Renovating a bathroom is tricky – and with so many different trades involved it can very quickly add up! I explain my renovation timeline and budget.
I project managed the bathroom renovation myself. After getting three quotes from various builders I quickly discovered that it wasn’t financially feasible to hire a builder to organise all of the trades (one quoted me $20,000 for trades alone – with myself having to provide all of the materials) – yeh no thanks. Project managing isn’t for everyone though – it’s very time consuming and can be stressful juggling all of the trades (there are a lot). My recommendation would be to take some time off work and get about three quotes for each trade. I used an app called hipages which made it super easy to get quotes from a number of different tradespeople in my area.
“My top tip – go with the trades that are on board with your ideas and that are good communicators.”
Remember – sometimes it’s not always the cheapest quote that’s the best. Importantly you should be able to communicate well with that person and be on the same wavelength. For example, when we explained our vision of the bathroom to one builder, he had never heard of a barn door and thought it wouldn’t look good tiling all the way up to the ceiling – he thought cornicing was better because we had cornice throughout the house. He also thought we were nuts for wanting to brick in the window above the vanity and I had to explain to him that that’s where the mirror would go so we had to get rid of that window! He wasn’t on board with our vision. There was another trade – a plumber – who criticised the area we lived in and said you wouldn’t do anything that fancy in an area like this! He also was slow to get back to me when I wanted to lock him in. I trusted my gut instinct and got a different plumber in - someone with a more positive outlook and who was quicker in replying to me.
My top tip – go with the trades that are on board with your ideas and that are good communicators. For example our handyman Nigel, who did our demo (from Real Renovations) was a huge asset to us, not only was he hardworking, he also was really helpful in his advice on tradespeople to use, and the order in which each job needed to be done. Having someone there to hold our hand was hugely helpful. If you have friends or family that have recently renovated, also pick their brains over who they used – you can’t beat personal testimonials!
Below is our renovation timeline – yours might differ slightly depending on the scope of work.
Bathrooms are expensive rooms to renovate! As you can see from the list above, there’s so many different trades and jobs involved. If you’re doing a renovation similar to ours where you need to knock out walls, brick in windows etc, it can quickly add up. However I think with all of the improvements we’ve made, it’s really opened up the space and made it much more spacious and user-friendly (and dare I say, increased the value of the home too). If you’re looking to renovate your bathroom but have no idea how much it will all cost I thought I’d disclose how much it cost me (see below). I’ve itemised the cost of trades and materials (the materials could cost you less or more depending on the products you select). All up it cost over $17,000, which isn’t bad considering a builder could cost you $20,000 and that doesn’t include materials!
Love the look of my bathroom? Click here to see my blog post for all of the product sources.