New Bathroom question.....

[Awayanyday]

Hi....

So, this is a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string question' but was wondering if I could gauge some ideas.

There's a chain free property I'm looking at this coming week- needs a new bathroom. I've avoided properties that need to new bathrooms, firstly due to finances but also stress...but im getting more desperate...

OK so the property was built probably in the 1980s. Against all advise, for various reasons, i will have to go with the big brands ie Wickes etc (I am aware I will pay above the odds and have read problems some peopel have with these companiesb etc). From research bathrooms are sitting at 10-12k Midlands based (not a massive bathroom and will keep things as simple as possible.

I've read people generally allow for an extra 10-15% money wise if things go wrong, ive read about mold, pipes etc etc. I wouldn't be able to allow for this (again I know I will pay over the odds with the big companies). So wondering if realistically I could afford it.

My question is for people that have done bathroom refits 'how likely' is it for unforeseen (and costly) circumstances to occur. I'm useless and the other side of the country so at the mercy of a profession to help. I'm beginning to think a new bathroom on a shoe string budget could be high risk and maybe should keep looking?

Do people have experience of the 'unexpected' when doing up bathrooms and the extra costs involves?

Also it looks like the whole thing will need ripping out. May not need to move piping around as 'new things' can go where the old bits were if that makes any sense.

Thanks for input / others experiences.

We had our bathroom done a few months ago and cost around £4K, used a general builder and plasterer had to rip out the old bathroom and this included moving pipework and whole new bathroom which we bought online. If you are happy to buy suite online and organise builder yourself it can be done much cheaper than somewhere like wickes. No unexpected costs

Wow 4k....I haven't heard of a bathroom that cheap. Thats really good for you!

We did our bathroom for £3k - £2k for all the fixtures and fittings (tiles, suite, towel rail, backlit mirror, light, etc) and about £1.5k for 5 days of work by our builder to fit them. He was doing our whole renovation so it’s hard to quantify the time he spent on it because he was doing it alongside lots of other jobs.

To keep costs down, I bought all the fixtures and fittings in sales and upcycled a cabinet for our sink to sit on. If you don’t mind spending a fair few evenings searching online for bargains you can save loads!

Find a good local plumber to quote and they can get trade people on materials.

Things that are usually a problem are when a shower has been leaking and rotted floor boarding. Usually a back to brick, repipe, new wallboarding, plastering, wet board in shower area, basic suite and labour will be £5-10k depending on extent of work needed and level of kit purchased.

Labour cost in that is £250-300 per day and 5-10 days.

I know someone who bought a bath from a store like that (not sure if it was that one or another diy type place). The bath plastic was so thin that you could see through it in the right light.

You need a local, reliable, recommended bathroom fitter (and you should expect to be on a waiting list/waiting for a slot) and that person will be able to source appropriate bath/sink/toilet.

How bad are these bathrooms to want ripping out? Could you live with them for a bit? My kitchen was looking a bit tired when we moved in 17 years ago. It's still there!

Please don't get a general builder. You need a specialist especially for tiles.
Speaking from bitter experience of allowing what was basically a handyman to install my very expensive porcelain tiles so badly that they started popping up after a month.
The toilet and bath leaked, and the shower dial was installed upside down.
A complete disaster area.

OK thank you. This is valuable information.

Oh goodness! Sorry to hear that. Thank you for sharing your experience with me

I’m in the middle of my second bathroom refit (hoping it’ll be finished by next weekend) and there were no unforeseen costs either time really (we had to raise the floor slightly this time due to the shower waste sitting on a beam in the floor, but this couldn’t have been predicted and didn’t add much to the cost.

The only thing I will say is that when renovating, you do need contingency money for things like making sure the electrics are modernised, and moving pipes (we had our plumber reroute an old lead pipe in one wall, embedding it in another wall with the other pipe work; he also lagged the pipes in our loft to protect them), so I think a ‘cheap’ bathroom is potentially more suited to a newer property where you can literally just replace the suite and maybe give a lick of paint. We took ours back to the brick both times, re plastered and tiled, new windows etc. This time we have removed a wall to reconfigure layout. Just be wary of the whole ‘buy cheap buy twice’ thing!

We've recently renovated what had been a derelict house and had to replace all the bathrooms. I can't advise on cost, because it was part of the overall costs.

-Could you not live in the house, and then do the bathroom up down the line? You'd then have the option of local trades you can vet/engage with.
-Is there a 2nd toilet you could use if you did that?
-Do the likes of wickes etc provide the tradespeople to install everything for you, or you are JUST buying the bathroom from them?
-We did visit Wickes/B&Q etc, but used a local, independent bathroom/tiling shop. They were invaluable for providing ideas, colours, options and let us bring home multiple tiles home to check colours etc.
-They also recommended a tiler who was brilliant. He said that he would never use tiles from Wickes/B&Q/Topps tiles etc due to them often being either wonky, not square or breaking when being cut. Its something I'd never considered. At the same time, a work colleague had this exact issue. She'd bought tiles from B&Q, but when her tiler starting using them, they had so many broken ones or so warped they couldn't be used. B&Q wouldn't take the unopened boxes back, so she had to buy new tiles elsewhere. I'm sure some must be fine, but its something to consider.
-Walls are rarely square, so you'll need a good tiler to accommodate for that
-When the old tiles come off- you might find hidden issues, which could bump up costs. We found 2 further layers of tiles under ours, not an issue- just very odd.
-Have you thought about a water softener? No streaks on mirrors/glass bathroom panels and no furring up of pipes. Our old house didn't have a softener, and we renovated the bathroom. Within a year, the pop up sink and bath plugs had furred up so much, they couldn't be used.

