Small bathroom refit- is 15k plus VAT steep?

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I’ve been quoted 15k plus VAT to refit the bathroom in a flat I rent out. The bath is leaking and needs to be replaced and the rest of it has got a bit shabby after almost 15 years of tenants.

I want to replace all the sanitary ware, retile, refloor and fit a walk in shower instead of the bath.

It’s a windowless room, about 3m long/wide. Modern block, built in 2012. No services would need to be relocated.

This quote is from a contractor recommended by my letting agent. The contractor knows the building, which I am sure would be an advantage given it’s a flat so access is a bit tricky, as is waste disposal. It’s in East London.

It feels quite steep though and I feel a bit like the agent and contractor think landlords are cash cows. We paid around 10k for our own much larger bathroom in North London, including moving a wall, but that was 10 years ago so maybe I’m just out of touch with prices?

PS I thought maybe the shower was the expensive bit but they said only 1k less if I just fit a new bath.

It's about the size of my bathroom (also an inside room) where I was quoted 4.5k four years ago just to remove the bath - it was the retiling that would cost the money because it's quite labour intensive.

Reader - I kept the bath.

I paid £11k to completely relocate my bathroom!

i would expect closer to 10-12k. But you don’t really know unless you get more quotes.

Sounds steep to me. We had a complete new bathroom almost 6 years ago and was just over £10k including VAT. No bath, just a walk in shower. However that did not include cost of the flooring, fitting and a vanity basin we sourced elsewhere. And the Porcelanosa tiles. So I guess probably more like £13k. It’s quite a large bathroom. This is in the south east.

Looks pricey, if your in east london, try adriatic fozelli..??..hes on leytonstone life, fb group, does excellent work, his team has done many bathrooms. I am lucky as my lodger is a plumber and tiler and did my bathroom for free , gutted the lot and redid tiles and shower etc, he wouldnt charge what you have been quoted.

Construction costs have gone up so much in the last 6 years. Brexit had an impact on costs, and Covid, the war in Ukraine and energy prices.

I’m in London and did a small en-suite shower for £10k and that was with decent fixtures. It was a small room. What is the split between labour and fixtures? My contractor wasn’t VAT registered which helps keep cost down.

I have just had my bathroom completely redone albeit with high quality products, it was £15k I’m in south wales.

Brexit had a much bigger impact on the rate that tradesman were able to charge than it did on material costs, because the supply of skilled labour was reduced. And to be fair, that's exactly why many of what we would have once called the working class voted for it - they could see it would make them better off (if not the country...) and it has. Builders, plumbers, electricans, carpenters, lorry drivers...you name it they individually earn more post brexit. It's one of teh reasons why Labour was so underwhelmingly behind 'remain' at the time - they knew their core vote was in favour. Itr remains to be seen where the country goes from here...

On the bathroom front, being in a flat adds cost to all work, becuase it's harder to have thing delivered, to store them and to move them to whatever floor the flat is on. Waste disposal costs more for the same reasons, and then there's the cost of parking, congestion / ULEZ charges and the rest of it. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the premium for a flat in London over a home counties cost wasn't at least £2k (plus VAT). The OPs £10k 10 years ago is £15k in 2026, excluding labour cost inflation above RPI. I expect that adds another couple of £k, plus VAT as well. So while £15k plus VAT sounds a lot I think it's probably not far off the mark unfortunately

No it most certainly wasn’t a tax dodge. On check a trade it tells you if the company/ individual charges VAT. VAT is only charged after a certain threshold is reached by the trader. We just knew it would keep the cost down to use someone who was not VAT registered.

Didn’t know you could replace a bathroom and leave the tiles. Is it fully tiled?

I replaced a small shower room in loft conversion last year. New shower tray and toilet, tiling around shower only, glass screen (floor to ceiling but only about 8 inches wide - it's a walk in shower), mirror over sink unit and new flooring. The existing sink unit and radiator were moved. I paid £13k, plus all the fixtures and fittings, other than paint and grout. I'm in West London. Think it may well depend on what you're getting for £15k, and if there's been a leak, floorboards / joists may need to be replaced?

I paid £8k for a total bathroom refit, with bath taken out and large corner shower put in, sink moved and toilet in same place, retiled, painted. July 2025 midlands

Thanks everyone. The flat is about to be vacated and I want to refurb between tenants, there is obviously the loss of rental income during the empty period to take into account, but I should get more for it when done. The mortgage is just paid off, I guess I’m a bit disappointed that as soon as the final payment went out it ended up costing me more!

It's very pricey. My plumber who I used for 6 of my BTL properties charged me £9.5k to pull out old bath. Redo flooring then put non slip vynal on floor. Put in 2 metre x 1 metre walk in shower with double shower hoses, under sink unit and new loo, mirror and shower tidy. On walls I chose to have grey shower boards all over room. I've had 2 bathrooms done last year in 2 bedroom houses. I'll probably get new bathrooms in 2 more of the 3 bedroom houses next year but I'll have baths with showers over in those as they have young kids. I doubt plumber would charge me much more than £10k. West Midlands.

Thats expensive. We had our bathroom totally refitted from an 80s chocolate brown suite. Total refit including tiling. Was about 6k. One bloke did it all. He was fantastic. North london

Price alone doesn’t tell you whether it is steep: in an East London flat, access, parking, protection of communal areas and waste can add more than the sanitaryware. I’d ask for the quote to be split into labour, strip-out/disposal, plumbing, electrical, tanking/waterproofing, plastering, tiling, flooring, sanitaryware and shower screen, with assumptions about tiles and fittings. Because the bath is leaking, make sure the source is repaired now and the substrate is checked before covering. For a walk-in shower, ask what waterproofing system and falls/drain arrangement are included, and confirm ventilation and electrical work are handled by the right competent person. Get two independent quotes on the same written specification; a letting-agent recommendation is not automatically bad, but I’d want references for comparable flats and a clear defects/warranty process. £15k + VAT may be reasonable for a fully managed London job, but the breakdown is what will show that.

I’ve recently had a similar size en suite quoted - £12k for basic fittings, £15k for luxury (all ex VAT). Some plumbing work but mostly refitting and retiling. SE. It’s expensive. We’re living with what we have.