Bathroom Vanity Installation Cost in Ontario: The Plumber, the Carpenter, and the Hour That Becomes Four

The numbers

The vanity calculator adds the right line from this table to the price of whatever vanity you pick.

Who does what

A plumber in Ontario charges $110 to $170 an hour, with a one or two hour minimum, and does the part that matters: the shut-offs, the P-trap, the supply lines, the faucet and the drain assembly, the test for leaks. A carpenter, installer or handyman charges $65 to $110 an hour and does the part that takes longest: levelling the cabinet on an uneven floor, scribing the filler to a wall that is not plumb, securing the cabinet to the studs, setting the top, cutting the back of the cabinet for the pipes, and the trim. On a straight swap one person often does both and does not mind. On anything where the wall gets opened, it is two trades and you should expect two invoices, or one contractor who bills for both.

What is in a proper install quote

• Shut off and disconnect the old faucet, trap and supplies.
• Remove the old vanity and top; cap or protect the stub-outs.
• Check the floor for level and the wall for plumb; shim the new cabinet level and plumb; scribe a filler or the side if the wall is out.
• Cut the cabinet back or floor for the drain and supplies.
• Secure the cabinet to the wall studs with screws through the hanging rail (not into drywall).
• Set the top in silicone; mount an undermount sink with clips and silicone if the top did not come with it fitted.
• Install the faucet, drain assembly, pop-up, P-trap and new supply lines (new ones, every time; the old braided lines are the ones that flood bathrooms).
• Replace the shut-off valves if they are the old multi-turn type or do not fully close.
• Caulk the top to the wall and the backsplash.
• Run water, fill the basin, drain it, check every joint dry. Twice.
• Haul away the old vanity and the packaging.

What is not in it unless it says so: new shut-off valves (a $40 to $80 part each, and worth it), moving anything inside the wall, drywall repair and paint, tile repair where the old vanity was wider, the mirror and the light, and electrical. The plumbing problems page is the list of what the plumber finds when the old vanity comes out.

The five things that turn two hours into a day

1. The drain is in the wrong place for the new vanity. A drawer-base vanity needs the trap to clear the drawers, which it will not if the old drain comes out of the wall at 20 in. and the new vanity’s drawers run the full depth. The options are a shallower drawer, an offset drain kit ($40 to $90, and a notched drawer), or moving the drain ($400 to $900 with the wall opened). Check the vanity’s drawings against the stub-out height before buying it; the sizes and heights page has a fit checker that asks for this.
2. The new vanity is narrower than the old one. There is a stripe of unfinished floor and wall where the old one was. Tile patching, or a filler, or a wider vanity. The smarter order is to pick a vanity the same width or wider.
3. The shut-offs do not shut off. Every plumber has a story. Old multi-turn valves seize or weep, and the fix is new quarter-turn valves, which means draining the house line, which is the extra hour on the invoice. Budget it; it is the best $150 in the job.
4. The floor is out of level or the wall is out of plumb. A 1/2 in. drop across a 36 in. vanity is normal in an older house and means shimming, a tapered toe kick, and a scribed side. A wall that leans means a filler strip or a gap at the top.
5. The top does not come assembled. A big-box vanity with the sink glued in and the holes drilled is a two-hour install. A separate quartz top with an undermount sink that has to be mounted, and a faucet whose holes have to be drilled on site, adds two hours and a worry.

Floating vanities, which are their own thing

A wall-hung vanity carries its own weight and a full basin of water and a person leaning on it, all on the screws into the wall. It needs 2×6 or 3/4 in. plywood blocking between the studs at the right height, which is in the wall before the drywall in a new bathroom and is a hole in the drywall in an old one. The plumbing also has to come out of the wall at the vanity’s height, not the floor, because there is no cabinet to hide a floor drain in. The install itself is quick once the blocking is in; the blocking is the cost. The floating vs. freestanding page goes through whether it is worth it.

Doing it yourself

A straight swap of a pre-assembled vanity, with the stub-outs where they were, working shut-offs and a level floor, is a reasonable Saturday for someone who owns a level, a drill and an adjustable wrench, and the plumbing supply store will sell you the trap kit and the new supplies for $60. The parts that go wrong for first-timers: over-tightening the compression fittings (snug plus a quarter turn, not more), not replacing the supply lines, the pop-up drain assembly (follow the faucet’s instructions exactly, and use plumber’s putty or the gasket it came with, not both), and finding the shut-offs do not close. If any of the five things above is true of your bathroom, it is a plumber’s job and the $500 is well spent.