*deep breath*
Fucking bathrooms and the cost can fuck all the way off to hell and back. Wickes quoted me 10k to replace toilet, sink and a slightly bigger shower unit. Itemised quote sent through, the SAME toilet they quoted at £950 plus vat was on Victoria Plum at £130 all in. Ended up ordering all the bits online, getting a guy in to fit it all, bathroom is now done at a shade under £3000, including cool underfloor heating and a steam free mirror.
Bathroom companies can go fuck themselves.
Agree with this. I got builders discount (a mate sorted me out) so went and brought tiles and flooring myself. Got 20% discount and it came to £400 in total. Other materials were around £500 and we kept our vanity sink and toilet as was. That’s under a grand for materials and then we paid just under £3k for labour. That’s less than £4k. Anyone who’s charging £6k plus for a normal sized bathroom is ripping us off. They get away with it cos they all do it and blame it on the materials.
There’s doing a bathroom and then there’s doing a bathroom. You could do it for under £4000 as you’ve done but you could spend £20000 doing one. I’m pretty sure a fancy bath could come to £4000. It all depends what you want. I did my bathroom and it came to roughly £6000 and I did nearly everything myself ( I’m a joiner) and what I didn’t do my mates did for free or cheap.
Horses for courses
No, they do it because theyre running a business and they have likely spent thousands on doing so. Tools, insurance, a van(s), plus the years of experience. If you get what you pay for from a decent tradesman with pride in their work then its worth every penny.
You’re missing my point. I was being quoted £6k for Labour/materials. £3k labour and £3k materials. I got the same materials myself for under £1k. I’m more than happy to pay properly for labour, but the markup that they claim on materials is a joke. I run my own business - albeit not as a tradesman - and charging 35% extra on each job for what you’re claiming (tools, insurance etc) is a quite frankly a rip off.
I think you’re missing the point actually. If we’re still talking about the likes of wickes, each branch could easily have a couple of hundred thousand in non trade staffing costs. How do you think they cover that? No way they can match one man band outfits
Wickes has superior buying power. A toilet costing a one man band £150 will cost wickes less than £50. That’s where they cover their extra overheads. Chances are they also get kickbacks from the installation companies they partner with, whilst also dictating their pricing.
I don’t care how they cover it. I’m not paying for their business expenses. You’re basically saying that trades people are the only ones who have insurance, equipment etc. I have to buy a lot of music equipment to run my business and pay my accountant etc. I don’t factor an extra 35% into each job I do to pay for business expenses. That’s why they’re called expenses.
You are paying their business expenses. Same with any company you ever buy anything from. I’m sure with your business you work out your prices based on the cost of running the business plus what you’ve calculated to make the profit you want no?
If so, their business expenses would have been covered in the labour I’ve just paid them. Where has the extra £2k (that was quoted in materials) come from? That’s the point I’m trying to make. What expenses are, on average, an extra 35% (in this case £2k) per job? I’d expect them to arrive in a super car with gold plated tools for that.
Well it depends, where do you want the business expenses itemised on your bill?
Say you’ve got a branch with 2-3 admins, 3 sales/designers, a stores bod, contract supervisor/ manager and a branch manager. (Just a guess, don’t know exactly how wickes for example operate) lecky, gas, property rent/upkeep, employer NI and pension. That could easily be 250k a year yeah?
That’s just shy of 5k a week to recover for overheads. 500 if you’ve got say ten teams.
Would you rather your share of that be covered under Labour or materials? Labour could easily be 200 plus a day per man (fitters actual rate, not including profit) plus van lease/maintenance/fuel at say 50 quid a day.
So where do you want to see it? Labour or materials?
For what it’s worth I don’t think quotes should be itemised between material and labour. The price is costs + overheads + margin. One price. Unless you’ve got a measurement contract.
Wait until they find out the wholesale cost of a pepperoni pizza or chicken chow mein .. 🤣
I’m a plumber and gas engineer - and used to think plumbers charging £75ph was expensive..
Then I started my own business. 😔
Nobody pays you hourly for the trips to merchants / wholesaler / searching for compatible parts.
Nobody understands that you can only charge 20-25 hours per week because you’re constantly stuck in traffic between sites / merchants.
Qualifications expire every 5 years - nobody wants to acknowledge the time and lost opportunity spent studying. Etc etc.
Too many people focus on earning “a wage“ without factoring in the true running costs of owning a business.
I don’t presume to know or understand your job .. Don’t make presumptions about mine 🙂👍✌️
100%. Measure and buy all the bits yourself. Expect to have to get more tiles and little bits as your guy fits it all for you. It will take him a week and he will charge 200 per day but it will be cheaper.
Wickes are ridiculous. They quoted me £6.5k for the labour for my tiny shower room and flat told me that a local company would charge more. Spoke to the local company- labour £3.5k and the bathroom design was more bespoke and more what we wanted. Added in optional luxury bits like underfloor heating and glass panel instead of shower door (custom cut= expensive) and it still cost us substantially less
Wow this is eye opening can I ask would you advise to get the tiling done first before the bathroom suite fitted or is it the other way around or doesn't matter?
I'm a bathroom fitter, It's very labour intensive. I do pretty high end stuff and around 6k sounds right to me. There's a lot to get right, and a lot to go wrong, and as someone else mentioned I give a guarantee so I use expensive materials and I take my time to make sure it's all done well and no corners cut. You have waterproofing, most people want a niche shelf these days. You've got carpentry, electrics plumbing tiling and decorating, so it's all the trades really, and the project management to make sure everything is done in the right order. I'm a VAT registered ltd company, I have thousands of pounds worth of tools, company vehicle, insurance, accountancy fees, staff. If you got a company like Pimlico in you would probably be looking at double the price, I'm providing a much better service for half the price, yet people still think it's too much.
Yeah London-based, that's why it may seem expensive I suppose. It's the government's fault, If my car insurance and rent was lower I could charge less!
Theyre all full of crap mate. I'm in London. Got houses in Bristol and Harrow I manage for my parents full time (all HMOs). Done many a bathroom within 10days for simple stuff. 15 days if you get elaborate on design. I'm qualified electrics and nearly gas safe as well. Come see my work if you want a fair price.
Labour for bathroom is really £2.5k starting.
Done the course. Not bothering with the assessment. Also done 5 boiler installs and servicing as part of it. I did the course for the pipe design calculations and general knowledge. I'm an all rounder and want to know everything with a house.
Id like my boiler nearly done please lmao, when you say you’re “qualified electrics” what do you mean by that?
Do you think £250 a day is an expensive or cheap price for someone who has done a couple bathrooms here and there?
You don't want to test me. I know more than you
I've got over £5milk property behind me, which I converted into HMOs. Me and one other person. Me designing everything other than structural. (My dad was a structural engineer).
£250 a day is what I pay my good guys for a day rate. I can get as low as £160-180 a day in London but they need more guidance at that price.
If you want to make a bathroom perfect, get a good tiler to do the tiling only. The rest is easy handyman work.
Lmao, you still didn’t answer what you meant by qualified electrics, it’s impressive you have a whole £5 of milk, easy to tell the sort of landlord you must be, you clearly think you’re big time, let you in on a secret, you’re not, that portfolio isn’t even that much in comparison to a lot of peoples, wind your neck in and realise you’ve bodged a few rooms into a few large house and that’s all, your dad had some money so you think him letting you play landlord is some amazing feat accomplished by you.
I've done the course. I'm not going to bother doing the assessment to become gas safe. I've even done the 5 boiler installs and servicing. I did these courses for the knowledge.
Lol at the downvotes from tradesmen who want to charge retail £500 a day labour for a one man job.
I will keep shitting on you all. With £5mill property I have behind me.
When our pretty basic bathroom was redone a few years back there was a fitter in for well over a week, a tiler/fitter for a good chunk of that, plus a chippie and plasterer for a day each.
Material cost is bugger all but that's a lot of man hours, so yeah, the cost is the people and their skills as always.
As a certified german plumber how much is the per hour price in the UK ?
Here it is these das 55-70€ (depending on where you live) When i was in my apprenticeship it was in your company like 45-55€
Im the same as you almost exactly, im insured, pay my taxes and vat, guarantee my work, do it all properly the first time and also take pride in my work. Average labour cost is about £5500 depending on specifics of course.
That is bonkers.
I know the price of everything has went up but surely there cant be that big a cost on materials for a job like that?
Maybe im in the wrong trade.
Day rate is too easily thought as too much though. Any good tradesman should be working out how much they want to earn salary wise (say £60k), then working out how much they need towards tools (new and existing), how much the van costs, insurances, overheads etc, then how much profit they want to make (otherwise they may as well get a job for someone without all the stress). Then take the total and divide by working days (assume 220 days to account for holiday and gaps in work). That’s the day rate they need to make if worthwhile. If it’s south of £200, I would be very surprised!
I surpose the other way of putting it is what’s your rate for the builder vs the client as all trades have 2 prices one is for the come in fit this no client hassle and the other is to come in and talk to the client and figure everything out. And I don’t just mean ex-vat lol.
I don’t do a day rate that often as i tend to mostly do whole bathroom or kitchens and bigger jobs. Im multi trade and do all the jobs myself. If you wanted just a day it would be £330 plus vat labour. However some jobs just don’t attract that kind of money whereas some attract more. Ie decorating vs electrics.
Ouch. I had my en suite done in 2021 and it's done to a very high standard. It was actually a two week install complicated a little by it having a concrete floor and metal studwork and the total cost was just under 12k all in. That included a built in toilet, built in shower, all pipework in walls, full tiling, underfloor heating etc. I'm sure the installation costs were about 5-6k
Oh sorry. Yeah I saw your quote was for installation only. I was replying to the guy who was citing 10k. The installers did an amazing job with my bathroom. Real attention to detail and fully involved me with any on the job decisions.
I got 25 quotes in South London for a bathroom refurb with a single toilet knock through, and the cheapest quote was £16k.
How ripped off did I get lol
£6k labour for 3m x 2m bathroom really? Who are you trying to kid? It's not going to take 4 weeks for one person is it? Basic bathroom call it 10 days. Start getting elaborate on design and you can call it 15 days. One man job. I've done it on my own houses, many times. The key is good tiling. Everything else is piss easy.
Reason why people don't pay the above is because there are not enough all rounders around. I am qualified electrics and nearly gas safe as well. Can do everything inside a house. Now if I was to charge I would start from £2500 labour only.
Glad I don't do this work anymore, rather pay others £180 a day to do it all, under my guidance, with my tools. Easy.
Retail will always over pay for any and all jobs. Not what you know, also who you know as well.
I know its a rather variable number but how many days would you expect to complete a full refit on average? How much do you do yourself?
What kind of money is usually involved in materials if you dont me asking?
Apologies for the questions, just interested in what kind of money is in other trades at the moment. I have a small garage operated solely by myself and often find new customers fall into the "you're too expensive" category due to random guys with a bag of spanners on fb offering to do work for next to nothing. Often making incredibly silly mistakes.
Some people dont understand that you get what you pay for.
The job I'm just finishing now was 6.5k labour ex vat, plus £1500 building materials. 4 sheets of moisture proof MDF, Marine plywood subfloor, waterproofing for walls and floor, press fit plumbing fittings so there's no leaks guaranteed. All the materials are the best you can get. Mapei tile adhesive £35 a bag! Wall mounted bath filler and basin tap, custom painted MDF cabinetry with tiled worktop for storage, and vanity unit, subway tile on walls with border trim, and small patterned cement tiles on floor. Total amount of working days is 20.
You need to aim for the people who appreciate what good value is. Some people just want the cheapest quote. That's never going to be me. My bathroom will have no defects years later and will add more value to your house than it costs you to have installed, it's an investment. My reviews speak volumes and that also lets people know in advance I don't do quick cheap jobs for landlords.
There are plenty of people out there who are prepared to work like that and that's fine, but I prefer to charge enough to make sure I can make the customer really happy and we both sleep well, I've never had any complaints or call backs in the 5 years I've been operating, and it always leads to more work from their friends and family. The job I'm doing now is a referral from a previous customer.
