Redoing 3 bathrooms - cost

[Hullopalloo]

Currently 20k is where im at cost wise but I want to understand whether this is a reasonable number in london.

Loft bathroom
Main family bathroom- shower
Large ensuite - putting in a large bath

All need retiling.

What actually needs doing? Are you getting new stuff. In the main bathroom, what do you mean “shower”?
In the en suite, are you putting in a bath where there currently isn’t a drain?

£20k feels a little tight tbh.

I think you'll spend more than that. Hard to say how much more with that info and the wide range of specs you can choose from, but I think you'd be very lucky to only spend 20k.

I’d budget £10K per bathroom, myself. You might get it slightly cheaper if you get budget fittings, or could go up to £15-20k if you wanted top of the range. I don’t think you will manage it for £20k all in.

Id be surprised at getting 3 done for that budget to be honest @Hullopalloo!!

We had a very small bathroom done a few years ago (literally tiny! Standard bath fits wall to wall on one side!) -new toilet, compact basin unit, bath with new shower over, radiator, bath walls fully tiled & toilet/sink wall half tiled - not expensive fittings and we spent around £7k.

That was with no plumbing needing moved. Although we did choose more complicated tiling so that bumped the price up!

I was told to budget £10k per bathroom.

We’ve ended up £12k the main family bathroom, £6k the smallest (shower room) and still pending a cost for the en-suite but it’s the same size as the family one so would be amazed if it came in cheaper than £12k, I think the layout is more complex so it will be more . None have full tiling, just in shower and around sink.

We are in Lancs and last year, we completely redid our family bathroom (changed to a walk in shower) and our en-suite which needed a wall enclosing the shower taking out. Everything was tiled. I paid the bathroom guy around £7.5K which included some materials. I bought the tiles, bathroom suites, electric showers, shower cubicles, and fittings which cost me just over £3K. I had a little bit of electrical work done which cost me £200.
Neither room is particularly big and the house was built 1999 so no real major work (and the wall was just boarding)
So that’s £11K, but I recognise I’m not in London! It took two people (the guy had an apprentice) 4 weeks to do it all.

£20K sounds reasonable but I don’t know what hourly rates are like in London. I bought everything online from Victorian Plumbing, Screwfix and ordered the tiles from Topps (because we got BLC discount). It was a ton cheaper than places like Easy Bathrooms and Wickes!

£20k each or for all 3?

We're just in the middle of ONE bathroom reno and I don't think we're going to have much change out of £25k! South East.

That is a complete redo - so change in layout, all new pipework, walk-in shower + toilet + double sink + heated towel rail + an extra radiator, rewire, plaster + paint, tiles, LVT on the floor, new window, new door. Will be 5 weeks work by the time they've finished.

So would expect less if not doing as much...but £7k??? How?! Just the sanitwaryware and brassware was £5k before any labour and other materials. We did get multiple quotes and this wasn't the cheapest but the others weren't much cheaper. The breakdown versus expected day rate / number of days tallies and everyone has been working very hard.

Ensuite was £5,500 (didn’t replace toilet) and I’m budgeting £8k for full bathroom in South West. I think £20k is a bit tight in all honesty. I’m looking at b&q and Victorian plumbing.

I’m guessing you’re not going with B&Q. £25k on a standard bathroom is crazy. My recent kitchen and utility was £22k including ovens x2, dishwasher, hob etc (only thing not included was washing machine). Included quartz worktops.

Yup was going to say it’s 10k for a bathroom these days.

Oh for the pre Brexit days of decent tradesmen available at reasonable prices eh…

I think i may then have done ok, its looking like 22k now, so 8k fixtures and fittings from trade merchsnt, remainder is labour. Its currently 2 weeks in, 1 bathroom nearly finished today, one half done, third to be started. These came recommended, but work like ive never seen before, from 6am to 5pm. They bring their food etc so never leave in between.

Wow you sound like you've struck gold in your fitters/tilers/builders whatever they are!
They're starting work at 6am? Bloody hell that's amazing! 😱😂
Hope you get it all done in that budget. Let us know - it's always good to hear the success stories amongst the gloom of jobs that go over time and over budget.

Blimey, that does sound a great price @Hullopalloo!

A family member (East Sussex) was recently quoted 17k to do a downstairs bathroom. The house was previously owned by an elderly lady who lived on the ground floor in her later years, so the existing room had a bath with hand held shower attachment, loo and basin in what was a fairly big space (originally the old kitchen). They wanted everything ripped out, install a shower cubicle with power shower, Belfast sink, high level loo and heated towel rail plus plumbing for a washing machine. Fully tiled. Mid range sanitary ware etc.

