Have you project managed a bathroom refit and will you critique my contractor lists?

[QuimReaper]

I'm very nervous about getting something wrong here because I've never done it before but am planning to save costs by managing individual tradesmen in my new flat. I'm ripping out a bathroom and having a new one fitted.

It's the only bathroom so I'd like to keep a working loo throughout. I have drawn this list up with some help from AI and want to sense check it with a human who has done it before! I did not, for instance, realise that electricians and plumbers would need to be done in two stages.

Any feedback and general advice gratefully received!

1. STRIP-OUT / LABOURER

• Remove bathroom fittings
• Remove tiles & flooring
• Remove/alter boxing
• Remove waste

1. PLUMBER — FIRST FIX

• Resite toilet
• Bath plumbing
• Shower plumbing
• Basin plumbing
• Radiator/towel rail plumbing

1. ELECTRICIAN — FIRST FIX

• Lighting
• Extractor
• Sockets/shaver point
• Hairdryer
• Underfloor heating

1. BUILDER / PLASTERER

• Repair/plaster walls
• Prepare/level floor
• Boxing
• Bath structure

1. TILER

• Waterproof/tank wet areas
• Wall tiling
• Floor tiling
• Grouting/sealing
• Bath panel/ledge

1. PLUMBER — SECOND FIX

• Bath & taps
• Basin
• Shower
• Toilet finishing
• Radiator/towel rail

1. ELECTRICIAN — SECOND FIX

• Lights
• Mirror
• Shaver sockets
• Underfloor heating

1. DECORATOR / HANDYMAN

• Paint
• Mirror
• Storage
• Accessories
• Door

When we had our bathroom done last year our bathroom fitter used his electrician for all electrical work. We sourced all the sanitary ware, towel rail, tiles, taps, shower etc. The fitter supplied all the fittings eg: pipe work, spot lights, extractor etc.
I imagine the person you choose to do the work will have their own way of working.

You might struggle to find a labourer.

If you wanted to save even more money you could strip the room out yourself and do the decorating.

Bathrooms are tricky as they need all trades at various times in a specific order. I got a local plumber/joiner who brought in the tiler and electrician and plaster he worked with. Have you asked about locally to see if someone does this type of thing. It was still cheaper than getting a bathroom fitting company.

I sourced my own stuff and used one bathroom fitter (a specialist guy who works for our usual plumbers) for everything but the electrics and the floor.

The time before that I used one guy (and his wife) who did the lot. And an electrician.

I should add that I do my own decorating.

To be honest each time I’ve had my bathroom done, the plumber has project managed and done 4/5 of the work.

Tiling is usually last by the way

I think you're over-thinking/over-complicating, op. Get some quotes from local builders. Any competent builder will be able to refurb a bathroom and won't need you to 'project manage'. They'll explain to you what you need to buy in advance (eg sanitary wear, tiles, etc) and fixings and plumbing essentials they'll provide. They'll have tradies who come in to do electrics, plastering, decorating, etc when they schedule them; you won't need to do this unless you want to, but I'd suggest this is likely to just over-complicate a pretty straightforward job.

I honestly think you will be better off getting a plumber in.

The issue with your plan is all the separate trades are unlikely to be available exactly when you want.

Also I find that plumbers who have another tradesman they work with don't have the issues with them not turning up. Over the course of our bathroom refit we had plumber, plasterer, electrician and floor fitter all turning up at appointed times to do their bit. They'd all be brought in by the plumber contracted to do the job. Not a single van broke down and no one's gran died / was hospitalised which are all excuses I've had off trades I've directly employed.

Hi OP, I think AI is causing you to overthink this. My husband is a plumber and does the entire bathroom project end to end himself, everything you have listed there. Some don’t, but would have their own contacts to bring in.

just get 2/3 quotes from a reputable local plumber - I recommend asking on local facebook pages for real recommendations.

good luck!

Make sure you get the electrics signed off by an approved electrician. Most builders wont want to do that, but they should.

