Sarasota when a project spans both rooms.

Which Woods and Finishes Stand Up to Bath Humidity?

Moisture is the enemy of cheap bathroom cabinets. Particleboard boxes swell at the edges where water sits after a splash, and once they swell they do not shrink back. Our shop does not build bath cabinets from mass-produced MDF or particleboard boxes. Our custom bath cabinetry uses domestic hardwoods such as white oak, maple and cherry, or exotic species when a client wants them, never endangered ones.

• White oak has closed pores that resist water better than most domestic species and takes a natural or stained finish well.
• Maple is hard and fine-grained, the usual choice for painted vanities because paint lays smooth on it.
• Walnut and cherry suit furniture-style pieces and powder rooms where the grain is the decoration.
• Teak and other exotics come from the shop's marine background and work where splash is constant.

Finish matters as much as species. We seal every face of a bathroom piece, including backs, undersides and the inside of the sink base, so moisture cannot get into bare end grain from behind.

Signs a Sarasota bath is ready for new cabinetry

Typical symptoms: a vanity floor gone soft around the trap, doors that no longer close flush, stapled drawers coming apart and two people sharing one sink. Builder-grade vanities in 1980s-2000s subdivisions are wearing out, 1950s-60s block homes keep small original baths, island salt air pits hinges, and Helene and Milton flooded many ground-floor baths in 2024.

From Measure to Install: How a Bath Cabinetry Project Runs

1. 1

   Measure and talk

   We visit, measure the room, note where the drains, supply lines and outlets are, and hear how the space is used morning and night.

2. 2

   Drawings and 3D model

   Elevations, a rendering of the room, wood samples, door styles and hardware are all settled before anything goes to the bench.

3. 3

   Trade hand-off

   If plumbing moves, your licensed plumber or one we bring in gets the approved drawings so rough-in lands exactly where the vanity needs it.

4. 4

   Shop build

   Cabinet parts are milled, assembled and finished at the shop while tile and shower work happen at the house.

5. 5

   Install and tops

   We set, level and scribe the cabinets. Wood tops go on right away; stone tops are templated by the fabricator once the boxes are fixed.

6. 6

   Final connections

   The plumber sets sinks and faucets, the electrician finishes lights, and we return to fit hardware and adjust doors.

What Drives Bathroom Remodel Cost in Sarasota?

We do not publish prices, because two vanities of the same width can differ widely once wood, drawers and tops are chosen. These are the factors that move a bathroom remodel cost in Sarasota, roughly from most to least influential on the cabinetry side:

Licensed Trades, Permits and Who Handles What

Florida law requires a licensed contractor for work that moves plumbing, wiring or walls, and that work generally needs a permit from the City of Sarasota or Sarasota County building department, depending on where the house sits. SRQ Woodworks Co. is a cabinetry and woodworking shop: we design, build and install the woodwork and coordinate our schedule around the licensed trades doing the rest.

Under Chapter 489, Florida Statutes, the Florida DBPR licenses those contractors, and the Florida Building Code, Residential requires a bath without an openable window to have an exhaust fan ducted outdoors.

Caring for Wood in a Steamy Room

A sealed hardwood vanity can last decades in a Gulf Coast bathroom if moisture never sits on it. Run the exhaust fan through the shower and for a while after. Wipe standing water off the top and the toe kick. Keep the caulk line where the top meets the backsplash intact, and look under the sink a couple of times a year for slow drips at the supply valves.