What did your bathroom reno cost?

Hi @Ian87
How did you go with your reno? We are looking to do the same thing in close by to you in Melbourne and I’m not sure if I should project manage or get someone in to do it from start to finish.

 

Hey I got someone to do it as I wasn’t confident I wouldn’t stuff it up. Didn’t want to be without. Bathroom for many many weeks. Also find dealing with trades a ballache so preferred to just go to the one person.

 

Not sure if this will help, we modernised a small bathroom
Our quotes I think were around $24,000 from memory not including hardware

We did it for $13,000. Partner gutted it and some product came from China. May be some tips from other posters in this thread

Modernising a small bathroom

 

I did two complete teardowns in Brisbane for just over 20k. I think it was like 22k or something.

 

Hi Ian,
Would you recommend your company? If so, is it possible to provide their details and ballpark what it may cost? We are looking to do a bathroom in Ashburton. Thanks

 

Bathrooms and kitchens are like cars. There are cheapies that can be a functional and nice looking car and there are nice cars. The standard of finish and materials and size all make a massive difference. A cheapie can look great but can easily cost the earth if you want small tiles, marble and tile 100% of the walls with things like roll top baths, heated flooring, massive custom cabinets and lighting and euro toilets etc. Tapware alone can very between $150 for a basic chrome set through to $X,000. There are also standard white plastic sink and bath wastes and chrome and matching steel ones. Or a sink / bath with a mechanical waste but think of maintenance. Steel wastes arent much more and make a better finish.

Draw it up (scale using checked maths paper from officeworks ?) and then measure out each "area" (total walls painted, walls tiled, floor tiles and then with that visit a bathroom supplies like Reece etc and they can walk you through the cost options etc. They have decent displays too unlike some "trade" outlets which may have a trade counter but still sell great gear. Reece etc can even show you shower kits and they range from cheap and nasty (think caravan) to high end modules from Stegbar etc. Framed, frameless, semi framed etc....and a myriad of shower head options. The tiler can integrate the floor tiles and wall tiles to the shower and its all square. Draw up a materials spec list with size, qty etc and cost it all out. Excel is good for this. The basic shell may be costed as $XX a m2 with some extra cost for high ceilings and issues with replacing walls, floors and asbestos. Its often cheaper to rip it all out and start again as wall linings are cheap and then...they are square and flat and waterproof easily and make a tilers life pleasant. (Check gyprock levels !!) Perhaps you can strip some out ? (Not asbestos. the site is then a problem) Just shut off power and water and mark it all out on walls with a spray can and take care & go slow. (Tiles are sharp). Consider ceiling too. And lastly the floor. Co-ordinate with plumber & sparkie then lining installer in that order.

Reece etc can dump the data in software and cost materials reliably with "on the fly" changes . They will include allowance for loss. Make sure any tiles order are check dfor damage as a box of two of broken tiles will mean work stops. (I had that from a Amber store and it really annoyed me to find 2 of 4 cartons broken into tiny pieces). Two weeks later.... They will even have local tradies to refer that they trust. Then some Hipages efforts you could seek quotes for jobs or throw the specs out there for a full single job but often those jobs are subcontracted so you are paying someone for the convenience to manage the job and yet they may use budget installers that you could have used but didnt. So six different trades will arrive and depart and you will wonder why you didnt just organise that. Remember too that tradies will source materials and get a trade discount which they wont pass on but it helps to their cost. If you buy the materials they may quote higher ! And your sourced material may be something they dont like eg adhesives, waterproofing goo and so on. Some items they wont care.

Be wary of cheap supplies. Chinese especially. And chinese stainless steel isnt always great "marine" quality. If they arent watermark the plumber may have issues. eg a cheap chinese shower kit may be false economy as it could break down around the waste in a few years. Its a major job to replace. And ASK THE TILER about waterproofing show through. It may mean painting over some waterproofing with white paint prior to tiling. A simple and cheap $30 solution to avoid pale blue/green etc tiles several years later. You dont save $$$ by using non standard fittings either. eg some Ikea sink plumbing was aweful but now comes with Caroma PVC kits as standard. (They were pinged for watermark compliance). Aldi had a recent (a year ago?) recall on chrome tapware that contained lead. Cheap braided hoses are never worth it.

 

Great advice @Paul@PFI ! I just wanted to add- for the love of god do NOT cheap out on you waterproofing!!! Get it done properly by someone who's licensed and provides a certificate. I'd say over 20% of "renovated" bathrooms have failed waterproofing within a couple of years of my clients buying them, and the result is usually do to the whole bathroom over again...!

 

Have done a small makeover in a bathroom - new shower screen put in $600 odd, new tiles in the shower floor $350 ish (tiled over existing) and new vanity installed all up for about $450. Repainted the wall tiles myself with tile paint. All up I was done for under $2000.

It will probably be due for another refresh in a year or so at which point I may get the entire bathroom re-tiled as the paint does chip off over time. Maybe a new toilet and shower head to finish it off.

 

From doing plenty of bathroom renovations over the years I can tell you it all comes down to what you put ontop, that will dictate how expensive it gets. Chose the desired finish level and stick to it. If you decide on your specifications and still have room in the budget you can do little things to help create a greater sense of "luxury" with stylish fittings/fixtures/tiles. Walk in showers rather than hobs etc.

The more area you decide you want covered in tiles, the more it will sting you. Especially when tile prices might vary from $20/m2 to $300m2+. It's much the same with fittings and fixtures.

If you want to go REALLY cheap, consider painting tiles, replacing vanity/fixtures with updated versions but keeping the layout the same. Can easily do a full bathroom renovation for less than $1500 and have it looking brand new(to the untrained eye).

My medium level finish bathrooms generally wind up around 10K. In that 5-7m2 range.
If I were getting a "bathroom renovation company" to do the same job I would expect around 15K+

 

Hi Craige, can you please share the details of your trade. I am looking for a bathroom renovation. Thanks

 

Hi Ian87,
Can you share the contact information of the builder that you hired. I am looking to renovate my bathroom in Carnegie. I would really appreciate your help.

 

PM sent

 

Just completed two bathrooms, ensuite and main $45,000 each. Using a great builder

This included terrazzo Italian tiles, brushed gold hardware. I would say higher spec.

But my designer mentioned $85,000 per bathroom, what a nonsense. Very happy with result. Not something I would do for investment property

 

I have recently renovated the bathrooms in two separate one-bedroom apartments in Sydney's inner west. They cost between $20k-25k each.
Removed all fixtures and fittings and tiles back to bare walls, floors and ceilings.
Equipment installed was reasonable cost for reasonable quality - not cheap, not deluxe - as these are both rentals.

 

Hi Wylie,

I am also based in Brisbane and looking to renovate our bathroom but struggling to find a good builder. One quoted 12k just to rebuild the shower. Do you mind sharing which builder you used? Thank you

 

I got a heap of quotes from Hipages and bigger companies and the price difference was huge. The cash in hand guys were saying 8-10k for the shower / reasealing alone but hard to know if they would do a good job or not, likely there would be blowouts and extra money as the job went on.

 

in the 00's had someone do the full gut and fit out and it was less than 10k. Similar place 7 years later was about 16k . For the same work today it'll probably be 25k.

 

Thanks everyone for the input! Joining a FB group is something I haven't thought about but sounds like a great place to start If anyone else has done bathroom renovation in Brisbane recently, I would love to know how they went and the cost. Many thanks

 

Hi, did you have to get a draftsman or architect to draw it all up and get building permit before the Reno? Because I’m planing to remodel the staircase, bathroom and ensuite