AIBU to expect to get a new bathroom for under £10k?

[getmeoutofhear]

We are getting our old bathroom renovated, or we need to, as it's leaking and moldy and the sink is broken... but I can't believe the quotes coming back. We are not even looking at fancy fixtures and fittings, pretty ordinary, and it's a tiny bathroom with just room for a sink, a loo and a shower. I got one today which is £14k plus tiles and paint to be supplied. Last week I was told £9k for labour and £3-4k or more for materials.
We are in the Southeast - but is this normal? e

We’ve been quoted 2.4-3.4K for Labour this week in the NW, lower end is half tile and LVT flooring top end is full tile including floor. We are then sourcing everything else and including the guys estimates for plumbing materials we are looking at 8-8.5k. Bathroom is 2.2 x 2.7

For sure. Extension later this year, including kitchen, only way we're doing it is because DP will do the kitchen & his best friend is our builder 😉. It makes a huge difference.

I'd lure your dad with everything in your power! 😅

We’ve just had our bathroom and en-suite done in the south east for £13.5k for both.

The main bathroom was like for like. The en-suite we took out a bath and replaced with a shower and completely changed the layout. They had the floor up at one point. We supplied all the fittings which included Bluetooth mirrors and electric toothbrush chargers built in, so we didn’t scrimp. The plumber organised the plasterer, tiler and electrician and there was lots of boxing in and we had niches built in to both rooms. A skip was included and it took 3 weeks all in.

We did have hugely varying quotes. The plumber we went with was about 9k I think for labour, the rest was on fixtures and fittings. We did have one quote for less, but 3 were more, including one for 15k labour.

We had to wait 3 months for the plumber, but they’ve done an excellent job and would happily recommend them.

We were shocked at the cost of bathroom furniture when we did our en-suite last year. We had a wall of units one side which included the sink and toilet built in (B&Q) and we had a big shower the other side (with relatively expensive subway tiles). I think we spent just under 10K

I work for a bathroom fitter, anything between £9k to £25k depending on what you pick.

Well I had a complete refurb (back to brickwork) 8 years ago, and it cost £15k. But it still looks good. 👍. London prices.

These prices are wild! London & the SE is it's own, crazy kingdom!

Disagree (although with the caveat that DH designed high end bathrooms for many years and whilst he never did the fitting, learned loads about the process whilst site managing the work. One bathroom he designed for a wealthy client cost in excess of 100k in the early noughties!).

We always source our own sanitary ware and shower valves, taps etc, hunting for decent brands at - relatively - bargain prices (think Hansgrohe/ Axor/Villeroy & Boch etc). The number of supposedly good plumbers we've used who moan like mad because it's not the (cheap) brands they're used to...usually citing 'German rubbish!' We've taken to DIYing our plumbing now.

I reckon mine cost more than £5k 20 years ago.

@LibertyLily big difference between buying your materials things because you have expertise and want high spec, compared to buying your own materials because you think the plumber is charging too much and that you can do it cheaper without having any knowledge of what is involved. Presumably if the OP is surprised that bathrooms commonly cost 5 figures that suggests the latter not the former.

5 years ago (we are in Scotland), we got quoted £9k for a tiny bathroom too, not fully tiled, just tiles on floor, shower enclosure and above sink unit, no pipes needed moved and we were doing the demolition and skip rental. We ended up buying materials for about £3k and my husband did it.

I second this. Much cheaper.

We had a good builder/plumber. We discussed what we wanted to do but went to a good trade plumbers and they advised us on best shower. We bought all the bits and pieces ourselves but took advice first from the experts. It worked out well, v little wastage. We need to do another bathroom this year and I feel like we learnt some good lessons and will hopefully do better finance wise this time 👍

If your in South East Kent. Feel free to DM for recommendation. Thank you.

We bought shower panels and did it our self , paid a plumber for 1 day work about £250 I think. Shower panels are really easy to put up , if you knock off the need for a tiler it’s much more affordable . Shower panels are cheaper as well, you can get ones that look like tiles .

We had high quotes, lowest was £15k. We chose to do the work ourselves.
Bought quality free standing bath, sink unit and toilet, tiled the floor and walls. £4.5k

@Aquarius1234 Nowhere near Kent I’m afraid or I would happily recommend.

I paid £13k for mine (9k labour, 4k fittings & tiles).
Tiny bathroom as well, but complete change of layout, new plaster boards, new piepwork, wet room tanking, new ceiling etc... In London.

In the nw and we have two local companies that do a basic bathroom with plastic pvc walls and ceiling , new fixtures and flooring and it’s £3.5k for the basic package. You can go up a few levels and get posher etc or add a shower cubicle and a bath bit my friend recently got a B lovely bathroom update from them and it was £4.5k a very nice, clean and modern looking.

It depends what quality you want. Mine cost 15k 10 years ago, but I guess you can get it cheaper.

But, I’m a London borough, which probably makes a difference.

What we are currently doing is getting a local plumber to fit ours for less than £1k and just buying the units and flooring ourselves and getting an electrician to do some fitting work for new extractor fan. We aren't changing everything like tiles but expect the cost to be around £2k. Could have gone up to £3-4k of we'd changed everything. Doing the painting and flooring ourselves too although plumber had contacts if we'd wanted. I would ask for recommendations of reliable local plumbers who do that kind of work. All in one deals add £££ to the price.

They do this because it keeps them under the vat threshold as they only invoice for the labour. If they are vat registered, the fixtures and fitting stay the same price but the labour goes up 20%.

Generally we would do the disposal of any rubbish ourselves. Our tip charges, but it is under £30. Is there anything in the bathroom that could be reused? For example if you have white toilets and white sinks, could you just fit new taps and wastes? Be really specific about what you want and I would organise getting this yourself- that way you get the right quality and your own specifications. Rather than tile consider bathroom panels. They look great, are less hassle to maintain and they are quicker to fit.

Please can you recommend the company? Also NW based

We've just agreed to 12.5k for all the for ours. That's fitting everything, tiling walls and floors, doing the lights and building a cupboard and replacing the door. We're buying most stuff ourselves which the guy seems happy with.