How Much Does a New Bathroom Cost in the UK?

With us facing the biggest cost of living crisis of recent times, be smart in your plan to renovate and make sure you fully understand the cost of a new bathroom in the UK.

Now that we have firmly welcomed in the new year, you may be thinking of starting your journey on a bathroom renovation. In all the excitement of picking out your favourite fittings and fixtures, many of us forget to bring the cost of installation into account, which can really affect the total cost of a new bathroom.

You may consider yourself an expert in DIY however, there are many aspects that you may just need to leave to the professionals. With the recent cost of living crisis, you may be wanting to limit the amount of work you leave to the professionals due to an expected price hike. However, now that finance plans have become more accessible with the help of Klarna, you can begin to turn your pipe dreams into dream pipes.

With all this, we have taken the stress out of this by doing our research and getting in touch with some of the highest-rated local fitters to give you an updated breakdown of the cost of a new bathroom in 2024.

Typical bathroom installation costs

Over the past month, we have spent some time getting in touch with local bathroom fitters getting quotes for almost every refurb job we could think of for a bathroom. Please note that, much like house prices, bathroom prices in different parts of the country will vary by some degree. Our estimates are provided from February 2024.

Tiles and flooring

Let's start with the base of every good bathroom; its walls and floors! When trying to estimate your bathroom remodel costs, it's important that you accurately measure the area you plan to overhaul first. This is because prices can fluctuate massively depending on the size of your space and the materials you're working with.

In 2024, to get a professional to install typical ceramic or porcelain wall and floor tiles you can expect costs of up to £250 a day. Based on the average size of a UK bathroom (4.8 square metres).

Time-wise, things can vary quite a bit too. Expect your average tiling job to take anything between 6 hours to 3 whole days of work, depending on the size of the space and the complexity of the job.

If tiling the whole space sounds too intensive or costly, your can always opt for vinyl flooring instead. Installation costs for this will set you back up to £200 a day however, this can take as little as a few hours to install.

Another thing for you to consider is underfloor heating. While it may have once been reserved for the mansions of millionaires, underfloor heating systems are now quite affordable - especially for smaller spaces.

Electric underfloor heating installation can be installed for £100 - £130 per square metre. However, wet underfloor heating systems (that require intricate underfloor plumbing work) are still very expensive. Avoid them if you’re looking to keep costs manageable.

Towel rails and radiators

No bathroom refurbishment is complete without upgraded heating. No longer just practical items, rails and rads can now be used to add heaps of style to your bathroom's overall look.

You can expect the installation of a standard heated towel rail or radiator to add about £200-£800 to your total bathroom remodel costs, depending on the size. It should take around 2-4 hours.

Bathroom suites

When it comes to bathroom refurbishment, your choice of bathroom suite is likely to be one of the most impactful purchases you make. With that in mind, it’s best you hire a professional to fit it properly!

Bathroom suite installation is quite an intensive job that will require a lot of plumbing. A standard suite (consisting of a toilet, bath, and basin) will take around 6-10 hours to install. It’ll cost anything from £400-£1000 - again depending on the complexity of the job.

Showers and enclosures

Next up, that sparkling new shower. Simply replacing an old shower can be a really quick plug-and-play job. On the other hand, adding a shower to a bathroom that doesn’t already have one can take a whole day’s worth of plumbing and cost in the range of £300-£600.

Installing or refurbishing the shower enclosure itself will cost a similar amount, but you’ll also need to take into account any tiling that needs to be done. The total cost of a complete shower and shower enclosure installation will be around £650 - £1300, taking 1 or 2 days of work.

Additional costs

Though we’ve ticked off all the key components for the cost of a new bathroom, there are a few additional costs that you may have to take into account.

Extractor fans

Most bathrooms will already have a perfectly serviceable extractor fan installed. However, if yours doesn’t or you are converting a regular room into a bathroom you may need to add one. This will cost you between £100 to £300, taking about 3 to 4 hours.

Lighting

You may have noticed that we didn’t include the costs of installing new bathroom ceiling lights. If you plan on doing this, you’ll need to pay for IP Rated lighting and a qualified electrician to install them for you.

Bathroom installation costs vary

While you can get a good evaluation of estimated costs when planning work on your bathroom, the end figure can vary. Our recommended installers quoted a range of £160 to £210 for small jobs like fitting a pedestal basin with taps, while larger tasks such as tiling a bathroom came in with an average fee of around £100–£120 per square metre.

Overall, the average cost of installing a new bathroom in the UK is £7,200. However, if you’re simply swapping a like-for-like suite, without additional tiling or flooring, you may be able to achieve this for considerably less.

The reason why costs vary is that each job will need to be priced in relation to its individual circumstances. The size and shape of your bathroom will affect how easy a job is to complete, how long it will take and how much materials will be used. If there are unseen complications, such as damaged piping, then this will raise the cost of the quote. Costs can also increase where existing fixtures need to be removed.

Another reason why bathroom installation costs can vary is due to the location or region in which you live. For example, in a large urban area, where there are many tradespeople competing against each other, you may be able to find a plumber who will complete your jobs at a slightly lower cost than those we’ve estimated. However, for those living in London, where weekly earnings are £152 higher than the UK average, you can typically add an extra 10%–20% to our estimated bathroom installation costs. You may also expect to pay a little more if you live in a remote location, like a village or an island.

In recent times, we’ve seen fuel prices increase due to the current situation in Ukraine. This may result in higher costs being charged by bathroom fitters, especially if they have to travel a long distance to reach you.

Tips for saving money on your new bathroom

As previously mentioned, bathroom installation and product costs can vary, meaning the overall cost of your bathroom renovation can, with a little wisdom, be brought down. Here are some quick and easy tips to help you reduce the cost of your new bathroom:

• Get multiple quotes for your bathroom installation—this may sound like hard work, but it’s worth doing. However, you shouldn’t always go for the cheapest. Make sure you check out reviews and previous work before hiring a professional.
• Keep your bathroom layout the same—if you can, avoid moving fixtures around, as this will require additional works, pushing total labour costs up.
• Do certain tasks yourself—things like fitting bath panels, furniture, tiling and flooring, not to mention painting, can be done yourself.
• Consider ripping out your old bathroom yourself—however, you should only do this if you’re confident you want cause any damage to pipework, walls, etc.
• Reduce your tiling—Tiling your whole bathroom (including both walls and floors) can push costs up. Consider tiling just splash zones or to half height around your walls, and see how much you could save by using alternative wall and floor coverings, like shower wall panels and laminate flooring.
• Keep an eye out for bargains—check out sales, offers, bathroom deals and clearance items for big price discounts.
• Buy bundles instead of separate products—bathroom retailers often bundle products together (for example, bath and tap bundles as it is more-cost effective, and you can save money by purchasing these, rather than the separate items.
• Think about waste removal—could you do this yourself? See the section below…

What about waste and bathroom removal costs?

No job in the bathroom is mess-free and this throws up the question of waste disposal. Traders will dispose of materials for you (like your old bathroom suite) but they have to pay business rates to do so. This means that if you’re only generating a small amount of waste then it could prove costly.

The top tip here is to investigate whether you could dispose of any waste materials yourself for less money (e.g. by hiring a skip, using a waste bag or taking some of the waste to a local tip). If this is the case, then why not suggest it to your workers? It’ll certainly help you save a few precious pennies on your old bathroom removal cost.

We hope this has given you a rough idea of the installation cost for a new bathroom in 2024. If you’re yet to pick out those all-important products, stick with us on the Victorian Plumbing blog for even more inspiration.