Bathroom renovation advice needed

Hi All,

I hope you all had a great weekend?

I am looking at starting a bathroom renovation in the coming weeks, but just wanted to get a full understanding of the job at hand.

I called a bathroom renovation company in Adelaide, but they gave me a very rough figure of about $10k for a bathroom renovation.

From what I understand (I might be wrong), is that this company merely manages the renovation and don’t actually have their own tradesman (sub contracted) nor do they have their own products, but they would get their fee for managing the project (correct?).

I just wanted to get some advice on how to go about a bathroom renovation and have some questions:

1: Do you think the services of the bathroom renovation company are required?
2: Are there things I can do to keep costs down? i.e. manage the project of my own, purchase my own products (tiles, fittings, toilet, shower etc) or do the demolition myself.
3: Do I have much choice in changing the layout of my current bathroom much (see attached layout). My main change would be a bigger shower, happy to keep layout the same
4: Any other hints and tips for me?

Look forward to hearing you thoughts.

Kind regards,
Robbie

 

The size of the ensuite is:

The length (shower and vanity) side is about 2.5m and the width is about 1.75m

 

@robbie_p,

keeping existing layout will save you some cost.

If you want to do DIY project management,

You will need

to get plumber to come out and disconnect all pipes. and electrician to secure any plugs and cables.
Safely remove, toilet, Vanity,, shower screen and tiles.
Get waterproof company to give you quote (Should cost around $300)
once he does what needed to be done. they will give you water proof certificate
get new tiles and get tiler to do his job
Go Shopping.. get new vanity.. shower screen .. toilet.. Please take measurement with you!
Get plumber and electrician back to connect cables and pipes.

 

are you talking about the high lighted ensuite?
im not sure of the whole story but looks like potential to make you main bathroom bigger, using the ldy
got space avail.

for cost saving i did the following for our reno
gutted old bsthroom and disposed
modified walls for bigger shower, going into ldy
purchased all tiles, vanity, shower screen, bath

 

Sorry, i meant to say my ensuite.

btw.. whats ldy?

 

laundry. why not do both its fun. start with the ens

 

10k for an ensuite that size is a lot. I reckon you would be able to do it for half that if you organised the trades yourself.

Provided you leave everything where it is:

$500 to get someone to strip it out. $0 if you do it yourself - hire a small jackhammer.

$500 waterproofing

$2000 provide and fix tiles

$1000 PC items new toilet, vanity, taps, shower head etc.

$1000 plumber to fix/connect pc items.

 

can measure the ens and bathroom too. help to have actual dimensions incase scale is out

 

My starting point i guess it to get a few detailed quotes to get the whole job done, so i have 2 tilers coming this week, both of whom have contacts with other tradesman (plumber and electrician), so are able to give me cost for whole job.

From their i will decide where i can save costs, whether it be by doing demolition and disposal myself as well as arranging the tradesman.

 

The last guys i spoke to said i was looking at around 7k for the whole job, but will give me a more detailed quote after he has been to the property

 

good start get quotes and also ideas from them as to suggestions or things not to do. we had quotes 15+ from memory and did it for 8 or 9 (i'll find the ss thread and numbers)
we got everything off ebay, saved a fortune there! and a tradie to install and tile for quick turn around. 1bathroom house with a newborn

 

Hi guys,

Attached has more measurements.

Not sure if there would be enough space to have slightly bigger an "walk in " shower?

Cheers,
Robbie

 

id look at making the right side of the ensuite the shower, make it slightly skinner to come out to the door then across the wall (north to south).
then go a bigger vanity

keeps everything where it is.

just run a tape from right wall to door opening

 

@robbie_p ,

you can go for custom made shower screen.. n extend that 870 mm to 1200mm longer

and/or

go for 1200 X750 shower screen..


to keep cost down

also i saw some decent 900 vanities with double basins... good way to go!

 

Keep an eye on gumtree for vanities. They seem to be a popular thing to change and you can often get some really nice looking units for a song.

+1 for the double basin, I'm a big fan of that.

 

Hi guys,

Well I got the first guy in yesterday and we both thought it would be a good idea to leave the layout as is, besides raising the current shower head.

He also didn’t like the idea of “walk in” as they just seems to leave water all over the place, especially in smaller ensuites.

As my current shower is about 85cm x 85cm (with a hob), ill probably just increase it to 90cm x 110cm and move the vanity slightly.

I have another 4 guys coming to my property in the next few days, so I should have 5 quotes to choose from.

What most of them do is quote on labour only, and get their clients to shop around for their fittings, toilets, vanity etc.

I obviously have a budget, so depending on their labour costs, it will allow me to budget for fittings, toilets, vanity etc.

I might also decide to take on the demolition myself and get the site ready for them (so save some costs)

I’ll let you guys know how things go.

Cheers,
Robbie

 

The demolition is often a lot easier than you would think, as long as you do it methodically.

To some demolition seems to mean maniacally swing a sledge hammer through everything. I have a friend that I won't let in my house unsupervised. Nothing worse than trying to fix someone else's mess, especially when it's in your own home.

 

if you do demo work be clear with what they expect, otherwise you'll get a bill for them to finish any demo stuff.
i agree with walk, but you can put a frameless glass door.
i agree double vanity so extend the shower towards the door

 

Well i have had 3 guys come to my house, and another 2 lined up. I should have quotes back in the next few days.

Some ideas mentioned were:

1: Shower recess
2: Under floor heating (only a very small area)
3: Heated towel rail - I find my towels are never dry in winter

Whats your thoughts on these options? Practical or a bit gimmicky? Any other ideas i should consider?

 

1. i always preffered lunchtime but yeah whack one of those in while your making a mess. make it good size to hold tall bottles of shampoo!
2. where are you? antartica? personal prefference, seems expensive and maybe overkill
3. cheap ones on ebay, worth it. just hide the electrical or wall plug discretely, you dont want o see a cable running across the wall