Complete bathroom renovation

[PamelaDoov]

We need a completely new bathroom. Not just new suite, tiles etc. I mean it needs totally stripping back to the bare bones, floor to ceiling. Where the hell do I even start? Am i going to need to get every kind of trade in- builder, plasterer, plumber, electrician…. Plus the people who actually supply the bathroom? Or can someone do all/most of it in one go? Who do i start with? Never had to do anything like this before.

I'd look for a builder who can either do all of it themselves (except for electrics which need an electrician to sign-off), or they can do the building part and bring in a plasterer and manage it all for you.

Our builder did the ripping out, channeling for new plumbing and electrics, laid underfloor heating etc. His assistant did the plastering, and they got an electrician in. We ordered the fittings and tiles, they fitted them and did the tiling. I painted it after.

My DH is a retired bathroom installer, he did it all, process was
take out all sanitary ware, take off wall tiles, floor tiles. Then he would either plasterboard walls or get a plasterer in to plaster walls. Then he would get electrican in to do lights, socket points, electrics for lighted mirror and extractor fan. Then he would start tiling walls and floor and then fit new sanitary ware. So basically he would price for everything and would sort it all. He would also price for clearing everything away, but get someone to collect rubbish. Most of his work came from a local bathroom showroom who had a list of reliable installers.

Thanks both, it’s good to know that I might be able to find one person to do the bulk. We have electricians in the family so that’s the one individual I could easily source.
It’s the initial rip out that’s worrying me the most. It’s an old bathroom in an even older house. Mouldy ceiling, the wall under the window looks to be buckling, don’t even get me started on the woodwork. The floor is layers of vinyl on top of god knows what, assume old floorboards. Oh and the shower water leaks through the tray, through the ceiling underneath and dribbles down the wall in the hallway!

would love to know anyone else had a nightmare bathroom they managed to sort.

We had a nightmare bathroom, including lovely water feature down the wall into the kitchen/dining area whenever anyone had an over-bath shower. We asked a local gas/electric/plumbing company to come and give us a quote (we’d used them for about 10 years for boiler services, gas fire replacements etc). We asked them to source all the fittings for us, described what we wanted and they contracted a bathroom fitter and apprentice.
Floorboards under bath were rotten - they replaced.
Window was only held in with that foam stuff (thanks cowboy window fitter!) so they made that safe.
Boarded it all, tiled to halfway, walk in shower, free standing bath, new vanity unit and toilet. Extractor fan, shower running from gas boiler rather than on electric. Inset ceiling spots. All we had to do was source the tiles (they fitted) and paint the bare plaster afterwards when it was dry enough.
We had the bonus of the plasterer reskimming our kitchen ceiling where it was water damaged too, for a basic hourly rate seeing as he was already in the house doing the bathroom.
Fitter was amazing. He also does freelance and I want him back to do our kitchen if possible.
So, don’t worry, your bathroom can’t be worse than ours was -truly! The most difficult bit is getting someone decent to do the work for you.
We paid £14,000 about 3 years ago. Might seem a bit steep but we basically handed everything over to the company and paid a premium for that. They didn’t charge us extra for the replacement floorboards or window securing either, although we offered.