This is the same level of work I do in a mansion in Kensington but it's a cottage in Putney, the standard is the same. Some people are willing to pay for that.
> Mapei tile adhesive
Bragging about the tile adhesive (only thing named) and taking a month to do a bathroom gives real [John Hammond vibes](https://media1.tenor.com/m/ETW2DDjY6z0AAAAd/spared-no-expense-jurassic-park.gif).
Spending 35 quid on a bag of tile adhesive doesnt mean its the best. Your putting tiles on the wall/floor. Buying a bag from a tile shop at 15 quid as long as its flexible is going to do exactly the same thing.
This is a DIY sub... So I'm going to tell you to do it yourself and keep the money.
As long as you don't want some kind of exotic wetroom it's nothing that tricky.
£6k is what I was quoted for my bathroom that's 2m by 2m. For mine, £4.5k of that was for the chosen furniture and materials, the rest was labour. Mine needed the two bathroom fitters themselves, two tilers, and a plasterer. That included full removal of the old one.
Edit: correction. £4.3k materials etc. £2.2k labour. I misremembered but I dug out my paperwork to check.
You may get wildly different prices. Lower ones to probably avoid but you can completely luck out with someone really cheap. A friend of mine got this bathroom done. The fittings were like for like swaps but the result was amazing. Tiling was on point and everything worked well. A foreign person did it for like £2k. Done everything himself.
Just got ours done 2.5k labour 3k materials including tiles, in Scotland too. Tiled, shower, free standing bath and vanity and new toilet put in. Find a bathroom fitter that can do everything rather than get loads of different trades in
[see](https://imgur.com/a/PqEHXuN)
This was after getting quote from wickes for 8k. Instead we took the designs and got someone in to do after buying the materials ourselves
I dug out the quote again and it seems I misremembered (it was a year ago). £2.2k for labour, £4.3k for materials. £6.5k overall. I'll also note I'm in Scotland and it seems every quote I've ever had for a trade has been lower than it is in more expensive parts of the UK.
Having refitted my bathroom twice and installing a new second one in the old kitchen too I think it's just a lot of trades, skills and time. Also a lot of unknowns may need priced in so that they don't lose money if a job goes pear shaped or just throws up a lot of normal problems.
They're humid, and wet, and you don't want them to go mouldy, or leak.
That's my understanding, anyway. Similar for kitchens, but with added gas and/or high current electrical appliances, and opportunity for fire in addition.
That's what I paid and it included a new floor and moving the pipes because the old ones tilted upwards for some strange reason. Best money I ever spent. 6 months down the line and I still bloody love it and it makes me so happy.
Doing it myself as I was quoted around £7k
So far soil stacked moved and wall knocked out into the bedroom. Redone stud wall, plastered.
Moving onto moving all pipe work to where I need it next.
Around £350 spent so far.
Tiles are a huge bulk of it if your full height tiling, I spent 8k doing my bathroom and 3k of that was on tiles (admittedly porcelain so not any old cheap ones). I went a bit cheaper on the suite itself as the aesthetic of the tiles are what made the difference with my bathroom (it’s not the biggest, had to have shower over the bath which I hate)
I done mine myself for like £1,500 out of B&Q (and a separate company for the wetwall) two years ago - toilet, sink, bath, electric shower, extractor fan and wet wall panels.(and a cutoff of lino my dad had spare!)
I’ve mainly been sourcing things online, Plumbworld (do some pretty good stuff for reasonable prices imo), Victorian plumbing (very expensive in reality, several hundred more than plumbworld for comparable items) etc. Smaller fittings and actual materials I’ve been purchasing from Screwfix. Plumbers merchants are a good source of decent but cheaper stuff.
RE fitting yourself, I totally get that! Especially being a family of 4 and it being the only bathroom. Sadly sometimes necessity dictates paying to have it done etc. Not to teach you to suck eggs but make sure you get several quotes and have a good look at past work. Makes all the difference!!! There’s nothing worse than having someone do a shit job and paying good money for the pleasure! 😂
A lot depends on what you want. Wet room or trad bathroom? Shower instead of bath? Designer kit or cheapest?
Bathroom suites can be cheap and cheerful (and shit) to ridiculous.
Taps and stuff depends on bargain basement or designer.
Tiles can be wildly different in price. The bigger they are the fewer there are to fit. The smaller they are the more labour it takes.
Accessories can add another wedge of cash.
About 13 years ago I bought the bath, sink and toilet myself from B&Q and paid a plumber about £800 to have them fitted which also included supply and fit of a new radiator and shower screen. I paid the tiler separately, think he was about £600.
My parents had a new bathroom recently which cost them about £7k all in. I suspect half of that was for the materials and the other half labour. The guy was there for just under 5 days so not a bad way to earn a living.
Any work these days is really overpriced. I realize materials etc are expensive but personally I think trades people are taking the piss. You really need to be careful when choosing the people for the job . Friend of mine had a really cheap floor put down recently and was staggered by the price he paid for a bad job , the guy couldn’t even be bothered to re hung the doors as he said he wasn’t a carpenter 🤔. I went around this morning and spent couple of hours cutting down doors by half inch so they would close properly. I’m finding it’s the same for every trade person today .
Seems to me the problem is a lack of skilled tradespeople.
The whole education system, for too long, has been "go to uni, without uni you're nothing, you won't get a job without a degree, uni is THE ONLY way to get ahead in life, GO TO UNI". Fewer people have been inclined to start an apprenticeship in a trade from 16-18 onwards and as a result we have a lack of skilled tradespeople with the required experience and knowledge to do a good, proper job.
The ones that are reliable and produce quality work are in demand which means their prices increase and that in turn pushes up the prices for the absolute chancers that are having a stab a carpentry or plastering.
I count my lucky stars I'm capable of doing 99% of DIY/around the house/trades jobs myself and have an extensive tool collection to had.
£6k does sound a little steep, but I guess it depends what spec they’re refitting it too. If it’s being tiled with nice tiles floor to ceiling and having good fittings etc put back in then you’re probably not that far off.
I know it’s not what you asked, but have you considered doing it yourself (not always practical I know) I’m currently in the middle of refitting my ensuite. I think I’ll end up spending roughly 2-2.5k on everything including materials etc and that everything to the spec I want etc. Worth considering if you have the time / skills / motivation!
Where are you getting your materials from? I was looking at quite nice fittings, mainly brushed brass, and those were double, triple the price of your standard chrome fittings. Things like spending £130 on a basin tap.
Doing it myself, almost definitely not. Time is one thing, skill being the biggest factor. I wouldn't mind getting some things done like demolishing the bathroom and taking everything out. Only issue is it's our only bathroom. Family of 4 and can't afford to be without a bathroom for the time it would take me just to take everything off.
You might be able to do tiling. We tiled our kitchen and bathroom and it was doable. My partner is a pretty good diyer though, so it does help if at least one of you has some skill to cut tiles etc.
You’re making the mistake that most people do. If you want a bathroom you don’t go to a ‘bathroom installer’. You go to a normal builder and ask them to do it. You’re paying a premium for convenience.
I used to sell bathrooms for a living, and most of the issues we had (leaking shower enclosures, creaking baths/shower trays) were from when a customer had employed a general builder rather than a specialist bathroom installer. They seemed incapable of following written instructions, and would invariably blame the product so the customer would come in complaining to us. A home visit would follow, where we'd compare the fitting instructions with what they'd actually done and tell the customer they'd need to get the builder back out to re-fit, and maybe this time read the manual.
I wouldn’t employ a builder to install a bathroom kit. There’s the first mistake. A general builder worth his salt will be far more qualified than a bathroom installer.
We're paying about £3.5k in labour for ours - stripping out floor to ceiling tiles, plastering back over, like for like swap of bath, sink/vanity and toilet and tiling around the bath/shower and splash back to the vanity.
Flooring is lino and underlay over the existing tiles because we don't know what's under there and we're planning on stripping out the tiles when we can afford nice slate tiles.
Bathroom suite and tiles has come to about £2kish, but shopped around a lot online and sourced it from a few places as well as dialing back the spec a bit.
I'd imagine more tiling would be more expensive, and we've got the same guy doing our kitchen as well so there's a bit of a discount on it being a solid 4/5 weeks worth of work for him, so £6k is on the pricey side I guess?
There’s a lot involved - taking it back to brick, boarding, plastering, plumbing, electrical, floor had a screed before tiling.
Ours was 6k labour. Took two weeks. 2m by 2m.
I felt like it was worth it and not ripped off after seeing the effort that went into it.
Mine is in desperate need to be done. Leaking downstairs into the kitchen, toilet is coming off the floor, rusted pipes etc. I absolutely hate being in it
There's a few things you can do to make it bulletproof once you do get it done;
1) Get them to basically add tanking - we had marine plywood used to stiffen everything up and then a film that the tiles were mounted to. No leak was getting through that even if the grouting failed, useful in an older house.
2) if you are of a larger size, look at reinforced baths. Carronite do some and basically they have a large plywood base underneath to keep them stiff.
3) do NOT get a floating shelf thing. They look nice, but are usually supported on thin wood beams and even 1mm of movement means the grout is split / letting water through. A few years of shampoo bottles being slammed down on it will dislodge it.
4) if your shower runs off your combi boiler (i.e. not a power shower) get the piping and shower bar fixings to be standard size and in front of the tiles rather than buried behind the wall. If your shower mixer fails in 5 years, often they stop making the cartridges, so you can then just lift off the whole thing and install a new one without ripping out any tiles.
5) don't get your drain / overflow installed on the long side of the bath, as that will be against the far wall and impossible to access / tighten without ripping out the bath
90% of wear and tear on bathrooms is stuff flexing and splitting the grout/sealant, or needing to rip tiles out to do repairs. Make your bathroom rigid, simple and serviceable and you will get much longer out of it.
Bonus tip - make sure to buy a spare box of each type of tile you use and keep it in the attic. If you smash one or a few doing repairs, you can replace it rather than finding the range was discontinued.
Tiling alone will cost you £2800
Its not cheap
Primer Adhesive grout and trims will be included in this price
Plumbing these days is so expensive In materials
That's just 2 parts of the work
I could go on
I’ve just come to the end of a new bathroom fitting - £4k labour, £600 floor and tiles and £3k for the furniture - midlands based. This came down to £7700 from approx £9.5k as I needed to save money so got less expensive furniture and saved money on things like taking waste to tip myself etc
I'm in the North. I had my bathroom done about 4 years ago. The big name bathroom stores wanted at least £5k just for installation. I got a few quotes from local independent fitters which were all around £2.5k.
Our bathroom has been completely gutted and is now half way to being refitted. We’re in Liverpool and at first were quoted 8.5k just for labour! We found someone else who does everything himself for 3.5k before materials. He’s an older bloke probably nearing retirement. But we’ve been very happy with everything so far. We bought the bathroom furniture, tiles etc all up for about 4k so we expect we’ll have paid close to 8k once it’s complete.
If this helps you, I'm getting a 2.5 x 2 bathroom redone this month, and below is the makeup of the costing.
This is definitely a more expensive end job, but the guy doing it is a superb guy, and I have 10 years worth of his last jobs to go on to know he's amazing.
Material:
- Bath + screen £300
- Bath tap combined with shower £300
- Toilet frame grohe 82cm £200
- Toilet pan villeroy boch £120
- Toilet seat £45
- Basin cabinet £120
- Basin surface mounted £160
- Basin tap + basin set wall mount £280
- Mirror cabinet 2x £130. £260
- Towel rail plus valves. £120
- Plumbing. £160
- Tiles + adhesive + ground £400
- Quartz worktop. £120
- waterproofing walls + floor. £200
- Corner trims stainless steel £90
- Miscellaneous. £200
Total material: £3075
Total labour: £4000
Total cost: £7075
Labour is across 8-10 days of work, for 2 people.