They eventually DIYed it for closer to 5k.

That's an amazing price. You've done well.

Yep we did ours two years ago, and actually we did use expensive fittings. Still nowhere near £25k! Was about half that.

Hi everyone, just following up. I eventually did three bathrooms plus 2 bedrooms painted and the final cost came to £24K. Some Victorian Plumbing units but the bulk was from a builders merchant they recommended. I went with middle priced items. The standard of work was absolutely excellent, 3 bathrooms in 3 weeks but as i mentioned before, they worked from around 6am till 5pm daily. £24K is still a lot for me but im very pleased. Im in London.

If my neighbour and a professional company were starting bathroom work at 6am then I’d be making complaints

no proper company would start work before 8am. I hope they’ve done a good job for you OP

Is this in North London? I’m being quoted £13-15k for labour for one bathroom!

@OnTheBoardwalk Youre right, but actually im up around then, then the school run is 8 and they definitely didn't make any big noise between those hours. Truthfully my neighbours would be the first to mention it to me if that was the case but my neighbours are always sharing builder details so were keen to see if mine were any good so they could use them themselves. I think mine preferred starting early, leaving early (4pm-5pm). Im in London so most i know want to start early to avoid traffic.

@Hellenbach yup, North London. Mine might be less complex than yours though, it was gutting three bathrooms, fixtures and fittings, labour, tiling etc. Plus i feel like mine was a smaller job for builders who do big jobs ie a gap filler. It was hard getting quotes, people not coming back with figures etc. I was lucky as these were already doing friends, and had space

For set package companies it usually just under £5k per bathroom here in the north east so I imagine £20k in London could be right or low.

Also depends on finishes, packages are usually paneling and set double end or P shaped bath. If you want tiles and freestanding etc... is a lot more expensive.

Ive just had one bathroom done and m about to get another done. The first was a 2m x 2.5m room. Took out bath and put vanity unit in its place (so no real change to plumbing). Toilet and shower in the same place. Labour including electrics and skip hire was £10k and the fittings and tiles came to just over £4k.

My second quote came in yesterday for the second bathroom. It involves a partial knock through (making a separate toilet and bathroom so that you access the toilet through a door from the bathroom rather than the landing) so it's a bit more. Labour including electrics is £12k. I suspect fittings and tiles will be about the same ie about £4k.

I'm in the Midlands.

So I think you'll get two bathrooms done but not three for £20k

Edited to apologise that I didn't read the full thread!

Pfft we’ve just been quoted £9k for FITTING ONLY for a small family bathroom 😂 £5k for the actual bathroom and tiles and stuff. Surrey. So I’d say £20k is very optimistic even with the economy of scale.

(We’re not going for £9k person but the others are £7k)

Also are you going to live in with all bathrooms being done at once? 😱 I’d add in the cost of an air BnB tbh!

Ah shit didn’t RTFT. Still interested if you lived in though!! You did well on the cost that’s for sure.

You have bagged an absolute bargain. 3 bathrooms in 3 weeks is also unheard of. I had 3 bathrooms and a downstairs cloakroom completely redone the year before last and my fitter did 1 bathroom then I had to wait a week or 2 whilst he fitted in plumbing repairs then he did second one etc. He did do a good job but it took o 6-7 weeks to get all completed.

@ResusciAnnie i did live there - so they did one at a time, one week for each. So once one was done, the family showered there whilst the rest was done. They were fast, which is what i really wanted. And long hours. They brought their own food so dont leave the site.

It was helpful that the builder was helpful with his advice ie not letting me overspend. Also, the merchant i dealt with was good value. I work full time so i just need everything efficiently done because i havent got time to deal with issues. My experience in the past has been :

People disappearing for longer lunches
Moving onto other jobs without finishing mine
People not working unless the lead person is on site

In those cases, the jobs were done in the end but took ages plus if you had to do any follow up, they werent available for a while as back to back with bigger jobs.

Oh how I wish private messaging still existed on here, I’d get their contact details from you!
I’ve had months of trying to find someone reliable and with a reasonable quote.
Mine is a straightforward rip out and replace job. I’m sourcing the sanitaryware from a trade place in Muswell Hill.
I had a guy visit twice, measure up, take photos etc and never heard from him again!
Others have given a ballpark figure but no itemised quote. Most are so busy they are booked until March ‘26.