Please talk to me about replacing bathrooms

[Justajot]

We have an ensuite and a family bathroom that both need to be replaced. The ensuite needs a large shower cubicle, toilet and sink. The family bathroom a shower cubicle, bath, sink and toilet. Both are decent sized rooms, so there's quite a lot of wall and floor to tile. They need everything doing - new lighting etc.

We've just been to a lovely showroom, but I was 😲 at the prices and that's just the basics, I haven't got a clue how much tiles cost and I think there will be loads of things I haven't thought of.

I care more about our ensuite than the family bathroom.

Realistically I'd like to spend £20k, DH suggests £25k.

If that's what we are aiming for, where should we be looking and how much should we be spending on things like a shower cubicle?

Thanks

Get yourselves a decent plumber who specialises in bathrooms first.

I didn't, and chose quite a lot of stuff before I got the bathroom guy on site. The elegant loo I'd chosen wasn't compatable with the position of the waste pipe, the wall cabinets couldn't be mounted side by side because of the hinge mechanism etc etc.
I got him to sort out and choose what I wanted and very happy with the result.

Agree with the pp - find a good plumber first, they will be able to direct you to the good bathroom suppliers (not the crappy 'style over substance' ones) and will normally get a trade discount.

Fwiw I did my small bathroom (London) two years ago - new ceiling, wall, ceiling spots, bath, loo, sink & cabinets, taps, over bath shower, and tiling (walls and floor) for ~£5k

Thanks - that is how we've ended up at the showroom we were in today. We were recommended plumbers who seem to only do bathrooms from this showroom. I think we may need to find another plumber that work on a lower price bracket client.

I also recommend using a plumber. Our large main bathroom was done few years ago. New floor and flooring, skimmed and replastered ceiling, tiling, new bath with waterfall shower over,showerscreen etc, new basin and loo and also a new window. Cost just over 5k. However, we did do the painting ourselves.
These bathroom places really know how to charge. I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.

We used a plumber who project managed the whole thing
We chose the suite ( we used the old towel rail , everything else was new ) shower , loo , hand basin , vanity unit , taps , waste fittings ,mirror from B & Q , we just measured the room , and made a little plan
The floor and wall tiles , as well as the underfloor heating and all the paraphernalia that is needed came from Topps Tiles
Everything went like a dream , and came in much cheaper than we thought

Def use a plumber. One that will advise you on stuff like making sure you position all taps/shower heads etc in accessible places. So that if your tap breaks after 5 years you can actually get to said tap without destroying the whole bathroom

We used Wickes this year. Brilliant service, super happy. New suite, tiles floor to ceiling, built in bathroom furniture, replastered , £5k.

We've just had whole new bathroom and part of it knocked into the airing cupboard and closet to create an en suite where there wasn't one before. Also involved moving hot water cylinder into the loft.

We found a good builder who recommended a great plumber but we picked and bought everything ourselves from a combo of Vic Plum, drench, and topps tiles for the flooring.

We didn't tile everything - used paint for walls where there was no need and papered a wall in each room as a bit of a feature (Decorating Centre online has fab bathroom wallpaper).

I found it all very stressful as you have to buy taps, wastes, traps etc as well as the fun bits like bath, vanity, sinks, etc but all in all I'm really pleased with how it's come out.

Because of our plumbing we needed to have electric showers which I hated the idea of but our plumber recommended and sourced Aqualisa ones and they look gorgeous and are incredibly powerful.

It costs to move pipes so if you are keeping things in the same places it will be cheaper.

I am going through this RIGHT NOW
Everything is covered in dust, every single room has something in it that doesn’t belong. At one point we had a basin in the dining room, we have reggae playing at full volume from 8am, I have made one jug of coffee per hour for a while fortnight and I seem to have spent £7000000 on taps.

BUT the tiles are down, the new window is in,!the underfloor heating is done, the tongue and groove panelling looks LUSH and it WILL all be OK... I think

We used a builder who contract in a sparks and a plumber as needed. We have used him before and had to wait six months to get the right man.

But the disruption!!!!

I'd second the recommendation of going through the plumber for the fittings - that way, if something is faulty or broken or out of stock or whatever, it's their responsibility to get it sorted not yours. Also, you can save a lot by using an online tile supplier. The tiles I looked at first were eye wateringly expensive but I found similar ones online - ordered samples - once I'd seen them in the flesh ordered the full whack (with a generous margin for breakages). Our tiler was great and there was very few broken in the end - supplier would take back any we didn't use but we decided to hold onto the box we had left in case any get damaged or we need to remove for access for repairs and we can hopefully patch them in and don't have to replace the lot.

Our plumber project managed ours too, got a shower room installed (replacing a loo) and a new bathroom, and replaced a boiler, came to around 11k. Not including the tiles which we bought ourselves. He was fantastic, organised the electrician, plasterers, tilers, and they did a great job.