Cost of redoing a bathroom

SunnyCat

How much would it cost to redo a bathroom, as follows.
Size, roughly 2x3 metres. Needs existing (coaster-sized) tiles removed from the walls, remove bathtub, sink and toilet. Remove wooden panelling from the ceiling.

Needs new bathtub, sink and toilet fitted and new tiles laid, ceiling repainted. Not moving anything around, just replacing with new.
I know that prices can vary greatly, but how much could I expect to pay for the materials and for labour, in area around Woking?

Davesnave

Sorry, I don't live in Woking, though my cousin does. She says it's an expensive area and marvels at the fact that I can get a plumber for under £200 a day.

My cousin also doesn't seem to know how to get discount from local traders, so while I can buy a bathroom suite for one price, she would probably pay about 1/3 more.

There again, my cousin has expensive tastes, so while she's selecting what she just likes in the way of tiles and fittings, I'd be consciously trying to match everything, quality-wise to middle of the road standard. e.g. Ideal Standard, Mira, Roca etc.

Finally, my cousin lives in a Victorian house, so if she took down a wood-panelled ceiling, she'd probably find out why it was panelled, when what was there originally came down with it! Same with the walls, when hunks of plaster came away with the tiles. To be fair, that could happen anywhere.

Do you begin to see now why your brief post, as it stands, is just an exercise in guesswork?

SunnyCat

Davesnave, that's fair enough. I'll explain I am asking about this as this is a bathroom in a house I am considering buying, and as FTB I just don't really know what order of magnitude these things cost. Is it likely to be closer to 2k or 15k?

The bathroom was done up in early 70s, when the house was built, which I think is the reason for the wood panelling... here is a picture:

https://ibb.co/D7smXTj

HHarry

You're unlikely to get it done for £2k, but could probably spend £15k if you tried!
There's a few unknowns which always makes pricing difficult - what's going to happen to the walls when you take off the tiles? What's under the wooden ceiling? etc.

My in-laws (in Farnborough) have just had theirs done at £5.5k and that was with some top end bits, so I'd hope you'd get change from £5k.

Doozergirl

It's a proper building job with a lot of labour involved. £5k is really a starting point with, not high design, but decent quality fittings.

The sky is the limit from there.

SunnyCat

HHarry wrote: »

My in-laws (in Farnborough) have just had theirs done at £5.5k and that was with some top end bits, so I'd hope you'd get change from £5k.

That's very helpful - do you know at all how much of this was to buy the bits and how much for labour?

I've just had a look at B&Q website to inform myself and it looks like you could get bathtub+sink+ toilet for under £500. Probably wouldn't go for the rock bottom ones but I am therefore thinking £1k, maybe £1.5k, with tiles in possibly?

There's a few unknowns which always makes pricing difficult - what's going to happen to the walls when you take off the tiles? What's under the wooden ceiling? etc.

Right so that means if plaster comes off with tiles, replastering would be needed? Any ideas of cost?

I'm not sure what could be under the wood panels and I appreciate you don't either! But whatever is underneath may require removal? And replastering too? Is that what you mean?

SunnyCat

Doozergirl wrote: »

It's a proper building job with a lot of labour involved. £5k is really a starting point with, not high design, but decent quality fittings.

The sky is the limit from there.

Thank you - I am thinking the house is probably not for us then. It's a great location and decent house but still stuck in 70s. We'd probably have a budget of 15k to do some initial works and get some furniture basics and then work on it as we go. But it sounds like it could be biting off more than we can chew.

Beenie

We did our 1960s bathroom a few years ago. We got exactly what we wanted with tile quality, electrics, shower tray, basin and wall-hung toilet. Our bits were Grohe, Matki, Roca, and Geberit flush plate.

Cost for two weeks work with tiler, sparky, plumber and a mate and all bits was £10K. We are in Essex.

keith969

You can get it done with a materials cost of 2-3k and a labour cost of 3-3.5k. At least, that's what I've done on 2 bathrooms in my house. My plumber is booked 6+ months in advance, he's very good and not that expensive - that price is for roughly 5 days work. I arrange the supply of sanitary ware - but use a local company as if anything is wrong they will sort it out it; internet companies will not help.

Things that add up the costs: stainless steel towel rads ( painted steel with rusty in a couple of years). A decent shower if you are having one rather than a bath (I put a Kudos 10mm one in the downstairs shower room, no leaks and easy to clean - super quality. And Geberit cisterns for the loos that are hidden. Decent taps - they are not cheap but who wants a dripping tap?

As said, first thing you need to do is find a good plumber/bathroom fitter. Get advice from them. If they say they can start in less than 3 months, run away!

Davesnave

SunnyCat wrote: »

Davesnave, that's fair enough. I'll explain I am asking about this as this is a bathroom in a house I am considering buying, and as FTB I just don't really know what order of magnitude these things cost. Is it likely to be closer to 2k or 15k?

The bathroom was done up in early 70s, when the house was built, which I think is the reason for the wood panelling... here is a picture:

https://ibb.co/D7smXTj

To a mid-quality standard with nothing fancy, £6k might cover it, but I'd be prepared for a little more, depending on ceiling/walls' state.

Rather than B&Q, I'd get advice at a proper plumber's or builders' merchant. We used City Plumbing and Jewson, trying two different branches of each, because helpfulness of staff varies, not to play one branch off against the other!

Doozergirl

SunnyCat wrote: »

Thank you - I am thinking the house is probably not for us then. It's a great location and decent house but still stuck in 70s. We'd probably have a budget of 15k to do some initial works and get some furniture basics and then work on it as we go. But it sounds like it could be biting off more than we can chew.

Fact is, it isn't just the things you can see, like kitchen and bathroom that will need work.

There's more important stuff like the plumbing and electrics and everything hidden that you can't see behind dodgy vinyl wallpaper.

If the whole house is on a similar scale, you'll be £00,000s in before you know it.