The value it will add is not endless, so unless you are happy to put the cost down to merely having a bathroom you love, you do need to manage your budget. Not that everything you do on your own home should be about resale, but a bathroom renovation can easily get away with thousands without an equivalent improvement in the finished product.
Before you go down this path, make a visit to your local council to find out what is required in terms of approvals. The Department of Fair Trading is also very helpful with information about engaging contractors, owner-builder permits and standard form contracts.
I work hard at producing champagne on a beer budget, and here are some of my top tips for getting a quality renovation without spending a bomb.
- Don’t engage a bathroom company. Anyone with an ounce of common sense, the willingness to research the process and the ability to organise can save tens of thousands by project managing the bathroom renovation and subcontracting the trades directly. As a rule of thumb, aim to spend around 1 – 1.5% of the value of the property on the bathroom.
- Get all your materials on-site and checked before the job starts. Check the items and make sure they are supplied correctly because once you have trades on site, you don’t want them standing around waiting for something to be replaced. Mistakes can be made in the set out if the items are not there for the tradesmen to work off, and they can be costly to rectify.
- Get a minimum of 3 quotes on your trades, and make sure you are comparing apples with apples by providing the trades with scopes of work to quote on. The cheapest is not always the best, so make sure you do some due diligence on the contractor you select before you sign a contract. Make sure you have a contract in place with every trade package over $1000.
- Shop around for your sanitary ware and tapware. Some traditional suppliers do carry the designer look–alike lines, but bathroom suppliers are popping up everywhere with really good low-cost products. You can get everything you need, including in-wall toilet suites, freestanding baths and designer tapware (to name a few) at a fraction of the price.
- Design your bathroom for standard-sized cabinetry as much as possible; once you get into custom-made cabinets, the cash register rings furiously. Good quality cabinets (including wall hung), shaving cabinets, and mirrors can be bought off-the-shelf at very good prices, but you must factor them into your design up front.
- Skimping on tiling is sometimes a false economy. I like to tile floor to ceiling because it is easy to clean and looks and feels luxurious. It doesn’t cost a lot extra, particularly in a small bathroom, to go all the way because most of the cost is in labour, and tilers tend to charge per day. I would prefer to have my walls tiled at full height than have the tiler go home early.
Organisation is the key to producing a quality renovation and containing the costs. Sourcing trades and materials at the last minute can blow your budget out of the water and add unnecessary stress. It can generally be avoided if you spend time, brain power and some simple methods to plan, program, document, and risk manage your renovation.
About Author Bernadette Janson
Bernadette Janson is a professional renovator and the owner of The School Of Renovating.
She manages her own projects with proven project management principles to make them smooth running and profitable. She is also known for the flair she adds to a home.
Her secret is actually a very simple system that she has developed and duplicates time and time again.
Bernadette loves to share what she knows, so if you like renovating, check out The School Of Renovating’s Free Workshops.