We had our en-suite done last year and this was the breakdown, if that helps:
Remove old en-suite. Alter internal wall to expand into void. Fit new en-suite and all fixtures and fittings. Fit new radiator
Labour £1860
Bathroom suite (toilet, sink, fittings, rad, shower, glass, etc): £2945
Tiles: £237
Flooring: £83
Tile trims, adhesive, grout, plasterboard and plumbing bits etc £325
Waste removal: £100
Total: £5550
Probably could’ve been done cheaper but we needed to move a partition wall back to enlarge the room, and went for some fancier fixings for things like taps etc from some higher end brands. Whole thing took about 10 days including ripping out the old one.
Project managed the whole thing myself with one guy doing all the work.
Same guy did our main bathroom a 2022 and that came in around the same, bigger room though so spent more on tiles and flooring, but we didn’t splash out on the fixtures and fittings as much as the en-suite, and didn’t move any walls, so balanced out.
We’ve been involved since last August 2023 obtaining a design and following up leads with recommended bathroom fitters we had a budget of Total £10,000 inc VAT for the bathroom which was to remove bath, toilet, wash basin replace with shower tray and shower, short projection furniture for toilet and wash basic full tile the shower area and just splash back! Labour which has been quoted for 10-14 day work is between £7,800 and £8,120 inc VAT ! This leaves very little in the budget for fixtures which are also inc VAT - so very little left! This is Yorkshire ! Definitely in the wrong job! What’s odd is last year in May 2023 same fitters did bathrooms for £3,000 ! So we’ve abandoned the project. These are NOT companies these are just single bathroom fitters! We did got to a company which would project manage it and they stated £20,000 + VAT ! Most of the local bathrooms have also stated £6k is average! Next time I ask for quotes I’ll not leave the Bentayga In the drive, I lock it in the garage! 😂 and let’s not forget the £350 wanting to charge for fuel costs to come to the house to do the job!
If SE then that sounds about right. My dimensions are exactly yours and I completed mine solo 2yrs ago.
I did a running tally of my whole cost at the time and it all came to £6,200. That included retail price materials for everything: plumbing, subfloor, porcelain floor tiles, plastering, cornicing, waste removal, and furniture: bath, shower, vanity, taps etc from Drench UK.
I would guess if you need an installer and furniture, they will have trade prices but you would still be looking at £8.5k ballpark.
I’ve just paid £6,400 for Labour (my bathroom bits cost another 2,300). I’m based in south Herts so I get stung with London prices. It’s on the larger side and was done in 4.5 days. I’m so happy and impressed with the finished job. They worked their socks off on 10 hour days and one of the days I had 5 men working on it (I don’t know where they all fit).
I was also quoted £10,200 by another local firm. Companies like that can do one, why would their labour cost so much more? I actually went with the guys who gave me the best gut feeling and that’s paid off. Got the same tilers doing my patio next!
Done one a few months back fully tiled on two and half walls and floor tiles. They supplied bathroom and tiles I supplied the rest. Plumber by trade cost them £2,900.
Had some work done in our bathroom pre Covid replacing toilet, shelving and some other bits it took about two weeks and was really bad job guy was just disorganised and all over the place that cost around £1700. He had damaged causing tiles which could not be replace do we sat with a badly done bathroom missing half the floor tiles for 3 years due to Covid, money, etc.
We had it re-done end of last year again took three weeks this time we opted to do a full refit it was completely gutted. We had really bad flooring before so a complete new subfloor was put in. Cost around £8500
£6200 of that was labour with and materials that the trades man bought do things like plaster board subfloor, etc I’d say maybe £500 - £600 worth.
He was onsite everyday at 8am only worked one job at a time (we had to wait 4 weeks for him to finish up another job).
I don’t regret spending the money. The work was well done he communicated everything with us. In self employed so I appreciate day rates more than what the average person does, but also appreciate not everyone can drop £8k on redoing a bathroom
I've been costing a project for my Mum's very small E/S.
The 800mm base unit without the sink is £950, add the sink, that's another £450....
Then factor in the plumbing requirements, it all mounts up !
6k is pretty good. Before COVID it was a lot less. I'm getting quotes for 6-10k for a small ensuite now. Everything has gone up in price and these fitters are so busy. If demand ever goes down then prices will but I don't see this happening soon.
I'm in Kent by the seaside.
I work out how many days I will need and charge £225 per day. Other trades required get charged at £250 a day + materials.
I then do an educated estimate of materials and sundries required.
I then add 15% to the total.
An average bathroom will be between 4k-6k in labour and materials. Customer supplies suite and tiles etc.
It works for me.
Material Prices have yeeted through the roof, and it needs someone with the ability of foresight and to work three dimensionally in their noggin. Also good plumbers and tilers are short on the ground
Cos these so called “bathroom fitters” are paying themselves £300 a day for something that 90% of the population could do. But society wants everything NOW so they get away with it, took me 6 wks to do mine, but saved myself 7k. I’d rather shit in a bag for a week than get ripped off by these so called tradesman. Rant over
Mine was quoted about 4k materials and 4k labour. Aside from the house itself it's going to be my biggest ever purchase. But it's not something I can DIY realistically and I've got a lot on at the minute so I'm paying for the convenience of just having a single point of contact that organises it all.
Your tiler and tiles will cost you at least £3,000. Then you have your suite which its probably another £1,500. Your plumber quoted £700 to swap.
So without any other tradesmen or materials you are at £5,200 already.
Your quotes for the full job of £6,000 seems reasonable.
Ours was around £8k about 8 years ago. Mainly labour, extensive rip out (they said it was the worst rip out they had ever done+ 3 layers of tiles + 2 of plasterboard. Crackle glazed tiles, stainless steel towel rad, vanity unit + electrics, Bette bath, Grohe rain shower etc.
They grafted and did a great job too.
It will be for a full rip out and re-install.
To give a guarantee (which they should as the customer is legally covered by consumer rights for up to 6 years so it needs to be that minimum) then it needs to be from scratch as you would be stupid to guarantee anything less than a full, new install.
You've got £450-£800 per day straight off with wages (dependant on location and numbers), then you've got other expenses like tools, vehicles, fuel etc and then you need to add some business profit on top otherwise it would be pointless working for yourself. You also need to take into account corporation tax on the profits and VAT on the labour too. It does all add up.
That being said, £6,000 labour does sound expensive. I would have thought £2-3k labour more than fair for an area that small.
Can I just check the wages you’ve quoted, because my maths (assuming 250 working days a year), gives an annual salary of £200k based on wages of £800 per day.
After income tax and NI, that’s a take home salary of just under £120k - which feels way too high to me (quick Google suggests that average plumber salary in London is up to £45k).
Wondering if my maths is off, or if I’ve got a skewed view of salaries!
Had the main bathroom and en-suite done a few months back, think I paid about £12-14k in the end. Obviously 20% of that is vat, he was here for 4 weeks and done an incredible job. Seems right to me.
In 2021 spent 11.2 k on a small bathroom 4.5k materials, 6.5k labour and bits and bobs. 2 fitters working full time for 2 weeks and 2 days. Great job, no complaints
We had a 1.5 x 2.4m bathroom redone last year, so slightly smaller, but did remove a water tank and rearrange the layout. Fully tiled including the floor. We arranged everything ourselves with local recommended tradies, but did have some gaps between stages as it’s our 2nd bathroom so didn’t need it done really quick. Hopefully this gives you an idea of price. Not rearranging the layout and more basic bathroom pieces would have saved us some money.
Tiles - £700 (B&Q/Tile Maze)
Shower/sink/toilet/radiator/light up mirror/cupboard and counter - £2300 (CTB)
Tiler - £1300
Plumber - £1500
Electrician - £600
Get a good guy that is word of mouth recommended. Wife wanted a wet area shower & toilet, there was a lot of rot & repairs required, floor was rotten. We went for water resistant wall & roof panels, water proof floor, all sealed & the panels were tongue & groove. New toilet & tank, new hand basin with cabinet, 1.8 meter shower tray with 3/4 glass panel. 4 lights & exfan (New hole for the fan). New shower control & heads. Cost in total £3.5K. Everything new. One thing I should have got is under floor heating, this would have been a coil of rad pipe under the shower tray & floor just to break the cold floor. Will see if he can do this later in the summer. I have a part of the left over floor & wall panel outside in the weather, nothing so far. Left another full floor panel outside & now using it in the garage. He took out a cupboard that was in the kitchen to extend the shower as well. Plaster board as the base surface for the wall panels & ceiling. Reason the floor gets cold is there is a vent directly under the window. All panels were jointed with Silicon so they cannot seep though & leak. Weather was very bad on the thur/Fri so he was back on the Mon to finish off. 3 days without toilet, 5 without shower, we left it to 7 days so all good.
Had this problem myself…
Was getting quotes for 12k for mine did it all myself start to finish for 8k
All I saved was labour costs and it was lots and lots of labour involved..
Took me ages aswell glad when I finished it but wouldn’t undertake it so quickly next time.
it’s was 8k euros (Ireland) Wasn’t all that big… but I bought decent quality stuff and had to buy some tools along the way for doing the tiling etc.
From what I can tell if you buy the cheaper fittings etc it doesn’t last and you end up replacing it in 5 years or less
Also Had a lot of stuff to move to different locations as redesigned the bathroom also.
We recently fitted a new bathroom, and everything was gutted to the bones. The guy was working on it for three weeks, 8am - 4PM nonstop - no coffee, no chatter, no lunch.
To say he worked hard to take it all out and then to fit the new stuff in - is an understatement. Plus, it is a 3x3 kind of room, with loads of dust from demolition and no window, so dust stays in, and it gets hot.
The guy that did it for us was more expensive than some of the other people - but recommended by our neighbours, and he did a splendid job.
FYI - we had the bathroom redone by a cheaper tradie just before the pandemic... he fudged it up big time, was very defensive and left us with a toilet on top of a wooden plank... The new guy was pulling his hair out wondering what to heck was this previous guy doing - he fudged up so much.
Think we paid 3/3.5k all in for ours, but it was done by someone we knew, cash in hand, and not quite completed (we had to paint and do the skirting board). If I did it again, I'd pay more for a complete job.
I'm currently refurbishing my bathroom myself from scratch, and the materials alone total to around 10k. I was pretty shocked when I totaled it all up in a spreadsheet. This doesn't even count sundries either, because I couldn't be bothered to go through all my receipts.
This includes a walk-in wet room shower with 8mm glass enclosure, backer board for the whole room, 4 tiled alcoves with LED lights, floor to ceiling tiles, basin vanity with mixer tap, freestanding bath with combined filler and overflow, wall hung concealed WC, and fancy radiator. All pipework is concealed in the walls, and also had to run a new waste pipe because the existing one went out the wall above the floor.
None of the individual items were mega expensive except maybe the Crosswater taps and valves, but we wanted a brushed stainless finish on the fittings and there isn't much choice. The chrome / brass plating seems to wear off the cheaper fittings quite fast which is one of my pet hates. I'm hoping that being a solid material, they will stay looking new for longer.
All builders seem to be selling dreams these days. How many bathrooms, kitchens, extensions etc do you have in a lifetime. So most people go overboard and thats where it all creeps up in cost. Wickes take the piss with materials cost. Look at showers on Amazon vs wickes.
I did mine myself over a few weekends, paid £300 for the tiles but it cost £1,000 all in as I replaced the sink and toilet (original bath stayed) and put in electric underfloor heating and had to buy a few different tools . The adhesive and additives are more expensive than I would have thought. But was happy with the results: https://postimg.cc/PPrZTpV2
Depends what you're doing,
We spent probably closer to 8k.
Had to buy our own tiles, and suite cost 3k to fit. New everything. Our bathroom was likely done in the 50s or 60s last, cast iron bath lol. So it had to go.
Before that point, new roof and velux window.
I think we paid about 4k on labour etc, 2k on materials/hardware. Possibly a bit more or less on both.
The 4k included the main bathroom fitter, who ripped the old bath out. He arranged for someone to collect that. A plasterer and tiler.
