Can someone talk me through renovating a bathroom please

[sebsmummy1]

It's not very big but needs everything doing from ceiling to floor. Would you approach a builder, a plumber, a company to design and fit? I feel a bit overwhelmed and just need a starting point.

Thank you.

We are using a builder who can do all the work (plumbing/tiling) etc.
Rated People is good. Or word of mouth even better,perhaps ask on a local Facebook page if you're on it or ask neighbours.

We used a general contractor who could do it all. I designed and bought all the fittings, tiles etc.. He installed. Came out great, nicest bathroom we've ever had

We are having ours done at the moment - the bathroom man is someone who has fitted bathrooms for three friends, so comes recommended and I've seen his work. He is a plumber/bathroom fitter.

In terms of design, most of it came from me as I have spent long enough schlepping round places and looking at stuff to know what I like and what I think will work. I have an eye for detail too.

I had a design done at Bathstore which was good, then I read how poor their stuff is on here... But that gave me ideas.

The only thing I have found is that Bathroom Man is obsessed with straight clean lines and would gladly strip out any character to make tiling easier and reduce how much tile cutting he has to do so I have had to put my foot down a couple of times and he now gets where I am coming from.

We are having ours done but coordinating it all ourselves, at dp's insistence. The process is a bit of a nightmare tbh but it is cheaper to do it this way and we have a lot of control over how we want things.

Thank you. I know some of the floorboards need replacing as they are uneven and rotten in places around the bath. The ceiling also has a long crack which may be easier to overboard.

I think where I'm scratching my head is I would like it redesigned, which obviously the builder wouldn't do. So ideally is like a company who would just do the whole lot, building, design, tiling and fitting. Do you think this exists or am I just going to have to bring different trades people together myself?

Yes it does, but you are better off with a local firm - an independent bathroom fitting company locally to you, not a nationwide chain where the prices are high to pay everyone in the chain's commission. I think you need to go and have a look round some showrooms to get a feel for things.

A good firm will take your measurements and do you a design for free because ultimately they want you to buy from them. They can tailor things to different budgets and tastes.

A decent builder/fitter will sort out the floorboards as they are going along. Can the crack in the ceiling just be filled? Darn sight cheaper than plasterboarding the ceiling and you won't lose any height on the room.

You really don't need lots of trades - a decent fitter can do everything required.

Thanks Tara. I've just had a look at your website and unfortunately we aren't in your area (Huntingdon incase you have any recommendations). I shall look on the ukplumbersforum, that's a good idea.

Agree, it feels scary before you start! We got a local plumber in, who'd worked for us before; he gave us an idea of what needed to be done, what was feasible, and the likely installation costs.

He referred us to a local bathroom shop who he had a trade discount with - they were brilliant, so we sat down with them to order bath/shower/loo etc.

We sorted out the floor separately.

Then, once the tiles were stripped off we found out we needed some remedial work around the window and some plastering, so we got local builder to sort that out. Everything else the plumber did.

Definitely get a plumber who's good at bathrooms.