How Much Does a Bathroom Renovation Cost? (and how we budgeted)
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“How much does a bathroom cost?” we hear you ask! Well, after the money spent on the rest of our 1930s house renovation, planning bathroom renovation costs was certainly the bottom of the priority list to discuss. It certainly ended up being one of the later rooms to renovate.
Why?
I know, it strikes most renovators we speak to as crazy when we tell them we left it until last, as typically the bathroom is one of the first rooms to get done.
We had other priorities like the kitchen renovation downstairs, and we really wanted to save a little longer for our bathroom renovation, to get the job done well.
Having never saved for a bathroom renovation before, like you, we were oblivious as to how much it would cost to fit a bathroom!
Labour, tiles, plumbing, electrics… how do you even calculate how much it’s all going to cost you so that you can save effectively and plan when you can start the work?
Well, Neil spent many, many hours gathering costs for bathroom renovations online, calling suppliers and getting quotes in to find out the average cost of UK bathroom renovations. And with his information, we were able to form a rough plan, outlining our bathroom budgets to understand exactly how long we had to save for before we could start the work.
How much does a bathroom renovation cost in the UK?
Our research led us to discover that the average cost to fit a bathroom in the UK can range from £2,500 (if you're only replacing the bathroom suite) to upwards of £7,500 for a light remodel, labour, electrics, plumbing, plus budget to mid-range finishings in an average-sized bathroom. For context, the averages seem to sit around £4,000 to £5,000 for most areas in the country. The cost of removal of your old bathroom and design of the new one can add a few thousand on top of these prices and where you live in the country will also impact the total cost.
Of course, as will all renovation work, costs depend on the size of your bathroom, what sort of damage you may unearth if walls come down and baths get ripped out, plus your location may increase labour costs. So always itemise your budgeting to get as granular as possible, then add 10-20% on top to cover you for any unforeseen issues.
If you’re wanting to revise the layout but you can’t get your head around it, our bathroom layout guide might be your cup of tea.)
What's the best way to manage a bathroom renovation budget and work out your costs?
At first it can feel like you’re wading in a sea of unknowns when you start to plan and budget for a bathroom renovation. Perhaps what’s even more disconcerting is that you’re working with water here and there is high chance of water damage, pipes leaking, and condensation problems that could arise if the bathroom project isn’t managed and executed well, which will ultimately increase costs (it happened to us! Boo!)
Then there’s the fact that all bathrooms and tastes are different, so really, you need a completely bespoke budget for your bathroom before you can commit. Our best advice is to (like we did) get a house renovation cost spreadsheet on the go, then item by item, research what you think every last tile and nail will cost you, listing the estimated costs as you go. Then add 10%-20% contingency to cover you for any extra costs you didn’t foresee.
We used the tools now available in our home renovation course to estimate and track costs for all of our rooms, not just the bathroom, and plan the project, being generous with our estimates and time. It’s better to be overly pessimistic about what your bathroom will cost, than list costs for your vanity. Tracking bathroom costs in this systematic way will help you control your budgets, and prevent costs from spiralling later
How much did our bathroom renovation cost?
Our bathroom isn’t anything overly special. It’s quite a modest remodel, as bathrooms go. We love it, but put it this way, we could have opted for higher end items within it if money allowed. We didn’t do things completely budget either. The floor tiles for instance, are mid-price range, but we chose laminate marble-effect worktops for the vanity unit and not real marble (a girl can dream though!).
The total cost was near to the £8K mark in total - this was a few years ago mind. We’ve itemised everything from bathroom labour costs, plumbing, electrics, tiles, bathroom suites and more so if you want to take a look, check out our post about the costs of renovating a house where you can access all of this. So take a look there if you would like to see more granular costs to do a bathroom makeover of this scale.
I hope this post has helped you understand rough costs for a bathroom renovation in the UK. If you got value from this post, be sure to visit our Renovation Advice page for more stories and tips if you’re renovating a house.
Thanks for reading,
Fifi + Neil xoxo
