Absolutely new to this - how much should I budget for a bathroom?

Finchy2018 · 5 October 2018 at 2:33PM

Hi All,

I am in the process of purchasing a one bed house - my first house. I'd like to replace the bathroom before I move in, and I have absolutely NO idea how to go about this or how much I should anticipate it costing. Ideally I want a new suite put in, flooring, tiling and radiator installed.

Sorry if this is a silly question but can I get one person to install all of this, or do I need separate tradesmen ?

I know cost is down to quality - I want mid range, not budget but luxury isn't necessary either the room is roughly 3.20m x 2.70m

Can anyone give me any guidance?!

phill99 · 5 October 2018 at 6:56PM

I fit kitchens and bathrooms for a living.

It is easier to have one company doing the whole job so that they take full responsibility and to makes sure the separate trades are lined up to minimise the time it takes. It also stops each trade blaming the other if something is done wrong.

If you go for fully tiled you will easily spend £1000 on tiles alone. Tiling the necessary bits will save you money.

Realistically allow £5000 - £7000 for everything ie tiles, sanitary ware, brass ware, electrics, tiling etc.

jk0 · 5 October 2018 at 7:55PM

Finchy2018 wrote: »

Hi All,

I am in the process of purchasing a one bed house - my first house. I'd like to replace the bathroom before I move in, and I have absolutely NO idea how to go about this or how much I should anticipate it costing. Ideally I want a new suite put in, flooring, tiling and radiator installed.

Sorry if this is a silly question but can I get one person to install all of this, or do I need separate tradesmen ?

I know cost is down to quality - I want mid range, not budget but luxury isn't necessary either the room is roughly 3.20m x 2.70m

Can anyone give me any guidance?!

In my rentals I just renew the taps, wastes, and the moving parts in the toilet. Is that a cheaper possibility for you?

trailingspouse · 6 October 2018 at 10:17AM

If you really need to replace the bathroom, fair enough - but have you thought about just replacing tiles, and flooring, and giving the whole thing a damn good clean?

I showed a friend the before and after photos of our bathroom, and she was very impressed. All we'd done was replace the flooring, change the loo seat, give it a clean and colour co-ordinate the towels!!

Barneysmom · 6 October 2018 at 4:51PM

I replaced mine after I moved in, it gave me more time to shop around.
The bathroom suite ws £600 -that's with a deep fibreglass bath, not a plastic one.
I made a big saving on the fitting as a friend did it for me.

I bought the tiles from Johnson Tiles outlet in Tustall, Stoke on Trent, where I got tiles that were £40 a metre, for £5 ametre..
The granite coloured border tiles were 10p each - I bought 50, for that price I thought it doesn't matter if I've a few too many, wasn't worth spending the time working out how many I'd need.
I then found a local tiler who did the fitting, he charged £320 and did it over about two or three days.
They look lovely, and the cost all in no more than £700.

I painted the radiator myself, and because I don't like tiled floors I bought a thick vinyl which cost me about £130 including fitting.

I'd strongly advise you to move in first, attack it with a bottle of bleach, and some Flash bathroom cleaner, live with it for a while and take your time over choosing the style, colour scheme, and tradesmen that suit you.
You don't have to spend mega money to make it look beautiful.

LaurenHeath123 · 6 October 2018 at 6:16PM

I agree with Barneysmom - if your bathroom is liveable, live with it first! There are little things (especially in your first house) that you will forget or not give proper consideration to if you rush and do it straightaway.

We are on our way to completing a complete renovation and not one room in our house was liveable so we had to rip everything out and re-do. I spent hours trawling pinterest but equally hours trawling gumtree on ebay to find cheaper alternatives that were still high quality and looked good.

Be prepared to spend a lengthy amount of time researching to find good deals! I found what I wanted and then hunted it down on gumtree, facebook marketplace and ebay to see if I could get the same thing cheaper, I almost always did! I then got my plumber to fit it all. Also, if you think you'll live there for some time, try and pay a little more for the priority items e.g. we spent a bit more on the shower (it has a 30 year guarantee etc) as we use it constantly and this being our only bathroom in the house, it needed to be of good quality!

Sorry to ramble on but key thing to keep costs down is to research!

Robby1988 · 6 October 2018 at 11:07PM

No offence, but this is very typical first time buyer talk.. "We are buying our first house but simply must replace xyz before we can move in"....hold your horses. As a first time buyer, unless you have lots of spare funds to throw about I would strongly recommend moving in and living in the place for a good while before committing substancial sums to renovation projects like new bathrooms. It's vitally important to leave yourself with money to spend on the unexpected as you really can't tell exactly how well previous owners have maintained the place until your in there.

Take others advice and try and tart the existing bathroom up, there is a fair chance that after a few months you'll decide your not that bothered about a new bathroom after all. Once moved in, you a bound to find other things you want to do (or need to do) with the place and its not uncommon for priorities lists to alter.

If you really want to do it, the cost of a new bathroom can be anything from about £1k- £10k+, it depends entirely on the level of finish and the amount of alternations to the existing layout you want to do. Plus of course how much you can do yourself/wangle friends & family to do for you.

https://www.bathroomtakeaway.co.uk/ - gives you an idea of how much bathroom suites & accessories can cost.
https://www.toppstiles.co.uk/ - their website has calculators to help you see the cost. The cost of tiles does often surprise people.

SuzieSue · 7 October 2018 at 9:23AM

From experience, it will cost you at least twice what you expect it to.

Depending on where you live, it can also be very difficult to find a decent bathroom fitter. All the good ones are booked up for months ahead.

There are a lot of people who say that they can fit bathrooms, but it is a skilled job because bathrooms vary so much. Therefore, you need someone with a lot of experience especially if it is an older house.

Finchy2018 · 8 October 2018 at 9:42AM

Thanks guys, the actual colour of the suite is why I want to replace it, I just don't like it. We will have c. £50k savings available to us after the purchase goes through and I figured it would make sense to replace it before we moved in, as there is only 1 bathroom in the house. I will look into replacing floors and tiles as an option, but I'm limited in choice due to the colour of the bathroom it's self.

Mokka · 9 October 2018 at 12:40AM

I agree its best to do the work before moving in, a house without a functioning bathroom is not really habitable. We replaced our bathroom suite and had 2 walls and floor fully tiled, the remaining walls and ceiling skimmed and painted and the majority of quotes for the work alone were £3-£4k. I thought it was excessive but the quotes were similar so I’m guessing this is a going rate in London. Filing alone costs £70 per m2.
If you spend so much on labour it doesn’t seem to make sense to install cheap fittings which will need replacing soon.

Dan-Dan · 9 October 2018 at 11:54AM

Mokka wrote: »

I agree its best to do the work before moving in, a house without a functioning bathroom is not really habitable. We replaced our bathroom suite and had 2 walls and floor fully tiled, the remaining walls and ceiling skimmed and painted and the majority of quotes for the work alone were £3-£4k. I thought it was excessive but the quotes were similar so I’m guessing this is a going rate in London. Filing alone costs £70 per m2.
If you spend so much on labour it doesn’t seem to make sense to install cheap fittings which will need replacing soon.

Nonsense , thousands of people have bathrooms done whilst living in the property , in many cases the toilet can be refitted for the evenings , worst case is one night if the floors going off or similar

Absolutely new to this - how much should I budget for a bathroom?

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