Bathroom Renovation Cost in London: Real Numbers from Recent Projects

A full bathroom renovation in London in 2026 runs roughly £4,500 at the bottom end, £8,000 to £12,000 for a properly done mid-range job, and £15,000+ if you want stone, underfloor heating, and a walk-in shower with proper drainage.

Those are real figures from jobs we have completed across South London this year. Below is what they actually cover, where the money goes, and the costs that catch people out.

Three real budgets

**Basic refresh, around £4,500.** A 2.2m by 1.8m bathroom in a Lewisham flat. Bath out, replaced with a new acrylic bath and shower screen. Toilet and basin swapped. Ceramic floor and wall tiles, mid-range fixtures from Screwfix and Victoria Plum. Walls skimmed. 7 working days.

**Mid range, £9,200.** A 2.5m by 2.2m bathroom in a Bromley semi. Removed bath and built a 1.2m walk-in shower with low-profile tray. Wall-hung WC with concealed cistern. Vanity unit with stone top. Porcelain floor and wall tiles, mid range. New extractor wired to a separate switch. 12 working days.

**Higher end, £16,800.** A 3m by 2.4m main bathroom in a Dulwich house. Full strip out, new soil pipe, repositioned shower drain. Large format porcelain tiles, electric underfloor heating, heated towel rail, freestanding bath, brassware in brushed brass, custom-built vanity. 18 working days.

Where the money actually goes

On a typical £9,000 mid-range job:

• Labour (plumber, tiler, electrician, plasterer): £3,200 to £3,800
• Tiles: £600 to £1,400
• Sanitaryware (toilet, basin, bath or shower): £1,200 to £2,000
• Brassware (taps, shower valve, waste): £400 to £900
• Materials (adhesive, grout, plaster, sealant, pipework, cabling): £400 to £700
• Skip and waste removal: £180 to £300
• Extras (extractor, lighting, mirror, accessories): £300 to £600

Tiles and brassware are the two areas where you can either save serious money or burn it without much to show. A £40 per square metre porcelain tile looks almost identical to a £90 one once it is grouted in.

Hidden costs

Most overruns come from things you cannot see until the bathroom is stripped out:

• Rotten floorboards or joists under the bath, £200 to £600 to replace
• Old lead or galvanised pipework that needs replacing, £300 to £800
• Soil pipe in the wrong position for a new layout, £400 to £900 to re-route
• Walls that turn out to be in poor condition once tiles are off, plastering £300 to £700
• Asbestos in older properties, survey and removal £400 to £1,500

A good fitter will warn you that £500 to £1,000 of contingency is sensible on any bathroom job in a property over 50 years old. If a quote claims to be all-inclusive with no contingency mentioned, ask what happens if rot is found under the bath.

Timeline

A mid-range bathroom takes 8 to 14 working days from strip out to handover. The breakdown is roughly:

• Day 1 to 2: strip out, dispose, expose pipework
• Day 3 to 4: first fix plumbing and electrics
• Day 5 to 6: walls and floor prep, board and skim
• Day 7 to 9: tiling
• Day 10 to 11: second fix, fit sanitaryware and brassware
• Day 12: silicone, snagging, clean

Add 2 to 3 days for underfloor heating screed cure time, and another 2 if the layout is changing significantly.

What 'all-inclusive' should mean

When a quote says all-inclusive, it should cover labour, all materials including adhesive and grout, sanitaryware and brassware to the spec quoted, removal of old fixtures, and a final clean. It should not normally include anything structural like joist replacement or asbestos removal, since those cannot be priced until the room is open.

Get the spec sheet in writing. The most common dispute on bathroom jobs is around what grade of fixtures was actually quoted versus what the customer thought they were getting.

Saving money without making it look cheap

• Keep the layout. Moving the toilet costs £400 to £900 in pipework alone.
• Pick a good plain large-format porcelain tile. Skip the patterned feature wall.
• Mid-range brassware from a known brand (Hansgrohe, Bristan, Grohe) outlasts cheap chrome by years.
• A wall-hung WC looks expensive but adds £200 to £400 over a standard close-coupled.
• Skip the smart mirror.

Booking a job

We have priced and fitted all three types of bathroom above this year. Our Bromley bathroom fitters cover BR postcodes and will give you a written breakdown rather than a single all-in figure. The full scope of what we cover, including the wet rooms and accessibility work that need extra waterproofing, is on the bathroom fitting service page.

When you are ready to price the job properly, the bathroom quote form takes about two minutes and we usually come back with rough numbers within a day, then a fixed price after a 20-minute site visit.

Bathrooms are one of the few jobs where paying a bit more for a better fitter genuinely shows in the finish. Tiles laid badly, silicone applied in the wrong order, or a shower tray that is not perfectly level will all show within a year. Spend the money on the labour, save it on the accessories.

Quick spec decisions and what they cost

A few choices that change the price more than people expect:

• Walk-in shower with low profile tray vs proper wet-room (tanked floor, formed gradient): wet room adds £900 to £1,800
• Standard close-coupled WC vs wall-hung with concealed cistern: adds £250 to £500
• Mixer shower from a combi vs thermostatic with a separate hot water priority circuit: adds £150 to £300
• Mid-range chrome brassware vs brushed brass or matt black: adds 25 to 60% on the brassware total
• Standard ventilation fan vs humidity-tracking fan with timer: adds £80 to £150
• Electric underfloor heating to a 4 square metre bathroom: £350 to £600 fitted

Lighting and ventilation

Two areas often skipped in budgets, but worth doing right. Bathroom lighting needs IP44 or higher rating in zones 1 and 2 (above the bath, near the shower). Mains-wired downlights in IP65 cost £25 to £50 each fitted, including the cable run.

Ventilation is the single most important thing for stopping mould. A 100mm extractor wired to come on with the light and run for 15 minutes after is the minimum. Better is a humidity-tracking fan that comes on when moisture is detected. Cost difference is £40 to £80 between the two, and the better one stops black mould forming around silicone within the first year.

Common mistakes that cost more later

We get called in to redo bathrooms about three or four times a year where the original fitter cut corners. The classic mistakes:

• Tile adhesive used instead of proper tanking behind a shower, leading to a damp wall within 18 months
• Silicone applied before grout has cured, leading to mould growth in the gap
• Shower tray bedded on adhesive instead of mortar, leading to flex and cracked grout
• Waste pipes run with insufficient fall, causing slow drainage and smell
• Extractor ducted into the loft rather than out through a wall or soffit, causing condensation in the roof space

Each of these is invisible the day the job finishes. They show up between 6 months and 3 years later. A fitter who can show you photos of completed jobs at the 12 month mark, not just on the day of completion, is worth talking to.