Replcaement bathroom - what's the most cost effective way?

[Igglybuff]

We've got a small bathoom (2x2.5m) and seperate toilet (1x2m). We want to replace all the fittings, add electric underfloor heating, retile and add a cloakroom sink to the toilet.

First quote came in at 8k exc materials and fittings. I was a bit shocked - maybe I'm being naive? We have gone to companies that do it all as opposed to finding a plumber/plasterer/electrician as we've not got time to project manage and want it done quickly.

Can anyone tell me if this is a bit steep for London? If not, how hard would it be to employ seperate tradesman and coordinate the work ourselves? We're not moving any plumbing except for one radiator and adding a sink so it should be relatively easy.

Thanks

Measure it all yourself and buy the bath sink etc either online or in a local merchants.Then get a local plumber to fit it.

I have a 12ftx9ft bathroom, I had a quote for just labour - plastering,tiling, fitting and pluming for new bath. about 1500. Then about the same again for fixtures/fittings and materials - oh and a new ceiling. I would say 8k is very steep.

noddy we're going to get the fittings ourselves - 8k was just labour

86, yes I think it was steep. We're getting a few more in the next few days so hopefully we'll get better quotes!

It's hard as we've not done this before and want it done quickly, so at risk of being ripped off.

We've just done our 7x7ft bathroom for just under 2k.

We bought the stuff and paid someone to fit it.

The skimming, fitting the suite, shower and pump, tiling and flooring was £850, he did it in 5 days. He put the shelves up too and the light and blind etc.

If your in the west mids I'll pass on the blokes details, he made a really good job of it

That sounds a lot to me, we had ours done in London a couple of years ago through this company which the local bathstore.com told us about, labour was a lot cheaper than that and I don't even think it is a particularly cheap company given that we got their details via bathstore. They sent us 2 v v hardworking Polish guys who did a fantastic job.

Way too much IMO.

Have a look at www.plumbworld.co.uk/ for fittings and try other places for quotes.
The co butadream linked to looks good, decent pics in the gallery and useful to get a recommendation.
Also, have you tried asking at local plumbing merchants for names/recommendations?
Just because you want one company to deal with it shouldn't mean you get ripped off.

And dont be afraid to haggle, esp in the current climate, I always ask if I can pay cash and am rarely turned down!

sometimes builders quote extortionate rates as they don't want the job and don't want to say, 'sorry we're not interested in this'

Interesting you say that Beas as the guy was a bit dismissive and kept saying how things couldn't be done. It's not a particularly tricky job!
worzle, thanks but I'm in London!
butadream I'll check them out, thank you.
panna, no I hadn't thought about asking, thanks!

Now I feel better equipped and will do some more research! Thanks

Iggly: in a similar position to you. We have tiny bathroom- 3 piece suite. Needs an update.
the quotes we had are coming in between 4-5K!

That's just for labour .

so watching this thread...

(should add am also in London)

I would steer well clear of the all-in-one companies, my brother used to work for a well known one (aquatic mammal one ) and said they are extortionately expensive. Far better IMO to find a good local plumber and buy the suite yourself in Wickes, B&Q or similar. Your plumber should be able to source all the odds and ends for trade prices.

We're getting our bathroom done next month and it will cost less than 4K all in, and that's for a huge walk in shower enclosure, 3 piece suite, taps, shower, tiles, plumbing, labour etc.

We're mid bathroom refit, ours is costing approx £3500 for everything including all fixtures and fitting. We bought showering bath, shower, chrome towel rail, sink and toilet from bathstore in the sale, our plumber has charged £600 to fit it all. We are also fitting electric underfloor heating, new light, walls and floors tiled, and partial reskim for that total price. Agree £8K is way too much. Deinitely steer clear of companies that do an all in one package - much much cheaper to co-ordinate it yourself - is a bit of a headache but well worth the £3k we saved HTH

Ours cost around 6k. This included new bath and basin to match new(ish) WC that had been installed a few years earlier. Also shower screen, installation of shower over bath, towel rail style radiator, complete re-tiling, replacement of ceiling and installation of new bathroom lights.

This was through a plumbing shop in Romford. Plumber turned up promptly every day until job done, ie never a day when he did not turn up. Stayed v late one night when he realised he had messed up central heating. Geve us his personal mobile and implored us to call any time of night if anything leaked, would rather fix a leak in middle of night than have lots of water damage to deal with. Came out on a Saturday afternoon when something did leak. SOon fixed.

