Bathroom renovations can easily cost you several thousand dollars, even for fairly basic jobs. Not everyone is willing or able to spend that much money however, so it will be necessary to think smart and possibly even compromise on certain aspects.
One of the costliest tasks involved renovating a bathroom is moving the fixtures such as the tub, the toilet, and the sink. Although it might seem like it is a good idea to move these fixtures to another location, leaving them where they are will save you quite a bit of money on labor as well as the cost of the fixtures themselves.
Most general contractors provide the materials to be used in the bathroom renovation. However, many of them also add on surcharges to the cots of these materials. If you want to save some money, it might be a good idea to shop for your own materials.
You could also save a bit of money on the costs of tiles not to mention the labor required to install them. Depending on your bathroom design, you might find it sufficient to install tiles only on the floor or around the tub, as opposed to tiling the walls as well. You could also install plain tiles with more expensive tiles or even mosaic bands as accents.
Countertops can be quite expensive as well, especially if you go with the costlier natural stone materials such as granite or marble. Although bathrooms generally need much less of these materials compared to kitchens, you should still strive for a design that makes judicious use of these materials in order to keep your costs manageable.
Another costly factor in bathroom renovations is the labor. If you want to reduce this cost considerably, you might want to consider doing some of the work yourself. Demolitions and repainting are simple enough tasks, and you could enlist the aid of some of your friends to make it even easier.