£12,500 for a bathroom refurb?!?!?

[Mmmcheese89]

Small Victorian terrace bathroom in yorkshire. 3m x 1.9m.

Ripping out fully tiled, 3 piece bathroom suite.

Replacing with 3 piece bathroom suite plus electric shower. Tile around bath, back splash to sink and on floor. Skim plaster to everywhere else including new skim to ceiling. None of the appliances are changing location.

I've tried using local trades but they either ghost after they've seen the job or over price it because they don't want to do it. So I'm stuck going to b&q.

I'm not using very expensive materials (plain white tiles, simple suite), apparently it's getting the electric shower put in that's costing so much more than initially expected as fuse box is in the cellar, bathroom is two floors above and there isn't the existing cabling.

But there is no contingency for if they find anything troublesome underneath when they rip out the existing bathroom.

It has to be done. The bathroom is hanging on by a thread for being functional. And if I'm gonna do the thing I might as well do it properly and get what I want. Right?

sorry, this is mostly just sounding it out. Fml.

Had ours done last year, roughly same area but square. Taking out bath and replacing with shower. New toilet, vanity unit, radiator, fan etc. and full wall tiling. That included everything.
We live in a low cost area and that was the cheapest quote we got.

That seems high to me. Have you tried wickes?

Are you having a separate shower unit? Do you need the electric shower or would a shower over the bath with a shower mixer thing be just as useful?

Our neighbours are having a massive refurb done with en suites. When the builders told (nosey) DP the costs he nearly fell over. Un-fucking-believable prices for materials and labour.

We paid just over 6k, bath out, shower in, extractor fitted full rip out, tiled walls and floor, plasterboard and skim. Rip out, fit, tile, just over 4.5k. No change ilto plumbing fittings. Bathroom approx 2.5m square

I've found places like B&Q more expensive and they make their money by subcontracting the work and selling their own products. The good installers will have a long lead in time (months) so perhaps you'd have more luck finding one if you were flexible on start date. Also, for my last bathroom, I shopped around for cheaper items.

I would say depending on the things you’ve chosen that could be right. Latest editor I’ve had for fitting as £5/6k then choosing the materials myself so add on another £5k

I got two bathrooms done ( well , one largish bathroom and one en-suite ) 6 months ago . No fixtures moved about , no plastering or tiling done as we used wall panels instead , but the cost to rip out the old family bathroom , fit the new one , sort out the shower , plus flooring and painting was about 11k . The en-suite was almost as much because the floor had to be relaid .

I got similar space for £4k good fixtures and £4k full tile strip out and refitting

why you getting electric shower? Have you got a combi? My lovely fitter told me he wanted to shake me when I said I wanted electric shower. He’d have to pay mega bucks to electrician to put electric from meter to bathroom and fit it. This might be ramping up your costs?

Mixed bag of responses.

I want electric shower as whilst I am on a combi boiler, it doesn't provide a stable temp as I have a lot of hair to wash. And it is just personal preference. It's not a separate unit though l, just over bath, though I've been told this is pushing up the price.

I know using a place like b&q is more expensive than local trades but if the locals don't want the work I don't have any choice really. And Wickes were more expensive AND didn't have what I wanted.

And I am genuinely not using expensive products. It's the labour costs, and as for lead times, the fitters won't be free until March!

On the electric shower, have you used one before? The water pressure on them is very very poor. You likely just need your boiler servicing or a different tap/shower to assist with temperature regulation.

That does seem high, we have had two bathrooms replaced this year. Our en-suite shower room changed into a wet room, due to my disability, we had a couple of quotes, it’s a very small bathroom. Quotes range was £14,500 to £8,130. We had shower boards, wet room floor dug out for drain, pull down seat, comfort height loo, sink in cabinet, shower with cool Touch Bar and paddle controls, folding shower screen, high quality, non slip flooring, ceiling light replacement, towel rail, painted ceiling.

Family bathroom, quite a decent sized bathroom, new bath, shower boards, loo, sink, flooring and inc painting ceiling, only things he didn’t change was the towel radiator £6,000.

One thing I would say my plumber said working is a small bathroom is harder, as often can only have one fitter as they get in each others way otherwise. So perhaps the plumber has priced the job accordingly. And of course it doesn’t matter to the quality of the items the fitting price is the same. Bloody expensive!

