New bathroom - need a hassle free, speedy solution - any ideas?

[superking]

We are desperate to replace the bathroom in our Victorian semi. Having recently lived through an extensive renovation of the rest of the house which we project managed ourselves, we want to do this in the most hassle free way possible - so ideally someone who can supply, install, and deal with all the extras (e.g. tiling, electrics) in house. We realise it might cost us a bit more to do it this way rather than organising all the trades and materials ourselves, but that's ok.

We got a reasonable quote from our plumber but he can only fit - we would have to organise the other trades ourselves - so we've ruled him out. We approached a couple of local independent bathroom specialists but despite coming out to have a look and measure up, neither bothered to get back to us despite our chasing

I'm 32 weeks pregnant and we would really like to get things sorted before the baby arrives. We're now considering looking at one of the big national chains (bathstore, wickes etc) in the hope that they will have the resources to get it done quickly. I'm really loathe to do this though as I generally don't feel like they are good value for money.

So... Has anyone used a big chain that they would recommend in the hope that I will be proved wrong? Or alternatively if anyone knows of a decent independent bathroom installer in the Crawley/ Tunbridge Wells/ Caterham area please could you give me a name or two?

[LaughingHyena]

We had ours done by B&Q recently, as you say, costs a bit more than shopping around but so much easier to get everything in one place.

They are also great at taking back anything unused, so we were able to order extra tiles etc just in case and return any unopened packs. Very handy as the ones we chose were being discontinued so there was no guaruntee we'd be able to pop out for extras.

[LizzieMacQueen]

A decent job will take at least two weeks to fit-out. Make sure you have somewhere suitable to bathe your heavily pregnant self whilst the work is under way.

If you are in Central Scotland I can recommend a great bathroom place.

[superking]

Thanks both. Wish I had pulled my finger out a bit sooner - I really thought it would all be done by now and I would be wallowing in a nice warm bath every night in the last stages of pregnancy. Sadly I'm in Sussex not Scotland but thanks LizzieMacQueen.

[PixieGio]

I could not fault bathstore. Had it all delivered to the house and our fitter just got straight on it - we chose the Edwardian Savoy stuff it's lovely. Ordered alot of our accessories from Victorian Plumbing too. Again, our fitter just opened it and got on with fitting it.

[JeffreySadsacIsUnwell]

Can your plumber recommend other trades? If so, it might actually be quicker to manage it yourself, especially if you mention you're pregnant.

When our shower leaked through to the kitchen and dining room below and the bathroom wall collapsed, necessitating replastering of kitchen and dining room ceilings and walls, new bathroom wall, new tiles, new shower enclosure, unit, tray, new flooring, etc, I was 41 weeks pregnant. I have never known so many tradesmen respond so quickly and work so fast. Initially we had an electrician's number (because the old shower was a low wattage and to install a new unit meant rewiring the shower circuit to the fuse box downstairs...). On hearing how pregnant I was, the electrician produced plumber, fitter and tiler mates - because "his job finished last and he didn't want to be the one delivering the baby". Bloody fantastic service, I can highly recommend being overdue and planning a homebirth as an incentive to getting things done. They did the whole lot in two (long) days with another 24hrs for grout drying.

Actually the electrician has now become a friend, I've used him so many times since and recommended him to so many people - we're in the process of buying a new house 1.5hrs away and he's coming out for a day trip to fix all the dodgy electrics. Never let go of a good tradesman - use your plumber if you can and offer him a crate of beer if he can produce the other trades. If you ever need anything fixed in the future, so much easier if you have the number of the guy who installed it - they'll remember you!