A bathroom remodel is an excellent strategy to increase your property’s value before sale or add modern luxury to your existing home.
Together with a kitchen, the bathroom is the most complex room to upgrade because it requires attention to detail. You’ll need to coordinate at least four contractors – usually a builder, electrician, tiler and plumber – as well as select multiple fixtures.
It’s a good idea to buy fixtures that you’ve seen at a retailer. Online shopping is great, but often what looks good on screen isn’t so good when it comes out of the box. Like everything else in property renovation, you tend to get what you pay for.
As an experienced agent, I cannot stress enough the importance of setting a budget for your new bathroom. One of the most common mistakes is to miss some of the so-called hidden costs of upgrading a bathroom.
To help you with this project, here’s a guide to make sure you’ve got all bases covered.
Make a plan
One of the significant expenses of a bathroom remodel is moving existing pipes. So, if you want to relocate the shower or tub, then make sure you’ve built this cost into your budget.
Purchase everything before you begin
There’s nothing more frustrating than your upgrade dragging on because you’re waiting for your toilet, shower unit or vanity. Not only does this disturb your household, but contractors also become harder to coordinate.
The cold, hard truth
Check the capacity of your water heater as part of a bathroom remodel. If you can’t fill a hot tub, then you’ll have to upgrade, or the tub will be a waste of money.
Budget for rubbish removal
You can easily forget that it costs money to throw out all your old fittings, tiles and concrete. Ask the most appropriate contractor – probably the builder demolishing your existing bathroom – to build this into their quote. Alternatively, hire a skip bin or building waste removal.
Build in a cash buffer
With any renovation, there is always the risk of unforeseen problems. So, put aside 20% of your project cost as a special fund to pay for any issue that might arise.
Be waterproof
Don’t short-change yourself on this aspect of your project. Make sure that your tiler will undertake waterproofing of the floor and walls with the best available products. It’s worth paying for the best with this aspect of your upgrade.
Fancy finishes
Be aware that your costs will escalate if you want complex tiling, such as mosaics. So, make sure your tiler knows your plan in advance so they can include the additional labor in their quote. Otherwise, you might get a nasty surprise.
Little extras
You’ll be paying extra for bespoke fittings, such as a vanity that doesn’t conform to the sizes offered in the brochures.