Thank you! This is helpful advice.

Thank you, this is helpful advice. Unfortunately I couldn't live in the property until work was done and only one toliet. I will take what you have said on board. Thank you

We had our bathroom done last year. Our house is old, 1930's, but actively solid. We went with a local independent company because the quality of the products they supplied was much better than Wickes, B&Q , Easy Bathrooms etc. They took our bathroom back to bare brick and floorboards, then sorted out the pipework and fitted the new fittings. They also supplied the tiles. They employ specialist fitters and well as tilers, plasterer and electricians. Basically, they did everything from the initial design right through to the finished job. It took about 11 days. We only have the one bathroom but they made sure the toilet was only ever 'out' when they actually needed to work in that area, so it wasn't as difficult as it could have been. Although it's a smallish bathroom, it wasn't cheap but the quality of the work means it should see us out, so looking at it like that, the cost was worth it.
The one thing I would say is to take your time getting the right supplier and that the fittings will suit your needs. We waited a long time to have ours done and I'm glad we did because decisions we would have made 15 years ago would have been completely wrong for us now and we would have had to do it all over again.
Good luck.

That's very helpful thank you

Hi OP, I’ve done up a few bathrooms in my time, and in answer to your question, I’ve never not needed to use at least some of the contingency! You might be lucky, and absolutely no issues come up, but it would be incredibly stressful to plan a bathroom renovation and have absolutely no wiggle room for unexpected curve balls!
You could actually go quite basic on your sanitary wear and tiles, but my advice would be to spend decent money on two things, the bits with moveable parts (such as taps), and a good fitter.
Unless it’s avocado coloured or leaking does it absolutely need replacing straight away? If it does, could you salvage any of what is there, such as keep the loo, and change the seat, or keep the bath, and change the bath panel, plug and taps? That’d probably be the most cost efficient way to do it.

Thank you for this answer, it's very helpful.

We're actually having a chap in to do our bathroom next week.

Don't touch Wickes. We had to go into store six times due to mismanagement (only needed to visits). Lead time quoted ive months, but date given for nine months later and told chap doing it would take three weeks! Installer resigned and he didn't trust Wickes to let us know. Gave them three weeks, no one got in touch, couldn't get hold of our co-ordinator and Wickes in store told us we they'd get another installer but would have to wait again. A friend had them, the bathroom basically did take three weeks, parts were missing though and some of it couldn't be completed during that time, workmanship was awful and couldn't get them back

Wickes quoted £6400 plus tiling and floors.

We found someone else, quoting £6600 plus tiles (which are £286 which trade discount if we purchased from one of three shops). Told us there are a few things that could come up while installing and it was give and take so figure quoted is a final figure to account for extras. Told us he sources bathroom fittings himself from sources he knows are reliable to immediately sort problems out. Price includes toilet, vanity sink, bath with shower over and screen, tiling, new radiator, installing our own accessories, new flooring and he said if he finishes early, he'll start the paining for us (which we were going to do).

I had my bathroom redone just before xmas. Found out the toilet was leaking on the bottom. Joists were rotting. Stud wall as also not done correctly. It costed me extra £6k to get it fixed (London prices though).
The overall costs ended ip being double of the budget as I decided to splurge on underfloor heating and a sliding door. 🤦🏻‍♀️

My ds has just replaced bathroom in his house. (Guessing, I'd say built in 70s or 80s). Previous occupants had done a lot of bad DIY though.

Also in the Midlands.

Went to Wickes for ideas, then went on-line to source everything at a far lower cost. Asked around for recommendations for a plumber.

Has spent under £5K, including tiling, and flooring and new light fitting etc.

I would strongly advise to ask about for local recommendations. Has to be worth it, to save £7K, surely ?

We had the old bathroom taken out and replaced with a shower. Used a local plumber/ bathroom fitter, he got a tiler to do the tiling. Whole room retiled with new toilet and sink etc cost around £5500 3 years ago.
Colleague at work had a bathroom from major DIY chain, it was horrendous with no end of problems they couldn't get corrected. Quality of the bathroom suite was really cheap

Definitely get a proper tradesman, not a DIY store

Thank you for this. Can I ask what sort of professional you went to instead of wickes? Is it a bathroom fitters or a plumber? I think I could also do with someone to source bits for me but don't know where to start with it all.
Thank you for sharing your experience.

Thank you. I think I am I agreement now. Does that mean going to a bathroom fitters or plumber? I just need someone who can do it all for me and source other people. But not sure what tradespeople to start with? Thank you for your input.

This is helpful, i think sourcing my own does have to be more cost effective....could I be cheeky and ask where in the Midlands? I'm looking East Midlands but don't know a sole so have no recommendations....just thought I'd ask. Thank you for your help.

Oh gosh, sounds stressful for you. But thank you for sharing your experience