How to renovate your bathroom without going broke

Soon our bathroom will be ripped out as we start building a new and improved version. It’s been a long road to get here, and we’ve learned a lot along the way. Read on to learn more about what to do and not to do when preparing to renovate the littlest room in the house.

The littlest room in the house comes with the biggest price tag

Aside from a kitchen or an extension, renovating a bathroom is the most expensive thing you can do to your house. The cost comes not only from the large and varied amount of materials, but also the trades you will need. Plumbers, carpenters, tilers and electricians all play a part in bringing your new bathroom to life, and you will pay for that.

Given the recent rise in the price of materials, and the shortage of trades, my rule of thumb has been to estimate what you think it will cost and then add 50%. This has been true across all our renovations so far, from flooring to the bathroom.

We had to expand our budget to meet what we needed to do, even while cutting back on a lot of the ‘nice to haves’ that we initially thought we could afford. I’ll cover some suggestions for dealing with that below.

Luckily, renovated bathrooms tend to have a very good return on investment, if you’re worrying about over capitalising on your house. While we don’t plan on moving anytime soon, it is good to know that if/when we do sell, it’s likely that we’ll make back most the cost of our bathroom renovation in the sale price.

Know your bathroom design before calling a contractor

Before we got our first quote, I drew up a fairly detailed floor plan for what we wanted. The first contractor was thrilled to see this level of detail, and it meant a much smoother quoting process with them. However, when the next two contractors came to quote, I allowed them to talk me out of the initial plan. This meant that we ended up with them all quoting for different designs. While it gave us options, it make comparing like for like difficult.

I did go back and forth with the contractors until I had them comparing the same design, but it took time. I would say that next time I wouldn’t allow myself to be talked out of the plan I knew was going to work best for us, without good reason. You should listen to the experience of your trades, but don’t let yourself get pushed out of something you are confident in.

Tips for nailing your bathroom budget

Decide up front whether you want to go down the project management or contractor route. This will dictate not only your costs, but also your timeframes.

We decided to hire a contractor to manage the whole project. We only have one bathroom, and both work full time. It would take us significantly longer to renovate a bathroom ourselves, which wasn’t going to work without another sanitation option.

Another reason we dropped DIY was our lack of skills and tools in this area. We also knew that any failure of plumbing and waterproofing can have devastating results for your home. Going with a contractor was the best way for us to ensure a fast, high quality and insurable job.

My advice would be to consider the following:

• What level of skill do you have? Are you confident you can waterproof, tile and demo yourself?
• How much time do you have? Managing all the different trades, deliveries and work is a big job. Be realistic about how much time you can put into this.
• What tools do you have? Factor in the cost of hiring or buying the tools you would need to demolish, rough in, waterproof and tile.
• Do you have a second bathroom? Doing it yourself will take longer, meaning you’re without toilet and shower facilities for longer. Hiring a portaloo or using a chemical toilet adds cost which goes up the longer you use it. If you’re a one bathroom household, think about how you’d manage this.

In terms of materials and finishes, I would recommend getting a really strong idea of what you want before setting your budget. We did rough searches and estimates, which was certainly helpful. However, I wish we had actually made a decision on the kind of bath we wanted (for example) before going into the quoting process.

The final sizes and quantities of things will change based on the design you go with and what your contractor recommends. However, it will save you time and ensure a tighter budget if you already know what you want. For example, do you want a steel or acrylic bathtub? Chrome or brass tapware? What kind of vanity are you after?

Balance quality versus saving

It’s easy to choose the cheapest thing when renovating a bathroom, because the cost adds up so quickly. But be careful! Sometimes you get what you pay for. Because you’re dealing with a lot of water, you don’t want things to fail, leading to potential water damage and more fuss and cost.

We found it quite overwhelming looking at all the different options for every item. But eventually we started to get a feel for the best brands for quality, and where we could cut costs, versus paying more for quality items.

Our save vs splurge

Places we went for quality included:

• All tapware, as you don’t want leaking taps or burst cartridges. Caroma seems to be a leading brand for quality at an affordable price point. They also come with a twenty year warrenty.
• The bathtub. We’re going with a shower bath, to work in our tiny bathroom, so we needed a bath that could stand up to us standing in it.
• The vanity. Storage was a must for us, but we also wanted to vanity to be sturdy and timeless. Rather than go with a trendy and cheaper option, we opted for a custom build that fit our space and gave us the look and storage we needed.

Places we saved on included:

• All chrome everything. Loving finishes like brass or brushed nickel are gorgeous but come with a hefty price tag. Save your money and go with basic chrome on good quality tapware
• Shaving cabinet mirrors. There are lots of options out there, including ones with built in lights and other bells and whistles. We went with a basic mirror to save, and still get the utility we needed.
• Larger format tiles. While we didn’t go for the arger 600mmx600mm sizes, we did size up our tiles. This meant we could save costs on the tiles themselves, but also on the tiling cost. Most tilers will charge you extra for installing extra large or extra small tiles.
• Basic tile layouts. Herringbone and chevron are having a moment, but they come at a price. Keep your tile pattern simple to save on installation cost.

There’s a lot that I could say on this topic. But I think this is a good start! Mostly, I think the message is do thorough research before you start the journey, so you know what you are going to pay, what you want and how you’re going to get there.

I’m looking forward to sharing more on the interior design for the bathroom, as well as some before and afters. So exciting! Stay tuned for more bathroom updates as we finally take down the final horseman of the house-pocalypse.