Bathroom renovations can take a lot of time and commitment to finish. For this reason, going for a simple bathroom renovation might be more suitable, and easy to plan and execute.
You will find that the typical cost of complete bathroom renovations will vary widely depending on how complex your plan is. However, you can do it for far less – a couple of thousand at most – with the caveat that you’ll be mostly making aesthetic changes only.
If you intend on getting any more detailed, then be prepared to shell out more money. It’s just a fact with any home renovation project. The more high-end you go, the more it will cost. This includes making any major structural changes, moving the plumbing, adding or replacing walls and floor tiles.
Like any other element of your home improvement project, complete bathroom renovations require a lot of planning. You’ll have to plan everything from hiring a tradie to adding new features and this means that the cost and time management of bathroom remodelling can be tricky to work out.
Why do you need tradies?
Typically, a bathroom renovation could take as long as eight weeks for planning and three to four weeks of actual building time. This takes into account everything from the selection and purchasing of materials, dealing with any unforeseen issues, and of course finding a good design.
It’s highly likely that you’ll need to engage the services of quite a few tradesmen and contractors if you can’t do the job yourself.
From builders, architects, electricians, painters, plumbers, tilers and waterproofers – they are all required at some stage of the process to complete the bathroom renovations.
Trying to manage a bathroom build without all of these experts is a hard thing to do. Many, such as electricians, are necessary, as you need an accredited professional to sign off on the work in order for local government approval. Even simple bathroom renovations will require you use some of the contractors mentioned above.
One major piece of advice – ALWAYS ensure that anyone you do decide to hire is licensed, insured, experienced and trustworthy. Look for references and examples of their work, and if they can’t produce these then don’t hire them at all.
What other options do you have?
If you wish to take the DIY route, sure you are gonna save some bucks but keep in mind the effort, work hours you need to put in to learn to do that stuff. Even light work like wall painting has a learning curve and be prepared for less than perfect outcomes if you are a first-timer.
Failing to engage a certified professional could mean that in the event of a problem or accident you may not be fully covered by insurance. And this could prove to be a very costly mistake!
Typically, you’ll need to think about the practicality of the job as much as anything else. If you intend on doing even some basic fitting work or changing the layout of the bathroom, you should definitely work out who you’ll need to help.
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What Contractors and Tradies do I need for Bathroom Renovation?
- Builder – a builder will help you do everything from start to finish but they tend to be on the expensive side as they literally manage the whole process. Alternatively, you can save money if you don’t mind running around and doing some of the work yourself. More on that later. Hiring a builder is your best bet when you have the cash to burn.
- Architect– to help you design the plans and layout for your bathroom, and to make sure everything fits into the space you have.
- Carpenter– helps build the cabinets and storage space in the bathroom, making it look as professional as possible.
- Electrician– for handling everything from the lighting and power to heating and ventilation.
- Painters– to help you get the place looking wonderful when you are finished with the building and design work.
- Plumbers– handle anything that involves water, making sure that bathroom fixtures, bath, shower and toilet are all working and flowing smoothly.
- Tilers– a vital part of the process. They help you make sure that everything from drain management to overall quality of design is just right.
- Waterproofer– to make sure that the place stays nice and dry after you go for a shower, for example.
How to find the best tradies?
Finding and hiring a tradie is one of the crucial parts of bathroom renovation planning. If you get this right you are very close to getting the work done without much hassle.
A tradie or a contractor can be easily evaluated with the reviews from their past work. If you are looking for tradies on an online platform like Hipages.com.au, you have got all the information in one place.
Word of mouth is also a good way to know about the tradies. However you pick your tradies, make sure they have all the necessary license and insurances to carry out the work you are looking for.
Contracting and on-boarding the tradesman into the project is the next step of getting things ready. Once you have narrowed down on the contractors, try to set-up a visit to your home for proper inspection and quote. There is nothing close to getting a direct visit.
Next in the line is signing the contract. You need to be sure about the dates and other particulars. Scheduling is another crucial part of pre-construction planning which when done properly can avoid tradesman having two schedules. Ordering the tradesman and co-ordination can also save time and money.
Check out our blog on red flags before hiring a contractor for deeper insights on hiring tips for home improvement works.
How to save money and efficiently manage tradesman for a bathroom renovation?
As you already know, you will require multiple contractors and sub-contractors for work at various stages of bathroom renovation. Following are some ways you can save money spent on tradies.
Pay for the work to be managed. This means having to get the right order of tradesman and jobs will have to be done to avoid overlapping. You can either do this yourself or hire someone like a builder to do it for you.
Organize the materials and the products to be ordered, delivered and fitted. It’s crucial to make sure you order all the materials in advance of the bathroom renovation. You will save yourself a lot of time and money that way.
Work with a builder or planner to make sure you have a workable plan that everyone agrees to. This is a must if you want to make sure your bathroom renovations go off without a hitch.
DIY: Doing things by yourself feels satisfactory and saves money. The whole slack of the budget that goes to tradesman is saved. But keep in mind you can only replace certain tradies. Plumbing, which is an important part of the bathroom should not be carried out by you. Licensed plumbers are required to take care of anything under the ground or inside the wall. And do not forget to take into account the risks and learning costs for DIY tasks.
The most common area where DIY works best is painting, tiling and carpeting. Apart from that simple relocation or rearrangement can be done by ourselves that involves aesthetic changes only.
Confused between hiring a tradie and DIY?
As you can see, there’s a whole lot to be done with regards to bringing together a successful bathroom renovation project.
If you are trying to manage the process for even a small renovation you still should consider tradies. Even if you are capable of doing the work yourself, you still need some tradesmen to sign off on things like plumbing and electrics.
Simple bathroom renovations can take huge amounts of planning and preparation to get it to where you want it to be. But with the right amount of time, commitment, and planning, you’ll get there!
If you’re unsure of how to best plan out your bathroom renovations, then it’s a good idea to bite the bullet and pay for experts to help you. And remember to put aside plenty of planning time!
Enjoy your renovation.
All the best,
James Mason
CHECK OUT THIS BLOG POST FOR MORE: How Much Does it Cost to Remodel a Bathroom?