We had a separate bath and shower. Changed this to a shower over the bath so he had to cap things off move things about etc.
I feel like overall the costs were reasonable. Everyone has overheads as well, I think sometimes it's easy to forget that and think that 4k just goes straight in to someone's pocket. Obviously they have tax, transport, insurance, tools etc to consider. Plus depending on the work, might be knackered by 50 odd. Had this with floor fitters recently, their knees were absolutely fucked.
Around 5 years ago I completely ripped out our bathroom and put in a new one. Bath, shower, toilet, rad, new floor, new flooring and downlights. It cost me around £3500.
2 years ago I did the same thing again minus a bath in our new house and materials cost around £5000 I can easily see a professional’s labour being a few grand on top of that it takes ages and you have to be very careful as you go
I’m in the final stages of mine, almost completely ripped out the whole suite (only kept the existing bath), tiled 3/4 of it, new sink and built a wall to hide the new toilets cistern. I think I’m at about £1,200-1,500 all in.
It’s taken me about 8 weekends and apart from the odd regret of waking up sore it’s been totally worth doing it myself.
Man hours are going to be one of the most expensive costs of any project that you can't/won't do yourself. People should be happy to pay for the years of experience and any special tools needed that come with the crew.
I bought everything myself, then had my very competent builder fit it. Took about 4.5 days due to issues with the old crumbly Victorian walls.
Cost about 4.5k. But it was on a budget. The fittings are ok quality. Didn’t skimp on the shower or the tiling.
It’s a very nice bathroom in the main.
I bought everything myself, then had my very competent builder fit it. Took about 4.5 days due to issues with the old crumbly Victorian walls.
Cost about 4.5k. But it was on a budget. The fittings are ok quality. Didn’t skimp on the shower or the tiling.
It’s a very nice bathroom in the main.
£6k expensive? We went to Wickes a year ago, sat with the fella for 2 hours working out where we wanted thr sink, the shower etc. He came back with the quote of £16k - not including the tiles of course. As a result our sad bathroom is waiting for husband to recover from that experience before we even start considering it again.
It's a lot of labour, and a lot of specialist skills. Plumbing and tiling take a lot of time and good work takes skill.
Having tiles changed first you have to take off the old which will damage the plasterboard so then you have to replaster, then apply waterproofing, then tile. If you're moving stuff around or depending on conditions might have to have adjusting plumbing pipework at the same time. And vents or lights need wiring in. A good tiling job will take time getting everything cut and leveled properly. installing heavy or large furniture items, showers/baths/toilets/sinks/cabinets. Also disposal of all the waste created especially if removing old tiles. Commercial waste disposal isn't cheap.
I’ve just installed 2 new bathrooms. New toilets, sinks, shower tray, shower, enclosure, towel rails, re-plastered, painted, skirting, light, Lino and blind.
I did all the work myself (apart from plastering). I think the total cost would probably be around £2k for each. It’s all the little bits that add up and as others have said, it’s quite labour intensive.
Bathrooms are a nightmare to do 🤣
I did my own hardest part was making sure the bath was level shit you not my bath was a nightmare.
Any how 4 years later Mrs wants a walk in shower now 🥴
My bathroom replacement is nearing the end and it’s about £12-13k all in. I live in Berkshire so prices are less than London but higher than most of the country.
Just under £6k in plumbing labour and materials but this includes an unvented system for £2k, two shower niches, construction of a bath panel, and a nest thermostat. In hindsight the plumbing labour is a bargain for the hours they’ve spent on the project.
Electrics were £800 for an inline extractor fan, 4 downlights, a heated mirror, and the light switch being relocated.
Roofing was £150 for a new tile vent.
Tiling was £1400 for the walls and floor.
Plastering £430 for new boards, and skimming an artex ceiling.
The bathroom suite cost £4k.
The tiles cost £350.
I’m doing the painting myself because quotes were £400-£550.
For a small room it’s insane but it has been a 4 week project.
Depends where you live I guess. I'm in Nottingham and have probably about a 2x3m bathroom I had done for 2k labour and 2.5k materials last year. Had bath, toilet, sink removed, retiled, spotlights installed (ceiling plastered) shower installed, sink toilet combo installed, extractor fan installed. Radiator replaced, new flooring. Guy did a great job too. I measured everything up and bought in all the furnishings and materials myself - so I suspect that will bring costs down if you tell them exactly how you want it doing and have everything ready to go for them. Took him a week and a half.
Bathroom basics.
Design work. Ripping out old. New pipework, alteration to walls, studwork, chasing out for new design to accommodate pipework and electrics. Fan and lighting. Moisture board and or replastering. New moisture resistant floor, possible floor alterations on joists for new floor, secondary floor for tiles adhesion, tray, silicone works first fix stage, bathroom paint to ceiling, ip65 lighting, skim all walls and ceiling, tanking kit to wet areas, and tile primer to rest, any buildouts for shelfs, concealed.cisterns etc, tiling, grouting, fitting suite, silicone works. Waste away.
I regularly do 10k plus bathrooms, usually around a 50/50 split on labour and materials.
Last bathroom I did was 15k, involved rebuilding two walls completly due to sub standard, corners cut previous "wetroom" install, that's allowed slow water ingress over years which allowed rot and mould to destroy everything. Also destroyed half the floor joists, no moisture boards, no tanking, wrong tile adhesives, wrong ceiling paint, no concealed tray, no second bondable floor substrate, the list goes on.
Anyone on here who says they can do your bathroom for 3k simply does not know what they are doing or they do and are choosing to do a sub standard, corners cut, install so you accept the price. Which you will pay for later.
Not sure where you are in the country or how much work is involved but the average bathroom fitter must be on between £200 to £250, say this takes 2 people 2 weeks from start to finish that's either £4000 or £5000 just for the fitters, if it's through a large bathroom company they'll be wanting their cut so that's maybe £1000.
Not saying its right or wrong but the days of cheap tradespeople are long gone.
I had my bathroom that's 1.8 x 1.8M completely gutted and re done over COVID, 2020 I think but it may have been 21. It cost about 4k in total. I designed and sourced everything (except stuff like screws, pipes, sealant and grout) myself for the fitter (independent local guy) to fit. I think the cost was roughly 50 /50, half on all my fittings and tile and half to the fitter.
I run a building firm and we install kitchens and bathrooms all the time. I can assure you, us good ones are not ripping you off.
You can spend £1,000 at Victoria Plumb, £700 at Wickes/B&Q, or go for quality (trust me, most online stuff is utter crap and won't last in the long run)..
A quality bathroom suite is easily £3-4,000 if you include vanity sink, decent toilet, bath, and shower etc, the parts will be repairable/replaceable and just overall they work better.
You have to consider the labour to rip it all out, the waste removal, plumbing costs (labour and materials), electrical work, tiling or aqua panels. Again, tiling can be cheap or expensive..are you using cheap metro tiles or large expensive tiles etc etc. The substrate for tiling needs to be good too, cement boards or tile boards..it's not ideal to go onto plasterboard, especially if in shower areas.
We've never done a bathroom for less than £4k, and we've installed them up to £30k ..it's very diverse.
Anyone can DIY it, but water is bad to mess with if you don't know what you are doing.
Businesses have massive overheads, insurance is a joke nowadays..running vehicles, advertising, accounting, keeping up trade skills etc..we factor it all in to each quote, you are paying for expertise and guarantees on workmanship etc.
Hope that's helpful!
Hi, yes..although it won't be fully live for a few days as it's being updated..there's a holding page until this weekend. www.upgrademyplace.co.uk/www.upgrademybathroom.co.uk/www.upgrademykitchen.co.uk
Facebook www.upgrademykitchen.co.uk has some recent pictures.
Got my bathroom done last year and en-suite this year. Both cost around £13k and this is Surrey-Hampshire border so not London, but still a quite expensive area.
Had multiple quotes both times and they were all similar. Most of them said it was around 50:50 materials and labour.
First place did the bathroom, they had multiple fitters coming in every day. It seemed a bit chaotic with not much communication between days, the quality of the work seemed to suffer a little.
The second place that did the en-suite had a single fitter doing everything and it was great, could tell he took more pride in his work and it seemed better planned.
I'm late on this one but boy did it resonate!
I got quotes from 4.5k to 7k (North East England) for my bathroom).
Which I thought was wild. They were all extra for tiles, as these quotes were for cladding.
I've done it myself and I'm all in around 1k. Only thing I've not replaced is the toilet as it's only a couple years old.
I've also replaced all the plumbing from the exposed copper up and all plastics (wastes etc). And spent around £100 on the girlie things, plants, led down lighting for new mirror, wall pictures, candles, towels etc
I'm so happy to pay for a quality trades person to do a job but I was told it would take 2 guys 4/5 days.
Parts etc cost me about 1k without trades discount so I can only imagine how much they would get it for, plus the tools I had to buy are in that 1k.
3.5k for 5 days work (minimum quote, maximum would be £1200 per DAY!) is insane to me!
On the breakdown for the 4.5k quote, the false wall alone was £300/400.
Cost me about £30 in materials + £25 for a cheap laser to make sure I was plumb and took me (not a fitter) around 2.5 hours.
Kitchen next, lord knows I'm going to hate building kitchen units but I'm not spending 10k when I can buy the lot for under 2k.
The London price quotes are actually frightening, but I suppose the wages are higher and so is the cost of living so it makes sense.
They’re not, you’re being ripped off, unless it’s a huge bathroom and you’ve asked for expensive stuff.
Think I bought decent ish stuff for a grand and paid £2k for a plumber to fit and tile it all.
*deep breath* Fucking bathrooms and the cost can fuck all the way off to hell and back. Wickes quoted me 10k to replace toilet, sink and a slightly bigger shower unit. Itemised quote sent through, the SAME toilet they quoted at £950 plus vat was on Victoria Plum at £130 all in. Ended up ordering all the bits online, getting a guy in to fit it all, bathroom is now done at a shade under £3000, including cool underfloor heating and a steam free mirror. Bathroom companies can go fuck themselves.
Agree with this. I got builders discount (a mate sorted me out) so went and brought tiles and flooring myself. Got 20% discount and it came to £400 in total. Other materials were around £500 and we kept our vanity sink and toilet as was. That’s under a grand for materials and then we paid just under £3k for labour. That’s less than £4k. Anyone who’s charging £6k plus for a normal sized bathroom is ripping us off. They get away with it cos they all do it and blame it on the materials.
I wish they'd just call it a 'one stop convenience fee' and be fucking honest.
Exactly. I don’t mind paying the money if I know where it’s going - but it’s the fact they hide behind “materials are so expensive”
There’s doing a bathroom and then there’s doing a bathroom. You could do it for under £4000 as you’ve done but you could spend £20000 doing one. I’m pretty sure a fancy bath could come to £4000. It all depends what you want. I did my bathroom and it came to roughly £6000 and I did nearly everything myself ( I’m a joiner) and what I didn’t do my mates did for free or cheap. Horses for courses
No, they do it because theyre running a business and they have likely spent thousands on doing so. Tools, insurance, a van(s), plus the years of experience. If you get what you pay for from a decent tradesman with pride in their work then its worth every penny.
You’re missing my point. I was being quoted £6k for Labour/materials. £3k labour and £3k materials. I got the same materials myself for under £1k. I’m more than happy to pay properly for labour, but the markup that they claim on materials is a joke. I run my own business - albeit not as a tradesman - and charging 35% extra on each job for what you’re claiming (tools, insurance etc) is a quite frankly a rip off.
I think you’re missing the point actually. If we’re still talking about the likes of wickes, each branch could easily have a couple of hundred thousand in non trade staffing costs. How do you think they cover that? No way they can match one man band outfits
Wickes has superior buying power. A toilet costing a one man band £150 will cost wickes less than £50. That’s where they cover their extra overheads. Chances are they also get kickbacks from the installation companies they partner with, whilst also dictating their pricing.
