Bathroom refurbishment quote

[TiddleTaddleTat]

Help! we are getting quotes atm for a full bathroom refurbishment (current one is 1960s and v dated). Having done most other jobs on our renovation on a DIY basis we are a bit shocked by how expensive it all is.

We only have the one bathroom and toilet so want it done quickly and a single company managing trades offers this. Quote below is from a locally recommended company of tilers and plumbers who say they will do it in a week and leave a working toilet every night:

Remove existing bathroom suite.
Remove existing radiator.
Remove tiles and flooring.
Supply and fit wall tiles to the value of £20 per square metre.
Supply and fit no more ply to floor prior to tiling.
Supply and fit under floor heating and touchscreen thermostat.
Supply and fit floor tiles to the value of £20 per square metre.
Supply and fit dimmable led light fittings.
Plaster walls where required.
Supply all pipework.
Remove all rubbish.
The following to be supplied by customer:
Fit bath, Bath panel and bath screen.
Fit shower.
Fit toilet.
Fit sink.
Fit towel radiator.
£4400

Yorkshire. Seems a bit steep on the labour given low cost of materials they are providing but thoughts please? Tips? Help!

That's more than I've been quoted and I live in a commuter town just outside of London

(assuming you're providing the suite and fittings)

Get some more quotes then. It is quite a lot of work they are doing. Are they providing some of the materials?

The quote includes tiles up to £20 psqm , ufh and controls, but I'm providing the rest. They come highly recommended and are booked up for months. Haven't found any similar outfits, the alternative would be booking individual trades - plumber , tiler, plasterer but getting people lined up to come close together will be challenging and we are v busy with work but also skint !

Yes it is a lot of work , the bathroom probably hasn't been changed for 50 years 😬

I’d say without the suite that’s probably around what I’d expect. Under floor heating is maybe a pricey option (although will be lovely!). A tiled floor rather than say vinyl is also probably a dearer option.

Yes when they were here they said underfloor heating inc the tiles would add around £500. I guess if we wanted to strip back that's something we could easily lose.
Haven't gone for an extractor either as there are two opening windows in the room, but would you say extractor should be included? These guys weren't particularly positive about extractors when windows are accessible etc.

A decent batheoom fitter would be worth it. We went through Wickes, so paid about that but had to supply own tiles. First guy flooded the kitchen when removing the bathroom suite, installed new bath, started tiling and then went AWOL. We were on holiday so only knew when we got back to a half finished bathroom. They completed it, but the finish was awful and we complained until they agreed to send their most recommended fitter to fix things - which turned out to be pulling the whole lot out and starting again!

So for the sake of saving maybe £500, if these guys are highly recommended, I'd snap them up!! (And underfloor heating with tiles is the best)

You should always get more than one quote!

An extractor fan is definitely a good idea. Opening the window will be very chilly in the winter. Even with your underfloor heating 😁

That’s about what we paid last summer for a full refit too.

I'm in London, that sounds like a great quote - especially given they are supplying lots of the materials. How big is the surface area they are plastering, tiling etc? Presumably they're also ripping out and taking away rubbish from current bathroom?

Did they come recommended by word of mouth? Have you seen examples of their work? If so, they'll be worth it.

I paid about £2500 including the suite but my dad is a plumber so I only paid for materials and I don't have underfloor heating. Seems high ish but size of bathroom etc factors in

Ps he did the lot, many plumbers do apart from electrics

Agree with what another poster said about Wickes. We had nothing but trouble. The whole thing took 3 months rather than the 3 weeks we were quoted. The quality was poor and we had a couple of floods. The floor now needs regrouting after 18 months. We bitterly regret using them and wish we had used a local contractor. We bought on price - big mistake.

You will always pay a premium for a company who handles everything, but even so I don’t think that’s a terrible quote. We’ve had quotes from £3-3.5k for similar work with no underfloor heating and no tiles (so stripping back, plastering, lighting and fitting suite that we provide), but those quotes are from smaller one-man-band type operations who don’t have the same overheads involved. My preference is to find a smaller operation who can do the whole project (is possible for bathrooms) but these can be hard to find, and will be slower. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to pay a premium for speed, the whole bathroom done in a week is quite quick

£4400 does seem a bit steep but as a pp said depends on size of bathroom...could you save a little by not getting the under floor heating? We swopped our towel rail for a proper radiator after we'd refurbed our bathroom as it was freezing during the winter...of you can I would get at least 4 quotes we made the mistake of getting one quote as it was a mates Dad unfortunately it was very expensive (he was hoarding as much as possible for his retirement) it was ok work but could have got a lot cheaper and better work. Ps we took the tiles off ourselves saved £200 it is time consuming though.

That sounds about right price wise. However, I'd be wary of using these for 2 reasons.
First, they should be fitting an extractor, it's needed for building regs.
Second, the tiling seems odd in that they should quote for fitting the tiles, but they could be scamming you with the purchase of them.

We had our bathroom done a couple of years ago and it took a week, very similar to yours. (Didn't have underfloor heating though). We bought all the fittings and tiles but had a different tiler to fit them.

As others have suggested, get a couple more quotes off builders for the whole job, price up the fittings yourself ( we got ours from an independent plumbers) and get your own tiles.

Our toilet they left us with each night wasn't a flushing one, we had to fill a bucket and pour it down when we used it 🤣. I suggest you wait til the weather is warmer before you have the work done!

Currently getting ours done in London and its 6000 with only underfloor heating included. I physically went round to a house where they had done the bathroom and questioned the owner. They gave me the address and the house owner happy to talk to me. Were willing to give me more if needed. Read all their online reviews. It's a big expense but an even bigger one if it goes wrong. I have a 3ft by 3ft bathroom.

I don't think it sounds too expensive if they are in and out in a week but if they are plastering then tiling / painting on to it , that time frame is tight ,

I personally would not recommend tiles on the floor if it is on anything other than downstairs on a solid concrete / screed as they have a tendency to crack otherwise

I think to put your mind at rest I would get further quotes in

Are you moving the shower, toilet or sink or replacing them in the same position? It's moving pipes and waste that increases the costs. Also depends on how much wall there is to tile and whether the floor is being tiled. UFH could be adding quite a bit to the quote.

Oh and I should add someone mentioned extractor fan , this is essential and required by building regs

Sounds about right

£2000 labour for tiny bathroom taken back to brick/ floorboards.

I provided all tiles/bath/sink/shower/fixtures and fittings.
No flooring in quote.
No underfloor heating
Everything in same position as old stuff.
Very basic refit.

Oh and I should add someone mentioned extractor fan , this is essential and required by building regs

No extractor fan here!