That would be a ludicrous amount of money to spend for a bathroom renovation in the US, even forgetting that there is no reason to do it every 15 years. A bathtub costs $500 max, toilet maybe $200, sink and vanity maybe another few hundred. Finishes should be another $1,000 max. Labor should be around $3,000 even in HCOL. So ripping out every fixture in a bathroom and replacing all the finishes, total should be within $5k. Even double that is $10k.
And bathtubs, toilets, and sinks last 20+ years easy (it’s porcelain and/or cast iron, what can go wrong?) Replacing the toilet innards is a 1 hour job at most with a $30 repair kit from the hardware store in case the seals wear out or something.
A facelift with e.g. new fixtures or paint I can do myself, that's not what I'm talking about. I mean a full renovation: stripping the room, putting up new drywall, then seal layer, then tiles. Then applying a new seal layer (nothing you are even allowed by insurers to do yourslef). After that tilling, electrical, plumbing, fixtures.
Why would you do all that? I've seen many 1950s-vintage houses where the sink and toilet have been replaced once, with no further changes, and they're fine. No on should hate brown tile so much that they spend so much money to tear the whole thing down.
Yes, your average Swede would rather live in the woods than have 80's tiles. Meanwhile an average american would perhaps rather have 4 80's baths than 2 new ones. And that's exactly the cultural difference the article is about I think. It goes part of the way to describing why I only have 1.5 bathrooms.
I also suppose there is a difference with wear. If you have e.g. one or two baths instead of 3 or four for a large family, then it might be in worse condition after 15 years.
Actually now that you mention it the bathrooms in Sweden when I visited were notably magical.
Maybe the author of the article should write about how many bathrooms Swedes have, installed in series every 10 years rather than in parallel when the house is built. A one bathroom house where the bathroom has been replaced 4 times in 40 years counts as 4 bathrooms.
And bathtubs, toilets, and sinks last 20+ years easy (it’s porcelain and/or cast iron, what can go wrong?) Replacing the toilet innards is a 1 hour job at most with a $30 repair kit from the hardware store in case the seals wear out or something.