New bathroom questions

[Linnet]

We are looking to get a new bathroom put in. we've never done this before so we're a bit unsure of who does what. We are going to get a few local plumbers to come out and give us a quote but we're not sure exactly what they do and don't do.

The bathroom is long and narrow, there is a cupboard behind the door on your left when you walk in and the sink and bath are also on the left and the toilet right in front of you. The wall on the right is papered but needs to be stripped and skimmed before being papered again. We need a completely new bathroom suite the cupboard will get replaced with something new but it has to stay as it holds all the towels etc When they rip out the old cupboard we will lose the skirting boards and door frame. The skirting boards on the wall on the right are pretty rubbish and the door frames around the bathroom door are not great either.

So my question is, will a local plumber replace the bathroom suite, skim/paper walls, replace skirting boards/get someone to do it etc? Or do I need to be looking for the plumber to do the suite, then get a joiner and decorator to do the rest?

I'm completely out of my depth, we have some money for this project and we're prepared for it to cost more than we expect, I have major reservations about the floorboards, got a horrible feeling some of them may need replaced too. I'm just not quite sure what to ask them when they come round to give us the quotes.

Can anyone advise? thanks

Hi. A plumber will usually just be interested in doing the pipework and fitting the toilet/shower etc. In my experience they tend not to be too clean and tidy and carpentry is not usually any good either, that is if they turn up when they say they are going to. There are some really good tradesmen that specialise is doing the entire bathroom from tiling, plumbing, plastering etc or they have a mate who can do the bits they cant. From the sounds of it you could do with someone like that. It will be much cheaper if you can sort out the individual trades yourself but if you are not feeling confident with that then I would recommend getting a local bathroom person. I would avoid the shops etc as they are usually silly money. A little "one man band" type guy will do better job as he has a reputation to keep. If you want to try to save a bit of cash you can order the shower and bath etc online once you know what type of fittings you need once you decided on your contractor and he can help you with that.

Hope that helps

Hi thanks for replying. The plumbers that we've used in the past to fix the odd thing, replace shower etc also do bathrooms, they have a bathroom showroom. I just wasn't sure if they would do everything. Or if we would need to get other people for certain parts it all. I'm also going to ask friends for recommendations.

Dh and I were talking about it tonight and we think the whole room might need to be taken back to the bricks. We'll speak to a few people and take it from there.