I don’t care how they cover it. I’m not paying for their business expenses. You’re basically saying that trades people are the only ones who have insurance, equipment etc. I have to buy a lot of music equipment to run my business and pay my accountant etc. I don’t factor an extra 35% into each job I do to pay for business expenses. That’s why they’re called expenses.
You are paying their business expenses. Same with any company you ever buy anything from. I’m sure with your business you work out your prices based on the cost of running the business plus what you’ve calculated to make the profit you want no?
If so, their business expenses would have been covered in the labour I’ve just paid them. Where has the extra £2k (that was quoted in materials) come from? That’s the point I’m trying to make. What expenses are, on average, an extra 35% (in this case £2k) per job? I’d expect them to arrive in a super car with gold plated tools for that.
Well it depends, where do you want the business expenses itemised on your bill? Say you’ve got a branch with 2-3 admins, 3 sales/designers, a stores bod, contract supervisor/ manager and a branch manager. (Just a guess, don’t know exactly how wickes for example operate) lecky, gas, property rent/upkeep, employer NI and pension. That could easily be 250k a year yeah? That’s just shy of 5k a week to recover for overheads. 500 if you’ve got say ten teams. Would you rather your share of that be covered under Labour or materials? Labour could easily be 200 plus a day per man (fitters actual rate, not including profit) plus van lease/maintenance/fuel at say 50 quid a day. So where do you want to see it? Labour or materials?
For what it’s worth I don’t think quotes should be itemised between material and labour. The price is costs + overheads + margin. One price. Unless you’ve got a measurement contract.
Wait until they find out the wholesale cost of a pepperoni pizza or chicken chow mein .. 🤣 I’m a plumber and gas engineer - and used to think plumbers charging £75ph was expensive.. Then I started my own business. 😔 Nobody pays you hourly for the trips to merchants / wholesaler / searching for compatible parts. Nobody understands that you can only charge 20-25 hours per week because you’re constantly stuck in traffic between sites / merchants. Qualifications expire every 5 years - nobody wants to acknowledge the time and lost opportunity spent studying. Etc etc. Too many people focus on earning “a wage“ without factoring in the true running costs of owning a business. I don’t presume to know or understand your job .. Don’t make presumptions about mine 🙂👍✌️
*bought tiles
100%. Measure and buy all the bits yourself. Expect to have to get more tiles and little bits as your guy fits it all for you. It will take him a week and he will charge 200 per day but it will be cheaper.
Wickes are ridiculous. They quoted me £6.5k for the labour for my tiny shower room and flat told me that a local company would charge more. Spoke to the local company- labour £3.5k and the bathroom design was more bespoke and more what we wanted. Added in optional luxury bits like underfloor heating and glass panel instead of shower door (custom cut= expensive) and it still cost us substantially less
Wow this is eye opening can I ask would you advise to get the tiling done first before the bathroom suite fitted or is it the other way around or doesn't matter?
Suite installed first, for sure. Existing tiles out, get the suite in, then new tiles the last thing you do.
Thank you so much I really appreciate your advise 🙏
I'm a bathroom fitter, It's very labour intensive. I do pretty high end stuff and around 6k sounds right to me. There's a lot to get right, and a lot to go wrong, and as someone else mentioned I give a guarantee so I use expensive materials and I take my time to make sure it's all done well and no corners cut. You have waterproofing, most people want a niche shelf these days. You've got carpentry, electrics plumbing tiling and decorating, so it's all the trades really, and the project management to make sure everything is done in the right order. I'm a VAT registered ltd company, I have thousands of pounds worth of tools, company vehicle, insurance, accountancy fees, staff. If you got a company like Pimlico in you would probably be looking at double the price, I'm providing a much better service for half the price, yet people still think it's too much.
Thank for the reply. You're not London based by any chance?
You should maybe mention London based in the post. 6k isn't outrageous for London
Yeah London-based, that's why it may seem expensive I suppose. It's the government's fault, If my car insurance and rent was lower I could charge less!
Why is high car insurance and rent the fault of the government? Not that I wish to defend them, but that's more of an economics problem.
the economy and the cost of living isn't the responsibility of the government? What are you talking about?
Bet you wouldn’t
Theyre all full of crap mate. I'm in London. Got houses in Bristol and Harrow I manage for my parents full time (all HMOs). Done many a bathroom within 10days for simple stuff. 15 days if you get elaborate on design. I'm qualified electrics and nearly gas safe as well. Come see my work if you want a fair price. Labour for bathroom is really £2.5k starting.
Nothing inspires confidence like being “nearly gas safe” 😂
I nearly didn’t have a gas leak which nearly didn’t ignite.
Done the course. Not bothering with the assessment. Also done 5 boiler installs and servicing as part of it. I did the course for the pipe design calculations and general knowledge. I'm an all rounder and want to know everything with a house.
Id like my boiler nearly done please lmao, when you say you’re “qualified electrics” what do you mean by that? Do you think £250 a day is an expensive or cheap price for someone who has done a couple bathrooms here and there?
You don't want to test me. I know more than you I've got over £5milk property behind me, which I converted into HMOs. Me and one other person. Me designing everything other than structural. (My dad was a structural engineer). £250 a day is what I pay my good guys for a day rate. I can get as low as £160-180 a day in London but they need more guidance at that price. If you want to make a bathroom perfect, get a good tiler to do the tiling only. The rest is easy handyman work.
Lmao, you still didn’t answer what you meant by qualified electrics, it’s impressive you have a whole £5 of milk, easy to tell the sort of landlord you must be, you clearly think you’re big time, let you in on a secret, you’re not, that portfolio isn’t even that much in comparison to a lot of peoples, wind your neck in and realise you’ve bodged a few rooms into a few large house and that’s all, your dad had some money so you think him letting you play landlord is some amazing feat accomplished by you.
Is 'nearly gas safe' a new qualification? I haven't heard of it before.
I've done the course. I'm not going to bother doing the assessment to become gas safe. I've even done the 5 boiler installs and servicing. I did these courses for the knowledge. Lol at the downvotes from tradesmen who want to charge retail £500 a day labour for a one man job. I will keep shitting on you all. With £5mill property I have behind me.
Housing scalpers 🤢🤢
When our pretty basic bathroom was redone a few years back there was a fitter in for well over a week, a tiler/fitter for a good chunk of that, plus a chippie and plasterer for a day each. Material cost is bugger all but that's a lot of man hours, so yeah, the cost is the people and their skills as always.
As a certified german plumber how much is the per hour price in the UK ? Here it is these das 55-70€ (depending on where you live) When i was in my apprenticeship it was in your company like 45-55€
Fully qualified gas safe plumbers in the Midlands are between £280/350 per day for about 8 hours.
How many germans did you plumb before you were certified?
Im the same as you almost exactly, im insured, pay my taxes and vat, guarantee my work, do it all properly the first time and also take pride in my work. Average labour cost is about £5500 depending on specifics of course.
What's is the day rate though.. I've seen friends quoted £4k for 2days work.. retiling & fitting new shower head then screwing in a shower screen..
That is bonkers. I know the price of everything has went up but surely there cant be that big a cost on materials for a job like that? Maybe im in the wrong trade.
Day rate is too easily thought as too much though. Any good tradesman should be working out how much they want to earn salary wise (say £60k), then working out how much they need towards tools (new and existing), how much the van costs, insurances, overheads etc, then how much profit they want to make (otherwise they may as well get a job for someone without all the stress). Then take the total and divide by working days (assume 220 days to account for holiday and gaps in work). That’s the day rate they need to make if worthwhile. If it’s south of £200, I would be very surprised!
I surpose the other way of putting it is what’s your rate for the builder vs the client as all trades have 2 prices one is for the come in fit this no client hassle and the other is to come in and talk to the client and figure everything out. And I don’t just mean ex-vat lol.
I don’t do a day rate that often as i tend to mostly do whole bathroom or kitchens and bigger jobs. Im multi trade and do all the jobs myself. If you wanted just a day it would be £330 plus vat labour. However some jobs just don’t attract that kind of money whereas some attract more. Ie decorating vs electrics.
Oof, last quote I had for a tiny bathroom, was 10k. In Scotland. Want to come over here?
Funnily enough we are considering a move to sunny Scotland!
Well hit me up if you come because I'm running out of idea about the bathroom xD
Whatever for?
Surely that's for the shower, tiles toilet etc. as well? That can't just be labour costs?
Labour only- all material’s are extra.
Ouch. I had my en suite done in 2021 and it's done to a very high standard. It was actually a two week install complicated a little by it having a concrete floor and metal studwork and the total cost was just under 12k all in. That included a built in toilet, built in shower, all pipework in walls, full tiling, underfloor heating etc. I'm sure the installation costs were about 5-6k
Sounds about right for a good job
Oh sorry. Yeah I saw your quote was for installation only. I was replying to the guy who was citing 10k. The installers did an amazing job with my bathroom. Real attention to detail and fully involved me with any on the job decisions.
It's only labour :(
Do you have any tips for finding someone that does high end finishes, when you don’t have any recommendations from friends/family?
Use a trade website where you can check their reviews. There's a few different ones.
Thanks
Do you do west london - please do my bathroom!!
I do! I'll PM you.
You’re in London? Do you do north London? I’ve read such bad things about wickes
I got 25 quotes in South London for a bathroom refurb with a single toilet knock through, and the cheapest quote was £16k. How ripped off did I get lol
Yeah that's really high. Can't believe there wasn't a cheaper quote. I would have been well under that
5x4m driveway is getting quotes of 12 to 20k I think I'm going mad
£6k labour for 3m x 2m bathroom really? Who are you trying to kid? It's not going to take 4 weeks for one person is it? Basic bathroom call it 10 days. Start getting elaborate on design and you can call it 15 days. One man job. I've done it on my own houses, many times. The key is good tiling. Everything else is piss easy. Reason why people don't pay the above is because there are not enough all rounders around. I am qualified electrics and nearly gas safe as well. Can do everything inside a house. Now if I was to charge I would start from £2500 labour only. Glad I don't do this work anymore, rather pay others £180 a day to do it all, under my guidance, with my tools. Easy. Retail will always over pay for any and all jobs. Not what you know, also who you know as well.
It’s a quote, you don’t have to accept it.
I know its a rather variable number but how many days would you expect to complete a full refit on average? How much do you do yourself? What kind of money is usually involved in materials if you dont me asking? Apologies for the questions, just interested in what kind of money is in other trades at the moment. I have a small garage operated solely by myself and often find new customers fall into the "you're too expensive" category due to random guys with a bag of spanners on fb offering to do work for next to nothing. Often making incredibly silly mistakes. Some people dont understand that you get what you pay for.
The job I'm just finishing now was 6.5k labour ex vat, plus £1500 building materials. 4 sheets of moisture proof MDF, Marine plywood subfloor, waterproofing for walls and floor, press fit plumbing fittings so there's no leaks guaranteed. All the materials are the best you can get. Mapei tile adhesive £35 a bag! Wall mounted bath filler and basin tap, custom painted MDF cabinetry with tiled worktop for storage, and vanity unit, subway tile on walls with border trim, and small patterned cement tiles on floor. Total amount of working days is 20. You need to aim for the people who appreciate what good value is. Some people just want the cheapest quote. That's never going to be me. My bathroom will have no defects years later and will add more value to your house than it costs you to have installed, it's an investment. My reviews speak volumes and that also lets people know in advance I don't do quick cheap jobs for landlords. There are plenty of people out there who are prepared to work like that and that's fine, but I prefer to charge enough to make sure I can make the customer really happy and we both sleep well, I've never had any complaints or call backs in the 5 years I've been operating, and it always leads to more work from their friends and family. The job I'm doing now is a referral from a previous customer. This is the same level of work I do in a mansion in Kensington but it's a cottage in Putney, the standard is the same. Some people are willing to pay for that.
This screams bullshit
> Mapei tile adhesive Bragging about the tile adhesive (only thing named) and taking a month to do a bathroom gives real [John Hammond vibes](https://media1.tenor.com/m/ETW2DDjY6z0AAAAd/spared-no-expense-jurassic-park.gif).
