What a bathroom renovation costs in Canberra

A bathroom is small, so people expect it to be cheap. It is often the opposite. Square metre for square metre, it is the most expensive room in the house to renovate, and the one most likely to spring a surprise.

The reason is simple. A bathroom packs plumbing, waterproofing, tiling, electrics and joinery into a tiny space, most of it hidden, and much of it only revealed once the old room comes out.

When the old tiles come off, a bathroom tells the truth. Sometimes the frame behind them is sound. Sometimes water has been getting in for years and the repair is bigger than the renovation.



This is why a firm bathroom price given sight unseen is a guess. The honest builder gives you a range, explains what could move it, and prices the real job once the room is opened up.

A few things do most of the work in the number.

• Whether you keep the layout or move it. Shifting the toilet, shower or vanity means new plumbing, and new plumbing means more cost.
• The condition behind the old room, which nobody knows for certain until it is opened up.
• The fittings and tiles you choose, which can double the finish cost without changing a single wall.
• The waterproofing standard, which you will never see and which quietly decides whether the room lasts.
  

If you only ask a bathroom builder one thing, ask how they waterproof.

Where most builders put two coats of waterproofing in a wet area, we put four, at our own cost. In a room whose whole job is to hold water back, that is the difference between a bathroom that lasts and one that fails quietly behind the tiles a few years on. It costs a little more now. It saves a lot later.

A bathroom quote that comes in well under the others is usually not better value. It is a quote with less in it.

The savings tend to hide in the same places every time. A low tile allowance that climbs once you choose. Waterproofing done to the minimum. Preparation skipped to save a day. None of it shows on the quote, and all of it shows up later.

We break a bathroom down by trade package so you can see where every dollar goes, and we tell you plainly which parts are still allowances until you have chosen your finishes. Nothing is buried. If the opened-up room changes the job, you hear about it straight away, priced and agreed before the work goes on.

A bathroom is often the first step in a larger plan, so it is worth seeing how it fits the whole. Our Home Renovations page shows how we approach renovation work across the house, and how we keep you across the cost from the first walkthrough. You are also welcome to come and see a finished bathroom in person and tell us what you think.