A bathroom involves plumbing, electrics, plastering, tiling, joinery and decorating in a small space in a fixed order. Most problems come from sequencing and from decisions made too late. One team taking responsibility for the whole sequence is what prevents that.
Why bathrooms go wrong
Every trade in a bathroom depends on the one before it having done something specific and often invisible. The plumber sets the waste heights before anyone can build a floor. The electrician needs the layout finalised before first fix, because moving a shaver socket after tiling is not a small job. The plasterer needs to know which walls are being tiled and which are being painted, because they are finished differently. The tiler needs the tanking done and cured. The fitter needs the tiling flat.
When five different firms do those five things with nobody owning the sequence, each one arrives, finds the previous stage not quite right for what they need, and does the best they can. The failures show up months later, at the joints, and everyone can honestly say it was not their part.
That is the argument for one team doing the whole thing. Not that any individual trade is better, but that somebody is responsible for the order and the interfaces – and is still answering the phone in eighteen months.
What actually happens, week by week
- Design and decisions, before anything startsLayout agreed, every item selected and confirmed available, waste and supply positions established, and the electrical layout settled. This is the stage worth spending time on, because every decision deferred past this point costs more later.
- Strip outOld suite, tiles and often the floor covering out. This is when the surprises appear – rotten floor around an old bath, an unsupported soil connection, or previous work that was never right. A good quote allows for the possibility; an honest contractor tells you what has been found before proceeding.
- First fixHot and cold supplies, wastes, soil connections and any new electrical circuits run to the agreed positions. Everything that will be buried gets done now, and everything buried gets photographed.
- Structure, boarding and tankingFloor levelled or strengthened, walls made good or boarded, and the wet areas tanked. Tanking is a waterproof membrane and it is the single most important invisible element in a bathroom.
- TilingWall and floor. Setting out is everything – where the cuts fall, how the pattern meets the corners, and whether the falls in a wet room actually go where they should.
- Second fixSanitaryware, taps, shower, screens, towel rail, electrical accessories, extractor. Everything connected, tested and adjusted.
- Sealing, decorating and handoverSilicone properly applied to clean dry surfaces, any remaining decoration done, and everything demonstrated.
Pipe runs, cable routes, waste positions – all photographed with a measure in shot before boarding goes up. It costs nothing and it is worth a great deal the first time somebody wants to fix a mirror to that wall. We do it as standard and the photographs are yours.
The decisions that determine the price
| Decision | Effect |
|---|---|
| Keeping the layout | By far the biggest single saving. Moving the WC in particular means moving the soil connection |
| Moving the WC | The most expensive fixture to relocate, because the soil pipe needs fall and diameter. See bathroom layouts and soil pipes |
| Bath or walk-in shower | A walk-in usually means tanking, floor falls and often a drainage alteration |
| Wall-hung sanitaryware | Needs a supporting frame and a concealed cistern, so more boarding and more first fix |
| Large format tiles | Beautiful, and unforgiving – walls and floors must be genuinely flat, which often means more preparation |
| Underfloor heating | Modest addition when the floor is already coming up. See bathroom underfloor heating |
| Existing floor condition | The unknown. An old bathroom frequently hides a rotten or deflecting floor, and it must be dealt with |
| Changing from vented to mains pressure | May require cylinder or system work beyond the bathroom itself |
The honest point about bathroom quotes: two prices that look different usually differ on preparation, not on the suite. Levelling a floor, boarding out walls, tanking and proper setting out are the items that get quietly omitted, and they are the items that determine whether the room still looks right in five years.
The parts that matter most and show least
Tanking
A waterproof membrane applied to walls and floor in wet areas before tiling. Tiles and grout are not waterproof – grout is porous and silicone fails eventually. Tanking is what stops water that gets past the surface from reaching the substrate. In a wet room it is not optional; in a standard shower enclosure it is still the right thing to do. See wet room tanking.