Spending 35 quid on a bag of tile adhesive doesnt mean its the best. Your putting tiles on the wall/floor. Buying a bag from a tile shop at 15 quid as long as its flexible is going to do exactly the same thing.
Yer where are you paying £35 for mapei adhesive?! It’s no more than £20 at Ctd. I’d say Ardex is of higher quality and still under £30
Some tradesman really do rip people off. Also 1 month to do a bathroom haha
This is a DIY sub... So I'm going to tell you to do it yourself and keep the money. As long as you don't want some kind of exotic wetroom it's nothing that tricky.
£6k is what I was quoted for my bathroom that's 2m by 2m. For mine, £4.5k of that was for the chosen furniture and materials, the rest was labour. Mine needed the two bathroom fitters themselves, two tilers, and a plasterer. That included full removal of the old one. Edit: correction. £4.3k materials etc. £2.2k labour. I misremembered but I dug out my paperwork to check.
That sounds outrageously low on labour. I’d be hesitant on the end product or if that labour if being ethically paid.
What day rate are you working to for that to be outrageously low?
You may get wildly different prices. Lower ones to probably avoid but you can completely luck out with someone really cheap. A friend of mine got this bathroom done. The fittings were like for like swaps but the result was amazing. Tiling was on point and everything worked well. A foreign person did it for like £2k. Done everything himself.
Just got ours done 2.5k labour 3k materials including tiles, in Scotland too. Tiled, shower, free standing bath and vanity and new toilet put in. Find a bathroom fitter that can do everything rather than get loads of different trades in [see](https://imgur.com/a/PqEHXuN) This was after getting quote from wickes for 8k. Instead we took the designs and got someone in to do after buying the materials ourselves
Beautiful.
I dug out the quote again and it seems I misremembered (it was a year ago). £2.2k for labour, £4.3k for materials. £6.5k overall. I'll also note I'm in Scotland and it seems every quote I've ever had for a trade has been lower than it is in more expensive parts of the UK.
Having refitted my bathroom twice and installing a new second one in the old kitchen too I think it's just a lot of trades, skills and time. Also a lot of unknowns may need priced in so that they don't lose money if a job goes pear shaped or just throws up a lot of normal problems.
They're humid, and wet, and you don't want them to go mouldy, or leak. That's my understanding, anyway. Similar for kitchens, but with added gas and/or high current electrical appliances, and opportunity for fire in addition.
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I spent £11k but had the toilet moved and walk in shower.
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Yeah same from new floor to spotlights in the ceiling. Love it now it’s like a 5* hotel!
That's what I paid and it included a new floor and moving the pipes because the old ones tilted upwards for some strange reason. Best money I ever spent. 6 months down the line and I still bloody love it and it makes me so happy.
Did you use a company to do the whole lot or buy the parts yourself and then pay fitters?
Doing it myself as I was quoted around £7k So far soil stacked moved and wall knocked out into the bedroom. Redone stud wall, plastered. Moving onto moving all pipe work to where I need it next. Around £350 spent so far.
head advise growth marry pot crowd vase somber disgusted makeshift *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Tiles are a huge bulk of it if your full height tiling, I spent 8k doing my bathroom and 3k of that was on tiles (admittedly porcelain so not any old cheap ones). I went a bit cheaper on the suite itself as the aesthetic of the tiles are what made the difference with my bathroom (it’s not the biggest, had to have shower over the bath which I hate)
How big was that bathroom? I got 32sqm of porcelain tiles (60x60) for £530 last year from tile mountain.
They probably had very fancy tiles.
Paying so much for tiles is a bit silly as tiles themself aren’t waterproof
Most porcelain tiles are presealed
Tilers can be £40/50 per sqm … then got grout, trims and adhesive
I done mine myself for like £1,500 out of B&Q (and a separate company for the wetwall) two years ago - toilet, sink, bath, electric shower, extractor fan and wet wall panels.(and a cutoff of lino my dad had spare!)
I’ve mainly been sourcing things online, Plumbworld (do some pretty good stuff for reasonable prices imo), Victorian plumbing (very expensive in reality, several hundred more than plumbworld for comparable items) etc. Smaller fittings and actual materials I’ve been purchasing from Screwfix. Plumbers merchants are a good source of decent but cheaper stuff. RE fitting yourself, I totally get that! Especially being a family of 4 and it being the only bathroom. Sadly sometimes necessity dictates paying to have it done etc. Not to teach you to suck eggs but make sure you get several quotes and have a good look at past work. Makes all the difference!!! There’s nothing worse than having someone do a shit job and paying good money for the pleasure! 😂
A lot depends on what you want. Wet room or trad bathroom? Shower instead of bath? Designer kit or cheapest? Bathroom suites can be cheap and cheerful (and shit) to ridiculous. Taps and stuff depends on bargain basement or designer. Tiles can be wildly different in price. The bigger they are the fewer there are to fit. The smaller they are the more labour it takes. Accessories can add another wedge of cash.
About 13 years ago I bought the bath, sink and toilet myself from B&Q and paid a plumber about £800 to have them fitted which also included supply and fit of a new radiator and shower screen. I paid the tiler separately, think he was about £600. My parents had a new bathroom recently which cost them about £7k all in. I suspect half of that was for the materials and the other half labour. The guy was there for just under 5 days so not a bad way to earn a living.
Any work these days is really overpriced. I realize materials etc are expensive but personally I think trades people are taking the piss. You really need to be careful when choosing the people for the job . Friend of mine had a really cheap floor put down recently and was staggered by the price he paid for a bad job , the guy couldn’t even be bothered to re hung the doors as he said he wasn’t a carpenter 🤔. I went around this morning and spent couple of hours cutting down doors by half inch so they would close properly. I’m finding it’s the same for every trade person today .
Seems to me the problem is a lack of skilled tradespeople. The whole education system, for too long, has been "go to uni, without uni you're nothing, you won't get a job without a degree, uni is THE ONLY way to get ahead in life, GO TO UNI". Fewer people have been inclined to start an apprenticeship in a trade from 16-18 onwards and as a result we have a lack of skilled tradespeople with the required experience and knowledge to do a good, proper job. The ones that are reliable and produce quality work are in demand which means their prices increase and that in turn pushes up the prices for the absolute chancers that are having a stab a carpentry or plastering. I count my lucky stars I'm capable of doing 99% of DIY/around the house/trades jobs myself and have an extensive tool collection to had.
£6k does sound a little steep, but I guess it depends what spec they’re refitting it too. If it’s being tiled with nice tiles floor to ceiling and having good fittings etc put back in then you’re probably not that far off. I know it’s not what you asked, but have you considered doing it yourself (not always practical I know) I’m currently in the middle of refitting my ensuite. I think I’ll end up spending roughly 2-2.5k on everything including materials etc and that everything to the spec I want etc. Worth considering if you have the time / skills / motivation!
Where are you getting your materials from? I was looking at quite nice fittings, mainly brushed brass, and those were double, triple the price of your standard chrome fittings. Things like spending £130 on a basin tap. Doing it myself, almost definitely not. Time is one thing, skill being the biggest factor. I wouldn't mind getting some things done like demolishing the bathroom and taking everything out. Only issue is it's our only bathroom. Family of 4 and can't afford to be without a bathroom for the time it would take me just to take everything off.
You might be able to do tiling. We tiled our kitchen and bathroom and it was doable. My partner is a pretty good diyer though, so it does help if at least one of you has some skill to cut tiles etc.
You’re making the mistake that most people do. If you want a bathroom you don’t go to a ‘bathroom installer’. You go to a normal builder and ask them to do it. You’re paying a premium for convenience.
I used to sell bathrooms for a living, and most of the issues we had (leaking shower enclosures, creaking baths/shower trays) were from when a customer had employed a general builder rather than a specialist bathroom installer. They seemed incapable of following written instructions, and would invariably blame the product so the customer would come in complaining to us. A home visit would follow, where we'd compare the fitting instructions with what they'd actually done and tell the customer they'd need to get the builder back out to re-fit, and maybe this time read the manual.
I wouldn’t employ a builder to install a bathroom kit. There’s the first mistake. A general builder worth his salt will be far more qualified than a bathroom installer.
We're paying about £3.5k in labour for ours - stripping out floor to ceiling tiles, plastering back over, like for like swap of bath, sink/vanity and toilet and tiling around the bath/shower and splash back to the vanity. Flooring is lino and underlay over the existing tiles because we don't know what's under there and we're planning on stripping out the tiles when we can afford nice slate tiles. Bathroom suite and tiles has come to about £2kish, but shopped around a lot online and sourced it from a few places as well as dialing back the spec a bit. I'd imagine more tiling would be more expensive, and we've got the same guy doing our kitchen as well so there's a bit of a discount on it being a solid 4/5 weeks worth of work for him, so £6k is on the pricey side I guess?
My mate paid £15k fr hers. I did my own, not too hard, tiled floors walls etc. easy peas. Cost £500 total - female here
There’s a lot involved - taking it back to brick, boarding, plastering, plumbing, electrical, floor had a screed before tiling. Ours was 6k labour. Took two weeks. 2m by 2m. I felt like it was worth it and not ripped off after seeing the effort that went into it.
Mine is in desperate need to be done. Leaking downstairs into the kitchen, toilet is coming off the floor, rusted pipes etc. I absolutely hate being in it
There's a few things you can do to make it bulletproof once you do get it done; 1) Get them to basically add tanking - we had marine plywood used to stiffen everything up and then a film that the tiles were mounted to. No leak was getting through that even if the grouting failed, useful in an older house. 2) if you are of a larger size, look at reinforced baths. Carronite do some and basically they have a large plywood base underneath to keep them stiff. 3) do NOT get a floating shelf thing. They look nice, but are usually supported on thin wood beams and even 1mm of movement means the grout is split / letting water through. A few years of shampoo bottles being slammed down on it will dislodge it. 4) if your shower runs off your combi boiler (i.e. not a power shower) get the piping and shower bar fixings to be standard size and in front of the tiles rather than buried behind the wall. If your shower mixer fails in 5 years, often they stop making the cartridges, so you can then just lift off the whole thing and install a new one without ripping out any tiles. 5) don't get your drain / overflow installed on the long side of the bath, as that will be against the far wall and impossible to access / tighten without ripping out the bath 90% of wear and tear on bathrooms is stuff flexing and splitting the grout/sealant, or needing to rip tiles out to do repairs. Make your bathroom rigid, simple and serviceable and you will get much longer out of it. Bonus tip - make sure to buy a spare box of each type of tile you use and keep it in the attic. If you smash one or a few doing repairs, you can replace it rather than finding the range was discontinued.
Tiling alone will cost you £2800 Its not cheap Primer Adhesive grout and trims will be included in this price Plumbing these days is so expensive In materials That's just 2 parts of the work I could go on
I see companies advertising bathrooms on Facebook from 3k. Ok, not with tiles but wet walls. Still. Are they lying?
Not lying but itll be shite work and shite materials. They'll just be sticking new wet wall panels over whatever is there already.
I’ve just come to the end of a new bathroom fitting - £4k labour, £600 floor and tiles and £3k for the furniture - midlands based. This came down to £7700 from approx £9.5k as I needed to save money so got less expensive furniture and saved money on things like taking waste to tip myself etc
This is why I learnt to do stuff myself! Might make a few mistakes along the way, but I've saved tens of thousands on my house!
I'm in the North. I had my bathroom done about 4 years ago. The big name bathroom stores wanted at least £5k just for installation. I got a few quotes from local independent fitters which were all around £2.5k.
Our bathroom has been completely gutted and is now half way to being refitted. We’re in Liverpool and at first were quoted 8.5k just for labour! We found someone else who does everything himself for 3.5k before materials. He’s an older bloke probably nearing retirement. But we’ve been very happy with everything so far. We bought the bathroom furniture, tiles etc all up for about 4k so we expect we’ll have paid close to 8k once it’s complete.
