What's the cheapest option for buying a new bathroom and what can we expect the fitting costs to be?

Question

We move into a new house in a few weeks and know that main room that needs re-doing is the bathroom.

Looking around on the internet we have found some nice bathroom suites with toilet, bath and sink for around £700. Obviously this doesn't include the fitting

Is it cheaper to get a fully-fitted suite from a big chain or order the suite online and pay a local guy to fit in?

So what would the costs be to get someone in to fit it all out? It's difficult to find this information online.

Answer 1

Just in the middle of doing this myself! Mainly cheaper to buy suite online (ebay etc) though some deals at B&Q or Focus are great for basics. My person just quoted £1500 to fit everything including new shower cubicle etc. Moving any pipes increases the costs so if you stay with the same layout it's better.

Tiles can also be sourced on ebay - I typed in fired Earth and found a great company that had them half the price of a fired earth shop plus other great bargains too.

If you want something more upmarket, go round a showroom and see what you like - note down mae and model number and stick in google search - you should be able to track down a better price!

Good luck

Answer 2

I have done it by first sourcing the bath etc myself, but first measure your bathroom and where your outlet and inlets are, some baths are longer and wider I was fortuneate in finding a local supplier on internet, I then got all the fittings in , got a few quotes off local plumbers and chose the best of them,some fit by the hour others may quote a set price , these are the best as the hourly ones will drag it out, this turned out to be the cheapest way

Answer 3

Try Wickes - you can get a bathroom suite there from under £200 with lts of different options ie taps, toilet seat etc. Fitting costs will depend on any alteration you might need. It would be cheaper to get a local plumber.

Answer 4

I don't know about the fitting costs,but the B+Q basic bathroom unit is good value,the problem is that it only comes in white,a friend fitted ours,another thing about B+Q,they bought back the tiles that I had overbought(about a box and a 1/4) so it all worked out pretty well

Answer 5

All DIY jobs save money. However unless you are skilled , you will end up with a DIY job, which rarely match a professional installers efforts. If you want a "same again" installation, this will be cheaper. Showers and re-tiling need to be considered. You could pay £5-£600 pounds for cheap and cheerful - labour with no alterations. Thousands upwards for showroom quality!

Answer 6

Nip to B&Q, they've always got deals on.