A Universal Design Bathroom Is Built for Living, Not for Resale

Home Improvement Payback Guide, part 14 of 21

Illustrative photo, not a Bay Area property. Photo from Pexels.

Maybe a parent is moving in. Maybe you want to stay in your home for decades to come. Either way, you are wondering the same thing: if you make your bathroom wheelchair accessible, will you get that money back when you sell?

The short answer is no, not most of it. In the 2021 national Cost vs. Value study, this project brought back about 58 cents for every dollar spent. It ranked number 14 of the 20 projects this guide covers. But resale is only half the story, and for many Tri-City families it is the smaller half.

Numbers above are 2021 national averages from the Cost vs. Value study. They are a ranking guide, not a quote for your home.

The study prices one very specific bathroom project.

Before we look at the numbers, it helps to know exactly what they price. The study describes making a 5 by 7 foot bathroom fully wheelchair accessible. That is a bigger job than swapping a faucet, and the list below shows why.

• Widening the doorway to 36 inches so a wheelchair fits through
• Removing the tub and building a curbless tiled walk in shower, meaning a shower with no step to climb over, with a fold out seat and an adjustable showerhead
• An anti scald mixing valve, a safety device that keeps the water from ever getting dangerously hot
• A comfort height toilet, which sits taller and is easier to get on and off
• A heated floor under luxury vinyl tile, plus a vanity adapted so a seated person can use the sink
• Grab bars rated to hold 250 pounds

The 2021 numbers show a real gap at resale.

The 2021 national Cost vs. Value study, put the national cost of this project at $38,813. At resale, it added back about $22,475. That leaves a gap of $16,338 that the sale price did not cover. Put simply, you got back about 58 cents for every dollar you spent, on average.

Two cautions before you use those numbers. They are national averages, and Bay Area quotes for the same work usually run higher. And they are averages from a study, not a quote for your house, so treat them as a rough guide only.

The San Francisco metro picture looks much the same.

The 2025 Cost vs. Value report for the San Francisco metro area puts this project at $52,228, with about $26,598 added back at resale. Fremont, Newark and Union City all sit inside that metro. That works out to roughly 51 cents back for every dollar spent. One important warning: the report changed how it measures results between 2021 and 2025, so the 2021 numbers and the 2025 numbers cannot be compared to each other. Read each year on its own, not as a trend line.

Here, this remodel is about family before resale.

In the Tri-City area, this project has a stronger case than the national numbers suggest, just not for the reason you might think. Multigenerational households are common here, and so is the wish to age in place, meaning staying in your own home as you get older instead of moving. A bathroom a parent can keep using safely is real, daily value for the family living in the house.

The catch is the resale market. The pool of buyers who will pay extra for grab bars and a curbless shower is narrower than the pool who will pay extra for a fresh kitchen. So do not count on the sale price to pay you back for this one. Count on the years of safe, comfortable use instead.

Make this change for the years you live there.

Here is a simple rule of thumb for remodel money. Outside projects, like a new front door or garage door, tend to earn their keep when you sell soon, because they shape the first impression. Inside projects, and this bathroom is squarely an inside project, are for the years you live in the home. The value is in the daily use, not in the check when you sell.

One more practical note: this is not a quick job. Between design, permits and a contractor's schedule, plan it well before anyone in your home actually needs the accessibility. Waiting until after a fall or a surgery makes everything harder.

And the honest skip: if nobody in your household needs these features and you expect to sell soon, pass on this project. Put the money toward the simple things buyers notice first.

Questions homeowners ask

See the full charts and payback calculator →

Cost and resale figures are from the Cost vs. Value Report, © Zonda Media, LLC (2021 national edition and 2025 San Francisco metro edition, costvsvalue.com), deemed reliable but not guaranteed. They are averages for the specific projects studied and are not an estimate or a prediction for any specific property. The 2021 and 2025 editions measure differently and are not comparable to each other. Prepared by Harv Balu, REALTOR®, GRI, CIPS, PSA, FTBS. REALTY EXPERTS®, DRE #02195792. Call or text 510 600 3425. Equal Housing Opportunity.