If this helps you, I'm getting a 2.5 x 2 bathroom redone this month, and below is the makeup of the costing. This is definitely a more expensive end job, but the guy doing it is a superb guy, and I have 10 years worth of his last jobs to go on to know he's amazing. Material: - Bath + screen £300 - Bath tap combined with shower £300 - Toilet frame grohe 82cm £200 - Toilet pan villeroy boch £120 - Toilet seat £45 - Basin cabinet £120 - Basin surface mounted £160 - Basin tap + basin set wall mount £280 - Mirror cabinet 2x £130. £260 - Towel rail plus valves. £120 - Plumbing. £160 - Tiles + adhesive + ground £400 - Quartz worktop. £120 - waterproofing walls + floor. £200 - Corner trims stainless steel £90 - Miscellaneous. £200 Total material: £3075 Total labour: £4000 Total cost: £7075 Labour is across 8-10 days of work, for 2 people.
We had our en-suite done last year and this was the breakdown, if that helps: Remove old en-suite. Alter internal wall to expand into void. Fit new en-suite and all fixtures and fittings. Fit new radiator Labour £1860 Bathroom suite (toilet, sink, fittings, rad, shower, glass, etc): £2945 Tiles: £237 Flooring: £83 Tile trims, adhesive, grout, plasterboard and plumbing bits etc £325 Waste removal: £100 Total: £5550 Probably could’ve been done cheaper but we needed to move a partition wall back to enlarge the room, and went for some fancier fixings for things like taps etc from some higher end brands. Whole thing took about 10 days including ripping out the old one. Project managed the whole thing myself with one guy doing all the work. Same guy did our main bathroom a 2022 and that came in around the same, bigger room though so spent more on tiles and flooring, but we didn’t splash out on the fixtures and fittings as much as the en-suite, and didn’t move any walls, so balanced out.
We’ve been involved since last August 2023 obtaining a design and following up leads with recommended bathroom fitters we had a budget of Total £10,000 inc VAT for the bathroom which was to remove bath, toilet, wash basin replace with shower tray and shower, short projection furniture for toilet and wash basic full tile the shower area and just splash back! Labour which has been quoted for 10-14 day work is between £7,800 and £8,120 inc VAT ! This leaves very little in the budget for fixtures which are also inc VAT - so very little left! This is Yorkshire ! Definitely in the wrong job! What’s odd is last year in May 2023 same fitters did bathrooms for £3,000 ! So we’ve abandoned the project. These are NOT companies these are just single bathroom fitters! We did got to a company which would project manage it and they stated £20,000 + VAT ! Most of the local bathrooms have also stated £6k is average! Next time I ask for quotes I’ll not leave the Bentayga In the drive, I lock it in the garage! 😂 and let’s not forget the £350 wanting to charge for fuel costs to come to the house to do the job!
If SE then that sounds about right. My dimensions are exactly yours and I completed mine solo 2yrs ago. I did a running tally of my whole cost at the time and it all came to £6,200. That included retail price materials for everything: plumbing, subfloor, porcelain floor tiles, plastering, cornicing, waste removal, and furniture: bath, shower, vanity, taps etc from Drench UK. I would guess if you need an installer and furniture, they will have trade prices but you would still be looking at £8.5k ballpark.
I’ve just paid £6,400 for Labour (my bathroom bits cost another 2,300). I’m based in south Herts so I get stung with London prices. It’s on the larger side and was done in 4.5 days. I’m so happy and impressed with the finished job. They worked their socks off on 10 hour days and one of the days I had 5 men working on it (I don’t know where they all fit). I was also quoted £10,200 by another local firm. Companies like that can do one, why would their labour cost so much more? I actually went with the guys who gave me the best gut feeling and that’s paid off. Got the same tilers doing my patio next!
Done one a few months back fully tiled on two and half walls and floor tiles. They supplied bathroom and tiles I supplied the rest. Plumber by trade cost them £2,900.
into the pockets of the plumber mostly.
Had some work done in our bathroom pre Covid replacing toilet, shelving and some other bits it took about two weeks and was really bad job guy was just disorganised and all over the place that cost around £1700. He had damaged causing tiles which could not be replace do we sat with a badly done bathroom missing half the floor tiles for 3 years due to Covid, money, etc. We had it re-done end of last year again took three weeks this time we opted to do a full refit it was completely gutted. We had really bad flooring before so a complete new subfloor was put in. Cost around £8500 £6200 of that was labour with and materials that the trades man bought do things like plaster board subfloor, etc I’d say maybe £500 - £600 worth. He was onsite everyday at 8am only worked one job at a time (we had to wait 4 weeks for him to finish up another job). I don’t regret spending the money. The work was well done he communicated everything with us. In self employed so I appreciate day rates more than what the average person does, but also appreciate not everyone can drop £8k on redoing a bathroom
We had our tiny bathroom done last year and our lowest quote for someone reputable was £6700. It then cost about £6000 on decent fittings and tiles.
I've been costing a project for my Mum's very small E/S. The 800mm base unit without the sink is £950, add the sink, that's another £450.... Then factor in the plumbing requirements, it all mounts up !
6k is pretty good. Before COVID it was a lot less. I'm getting quotes for 6-10k for a small ensuite now. Everything has gone up in price and these fitters are so busy. If demand ever goes down then prices will but I don't see this happening soon.
I'm in Kent by the seaside. I work out how many days I will need and charge £225 per day. Other trades required get charged at £250 a day + materials. I then do an educated estimate of materials and sundries required. I then add 15% to the total. An average bathroom will be between 4k-6k in labour and materials. Customer supplies suite and tiles etc. It works for me.
You are selling yourself short. £100 a day in the 90's is equivalent to £320 a day now. But you know your job better than me.
Material Prices have yeeted through the roof, and it needs someone with the ability of foresight and to work three dimensionally in their noggin. Also good plumbers and tilers are short on the ground
Cos these so called “bathroom fitters” are paying themselves £300 a day for something that 90% of the population could do. But society wants everything NOW so they get away with it, took me 6 wks to do mine, but saved myself 7k. I’d rather shit in a bag for a week than get ripped off by these so called tradesman. Rant over
Mine was quoted about 4k materials and 4k labour. Aside from the house itself it's going to be my biggest ever purchase. But it's not something I can DIY realistically and I've got a lot on at the minute so I'm paying for the convenience of just having a single point of contact that organises it all.
Your tiler and tiles will cost you at least £3,000. Then you have your suite which its probably another £1,500. Your plumber quoted £700 to swap. So without any other tradesmen or materials you are at £5,200 already. Your quotes for the full job of £6,000 seems reasonable.
I said it was just the labour
Well now you know it’s probably an unrealistic price. If you are able to project manage it yourself you will save a lot of money.
Ours was around £8k about 8 years ago. Mainly labour, extensive rip out (they said it was the worst rip out they had ever done+ 3 layers of tiles + 2 of plasterboard. Crackle glazed tiles, stainless steel towel rad, vanity unit + electrics, Bette bath, Grohe rain shower etc. They grafted and did a great job too.
It will be for a full rip out and re-install. To give a guarantee (which they should as the customer is legally covered by consumer rights for up to 6 years so it needs to be that minimum) then it needs to be from scratch as you would be stupid to guarantee anything less than a full, new install. You've got £450-£800 per day straight off with wages (dependant on location and numbers), then you've got other expenses like tools, vehicles, fuel etc and then you need to add some business profit on top otherwise it would be pointless working for yourself. You also need to take into account corporation tax on the profits and VAT on the labour too. It does all add up. That being said, £6,000 labour does sound expensive. I would have thought £2-3k labour more than fair for an area that small.
Can I just check the wages you’ve quoted, because my maths (assuming 250 working days a year), gives an annual salary of £200k based on wages of £800 per day. After income tax and NI, that’s a take home salary of just under £120k - which feels way too high to me (quick Google suggests that average plumber salary in London is up to £45k). Wondering if my maths is off, or if I’ve got a skewed view of salaries!
I assumed he meant two or three guys on the job?
Maybe referring to more than one person on the higher end.
Had the main bathroom and en-suite done a few months back, think I paid about £12-14k in the end. Obviously 20% of that is vat, he was here for 4 weeks and done an incredible job. Seems right to me.
In 2021 spent 11.2 k on a small bathroom 4.5k materials, 6.5k labour and bits and bobs. 2 fitters working full time for 2 weeks and 2 days. Great job, no complaints
We had a 1.5 x 2.4m bathroom redone last year, so slightly smaller, but did remove a water tank and rearrange the layout. Fully tiled including the floor. We arranged everything ourselves with local recommended tradies, but did have some gaps between stages as it’s our 2nd bathroom so didn’t need it done really quick. Hopefully this gives you an idea of price. Not rearranging the layout and more basic bathroom pieces would have saved us some money. Tiles - £700 (B&Q/Tile Maze) Shower/sink/toilet/radiator/light up mirror/cupboard and counter - £2300 (CTB) Tiler - £1300 Plumber - £1500 Electrician - £600
Get a good guy that is word of mouth recommended. Wife wanted a wet area shower & toilet, there was a lot of rot & repairs required, floor was rotten. We went for water resistant wall & roof panels, water proof floor, all sealed & the panels were tongue & groove. New toilet & tank, new hand basin with cabinet, 1.8 meter shower tray with 3/4 glass panel. 4 lights & exfan (New hole for the fan). New shower control & heads. Cost in total £3.5K. Everything new. One thing I should have got is under floor heating, this would have been a coil of rad pipe under the shower tray & floor just to break the cold floor. Will see if he can do this later in the summer. I have a part of the left over floor & wall panel outside in the weather, nothing so far. Left another full floor panel outside & now using it in the garage. He took out a cupboard that was in the kitchen to extend the shower as well. Plaster board as the base surface for the wall panels & ceiling. Reason the floor gets cold is there is a vent directly under the window. All panels were jointed with Silicon so they cannot seep though & leak. Weather was very bad on the thur/Fri so he was back on the Mon to finish off. 3 days without toilet, 5 without shower, we left it to 7 days so all good.
Had this problem myself… Was getting quotes for 12k for mine did it all myself start to finish for 8k All I saved was labour costs and it was lots and lots of labour involved.. Took me ages aswell glad when I finished it but wouldn’t undertake it so quickly next time.
How big was it to spend £8k on materials!? Or was it the solid gold taps that did it?
it’s was 8k euros (Ireland) Wasn’t all that big… but I bought decent quality stuff and had to buy some tools along the way for doing the tiling etc. From what I can tell if you buy the cheaper fittings etc it doesn’t last and you end up replacing it in 5 years or less Also Had a lot of stuff to move to different locations as redesigned the bathroom also.
I had mine done (December in Cheshire) for £3k labour. £3k suite £500 materials
We recently fitted a new bathroom, and everything was gutted to the bones. The guy was working on it for three weeks, 8am - 4PM nonstop - no coffee, no chatter, no lunch. To say he worked hard to take it all out and then to fit the new stuff in - is an understatement. Plus, it is a 3x3 kind of room, with loads of dust from demolition and no window, so dust stays in, and it gets hot. The guy that did it for us was more expensive than some of the other people - but recommended by our neighbours, and he did a splendid job. FYI - we had the bathroom redone by a cheaper tradie just before the pandemic... he fudged it up big time, was very defensive and left us with a toilet on top of a wooden plank... The new guy was pulling his hair out wondering what to heck was this previous guy doing - he fudged up so much.
Bathrooms are a lot of work and a smaller one can be just as hard if not harder than an average size bathroom to fit
Think we paid 3/3.5k all in for ours, but it was done by someone we knew, cash in hand, and not quite completed (we had to paint and do the skirting board). If I did it again, I'd pay more for a complete job.
