The order of work, and why it matters

This is not about choosing tiles. It is about the order things happen in, what has to be decided before the first day, and where the money actually goes. Most renovations that overrun or disappoint did not go wrong on site. They went wrong in the planning, usually because something was decided in the wrong order.

A bathroom is built in a fixed sequence. Every trade depends on the one before it, and a decision made late forces something already done to be undone.

1. Strip out. Old suite, tiles, floor, sometimes the ceiling. Two days for a normal bathroom. This is when you find out what is behind the tiles, and it is the point where the plan sometimes has to change.
2. First fix plumbing. New pipework to where the new suite will go, hot, cold and waste. The wall-hung toilet frame goes in now. Anything that will be buried in a wall or floor is done here.
3. First fix electrics. Cables for lights, fan, shaver socket, underfloor heating mat, any mirror with a light in it. If it needs a wire, it is decided now, not after the tiles are on.
4. Building work. Stud walls, boxing, a raised floor if the layout needs one, plastering, and tanking of any wet area. Tanking is the waterproof layer under the tiles in a shower or wet room. Skip it and the tiles look identical on day one and leak in year two.
5. Floor and wall tiling. Floor usually first, then walls, then grout. Large-format tiles need a flatter substrate and take longer to set out.
6. Second fix plumbing. Bath, basin, toilet, shower valve and head, taps, towel rail. Everything connected and tested.
7. Second fix electrics. Lights, fan, sockets connected and certified.
8. Finishing. Silicone, decoration, door, accessories. Then a proper test with everything running at once.

The reason this list matters to you rather than the fitter is that everything you choose has a place in it. The shower niche is built at stage 4. The mirror light is wired at stage 3. The wall-hung toilet frame is fitted at stage 2. Choose them after that stage has passed and you pay twice.

What to decide before anyone starts

In this order, because each one constrains the next:

1. Is the toilet moving? This decides whether the floor comes up and whether the budget is a bathroom or a bathroom plus building work. Get it priced on its own.
2. Bath, shower, or both? Decided by the room, not the brochure. A short bath crammed in next to a shower is the most regretted choice we see.
3. Wet room or tray? A true wet room needs the whole floor built with a fall and tanked. It is a different job from a low tray, and it costs more. Decide it before the floor is touched.
4. Where does the storage go? Recessed cabinets and shower niches are built into walls at stage 4. They cannot be added later.
5. Lighting and fan positions. Cabled at stage 3. A fan by the door instead of over the shower is the commonest thing we are asked to move afterwards, and moving it means opening the ceiling.
6. Every product, chosen and delivered before strip-out. A bathroom stops dead when the shower valve is on a four-week lead time and the tiler is standing in the room. Delivery before day one is not caution, it is the schedule.

Where the money goes

Every bathroom is different, but the shape of the cost is consistent enough to plan around.

• Labour is usually the largest share, because a full renovation is four trades over two to three weeks.
• The suite and brassware vary more than anything else. The same layout can be fitted with a suite that costs a few hundred pounds or several thousand. This is where the budget flexes.
• Tiles are priced per square metre, and the number that matters is coverage plus about ten percent for cuts and breakages. Large-format and natural stone cost more to fit as well as to buy.
• Building work is the item that makes one bathroom cost twice another. Moving the soil pipe, raising a floor, building a wet room, replacing a rotten subfloor found at strip-out.
• Electrics are small unless you add underfloor heating, which is a mat, a thermostat and a circuit.
• Contingency. Keep ten percent back. Strip-out finds things. If it finds nothing, you have ten percent to spend on the towel rail you wanted.

A full bathroom is not priced by the hour. We survey it and give you a fixed price in writing before anything is booked, because nobody can price what is behind the tiles from a photograph. The hourly rates on our pricing page cover repairs and call-outs and do not apply to a bathroom installation.

How long it takes

A straightforward like-for-like bathroom, same layout, new suite and tiles, is usually two weeks on site. A full renovation with a layout change, a wet room, or building work is three weeks and sometimes four. Add the lead time on products before any of that starts.

The part people underestimate is not the fitting. It is the weeks before, choosing and ordering. Allow as long for that as for the work itself.

During the job you will be without that bathroom entirely. If it is the only one in the house, plan for it. We will tell you which days the toilet is out of action, but it will be out of action.

Small bathrooms: the planning rules change

In a room under about four square metres the decisions are sharper.

• One showering option, not two.
• Wall-hung toilet and basin, so the floor runs under them and the room reads larger.
• A sliding door or a fixed screen rather than a hinged shower door.
• A recessed mirror cabinet instead of a freestanding one.
• Storage goes up the wall.
• Large tiles, few grout lines, one colour family. Small tiles in a small room make it busier and smaller.
• If there is a window, do not put the shower in front of it unless you are prepared for the sill to be permanently wet.

Style and function are not a trade-off

The rooms that photograph well and still work in ten years are the ones where the practical decision was made first and the style followed it. A thermostatic shower valve is a functional choice that also looks cleaner on the wall. A wall-hung toilet is easier to clean around and looks better. Porcelain that looks like stone is easier to live with than stone and most people cannot tell. Function first, then choose the good-looking version of it, rather than choosing the look and finding out later what it costs to live with.

The seven mistakes that cost the most to undo

1. Tiling before the plumbing is finished and tested. Any leak means tiles off.
2. No tanking in a shower or wet room. Looks perfect, leaks into the ceiling below within a couple of years.
3. Products not on site at strip-out. The job stalls, trades move on to other work, and it takes weeks to get them back.
4. Moving the toilet without pricing it first. The soil pipe dictates what is possible. Find out before the layout is drawn.
5. Fan in the wrong place, or too small. Black grout and peeling paint within a year.
6. Buying the suite from a website with no spares. The cheap valve that fails in three years is the one nobody can get a cartridge for.
7. No contingency. Strip-out will find something eventually. The question is only whether it was budgeted.

What you should have in writing before work starts

A fixed price, a start date, a list of what is included and what is not, who is supplying what, and what happens if strip-out finds a problem. If a quote does not have those, it is not a quote, it is an estimate with a start date.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a bathroom renovation take?

About two weeks on site for a like-for-like refit, three to four for a full renovation with a layout change. Add product lead time before the start.

What should I decide first?

Whether the toilet is moving. It is the one decision that changes the cost of everything else.

Do I need planning permission or building regulations?

Planning permission, no, for a bathroom inside an existing house. Building regulations apply to the electrical work, to drainage changes and to ventilation. Your fitter should be able to certify the electrics and tell you which parts of the job are notifiable.

Can I stay in the house during the work?

Yes, but if it is the only bathroom you will be without it for the duration. Plan for that rather than hoping.

Should I buy the suite myself?

You can. Make sure it is delivered before strip-out and that the brand still sells spares. We supply as well as fit, and we will tell you plainly if something you have chosen will cause a problem on site.

Need a bathroom fitted in Herts, Beds or Cambs?

We plan, supply and fit complete bathrooms across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire with our own plumbers, electricians and tilers, on a fixed price after a survey. See how we do it on our bathroom installations page, or call 01462 506 374. Gas Safe registered, 2 year labour guarantee.