Bathroom remodel checklists

Your right to cancel. The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule (16 CFR Part 429) covers sales of consumer goods or services where you agreed to buy somewhere other than the seller's place of business — including your own kitchen table. The threshold is $25 at your residence and $130 elsewhere. The rule requires the seller to include, in bold 10-point type: "You, the buyer, may cancel this transaction at any time prior to midnight of the third business day after the date of this transaction."

Read the exclusions before relying on it. The rule does not cover sales made at the seller's fixed retail location, transactions conducted entirely by mail or phone with no in-person contact, or repairs you initiated and requested — though goods and services the seller adds beyond what you asked for are a different matter. Many states also have their own home-improvement contract cancellation laws that are broader; check your state attorney general or consumer protection office.

Before demolition. Confirm the permit is pulled by the contractor, in the contractor's name. Confirm the waterproofing product by name. Agree the change-order rate. Photograph the room. Get the lien-waiver process in writing if your state uses them.

During the job. Take photos of the open walls, the pan liner, and the completed waterproofing before tile. Take photos of the exhaust duct termination. These five minutes of phone photos are the only permanent record of the parts of your bathroom you will never see again.

How to choose

Line-item scope, not a lump sum

Demo, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing, tile, fixtures, cleanup — each priced. It is the only way to compare bids or dispute an invoice.

Never pay a large deposit up front

Several states cap home-improvement deposits. Check your state's rule and tie payments to completed milestones, not dates.

Permit in the contractor's name

An owner-pulled permit shifts code liability to you. On a paid job, that is backwards.

Keep the cancellation notice

The Cooling-Off Rule requires the seller to give you the notice and cancellation forms. If they did not, that itself is a problem worth raising.

Photograph the waterproofing

Before tile. It is unverifiable afterward and it is the part that fails.

Confirm insurance directly with the insurer

Ask for the certificate and call the listed agent. Certificates are easy to fake and easy to let lapse.