Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry 1 Jul 20, 2010 3:39 pm Hi All! I am new to this forum and looking forward to getting involved! It's great to see so many people sharing ideas - nothing more vaulable than lessons learnt from experience! We are in the process of doing our first renovation - it's a large 2 bedroom apartment. The initial plan was just to do a cosmetic renovation but we ended up gutting the place and are now in the process of putting it all back together. A bit ambitious for a first try, but at least we get to work with a blank slate! The project is a decent way along, but we are now at the stage of having to do the bathrooms and have hit a snag. My partner was originally going to do a lot himself, but due to time and other constraints we have decided to employ professions to do it for us. However, being our first project, we have no idea what is a fair cost and worry that that our plumber is taking us for a ride. I was wondering if anyone out there who has been through their own bathroom renovation, or might having some experience with bathroom renovations, might be able to tell me whether the prices that we have been quoted are more or less in the ballpark of what would be expected. I will explain the work that needs to be done, and post up some photos in the next couple of days to provide some more info. There are 4 separate rooms to be renovated. I will explain briefly what needs doing in each. I have left out a couple of obvious things because they have already been done and paid for, so it's just the existing works that the current quote covers. The plumber already did most of the actual 'plumbing' (pipe) work in the bathrooms, so at least with the sinks, showers and toilets it's just a matter of installing. 1. Main bathroom (approx 2m x 6m) - remove existing tiles from walls, render walls ready for tiling (wall is solid brick unfortunately and tiles need to be removed with a jackhammer they are on so hard so leaves quite a mess), demolish existing shower base, waterproof shower area and floor of bathroom, build new shower base, build frame for bath, install bath, change separate bath taps to mixer with splitter and add shower head, hook up plumbing for new sink, tiling for shower, walls and floor. 2. Ensuite bathroom (approx 1.5m x 2m) - remove existing tiles from walls, render walls ready for tiling, waterproof shower area and floor, build new shower base, install new toilet, some plaster board required around shower area, hook up plumbing for new sink, tiling for shower, walls and floor. 3. Powderoom (approx 1.5m x 1.5m) - remove existing tiles from walls, render walls ready for tiling, install new toilet, hook up plumbing for new sink, tiling for walls and floor. 4. Laundry (approx 1.5m x 2.5m) - remove existing tiles from walls, render walls ready for tiling, move existing plumbing under sink and add new connection for washing machine (not a lot of work involved, only have to move about 30cm), hook up plumbing for new sink, tiling for walls and floor. To do all that, the plumber (who is really more of a project manager in the sense that he will coordinate the entire job) has quoted: $7,100 for his costs - incl. all demolishing, shower bases & bath frame, plaster sheeting and plumbing work. $3000 for renderer to prepare walls for tiling after old tiles removed. $55 per square meter for the tiler (about 65 sq/m in total so $3500) plus $440 to do the shower bases. On top of that would be standard builing insurance and obviously buying actual fixtures, vanities, shaving cabinets, etc - but I suppose those costs area entirely separate. The figure that seems like a fair bit is the $7,100 as I don't see the work taking him more than a few days, but then again I am new to this and it could just be what it costs! Also the plumber has said that building standards require him to waterproof the entire floor area of the bathroom, not just the shower area - does this sound right? I would appreciate any advice or comments anyone might have - or even to know how much you guys have paid or are paying for your bathroom renovations to have a point of comparison. Thanks very much, hope to be able to contribute once I get to the other end of this Re: Is this quote reasonable?? 2Jul 26, 2010 1:03 pm At a Glance i think if you are employing a plumber to reno your bathroom, ensuite, powder room and laundry and the cost is $7100, i'd be jumping at it really quickly.!!! Not sure what state you are in but waterproofing the entire floor aint a bad idea, especially if you are having walk in showers, or have a bath or spa with kids too. Have you asked him how much he charges per hour.?? Generally speaking, pluming rates vary greatly from state to state, from plumber to plumber. Some of these variations are indeed justified. Business running costs, EXPERIENCE..etc. Running a small plumbing business today has significant costs that are sometimes not perceived by the customer. If your plumber is charging you anything less than $60 per hour, then i would think that they would be either young and inexperienced, not licensed or not going to be in business very long. Most tradies are a little apprehensive to complete work started by someone else, because problems may arise futher down the track from "the other guys" work. I.e. Drainage undergound installed by another might not be found out as faulty until the jobs done and everyones "happy". If you think your plumber is going in too hard with his quote, ask him gently to break it down a bit. i.e. how much for the laundry, how much for the ensuite? Probably requesting a material list though is going to get up his nose. Main thing is keep communication up, keep the lines open, building or renovating is like a marriage, you wake up in the morning and the tradesmen are there using your toilet before you get a chance. Seems good to me. I've been told $4-5k/sqm is reasonable in Perth. 2 11145 hey there! π so, itβs kinda common for standard drawer depths to be around 500mm since most cabinets use this size to fit the usual runners… 3 20890 I was being kind to the builder. With the amount charged for the upgrade the builder is probably charging closer to 100% margin. There are a few variables as I… 5 14304 |