Sometimes, you might want to hire a professional tradesman to do a job you’re not quite prepared to do yourself. Maybe you don’t have enough experience or maybe you don’t have the time.
One of the jobs you might prefer to hire somebody to do for you is fitting out or remodelling a bathroom.
So, how much does a typical bathroom fitting cost? How much should you expect to pay if you hire professional tradesmen to do all or some of the work for you?
Let’s have look at some examples of the work involved and the prices you might expect to pay. Bear in mind, prices vary around the country, so use this information as a rough guide for calculating costs.
The information here relates to labour costs only (unless marked with the inevitable asterix *).
The prices in the following section are taken from a Which?Local survey conducted in 2012. It’s unlikely they’ve changed significantly since then.
Fitting a toilet
Price: £75 - £140
How long should it take?: 1.5 - 3 hours
What’s involved: Remove and dispose of the old toilet and install a new one in the same position.
Fitting a new bath
Price: £124 - £220
How long should it take?: 3 - 5 hours
What’s involved: Remove and dispose of the old bath and install a new one in the same position.
Fitting a pedestal basin
Price: £70 - £120
How long should it take?: 1 - 2 hours
What’s involved: Remove and dispose of the old basin and install a new one in the same position.
Tile a small bathroom*
Price: £374 - £800
How long should it take?: 1 - 3 days
Room size: 7′ x 7′ 1″
Tile a medium bathroom*
Price: £600 - £1,000
How long should it take?: 2 - 4 days
Room size: 10′ 2″
Tile a large bathroom*
Price: £700 - £1,315
How long should it take?: 3 - 6 days
Room size: 13′ 4″
Install underfloor heating in a small bathroom*
Price: £350 - £577
How long should it take?: 4 - 8 hours
Room size: 7′ x 7′ 1″
Install underfloor heating in a medium bathroom*
Price: £450 - £743
How long should it take?: 4 - 8 hours
Room size: 10′ 2″
Install underfloor heating in a large bathroom*
Price: £540 - £850
How long should it take?: 1 - 2 days
Room size: 13′ 4″
Reseal bath*
Price: £45 - £75
How long should it take?: 1 - 2 hours
What’s involved: Remove existing silicone and reseal - standard size bath.
Change taps on bath*
Price: £50 - £80
How long should it take?: 1 - 2 hours
What’s involved: Remove old mixer tap and replace with a new one.
Install extractor fan in bathroom wall*
Price: £150 - £240
How long should it take?: 2 - 4 hours
What’s involved: Supply and fit extractor fan into bathroom wall.
Unfortunately, the Which?Local survey results don’t include the cost for installing a separate shower unit or an electric shower over the bath. If you intend adding or replacing either of these, you will need to get professional help.
For a quote, you could try using one of the many trade websites around. Such as Quote My Trade, Checkatrade, RatedPeople or Find a Trade, or check the classifieds of your local newspaper.
7 tips for employing and working with tradesmen
1. Recommendations. When you hire a tradesmen, ask them if they know somebody who could do another job for you. Tradesmen network well and meet all sorts of people as they go about their business. A plumber’s bound to know a good tiler, and a spark’s bound to know a good builder. Ask for recommendations.
2. Discounts. When requesting quotes for a job, ask the tradesman if they can get you a discount on anything you need to buy - tiles, paint, bathroom suite, shower units etc. You must buy them from somewhere, and the tradesmen might willing and able to get you their trade discount. It’s worth asking.
3. Waste removal. Clear this up (forgive the pun) before work starts - who will get rid of all the waste? It costs tradesmen to remove waste and legally dump it. Getting rid of it yourself could reduce your costs. You could use your car to take it to the local tip, hire a van for a few hours or hire a skip.
4. Ask about a minimum charge. Traders don’t like moving from job to job for just a few bob, and may charge you for at least a few hours’ work, even though your work may have taken less than an hour.
5. Ask if there’s anything you can do to reduce costs. For example, a tiler will charge less if you remove the old tiles and have the walls ready, or nearly ready, for tiling.
6. Ask about their experience. Typically, you don’t want somebody fresh out of college let free on your precious bathroom. That’s not to say they’re incompetent, but people with more experience tend to cope better when problems arise any may find a solution quicker than somebody new to the trade.
7. Money. Never pay in full until the job is done and you’re completely satisfied. Some traders don’t even ask for a deposit, but expect to pay one if the job is above £1,000.
I hope these tips are helpful and give you an insight into the cost of installing a new bathroom, either in full or in part.
Please, feel free to comment below if you have advice to share.
