New construction

New construction refers to work done on a house that's being entirely built from the ground up. If you're building from scratch, you've got the most leeway in creating the bath size, location, and configuration you want. With new construction, it's easy to fit a master bath within your master bedroom suite and a bath between or near your children's bedrooms.

You can specify a half bath or a powder room near the dining room, living room, or family room -- whatever seems best to you. And if you want another bath in your home office or guest suite, above the garage in the bonus room, or downstairs in the rec room, you can have that, too.

Of course, your overall house and lot size will affect the size and number of bathrooms you can fit in, and your budget for baths is just one part of your home-building dollars. But in new construction, you can trade off square feet and dollars between the bathrooms and other spaces for maximum flexibility.