We didn't have the confidence to go and get the fitting ourselves - did not want to riks going out to buy stuff only to be told by plumber that he couldn't fit something, or an alternative would have been better.

8k excl materials and fittings sounds a lot...where in London are you?

ibby I'm in south London.

I don't mind paying a bit more to avoid the hassle of coordinating different tradesmen but not a huge amount more. As we only have one bathroom and a 4 month baby I can't be doing with the hassle. We've had a second quote this evening of 3k!!! quote is just as detailed. We're going to get a couple more quotes and take it from there.

Another thing I wondered is how good is the quality from places like bathstore and online shops? They seem good but no idea if things like taps will last (I'm not worried about the sink/bath etc).

sparky we're having a new sink where there wasn't one and the windows replaced which will add a bit more than yours so hope yours doesn't cost as much as ours!

I'll be staying well away from aquatic mammals ;)

I heard about a woman who got in her new bath and lay back to admire her new bathstore basin to find it WASN'T GLAZED UNDERNEATH!!! She had it taken out.

I think Nappyzone on here had a bathstore tap that came apart?

Grohe Bristan and Vola taps are supposed to be good. Are you near colliers Wood at all? Burge and Gunson (bit pricey but good) are worth a look. Lots of room set ups.

City Plumbing also recommended on here. The one on Mitcham road has a very enthusiastic showroom manager Christopher McFarland I think. Also lots of room sets and they give 20 to 40% discount on brochure prices.

I have had a lot of time to research our new bathroom and have found it overwhelming but I think it's worth finding things you like. Plumbworld is a good website too.

Thank you toots. Do you live in tooting by any chance? I used to a few years ago and loved it! I'm not that near Colliers Wood - moved SE instead. I'll check out the brands you mention - we were being lazy as there's a bathstore a ten min walk away!

We were happy with the bathstore fittings we put in, we've also had other bathstore stuff in rented home and that seemed fine, too. I would only buy in the sale but there are usually plenty of these, Easter ones are next I expect.

butadream how long have you had the bathstore stuff for?

Bathroom in flat fitted in May 2007 but we have recently moved.

8k certainly sounds steep for what you want doing. We're in SE London too and I've just had our bathroom (3mx2m) stripped out, bath & sink moved, freestanding bath put in, floor joists & boards replaced, floor tiled, walls plastered & everything fitted and it cost about 2k for the labour. We used these guys and would definitely recommend - really hardworking, reliable and friendly - oh and good with my 10mo!

I bought fittings etc online mostly to get the cheapest price (ebay being my favourite!) and the only thing I'm not happy with the quality of was the sink unit from B&Q!

hth

Thanks cassell I might get a quote from them too as the right part of town for us.

i've very successfully used ratedpeople to get 'tradesmen'. our bathroom was installed by prevous owners and it cost 7.5k from the aquatic mammel people and it is total cr*p. it leaks, bits fall off and it is just badly put in. done in 2007. i really really would not recommend. am hoping to get new bath and taps from ebay and basin from local store and get my now very friendly builder to do when we've saved up!

We used a local plumber to do our bathroom then found a tiler to do the tiling. I would strongly recommend using the plumber to supply the goods if he will do so at reasonable cost as if there is any problem with them, they are then responsible for replacing it. Our bath had a crack in which we didn't notice until after it had been fitted one, but the plumber replaced it at no extra cost because he had supplied it. Had we sourced it ourselves from Bathstore we would have had to bear the cost ourselves.

Ours cost £2.7K for everything - new bath, screen, electric shower over bath, built in sink and toilet, towel rail, tiling etc.

I would also recommend ebay for fittings. I got a three piece suite (free standing roll top bath ) and separate shower cubical and thermostatic shower with one of those rain head - plus a smaller head for washing down for £500 including delivery - Bargain!!

Ok I'm definitely going to check out eBay. We want to get one of those shower baths and a super fancy thermostatic shower but everything else will be standard stuff. And we'll spend a bit more on taps.

I'm going to ask the builders about supplying the fittings - hadn't thought about that. It would be a right pain and a half to have to replace ourselves!

Thanks guys. We're hoping to get this done in April - I'll have to come back and report progress