To not know how to get a new bathroom?

[LittleGwyneth]

I can't work out if I'm being really stupid, or if it's actually quite hard to work out.

I'm late twenties, own my own flat for the first time, and want to get the bathroom redone. But where do you start?! Do I buy a load of stuff from a website and then hire a plumber? Or hire a plumber and ask them what to buy? Will they do the walls - painting / tiling? Could they change the overhead lighting? Because no-one should ever have to be naked under the current fluro horrors in there.

Any rough ideas how much a bath & shower, sink, loo, might cost? And if someone might be able to tell me if I can fit some wardrobes or something in there?

All wisdom very gratefully received.

I'm in central London if that's relevant.

It depends op

You either get a bathroom replacement company to quote for the whole bathroom which takes about a week

Or you co ordinate it yourself

RIP out bathroom
Plumber to first fix and put in the correct pipes
Plasterer to replanted
Builder sets it up and get plumber back to check fixings
Then tiller
Then flooring/painting

I’d avoid wardrobes due to damp

The second choice will be longer as each trades waits in the other and they don’t like hanging about

start with deciding on the budget!
What can you afford?

You can pay for someone to design and employ everyone to do everything for you

You can buy all elements yourself and get bathroom fitters to do the job

you can buy all elements and do everything yourself bare the plumbing maybe

Have a look on Ikea, wickes, victoria plumbing.. to have an idea of basic prices

The second choice means you buy and store the items

So for example - white suite items are all the same colour so you can buy each piece from different companies - which makes more financial sense as some companies inflate the sink another inflates the taps etc

Ring some builders and ask them to come round and give you quotes for a bathroom refurb.

Have pictures of the sort of thing you want in terms of type of suite, tiles, flooring etc so that you can show them. Check that they have indemnity insurance.

The builder will source the materials, which he will probably get cheaper than you could, employ his own tradesman for the specialist bits like tiling and plumbing, and basically run the whole project.

When you get the quotes (make sure you get them in writing) you can compare and pick the one you want. Cheapest isn't necessarily best!

I looked locally for a plumber who advertised as doing bathroom and kitchen refits, they did the lot, fitting, tiling, electrics for the shower, fitting bathroom shelves and accessories. They asked me what I wanted and bought it( I assume they get trade discount but charge normal price so make extra profit that way) . They didn't do painting as I had the bathroom tiled floor to ceiling.

You can also get plumbers specialised in bathroom fittings who will manage other trades, plasters electricians... for you.

You need to know how much you want to spend first. There's no limit on how much you could spend

We went to a bathroom company and they came out, measured it all out then put together a plan and gave us a quote for the whole bathroom, fitting etc. Then thet sorted the fitters, electricians, flooring guys etc to do a schedule that lasted a week.

It may be a bit more exepensive doing it this way, but was way less stressful than trying to organise it all ourselves. And the central company is useful when we had our snag list once it was 'finished', and everything was very quickly sorted to a high standard.

Because ours also involved knocking down an internal wall to increase the size of the bathroom, and creating a boiler cupboard, it was good to have it all organised from one place or it would have been a logistical nightmare.

Have a look on Pinterest at the kind of thing you like.
Get a recommendation of a good local plumber.
They can either source stuff for you, or you pick it yourself (or a mix).
They then fit it all, and you give them all your money!
Ime a good local plumber is a lot easier and gives better results than a company like Wicked etc.

*wickes

I use mybuilder to advertise for quotes as you can see reviews. Often plumbers will reply to a bathroom quote but will subcontract the other bits e.g electrics, tiling for you. If you go for a one man band they tend to come under the vat threshold and you can save 20% of your labour costs. I always buy the sanitary wear myself online so I get exactly what I want but ask the builder to supply the first fix materials. That also makes it easier to compare quotes.

Average bathroom refurb costs 3.5 - 4k, exclusive of bathroom suite which you can choose yourself. Using a company is more expensive but less hassle. I used individuals who kind of recommended each other, so I knew a electrician who knew a plumber who knew a plasterer, etc. and they all worked it out together. Just make sure you get written estimates and find out if their quotes include materials. Whatever you are quoted, add on an extra 10% in your mind for unforeseen circumstances.

• Ask friends/neighbours if they can suggest anyone.

• Get 3 quotes for the job rate, not a daily rate.

• Ask how long it will take. Especially if you only have one loo. It can be awkward if you want a wee or more.

