My response, more often than not is – it depends. The cost of a new bathroom depends on what is meant by a “new bathroom”. Is it just changing the suite, leaving everything else in place. Or does it mean a complete strip-out of everything, back to bare-brick in places and start again.

But to give people some idea I usually summarise it like this.

Cost of a New Bathroom

I think the cheapest new bathroom I’ve fitted cost in total about £1,000. A very small room with standard bath, basin and toilet, and very little tiling. The customer chose a cheap suite, on a special offer, and very ordinary but adequate taps. the radiator wasn’t replaced, and nothing was moved around. Vinyl was laid on the floor, and the customer decided to paint the plain walls themselves. Materials cost about £500 and the labour was something similar.

Moving up the scale a bit, its quite easy to spend £500 on a suite. Add in some fancy taps, replace the radiator with a towel rail and tile more of the room, and materials will soon be up to £1,000. The labour and miscellaneous plumbing fittings will come to a similar amount and the total cost of the new bathroom will be around the £2,000 mark.

Power Showers

For many of my customers, one of the main reasons for a new bathroom installation is to change the shower. Lots of the showers fitted ten to fifteen years ago are not very powerful compared with modern  showers and this can be the most imortant thing to improve.  So when the cost of supplying and fitting a new shower valve, plus perhaps a new shower enclosure,  is added onto the £2,000 ish bathroom, the total cost can soon start to approach £3,000, or more.

In reality many of the bathrooms installations I take on, end up with a total price of between £3,000 and £4,000. The exact figure will always depend on the price of the suite, tiles, shower, etc. Not that price is always an indicator of quality. I’ve fitted some very expensive toilets and shower doors that work no better than, and sometimes not as well as, cheaper equivalents.

Corner bath, towel rail, vanity, etc

At the top end of the new bathrooms I’ve fitted, are the larger rooms which will have an expensive suite, including a large steel bath, or perhaps a whirlpool, as well as a big shower enclosure. The shower valve will be top of the range, sometimes remote controlled – yes, they do exist! The shower also may be fitted with a shower pump to achieve a high flowrate. In addition the room could be fully tiled, including the floor, with the basin or bath moved to a new position, and the lighting could be replaced. In these cases, the price for the finished room could be £5,000 – £7,000 or more.

Independent Bathroom Fitter

The good news is that an independent bathroom fitter will usually be better value than the big bathroom showrooms, like the now defunct Dolphin Bathrooms. I don’t have anything like the overheads to pay for, compared with the bathroom showrooms, and because I’m involved from survey to the end of the project, and do nearly all the work myself, there is continuity. My prices are usually about two-thirds of the prices quoted by the big companies.

I don’t often supply the cheapest estimate as I’m more interested in quality, without going “over the top”. And judging by the number of customers who have had me back to refit a second bathroom, or referred me to their friends and neighbours, I must be getting my prices right most of the time.

So there you have it.

What’s the cost of a new bathroom?

It depends….

Fake reviews on the internet are also a growing problem. Google, other search engines and agents for tradesmen now have the facility for customers to leave reviews on their sites. These need to be treated with some caution as there are a growing number of instances of competitors leaving negative reviews, and friends leaving positive reviews to falsify the search engine listings. It is alarming how little moderation of reviews there is on some major websites. It seems anybody can leave good or bad comments about a company regardless of whether that company has ever worked for them.

Another decision you will need to make concerns working with a large or small company. There is in theory some security in working with a large company – but as the recent (June 2011) closure of Dolphin Bathrooms has shown – size is no security. And a large company may have all sorts of communication problems between surveyor, showroom and fitter. A smaller company, or an independent fitter like me will not have those communication problems, but if somebody was unwell it could cause delays. The other advantage of an independent bathroom fitter is total freedom  to choose the bath, basin, toilet, etc. you want. You won’t be restricted to a single company’s product range, and in fact, I am pleased to give independent advice on choosing items for your new bathroom.

Bathroom Fitter Needed!

Using an independent fitter also means that you get to meet the person who is going to do the work at the earliest possible stage. You need to be able to “get on” with them. They will be working in your house for possibly two weeks or more. Can they be trusted? Do they have CRB clearance which means they haven’t got a criminal record? Be careful who you leave in your house alone.

So how do you find a bathroom fitter? Do your homework. Find out as much about  you proposed contractor as you possibly can. Get references, go and see one of their jobs, talk to customers, search around on the internet, and so on. But don’t just jump in because a bathroom fitter offers the cheapest price. A new bathroom is going to be an investment of several thousand pounds which should last for many years. It’s worth taking the time to find a bathroom fitter who will do a good job at a reasonable price and who you feel comfortable with in your home.