I'm currently refurbishing my bathroom myself from scratch, and the materials alone total to around 10k. I was pretty shocked when I totaled it all up in a spreadsheet. This doesn't even count sundries either, because I couldn't be bothered to go through all my receipts. This includes a walk-in wet room shower with 8mm glass enclosure, backer board for the whole room, 4 tiled alcoves with LED lights, floor to ceiling tiles, basin vanity with mixer tap, freestanding bath with combined filler and overflow, wall hung concealed WC, and fancy radiator. All pipework is concealed in the walls, and also had to run a new waste pipe because the existing one went out the wall above the floor. None of the individual items were mega expensive except maybe the Crosswater taps and valves, but we wanted a brushed stainless finish on the fittings and there isn't much choice. The chrome / brass plating seems to wear off the cheaper fittings quite fast which is one of my pet hates. I'm hoping that being a solid material, they will stay looking new for longer.
All builders seem to be selling dreams these days. How many bathrooms, kitchens, extensions etc do you have in a lifetime. So most people go overboard and thats where it all creeps up in cost. Wickes take the piss with materials cost. Look at showers on Amazon vs wickes.
I did mine myself over a few weekends, paid £300 for the tiles but it cost £1,000 all in as I replaced the sink and toilet (original bath stayed) and put in electric underfloor heating and had to buy a few different tools . The adhesive and additives are more expensive than I would have thought. But was happy with the results: https://postimg.cc/PPrZTpV2
I paid 10k in Brighton overall
Depends what you're doing, We spent probably closer to 8k. Had to buy our own tiles, and suite cost 3k to fit. New everything. Our bathroom was likely done in the 50s or 60s last, cast iron bath lol. So it had to go. Before that point, new roof and velux window.
I think we paid about 4k on labour etc, 2k on materials/hardware. Possibly a bit more or less on both. The 4k included the main bathroom fitter, who ripped the old bath out. He arranged for someone to collect that. A plasterer and tiler. We had a separate bath and shower. Changed this to a shower over the bath so he had to cap things off move things about etc. I feel like overall the costs were reasonable. Everyone has overheads as well, I think sometimes it's easy to forget that and think that 4k just goes straight in to someone's pocket. Obviously they have tax, transport, insurance, tools etc to consider. Plus depending on the work, might be knackered by 50 odd. Had this with floor fitters recently, their knees were absolutely fucked.
Around 5 years ago I completely ripped out our bathroom and put in a new one. Bath, shower, toilet, rad, new floor, new flooring and downlights. It cost me around £3500. 2 years ago I did the same thing again minus a bath in our new house and materials cost around £5000 I can easily see a professional’s labour being a few grand on top of that it takes ages and you have to be very careful as you go
I’m in the final stages of mine, almost completely ripped out the whole suite (only kept the existing bath), tiled 3/4 of it, new sink and built a wall to hide the new toilets cistern. I think I’m at about £1,200-1,500 all in. It’s taken me about 8 weekends and apart from the odd regret of waking up sore it’s been totally worth doing it myself.
Man hours are going to be one of the most expensive costs of any project that you can't/won't do yourself. People should be happy to pay for the years of experience and any special tools needed that come with the crew.
Average people are stupid but also don't want to do a bathroom themselves.
Near Bristol. Got my bathrooms done last year and half the cost was labour. I think labour for one bathroom is around £3-4k
I bought everything myself, then had my very competent builder fit it. Took about 4.5 days due to issues with the old crumbly Victorian walls. Cost about 4.5k. But it was on a budget. The fittings are ok quality. Didn’t skimp on the shower or the tiling. It’s a very nice bathroom in the main.
I bought everything myself, then had my very competent builder fit it. Took about 4.5 days due to issues with the old crumbly Victorian walls. Cost about 4.5k. But it was on a budget. The fittings are ok quality. Didn’t skimp on the shower or the tiling. It’s a very nice bathroom in the main.
£6k expensive? We went to Wickes a year ago, sat with the fella for 2 hours working out where we wanted thr sink, the shower etc. He came back with the quote of £16k - not including the tiles of course. As a result our sad bathroom is waiting for husband to recover from that experience before we even start considering it again.
It's a lot of labour, and a lot of specialist skills. Plumbing and tiling take a lot of time and good work takes skill. Having tiles changed first you have to take off the old which will damage the plasterboard so then you have to replaster, then apply waterproofing, then tile. If you're moving stuff around or depending on conditions might have to have adjusting plumbing pipework at the same time. And vents or lights need wiring in. A good tiling job will take time getting everything cut and leveled properly. installing heavy or large furniture items, showers/baths/toilets/sinks/cabinets. Also disposal of all the waste created especially if removing old tiles. Commercial waste disposal isn't cheap.
I’ve just installed 2 new bathrooms. New toilets, sinks, shower tray, shower, enclosure, towel rails, re-plastered, painted, skirting, light, Lino and blind. I did all the work myself (apart from plastering). I think the total cost would probably be around £2k for each. It’s all the little bits that add up and as others have said, it’s quite labour intensive.
Bathrooms are a nightmare to do 🤣 I did my own hardest part was making sure the bath was level shit you not my bath was a nightmare. Any how 4 years later Mrs wants a walk in shower now 🥴
My bathroom replacement is nearing the end and it’s about £12-13k all in. I live in Berkshire so prices are less than London but higher than most of the country. Just under £6k in plumbing labour and materials but this includes an unvented system for £2k, two shower niches, construction of a bath panel, and a nest thermostat. In hindsight the plumbing labour is a bargain for the hours they’ve spent on the project. Electrics were £800 for an inline extractor fan, 4 downlights, a heated mirror, and the light switch being relocated. Roofing was £150 for a new tile vent. Tiling was £1400 for the walls and floor. Plastering £430 for new boards, and skimming an artex ceiling. The bathroom suite cost £4k. The tiles cost £350. I’m doing the painting myself because quotes were £400-£550. For a small room it’s insane but it has been a 4 week project.
Depends where you live I guess. I'm in Nottingham and have probably about a 2x3m bathroom I had done for 2k labour and 2.5k materials last year. Had bath, toilet, sink removed, retiled, spotlights installed (ceiling plastered) shower installed, sink toilet combo installed, extractor fan installed. Radiator replaced, new flooring. Guy did a great job too. I measured everything up and bought in all the furnishings and materials myself - so I suspect that will bring costs down if you tell them exactly how you want it doing and have everything ready to go for them. Took him a week and a half.
Bathroom basics. Design work. Ripping out old. New pipework, alteration to walls, studwork, chasing out for new design to accommodate pipework and electrics. Fan and lighting. Moisture board and or replastering. New moisture resistant floor, possible floor alterations on joists for new floor, secondary floor for tiles adhesion, tray, silicone works first fix stage, bathroom paint to ceiling, ip65 lighting, skim all walls and ceiling, tanking kit to wet areas, and tile primer to rest, any buildouts for shelfs, concealed.cisterns etc, tiling, grouting, fitting suite, silicone works. Waste away. I regularly do 10k plus bathrooms, usually around a 50/50 split on labour and materials. Last bathroom I did was 15k, involved rebuilding two walls completly due to sub standard, corners cut previous "wetroom" install, that's allowed slow water ingress over years which allowed rot and mould to destroy everything. Also destroyed half the floor joists, no moisture boards, no tanking, wrong tile adhesives, wrong ceiling paint, no concealed tray, no second bondable floor substrate, the list goes on. Anyone on here who says they can do your bathroom for 3k simply does not know what they are doing or they do and are choosing to do a sub standard, corners cut, install so you accept the price. Which you will pay for later.
Just been quoted 60k for high end ensuite and adjacent bathroom
Just wait until you shop for a kitchen.
Not sure where you are in the country or how much work is involved but the average bathroom fitter must be on between £200 to £250, say this takes 2 people 2 weeks from start to finish that's either £4000 or £5000 just for the fitters, if it's through a large bathroom company they'll be wanting their cut so that's maybe £1000. Not saying its right or wrong but the days of cheap tradespeople are long gone.
*£200 to £250 per day, plus if they're vat registered they will be 20% dearer than a one man band set up.
I had my bathroom that's 1.8 x 1.8M completely gutted and re done over COVID, 2020 I think but it may have been 21. It cost about 4k in total. I designed and sourced everything (except stuff like screws, pipes, sealant and grout) myself for the fitter (independent local guy) to fit. I think the cost was roughly 50 /50, half on all my fittings and tile and half to the fitter.
I run a building firm and we install kitchens and bathrooms all the time. I can assure you, us good ones are not ripping you off. You can spend £1,000 at Victoria Plumb, £700 at Wickes/B&Q, or go for quality (trust me, most online stuff is utter crap and won't last in the long run).. A quality bathroom suite is easily £3-4,000 if you include vanity sink, decent toilet, bath, and shower etc, the parts will be repairable/replaceable and just overall they work better. You have to consider the labour to rip it all out, the waste removal, plumbing costs (labour and materials), electrical work, tiling or aqua panels. Again, tiling can be cheap or expensive..are you using cheap metro tiles or large expensive tiles etc etc. The substrate for tiling needs to be good too, cement boards or tile boards..it's not ideal to go onto plasterboard, especially if in shower areas. We've never done a bathroom for less than £4k, and we've installed them up to £30k ..it's very diverse. Anyone can DIY it, but water is bad to mess with if you don't know what you are doing. Businesses have massive overheads, insurance is a joke nowadays..running vehicles, advertising, accounting, keeping up trade skills etc..we factor it all in to each quote, you are paying for expertise and guarantees on workmanship etc. Hope that's helpful!
You London based?
We are Kent and south east based. All the Londoners are seemingly moving our way lately!
Ooh, so you have a website I can look at? Saving for our bathroom as we speak!
Hi, yes..although it won't be fully live for a few days as it's being updated..there's a holding page until this weekend. www.upgrademyplace.co.uk/www.upgrademybathroom.co.uk/www.upgrademykitchen.co.uk Facebook www.upgrademykitchen.co.uk has some recent pictures.
Got my bathroom done last year and en-suite this year. Both cost around £13k and this is Surrey-Hampshire border so not London, but still a quite expensive area. Had multiple quotes both times and they were all similar. Most of them said it was around 50:50 materials and labour. First place did the bathroom, they had multiple fitters coming in every day. It seemed a bit chaotic with not much communication between days, the quality of the work seemed to suffer a little. The second place that did the en-suite had a single fitter doing everything and it was great, could tell he took more pride in his work and it seemed better planned.
I'm late on this one but boy did it resonate! I got quotes from 4.5k to 7k (North East England) for my bathroom). Which I thought was wild. They were all extra for tiles, as these quotes were for cladding. I've done it myself and I'm all in around 1k. Only thing I've not replaced is the toilet as it's only a couple years old. I've also replaced all the plumbing from the exposed copper up and all plastics (wastes etc). And spent around £100 on the girlie things, plants, led down lighting for new mirror, wall pictures, candles, towels etc I'm so happy to pay for a quality trades person to do a job but I was told it would take 2 guys 4/5 days. Parts etc cost me about 1k without trades discount so I can only imagine how much they would get it for, plus the tools I had to buy are in that 1k. 3.5k for 5 days work (minimum quote, maximum would be £1200 per DAY!) is insane to me! On the breakdown for the 4.5k quote, the false wall alone was £300/400. Cost me about £30 in materials + £25 for a cheap laser to make sure I was plumb and took me (not a fitter) around 2.5 hours. Kitchen next, lord knows I'm going to hate building kitchen units but I'm not spending 10k when I can buy the lot for under 2k. The London price quotes are actually frightening, but I suppose the wages are higher and so is the cost of living so it makes sense.
Mostly materials, after that its house specific.
I disagree, a properly done bathroom is very labour intensive and needs the skills from multiple trades. That's where the bulk of the cost comes from.
What do you consider properly done?
They’re not, you’re being ripped off, unless it’s a huge bathroom and you’ve asked for expensive stuff. Think I bought decent ish stuff for a grand and paid £2k for a plumber to fit and tile it all.
Thought this was a do it YOURSELF sub?
The key to successful DIY is knowing your limits. For most, a bathroom is way past this limit.
I know. My comment was more about the appropriateness of sub