Cost-Effective Bathroom Renovations at CrossFit LoLo

Undergoing bathroom renovations, CrossFit LoLo located in Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, will have a very distinct “hipster spa” feel after all is said and done.

Kelsey Goodwin, a co-owner and the manager of the gym, has been in charge of designing and orchestrating the renovation. “Financially it’s big, but we are required by the city to add another toilet as well as ventilation to bring things up to code,” she said. “So, we decided to add showers and a staff/utility room as well.”

While coming up to code is key, Goodwin also mentioned they hope to attract more members in the morning classes once the showers have been installed.

During the process, she has learned several things along the way to keep the bathroom renovation cost effective. Goodwin shared some of her tricks and cost-saving tips below:

• Buying refurbished on eBay worked great for their wall-mounted drinking fountain. Instead of $2,000 it was only $600.
• Dyson Airblades off of eBay have been a great addition as well; they saved over $500 and will also help the environment by not using paper towels.
• CrossFit LoLo also bought a 50% off refurbished Dyson hair dryer. Goodwin said her co-owner thought it was unnecessary, until they got the members’ responses. “I showed him all the excited messages I received once I put it on social media,” explained Goodwin. “We are an 80% female gym, and it’s the little things.”
• Wayfair and Amazon have also been excellent for affordable and classy plumbing and electrical fixtures.
• Goodwin said they got their bathroom tile for cheap after asking a local flooring company if they had any leftovers from large jobs.
• Fiberglass enclosures are hard to keep clean; custom glass was pricy. So, Goodwin said the solution has been to make the entire room a shower.

The above helped save CrossFit LoLo quite a bit of money. “With the savings, we were able to splurge on other things, like pendant lighting above the front desk, reclaimed wood slabs for the vanities, a wall-mounted drinking fountain and wall-mounted beauty lights,” said Goodwin. “The final result will feel like a hipster spa and not cost as much as it looks.”

Affiliate Tip: A Nifty Designing App

When first designing the gym and the bathroom renovations, Goodwin using an online app program called Floor Planner that she highly recommends.

“If you’ve ever played The Sims, it will be familiar to you,” she said. “The program even has Rogue and other equipment built in. It was a great tool to learn how much space we had and what to buy for equipment before we were able to take possession of the space eight months ago. I also used the renders to advertise the gym and sell pre-launch tickets.”