When you’re planning to install a new bathroom, the success of the project will very much depend on the bathroom fitter who does the work. Notice, I say “bathroom fitter” because generally you will need a bathroom fitter and not a “plumber” to install a new bathroom.

Most plumbers can change a bathroom suite (basin, toilet and bath) to a professional standard, although even that is in doubt with the growing complexity of modern bathroom ceramics and taps. But many plumbers start to struggle when faced with the complete room to finish – bathroom suite, perhaps a large shower enclosure with a complex shower valve, tiling including complex patterns with mosaics, painting and decorating, moving walls around, light fittings and so on. Plumbers and gas fitters who spend most of their time working on central heating systems and boilers, often don’t have the range of skills needed to install a complete bathroom. Some do, but many don’t, or equally important they don’t enjoy tiling to a high standard, or painting ceilings for example.

Bathroom Fitter Needed!

Bathroom fitters (like me) are often not qualified to work on gas, do little in the way of heating work, but are multi-skilled individuals who can strip out an existing bathroom right back to the bare brickwork, and then rebuild the new bathroom. To stay legal I do use a local electrician to do the bathroom electrics I’m not qualified to do, and a local plasterer for the larger plastering jobs, but everything else I do myself. There are two advantages to this: one, I don’t get let down and projects don’t get delayed by the tiler, or some other trade, not turning up. And two, there are no misunderstandings about how the whole room fits together, so everything tends to be right first time. For example, pipe runs and cable runs are in the right place prior to tiling.

Bathroom Fitter’s Referrals and Recommendations

So having clarified you will need a competent bathroom fitter for you new bathroom installation, where do you find one. I always say to friends who live too far away from Nottingham for me to fit their bathrooms, that they should always start with recommendations from friends and neighbours. Ask around and find somebody who’s had a new bathroom fitted. Take a look and see if the workmanship is the standard you’re looking for. Because standards do vary greatly. (A friend recently showed me their new bathroom, which they had fitted very cheaply – the standard of finish, especially the tiling, was terrible – well below what my customers would expect, or I would be happy with.)

If you don’t know anyone who’s had a bathroom fitted you need to keep your eyes open in the local area. If you see the obvious signs of a project at a house (bathroom fitter’s van outside, skip on the drive) ask for a card. Call back and speak to the householder when the job is finished and get a reference.

(Read More: Finding a Bathroom Fitter – Part Two)

It all starts with the initial installation of the shower enclosure, or cubicle, whatever you prefer to call it. In the UK, the vast majority of enclosures are glass screens and doors, framed to a greater or lesser degree with aluminium, which sit on a shower tray. The walls are most often tiled, and the whole installation is dependent on silicone sealant to keep the water in.

Black Mould Spreads Under Tiles

Modern power showers and pumped showers move large quantities of water (15 – 25 litres/min) compared with the gravity fed showers we were all quite happy with a few years ago (4-5 litres/min) and to keep this water inside the shower needs a quality tiling job, with water resistant adhesive and grouts, and high quality silicone sealant. Before tiling a shower area, or even around a bath that has a shower over it, I “tank” the area by painting on a waterproof coating to make the walls waterproof. Follow that with a high quality adhesive and grout, and the foundation is laid for a tiling job that will last a long time.

Silicone Sealant and Black Shower Mould

The choice of silicone sealant is critical though as it stops the water from leaking underneath and around the sides of the shower enclosure. And, guess what, not all silicones are the same. Locally, in Nottingham, I can pay anywhere between £1.95 and £7.95 for a cartridge of silicone, and although you may think that price and quality go hand-in-hand, they don’t. When choosing a silicone, first make sure that it contains a fungicide – it may be labelled “anti-mould” or “anti-fungal” but I sometimes wonder how much active anti-fungal ingredient these sealants contain. Ideally the performance related to mildew and fungus resistance will have been tested in accordance with the ISONorm 846.

More important to me is flexibility because mould can be prevented from forming by regular cleaning and drying, but flexibility is an inherent property of the cured silicone. A quality sanitary silicone, such as Dow Corning 785, will be in accordance with ISO 11600-F-20HM. This ISO standard is used to specify sealants and the key figure for me is the “20″ which means that this sealant has the capacity to absorb up to 20% movement in the joint. And when I’m trying to keep large quantities of water inside a modern shower, I want a sealant that is going to to cope with a bit of movement easily. Many of the cheaper silicone sealants only have 12.5% or even 7.5% movement capability, and I guess that’s why they cost ony £1.95 or less.

I’ve digressed a bit from avoiding mouldy showers but I think it’s important to understand the technical side so that if you are replacing sealant in your shower you know what to look out for, and also to try and make sure that your bathroom fitter is using a high quality sealant that will last. Personally, I always use the higher quality, flexible, mould resistant sealants for my customers. High quality sealants are one of the most important materials and have a minimal effect on the price of a new bathroom.