I would personally pay a bit extra and get a company like Wickes or B&Q to sort it all. You'll have a 'project manager' who will come and take a look at your bathroom then draw up plans based on what you want and order all the bits you need.
Then they will coordinate all the relevant tradespeople to come and do it - tiling, plumbing, fitting and so on. Because of this the process will be done quicker. If you are trying to source all these people yourself then you might find that you have to wait longer.

I’m currently having two bathrooms redone. We emailed the plumbing company, they came round and had a look at what we currently had and asked what we wanted. They sorted some designs and arranged to buy it all from the supplier and gave us a quote to buy and fit.

They’re doing everything, including changing the lighting and fitting the flooring.

It’s costing us around £12,000 for two bathrooms.

So helpful - thanks everyone!

We hired a bathroom fitter who came round, gave us some ideas, we made some decisions, he ordered all the stuff and fitted it.

I recommend getting a bathroom fitter, not a plumber who also does fitting. I found one on Checkatrade, although I think he gets most of his business from one of the bathroom shops you can walk into. I went for the one with the best feedback, I wasn't looking for the best, not the cheapest. He gave me a fixed quote for the work, which took two weeks. Materials and costs were extra. I bought most of the items direct and had them delivered, he bought materials such boards for the floor, plasterboard for walls etc. He also paid various costs, waste removal, electrician etc, which he re-billed to me.

The last time I used a plumber for bathroom refurb, it was extremely tedious, as he was always running off to take care of his various small plumbing jobs. Having an actual bathroom fitter who slots a week or two into his schedule to do nothing but work on your place is infinitely better.

I had planned the bathroom myself, had highly specific ideas and constraints to get the result I wanted, had to order very specific items to make it all work. So in my case, I couldn't have left design to someone else and got as good a result.

I spent literally months getting the perfect plan and researching options, so my approach may not have been typical.

We've just finished ours this week!
Ripped out old tiles/flooring during lockdown.
Had previously ordered the suite/had design in store so waited for delivery.
Found a reputable plumber/tiler (about five quotes).
Work has taken about two weeks, it's been crazy having to use one toilet with six of us in one house but I'm happy with the result!

Good luck op!

@RandomLondoner

I had planned the bathroom myself, had highly specific ideas and constraints to get the result I wanted, had to order very specific items to make it all work. So in my case, I couldn't have left design to someone else and got as good a result.

I spent literally months getting the perfect plan and researching options, so my approach may not have been typical.

Different circumstances here. We had what we thought we wanted planned in our heads and then the plumber came round and shared his ideas. He could visualise stuff we couldn’t imagine because we didn’t know it was possible.

OP, if you know what you want, great! Make sure you get that. If you don’t know what you want or are open to suggestions, definitely ask for their opinions.

Forgot to add - our electrician (neighbours husband) did the spotlights and LED mirror!

I'ld get a plumber / builder round to quote and discuss what is possible / not possible first. The plumber / builder can buy everything or you can buy them if you prefer something more bespoke.

We did ours recently and I bought everything, it was about £6.6k including fitting but cost can vary a lot - depends on size of bathroom, quality of fittings, exactly what you want and cost of fitting adds a lot. We also got a couple of plumbers / builders out to quote and there were some options that weren't viable so useful for general advice. If you aren't experienced I would get someone out early on before you buy things. Normally leaving everything where it currently is will be fine, its if you want to move things and it's also useful for an idea of cost. Alternatives are a bathroom company or DIY / part DIY but you need to know what you are doing.

We've redone our whole house, and used my builder.com to advertise jobs, got quotes as a package and it was too expensive, so decided to coordinate ourselves, I researched and ordered every single thing online, it took a lot of time to learn everything from scratch, like types of radiators and valves etc, husband used mybuilder to find all the separate tradesmen, and some by word of mouth. There are a lot of cowboy builders who will mess you about, so check reviews. Some rooms took forever as they were waiting on one another to do things, weren't available at the same time etc. Don't book in tradesmen before you have all of the items needed, as delivery delays happen and this will cost you.

Of course if you can afford it then a package deal with a bathroom fitter is the easiest!

Also, don't book someone who charges per day, they will be great at having a tea and a smoke and stretch the job out as much as possible, have an exact quote before you commit.

Also - before doing any of this - find a very good friend or relative, close to you, who will let you use their shower for a couple of weeks!