So anyone recently gone down the new bathroom suite route?

Was looking at Bathstore which looks fairly cheap, not sure they install though.

Are you better to buy the whole suite yourself and either get a plumber/mate to fit it?

Where does the whole design and fitting, and does that include tiling or do you have to factor that in separately?

Recently spoke to Tesco Finest bathrooms about this…

The girl on the phone advised between 5 and 7k for a standard bathroom but that is including everything to take you from the existing bathroom to the new one in a period of days.

In my old house I had a whole new bathroom done for about 3k by sourcing parts myself and paying someone else labour that I’d found locally so it depends on how much hassle you want and how long you are willing to wait for good tradesmen to free up.

Normally the plumber can’t tile or can’t do the electrics so you end up playing a waiting game if organising labour yourself.

Complete bathroom overhaul done 6 months ago ..
Used a local bloke who had done 20k+ bathrooms for a family member.
Cost 6 grand and is a id class it as a reasonable DIY effort – nothing special mainly because he sub contracted the job out to a mate who was effin useless ..
– Managed to flood the apartment downstairs (6 weeks after completion)
– Located leak to under the bath – attacked the tiled bath side and took a chunk out of the new bath. GREAT!
– Lots of poor finishing/carelessness issues, cutting marks on tiles, chipped tiles, drawers not closing properly due to alignment..
– Walked silicone sealant onto the carpet.
– Dented nice flat-topped tab .
And the list goes on …..

Shewhomustbeobeyed thought hed done a decent job and as its her apartment I made minor grumbles but kept the peace.

I suppose the moral is make sure the bloke who quotes for the job actually does it ..

Where in the world?

Buy the kit from Boundary Bathrooms and get a local plumber to install. We did, I did and it cost about £2000 in bits for a complete bricks-up refurb. Can’t remember how much we paid the plasterer or the sparkie.

find somebody local who has had a new bathroom and can recommend somebody so that you can see their workmanship

we did the three quotes thing and ended up choosing the most expensive one on the basis of the work we saw (and he was Polish and did the leccy, tiling, plumbing and wiping up after himself…)

We have just finished having our family and ensuite bathrooms re-done (both at the same time). Also had a neighbour had a bathroom done with homebase.

We looked at 2 local bathroom places who do the design, supply and fitting and decided in the end to go with a local chap who has done the project management and recommendations for plumber, electrician plasterer etc.

Neighbours had a nightmare with homebase – so many things not done right and it took an age to get it fixed. They had a like-for like refresh where we have had walls moved, lights changed etc.

Ours hasn’t been perfect but the our chap knows what we wanted and ran every decision past us. He has gone out of his way to make sure things are right. The problem is finding someone you trust who has the same view on what is an acceptable finish.

Rambo – about to do exactly that – how much did it cost if you don’t mind me asking.

any plumber who professes to be a bathroom fitter will have a nice portfolio of work that he has done. he ll be the one to advise what goes where/ layout etc.
he should co ordinate all plastering /tiling/ sparks and you should pay him, he then pays the other lads.

a firm .. will you be doing the work will elicit a a reasonable answer.

and insist on him doing it if some other bloke/ lass turns up in his place.. its common for these lads to get greedy take on two or three jobs simultaneously and get young uns and mates to do the work.

now is quiet time for most bathroom fitter so do it now.. september and you ll be in the xmas rush..

Totalshell has it spot on. I would say get personal recommendations for fitters or firms before deciding on where to buy. It would be good to have to ideas about what you want in terms of design or style, either magazine features or adverts etc, it gives your designer something to work from.

I’m a Kitchen and Bathroom fitter and a time served tiler. I do all the jobs from quoting and sourcing, to plastering, fitting, joinery work and tiling. If I need more advanced building work or gas/electrical stuff then I sub it out but only to trusted guys and I’m usually on site too. I’m not the cheapest quote when multiples are asked for but I try to allow enough time to do the full job without rushing, something that some others don’t seem to.

I like to think I’m fairly good and I’m pretty picky of my own work, If I wouldn’t accept in my house then I wouldn’t leave it in someone else’s either! I get called to a lot of jobs where someone has taken on more than they can cope with or their skill set really isn’t up to snuff.

I’m not sure why so many people think that the plumber makes a good tiler or electrician etc. but I’ve seen some awful quality tiling in jobs that people have been happy with!

If everything is going roughly in the same place how hard can it be to fit it urself? All the pipes are plastic push fit these days. Glueing tiles to a wall, not exactly rocket science.

Can a bathroom actually be installed though? Surely it’s the fittings that are installed?

//pedant off//

Can a bathroom actually be installed though? Surely it’s the fittings that are installed?

//pedant off//
yes

Surely a bathroom is a sum of parts? so, yes, a Bathroom can be installed.

tinribz, I do hope you are trolling? to some people, rewiring a plug is a complex task. each to their own and all that.

But a room is a space….?

tinribz, I do hope you are trolling? to some people, rewiring a plug is a complex task. each to their own and all that.

My mate is a self employed handyman/decorator, last week he went to a job which entailed hanging a picture for someone! I kid you not, someone paid him to come round and hang a picture!!!!

That’s not a shock at all, some people don’t know which is the dangerous end of a screwdriver, thank god!

Screwdrivers have a dangerous end? Are you Doctor Who?

Mate of mine’s website: http://www.mybuilder.com/

If everything is going roughly in the same place how hard can it be to fit it urself? All the pipes are plastic push fit these days. Glueing tiles to a wall, not exactly rocket science.

Why not have a go and find out ?

Post up some pictures of your handy work as you go though…

Those of us who actually know how to do it properly will let you know how you are doing 😉

(I’ve seen qualified and experienced plumbers mess up a full bathroom refit when its not what they normally do, but don’t let that put you off, I’m sure you will do perfect job 😀 )

I fitted our bathroom – never done one before and wasn’t that hard. Only thing I messed up was using combined adhesive and grouting stuff for the tiles – useless as a grout. Will scrape it off and replace with proper stuff at some point.

Screwdrivers have a dangerous end?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGXQNLq19FQ[/video]