Cleaning and Black Shower Mould

But having said all this about installation and specifications, there is no avoiding the fact that to keep a shower area clean and free from mould it needs cleaning regularly and good ventilation. However good the sealant is, if the atmosphere is really damp and water is allowed to stand on the surface it will, sooner or later, start to go mouldy. I have seen showers installed at least ten years ago which are still virtually “mould free” because;

• After every shower the surfaces are wiped over to remove any standing water
• Weekly, or thereabouts, surfaces are cleaned and dried
• The shower door is left open to allow air to circulate inside the shower enclosure
• The extractor fan is used, or ideally the window is opened for a few minutes after every shower.

I’ve also seen showers that are left soaking wet all day every day with the door and window closed, and the mould is starting to form within months. It’s soul destroying when I’ve left somebody with a spotless bathroom and if I happen to call back later on a new enquiry, to see that the bathroom is suffering with black shower mould because surfaces are often left wet.

It may be a chore to wipe over the shower every morning when you’re late for work, but believe me, it will be well worth it, helping to keep your bathroom free from black shower mould for many years to come!

These notes aren’t comprehensive and I may well add to them over time, but I hope you find them helpful when planning a new bathroom.

Bathroom Design and Installation

Whenever thinking about a brand new bathroom, and giving its layout some thought, there are many issues to bear in mind. Its important to think carefully what you will require in your bathroom, and whether it’s to be a family bathroom, en-suite with a bath, or simply a shower room. Consider where you would want to locate the bath, washbasin, toilet and shower enclosure and whether or not it would be better in terms of space to have a shower valve over a bath, or within a separate enclosure. Toilets are generally the most difficult items to move because of the 100mm diameter soil pipe, which cannot be easily re-routed. But with some ingenuity, toilets can be moved, but it could be expensive.

Establish a limit on the budget and keep in mind that extra plumbing requirements could add to the expense. Thinking about the location of existing outlet and inlet pipework when designing the refit, may make the construction work much simpler, speedier and cheaper. There could be a need for new waste pipes and below floor drainage pipes to be put in place if major items are moved around. Read about my typical bathroom prices.

There will be some critical building regulations to comply with. If a bathroom is to be located straight off the bedroom, this is allowed providing it isn’t the sole bathroom for the house. A cloakroom or bathroom with a WC must not be placed directly onto a living room, eating room or cooking facility.

Fresh air is also a significant concern, with external ventilation being essential. An extractor fan probably is required, venting through an exterior wall to prevent damp and mildew. Get professional advice from a specialist who should be able to offer you useful advice in relation to bathroom building rules and regulations.

En-suite Bathrooms

Wall Mounted Basin

As an en-suite bathroom will not be the sole bathroom in the home, consider what basic items you would require. For example, you  might not want a bath when space is constrained and could opt for a compact shower unit as an alternative. Fitting a small wash-basin directly on to a wall may be a better option than selecting a basin with a pedestal, because this should create more room. There are many very stylish modern wall mounted washbasins available at reasonable prices.

Personally, I steer customers away from quadrant shower enclosures. They are notoriously difficult to keep clean, seem to need constant adjustment of doors and rollers, and there is very little space inside them, unless you choose one of the largest sizes.

Cast Iron Baths

If you are thinking about fitting a cast-iron bath, it may well be an absolute essential to have the bathroom floor reinforced to cope with its significant weight. If this is not feasible a quality acrylic bath is an option. Many excellent free-standing baths can be bought which are replicas of Victorian tubs, but are made of much lighter acrylic compared with cast iron, and yet are very durable.

Storage cabinets are also an important feature of a bathroom and stylish vanity units are increasingly popular because of the storage capacity they offer for bleaches and cleaners.

Extra electrical supplies will be needed when a shower pump is to be installed. Sometimes these are easily provided, other times it can be a challenge. Light fittings are another issue to be considered. There are strict regulations concerning the types of light fittings that can be fitted in bathrooms, depending on the applicable zone. You may want to consult an electrician, although a multi-skilled bathroom fitter should be well aware of these regulations, and be able to advise you. It could be necessary to fit a vanity unit including an integral lighting system, so specific electric safety issues will need to be thought about.

Bathroom Flooring

Bathroom flooring goes through various “fashions” the same as everything else. Tiled floors have been popular for a while but are a very permanent solution meaning that any plumbing problems will have to be resolved by access through the ceiling below. Modern cushion vinyls in timber or tiled patterns are very popular as they look extremely authentic, are warm to touch and can be rolled back for access, or even changed after running a knife around the edge.

As you can see, there are quite a few factors to be thought about if installing a new bathroom – hopefully these notes on bathroom design and installation provide a list of the more important ones. Bristan provide a bathroom planner here.