best places for budget bathrooms

blushingbride_3

Hi,

i am putting together a budget for replacing our bathrooms.

Need a full suite including a mixer shower to go above the bath.

Just looked on wickes website but doesnt seem to be the cheapest.

Although i want a good price i also want quality.

What sort of price should i expect for a

WC
Sink
Bath
Shower over bath?

suisidevw

bigbobsbathrooms on ebay are mega cheap and get good reviews!

webitha

have you got a link to bigbobs as i cant find them on ebay thanks

keystone

Absurd as it may seem Sainsbury's are offering under Home and Garden on the internet a complete suite including brassware for about £ 180 atm if you want cheap. Can't vouch for the quality or longevity though - not my usual supplier funnily enough. They attach Bristan's name to it but so much badge engineering goes on these days its difficult to tell.

Theres me knocking internet supplies left right and centre too - but you did say you wanted cheap!

Cheers

blushingbride_3

yes i'd like a budget bathroom but also quality! i'd rather pay a little more for something that will last.

Are sainsburys still part of homebase? if so i suppose the bathrooms will be the same as the ones available in homebase?

roses

I bought all mine from reputable sellers on Ebay.

The tap I bought was from a well known company with 5 years guarantee. It broke after 2 years & they sent me a replacement so it seems safe to buy from as long as you get it from a proper seller and not an individual.

andrew-b

Homebase and sainsburys parted company long ago (december 2000 to be precise).

As posted ad infinitum here stick to branded sanitaryware/brassware..Ideal Standard, Twyford, Crosswater, Grohe, Bristan, Aqualisa, Mira etc rather than B&Q/Wickes/Homebase.

Budget needn't mean low quality ..just be prepared to haggle with plumber's merchants and spend hours searching the internet for best prices, product data etc. Posted loads of times before but suppliers i used were homesupply.co.uk showers-direct2u.co.uk , local PTS for most of the standard bathroom stuff..for other stuff screwfix, BES (plumbing parts), Plumbase (plumbing parts). I shyed away from ebay except for one or two minor items (too many probs in the past with ebay purchases!) I'm still a bit torn between whether internet or local plumber merchant is best (plumbers will tell you to stick to merchants - partly as it's less hassle for them)..depends on what your buying and availability and on your haggling skills and your availability for deliveries i'd say - either way i'd compare the two and play the merchants off against the internet.

From my experience i got the best deals by shopping around and not buying everything from one place. If i'd been out at work all day every day i agree local plumber's merchant would be preferable. However i didn't pay much more than £40 overall on delivery costs..so not much.

Where your money can really be saved is by doing as much of the work you possibly you can yourself. Stripping out the bathroom is easily done yourself for near zero cost , rubbish disposal can be done via regular big bucketfuls to the local tip in your car (preferably on way to somewhere else!). If you have time and patience tiling can be done yourself too.
Other ways you can save money are maybe localised tiling rather than floor to ceiling ..might mean paying for plastering (did for us!) but it's likely to be cheaper per square metre to plaster and paint than it is to pay someone to tile for you!

If there are electrics to be fitted think about cutting out for cable runs yourself and just get electrician to hook everything up and sign off (check with electrician first though!).
So many ways you can cut back on things. Things like accessories soon add up so buy them from cheap places like argos, matalan etc. Paint i always stick to dulux or crown. Tiles shop around...you can very very easily spend most of your money here...do you really need travertine/slate etc that may go out of fashion really quick or can you do with standard ceramics. When buying tiles i always look at the whole cost rather than just the cost for 1 square metre of tiles..as it's far too easy to start thinking £20sqm is cheap..it's not! We got ours for half price in homebase in some sale or other £10 sqm.

Everything soon adds up..screws, sealants and so on all add up so you need to shop around for absolutely everything even if it means saving literally pennies!

I didn't pay for a plumber and my shower room has cost under £3k (using a plumber would have added on about £1k to the cost). To pay workmen to do the lot probably would have cost me at least £5k all-in. Though my bathroom was not a straight swap ...if it is a straight swap i daresay you could do a bathroom for similar cost with plumber doing the work but assuming you tile yourself.