New bathroom suite - Advice

ellas9602

hi everyone

My OH gets his bonus this month :j :j and I've decided we are going to purchase a new bathroom suite. I've never really had any major work done on the house before so just have a few questions.

Any reccomendations for where to buy from? I dont really want one of the ultra cheap suites you can get these days looking for good value/quality.

Do the people I buy it from fit it or is it best to get my own plumber? How much should I be looking at for this? i can imgaine there will also be some joinery work too (vanity unit type thing) will this all be incorporated in the fitting?

then theres tiling. Do you think this is something that can be DIY? or best to get a proffesional.
again how much?

Thanks for any advice

Baggiebird1nil

We had a new bathroom suite fitted in January of this year. We paid £350 for a plasterer to do all the walls (they were a mess), £400 for a plumber to fit the bath, toilet, shower and sink, £200 for an electrician to fit new shower and downlighters, £200 for the bathroom suite (from B & Q cheap but very nice) plus tiles £150 (which my OH fitted). To be honest with the mess and no bath or shower for a week, with hindsight I would have had someone in to give me a quote to do the lot. Looks lovely now though!

ellas9602

Thanks Baggie

thats really helpful, I had no idea what to expect, I hadn't even though of electrics or plastering! Do you have any idea how much somewhere like b and q would charge for doing the lot?

p4u1_2

Hi ellas9602

The options are endless. My advice would be to avoid the DIY stores as the quality can be questionable. Stick with well known brands, and checkout the specialist shops. Plumb Centre are worth a visit, look for a branch with a showroom. Once you have decided what you want, then shop around for the best price. Some shops will supply a plumber, but I suspect you may get better value choosing you're own.

Tiles, again find what you want, using the various tile outlets. It is a DIY job, but if you're a beginner, a good tiler will do a better job. Tiling can seem like a never ending task, i.e. weekend after weekend, so it depends how much you value those weekends as to whether you DIY.

The key is choosing the right suite, tiles. Then shopping around for a good plumber and tiler. The usual rules apply, get 3 quotes and ask for references. Based on some recent experience the Plumber should take a couple of days, £300-£400, and the tiler 3-4 days, at a cost of £400-£500.

Good luck!

p4u1

HugoSP

All the above sounds reasonable.

Some DIY stuff is OK, spend the money on the taps and fittings. Look at the thickness and general quality of manufacture of the bath. The sanitory wear will generally be OK.

Don't just look for plumbers. Look also for good handymen who fit bathrooms a lot and have a good reack record.



H

tawnyowls

I agree - taps and fittings and getting it installed well can make a cheap suite look really good. And whatever else, buy white with chrome fittings, if you don't want to be ripping it out again when it comes to sell the house - mainly white tiles also good idea. With tiles, choose ones without a completely flat surface (the ones sold as 'bumpy' tiles) unless your walls are perfect, and don't choose a border or pattern with just one colour as it'll restrict your options when decorating.

libra10

We had a new bathroom installed last month from MFI. It cost more than expected as we asked MFI fitters to do the work, but we're pleased with the results.

We chose standard bath, WC and sink unit along with the cupboards which fit underneath and a bar going across the top. They charged around £900 for fitting. There are 3 units, 2 x 600 and 1 x 300 and hold an amazing amount of items.

The MFI bloke also completely tiled the room, boxed in pipework, and installed a new shower. He did an excellent job and this work cost between £450 and £500, from what I remember. The work took around a week to complete.

We ended up spending around £3200 or more, with shower screen, new shower and blinds, but the room is much more practible and looks much better.

Good luck

Alan_M_2

Also where you are in the country will effect the cost of installation, it's cheaper up North than in London etc....

When chosing taps makes sure they are suitable for your existing water system, many of the very nice looking items are high pressure units and require extra work to get a decent flow from.

Good quality makes:-

Bette or Kaldewi for baths.
Aqualisa or Mira for showers
Bristan or Hudson Reed for quality looking but reasonable taps. (good low pressure range)
Roman - medium quality but good value screens and enclosures.
Roca - Laufen Pro range - good quality and good value pottery.
Utopia - not cheap but the best range and quality of bathroom furniture available,

bestyman

HugoSP wrote:

All the above sounds reasonable.

Some DIY stuff is OK, spend the money on the taps and fittings. Look at the thickness and general quality of manufacture of the bath. The sanitory wear will generally be OK.

Don't just look for plumbers. Look also for good handymen who fit bathrooms a lot and have a good reack record.



H

ge

ROTFPML...... and while the handyman is there working in your 100k plus home, probably unisured and without sufficent knowledge ( otherwise he would be called a plumber and not a handyman) why not ask him to service the car ?

ellas9602

Thanks for all the advice, It really is very helpful to read what a new bathroom has cost in your experience. My MIL just got a new kitchen from MFI they quoted £1600 for fitting but she got her own fitter to do it for 600 so I'd be a little reluctant to use MFI. On the other hand it sounds like they really took the hassle out of having the work done and also sounds like they did a raelly good job. I didn't really want to spend more than £2000 but I'm not sure this is going to be enough.

I'll keep doing my research.....

(just pooped to a bath showroom in my lunch and spotted a bath I love..prices start from £3000 :eek: just for the bath....trust me:rotfl: )