Help with new bathroom pls

[BathroomBaby]

Am currently getting quotes to revamp a small ensuite bathroom. Windowless, just space for shower, loo and sink. I have found the fixtures (shower, basin etc) and we don't need new lighting. Instead of tiling we are going for wall panels which are meant to be far quicker to do (and easier to keep clean)!

So far I have had quotes of £4500 not including all the fixtures
£7500 not including fixtures
£11500 (!!!) all in

This seems pricey to me! Going to try and get more quotes. We are in London if this makes a difference.

Is it better to get a plumber or a builder to do this work? And is it always cheaper to buy the fixtures oneself?

Finally, is it dodgy / a bad sign if they provide a quote via text or messenger app?

last question first - yes. You want it in writing with their business details including address and VAT registration.

being in London is asking to be ripped off but there must be someone out there. And given that a toilet is around £100, a sink about the same and a bath maybe £300, what are you buying???

Blimey they are extortionate quotes!
We had a small bathroom re tiled and a new bath, sink and loo fitted. The plumber did the bath, loo and sink and we got a tiler in to skim the walls, he added some sort of membrane and then tiled. It was a small bAthroom but all in it was about £3k for everything. We bought the fixture and tiles ourself but not sure if this was the cheapest way of doing it.

I used MyBuilder to find the tiler and they quote you via the website.

In fact if you're in S London I can give you my tilers details as he does all building work.

@Mencken exactly! Our chosen fixtures are normal price so I don't know!

Thanks @voiceoverlady I have used MyBuilder to get these quotes. I'm in SE London so I would love your tiler's details! Would he do the rest too?

I never know whether to look for a plumber, a builder or what.

Also the shower wall panels we are using throughout the room should be way quicker than tiling. You just stick them up!

I'm so worried I'm going to get ripped off! I wish I'd got some plumbing qualifications!

I have renovated 2 houses that we lived in, but we fit our own bathrooms/en-suites.

But I have found Building Sherrif to be relatively accurate for pricing stuff up but I am not in London. I would try to find people's day rates. That way you will have like for like comparisons.

Wall panels are expensive compared to tiling but if you are paying someone to tile then that will massively add to the cost. It is a skill.

buildingsheriff.com/en-suite-bathroom.php

In the process of having this done, plumber here at the moment. New shower, toilet, vanity unit and tile were £2300 I'm expecting to pay c .£1500 for the plumber and tiler. Have an electrician on top of that to change some lights so another £200.

Depends on what you are doing...

Expensive area.
A medium sized full renovation (stripped back to plaster, new piping throughout as a bodger had been at work) just cost us around £6000 in work I think, and around £3000 in fittings (good quality - Bette, Matki, Hansgrohe etc, bought in sale). Took around 4 weeks. That was with a well-regarded plumbing company.

We re-did our bathroom in SE London a couple of years ago. Bought the bathroom from Victoria Plumb and tiles from topps tiles and got a local plumber to fit. It is a tiny bathroom - cost 2.5k in tota.

@Robs20 do you have a recommendation for your plumber? How much did they charge to fit?

We think we can get all our fittings etc in under £1000. It seems to be labour that is pushing the quotes up.

We are planning a bathroom refurbishment too (but up North). The issue we have is simply finding the bathroom tradespeople to do it. Our usual plumber only works with a small bathroom outfit, another recommendation is booked up to his eyeballs and basically turned the job down. The only quote we have atm is £4400 excl the fittings, and they say it will be a week.
It's our only toilet so need a quick turnaround. If we had another toilet I would be arranging trades and doing a lot of the work myself, but we need it to be quick and well sequenced.

I'm up North. Booked my plumber last September !! But he is worth it. It's taking a week to rip out a small en suite replace, retile

@franklymydearidontgivea are you managing the trades yourself or is the plumber?
The fella we had over to quote told us he wouldn't be available til October... then didn't send us the quote, I think he was just horribly overworked

@BathroomBaby I will message you if I can remember how! We're also SE London and yes he definitely does the rest. I've recommended him to lots of friends and they've always been happy with his work too.

He is doing it, they are all people he works with regularly so I had lined them up per his recommendation. He pulls them in when necessary, getting electrician in today. But it also helps that he is one of the best plumbers in the area but also does the tiling 🥰

I learned the hard way, I couldn't get him in my time scales when I did the family bathroom, used someone else and regretted every second of it, even though the alternative plumber had been recommended 😬

Also be very careful of the difference between a quote and estimate... most will give you an estimate as there are so many unknowns, my family bathroom was 50% more than the estimate....thus I'm going with the known, honest, reliable guy that I've had to wait for this time.

Where about up North are you @TiddleTaddleTat, it's unlikely you are near us, but I do know of a good firm that covers a reasonable area.

I’m in London and that still sounds a lot, especially if plumbing is all in place already.

Are you on Nextdoor? Try asking on there.

Lots of builders are too “big” for just a small bathroom job and so will price highly as they’re not really that keen. There are smaller ones out there though but they vary hugely so best found by word of mouth.

I'm in Rochester so not too far from London and we spent about 5k on our bathroom that was ripped out new bath new shower new sink toilet accessories and the cladding that you mentioned, plus a new pump system to increase the water pressure. Some of your quotes seem very excessive.

We have a plumber / builder starting next week refurbishing both en suite then straight into the main bathroom. His materials and labour quote came into around 6k for both the rooms and I’ve sourced both suites, tiles, shower cubicle furniture etc for around £2.5k. So will be around £8.5k for both rooms which seems good to me.
This guy is also booked up well in advance, I’ve been waiting since November. Am in South Wales if it helps.