Good luck OP I hope you get a sensible quote soon, we have been so pleased with our new bathrooms.

This. Were a family of 4 and replaced our shitty electric shower with one run from the combi. No issues. Much better.

And I’m intrigued by OPs “I have a lot of hair to wash”???

And in terms of the cost, have you considered doing some of it yourself/use family? We’ve done a huge amount of our house renovation ourselves and saved a fortune.

We had ours done by a local tradesman for 8k, 2 years ago.
That's with having 2 and a half walls tiled. If we had the other wall tiles it put the price up a lot. We got an over the bath shower and it great.

The electrician wasn't here for long, just changed the lights. It's a lot of different trades, tiler, electrician, plumber and plasterer. It all goes up quickly so there is a lot of work lining it all up

We spent 17k on a complete bathroom refurb last year. This is SW London. Nothing vert fancy except it included some nice carpentry to make a cupboard for the boiler and matching cupboard next to it. Lots of tiles. Felt incredibly expensive to me but we couldn't find anyone to do it cheaper.

I've just had mine done. 2.3m x 3.5m bathroom. It was previously fully tiled and had a bath with a shower over. All the tiles off, replastered, new everything including recessed lighting, bath replaced with large 2m walk in shower unit, panels instead of tiles. New flooring, new rainfall shower. I've just got the last bit to be finished (coving, pipes to be boxed in) and in total it's cost about £11k.

We did total refurb from Bath to shower, small bathroom, fully tiled and all in cost us around £7,000. We sourced all sanitary wear from Plumbworld. Would highly recommend.
Took almost a year from finding someone to the completed job. First person pulled out . The person that did it was from Check a trade and he was fantastic. Clean, tidy a perfectionist.
if the electrics are the problem then source the electrician separately.
Places like B&Q, Wickes etc don’t have particularly good reputations.
Ask around for recommendations. In the current economic climate there must be people out there seeking work although if they are good then might be booked up for some time. If you are prepared to wait then you should find someone.
Post on here for recommendations, Facebook and look at Trading Standards for Trusted traders.

I would try reaching out to local fitters again. That does seem expensive.

I also wanted an electric shower but due to fitting it being a faff they have advised on a rear fed thermostatic shower. It requires a plug but that is all. It’s designed for low pressure locations.

There could be an another easier option for you. There are some good fitters out there. I can recommend a company in the SE. Good luck!

We are South East.

Have you tried wickes?

Presumably OP wants a bathroom that works and is actually fitted. Wickes have a big rep for over-quoting, not installing on time and then not actually doing a decent job.

We're about to have our en-suite done. 4x3 and were quoted £13K. On initial reach-out to Wickes (to get the 'highest price' so we knew what to actually look for they quoted £17K).

We've gone with a local tradesman (and his team). Will be about 4 days worth of working taking out; bath, shower, sink, toilet, all the tiles on the walls and floors and giving us, bath, shower, sink, toilet, new tiles on the walls and floors, new heated towel rail, extractor fan, new heated towel rail. Oh and they're doing the boiler service at the same time and replacing the taps in the other bathrooms.

Probably would have been cheaper to go for a laminate flooring, given the floor space, but I have dogs who like to watch me wee so not slip tile flooring is important 😅

That’s too high. I’m in Yorkshire and just had a much bigger bathroom totally re done, including hot water tank. I used expensive F&F and it was less.

which part of Yorkshire, nearest town/city, I’m sure MN may be able to recommend some trades for you.

I’d love to redo our bathroom but these stories make me hesitant. The faff, the outrageous product prices, the overcharging by the tradesmen and the often poor quality work is off putting.

And I know that the trades guys overcharge because my BiL is one of them. Told us how he charged £40k one client for a new kitchen that would in actuality cost £20k. Enraging.

I'm in Barnsley @Tortephant

We’ve just been quoted about £21k (as part of a larger reno) to do 2x bathrooms - this includes changing configuration of both as need take space from our current en-suite to create a larger family bathroom.

seems right to me. materials alone are probably close to 6k

look at what you (or person with van) can do yourself to save costs.
re-use what you can. re-enamel the bath can be cheaper than a new one.