Massively over engineering this!

One competent bathroom fitter/plumber can do Al of this.

You need to make sure you choose all of the furniture/fixtures/lighting/ tiles etc. constantly check with them that you’re ordering the right size/fit. Then get it all ready for the start on site date. Keep checking in with them each morning and evening to see it’s as you expected and you still like everything.

you could decorate yourself if trying to save ££

What does door involve?

Agree, way over thinking.

We did the rip out ourselves, plumber did the rest including tiling, and just recommended a mate of his to sort electrics separately

Thank you all so much for your comments!

My original plan just had strip out, plumbing, electrician and finishing as phases, but running it through AI definitely freaked me out, which is why I wanted human input - glad my instinct was correct.

I have had a quote for the bathroom which was £11,000 before I've even bought any materials, which is what made me want to look at an alternative approach!

You don’t need a separate labourer - the plumber can remove everything or you can do it yourself. You can decorate yourself to save money as well.

We are having our bathroom done literally right now. I bought all the fittings myself and we will do the decorating ourselves, but are paying a local fitting company to do the rest (plumbing, plastering, electrics, tiling, flooring). I’m in the SE and the labour is costing £5500+VAT and fittings about £3k. Could have got fittings cheaper by getting own brand stuff but I still wanted proper brands like aqualisa, grohe etc.

Thank you @yonem that is much more what I had in mind - I do intend to decorate myself and don't mind what I spend on fittings, as that's within my control! Can I ask who you're using?

The biggest cost in a bathroom fit is the removal of existing tiles and tiling. Good tilers are hard to find and not cheap. Room tanking with Qboard depending on room size adds to the cost. You only really need to Qboard the shower or bath area. An average bathroom fit is about £6k in the northwest.

£6K is installation cost only.

We did a bathroom last year for around £6,500 including fittings but didn't have underfloor heating or a separate shower. I bought in all the materials and fittings. The toilet was out of use as a tiled floor for a couple of days or so - was removed to fit tiles and then adhesive then grout need to try. Things do need to be done in a specific order. We are now doing another bathroom and doing more of it ourselves to keep costs down but watched what they did last year. I would check about the toilet, if you want a tiled floor it is likely to be out and don't know how much time underfloor heating would add. Some tradesman do have a habit of doing work and disappearing for a while as well whilst leaving 300 tools at your house.

Roughly ours did took old tiles off and replastered walls.
Did plumbing removing items as and when needed and putting back as and when needed.
Removed bath again and sink and tiled walls. Shower also taken off for this above bath then readded later. Taps added.
Did flooring which took several days as tiles.
First lay tiles on floor
Then cut to size
Toilet off / Primer / adhesive tiles on leave 48 hours
Grout Leave a bit as well
Toilet back on Vanity and radiator fitted Extractor fan fitted
Sealant
Electrics done
We painted ourselves.

That was rough order though I may have got it wrong in places and yours may need to be different.

Have one main contractor (plumber) and let them bring in other trades as needed, otherwise each will blame another for any issues and you'll be left with the bill. If the plumber has full responsibility, they have to deliver the whole project. Painting afterwards can be you/someone separate.

@QuimReaper I’ve pmed you. For fittings we used Plumbworld, Victorian Plumbing, Tap Warehouse, Heat & Plumb, Tileflair and Flooring Hut. Worth shopping around as I saved £150 on the bath by buying the same one from a different supplier.

My fitter used his own electrician , and organised the plasterer. He did all the other stuff himself.

We've just finished a huge house renovation with multiple bathrooms.

-You've got 'remove waste' but check if their quotes include skip hire and them putting it into the skip or if YOU need to hire a skip and WHO puts it in the skip?

-Also check that the plumber what exactly the plumber will/won't do. Ours was used to working on hotels. He said installing the shower screen, bathroom wall cabinet and several other bits were not a plumbers job! We had to get our carpenter, who was brilliant, to do those things. Maybe our plumber was unusual, but its something to get clarity on from the start.