Ventilation
A bathroom generates a large volume of moisture. Without adequate extraction it condenses on the coldest surface in the room and produces mould, which people then treat as a cleaning problem. Building Regulations set minimum extract rates, and the common failures are an undersized fan, a long flexible duct with sags that fill with water, and a fan that runs for thirty seconds and stops. See bathroom ventilation.
The floor
Tiles crack because the floor moves. A timber floor that deflects under load will crack grout and then tiles, whatever adhesive is used. Strengthening or overboarding a floor before tiling is unglamorous and it is the difference between a floor that lasts and one that does not.
Electrical zones
Bathrooms are governed by specific electrical requirements based on zones around the bath and shower, covering what can be installed where and what protection is needed. It is not an area for improvisation, and the work is notifiable.
Matching the suite to your water system
The most common disappointment in a finished bathroom is a shower that does not perform, and the cause is almost always a mismatch between the fittings and the water system rather than a fault.
- Gravity-fed (loft tank and vented cylinder): low pressure, particularly on the first floor. Needs low-pressure-rated taps and showers, or a pump. A mains-pressure shower fitted here will dribble.
- Combi boiler: mains pressure, but flow is limited by the boiler’s ability to heat water as it passes. Two outlets at once is where a combi shows its limits.
- Unvented cylinder: mains pressure with good flow, provided the incoming main supports it. Suits high-flow showers and simultaneous use.
- Body jets and rain heads need serious flow, not just pressure. They are the fittings most likely to disappoint on a system that was never checked.
We measure the flow rate before specifying the shower, which is why we ask about the hot water system at the first conversation rather than the last.
Planning a bathroom? The decisions worth making early are the layout and the shower – both depend on things outside the room.
Questions we get asked about this
How long does a bathroom take?
A straightforward refit keeping the layout is typically one to two weeks. Moving the WC, altering the floor, or a full wet room build extends it. Tile choice matters more than people expect – large format tiles and intricate setting out take longer.
Will I be without a bathroom the whole time?
For most of it, yes, if it is the only one. We plan around that where we can – leaving the WC connected as long as possible and reinstating it early. Tell us at survey if it is your only bathroom, because it changes the sequence.
Do you do the tiling and electrics too?
Yes – that is the point of one team taking the whole job. Where a specialist is genuinely needed we bring in someone we work with regularly, and we remain responsible for the result rather than handing you a phone number.
Can I supply my own suite?
You can, and plenty of people do. Two things worth knowing: we cannot warrant items we did not supply, and delivery delays on customer-supplied goods are the most common cause of a bathroom job stalling. Everything needs to be on site before we start.
What if you find something unexpected?
You will be told before we proceed, with what it is, what it needs and what it costs. Rotten floors, unsupported soil pipes and previous work that was never right are all reasonably common in older property, and pretending otherwise at quote stage just moves the conversation to a worse moment.
Do I need planning permission or building regulations approval?
A like-for-like bathroom refit generally needs neither, but the electrical work is notifiable, ventilation must meet the requirements, and any structural alteration or new drainage may bring building control in. We will tell you where your job sits.
What happens when you call
Call and describe it
You speak to an engineer, not a call centre. Most jobs can be narrowed down on the phone.
We look at it properly
A real diagnosis before a price, and a straight answer if it is not worth doing.
A written quote
Itemised, so you can see what you are paying for.
The job, and the paperwork
Certificates where the work needs them, and what will need attention next.
Where we do this work
Across Norwich and the whole of Norfolk. If you are on the edge of the county, call and ask — we will tell you honestly whether we are the right people.
- Norwich
- Wymondham
- Dereham
- Attleborough
- Aylsham
- North Walsham
- Cromer
- Diss
- Loddon
- Long Stratton
- Watton
- King's Lynn
Need this doing?
Call and describe the problem — you will speak to an engineer, not a call centre. Written quotes, no estimates over the phone.