Bathroom Fitters for Full Refits in North West London

In what order is a bathroom refit done?

A refit runs in a fixed order: strip out, first fix, boards and tanking, tiling, second fix, then decoration. Each stage hides the one before, so faults must be caught while the wall is open. On day one the old suite, tiles and often the plaster come off. Anything found behind them that changes the price, such as rotten boards or old lead pipework, is photographed and agreed with you before we carry on. First fix comes next.

Hot and cold supplies, wastes and cables go where the new layout needs them, and the pipework is pressure tested before it is boxed in. Then the walls are boarded where needed and the shower area is tanked. Tiling follows, and most bathrooms take two to three days of it, allowing for adhesive and grout to cure. Second fix is when the bath or tray, basin, WC, taps and screen go in.

Which electrical work in a bathroom is notifiable?

Under Part P, three kinds of electrical work in a home are notifiable: a new circuit, a replacement consumer unit, and any addition or alteration to an existing circuit in a special location. In a bathroom the special location is the space around the bath or shower. Approved Document P (2013 edition) defines that space. It runs from the floor up to 2.25 metres, or to the shower head if that is higher. It extends 0.6 metres out from the edge of the bath or shower tray. Where there is no tray, it extends 1.2 metres from the centre of a fixed shower head.

Moving a light, adding a fan feed or extending a circuit inside that space is notifiable. Simply replacing an extractor on its existing cable is not. Notifiable work is either self-certified by an electrician registered with a competent person scheme or checked by building control. With self-certification you should receive a BS 7671 Electrical Installation Certificate. A Building Regulations compliance certificate follows within 30 days. Keep both: a buyer's solicitor can ask for them.

Does a new bathroom need an extractor fan?

If the bathroom already has a fan, the refit must keep it or replace it, and it should be checked to see it works. That is paragraph 3.30 of Approved Document F, Volume 1 (2021 edition), which covers refurbishing an existing bathroom. If the room had no mechanical ventilation, the guidance does not force you to add one. You must not leave the room less compliant than it was, though. For a new or replacement intermittent fan, the benchmark rate in Table 1.1 is 15 litres per second for a bathroom.

A room with no openable window needs a fan that keeps running for at least 15 minutes after the room is vacated. We size the fan to the room, and duct it by the shortest route to outside. A fan venting into the loft moves little air, which is why grout goes black. A revised edition of Approved Document F takes effect on 24 March 2027, and its refurbishment guidance reads the same.

What should a fixed-price bathroom quote include?

A good bathroom quote lists every stage of the work and every fitting, so you can see what is in and what would count as an extra.

• Who supplies the suite, tiles, taps and screen, and the exact model or range for each
• Tanking named as a separate line, with the system or membrane used
• Electrical items listed one by one, and whether a certificate and notification are included
• Tiled areas in square metres, and whether walls are tiled full height or to a splashback
• What happens if the floor or wall is rotten or hollow once stripped, and how that is priced
• How long it takes and how long you will be without a working bathroom

What changes when the bathroom is in a rental?

In a rental, the bathroom has to survive several tenants and be quick to turn around between them. That changes the specification more than the layout. We steer landlords towards a thermostatic shower valve with accessible isolation, a robust tray rather than a tiled shower floor, and a close-coupled or back-to-wall WC with an access panel for the cistern. We use full-height tiling or wall panels in the shower, a mid-grey grout that hides wear, and a fan on an overrun timer so it runs whether the tenant remembers it or not.

For a licensed HMO, the national rules in Schedule 3 of the 2006 HMO regulations require an adequate number of bathrooms, toilets and wash-hand basins for the number of sharers. Each must have adequate cold and constant hot water, and each must be suitably and adequately heated and ventilated. Councils add ratios and sizes in their licence conditions, so send us yours.

Can a cloakroom or en-suite be fitted in the same way?

Yes, but small rooms have their own problems, mostly drainage and ventilation rather than tiling. An understairs cloakroom or a new en-suite carved out of a bedroom is usually some distance from the soil stack. The WC needs a gravity fall to a soil pipe. Where the distance or the floor build-up will not allow that, the honest options are a different position or a macerator.

A macerator works but is noisier and less forgiving. A new internal en-suite has no window, so it needs mechanical extraction with an overrun. Wiring it is notifiable if a new circuit is involved or the work is inside the shower zone.

What decides the cost of a bathroom refit?

Three things drive it. The first is how far the layout moves: a like-for-like swap keeps the waste and supply positions, while moving the WC or turning a bath into a walk-in shower means new runs under the floor. The second is what the room hides, such as rotten boards, hollow plaster or old pipework, which we can only price properly once we have looked. The third is the finish: large-format porcelain and full-height tiling take longer to set out and fix than a splashback.

Certificates and defined jobs are a fixed price confirmed before we attend; repairs are charged by the hour, with the rate and an estimate confirmed before we attend.

Where we fit bathrooms

We fit bathrooms from our office on Kenton Lane, across Harrow, Kenton, Stanmore and Edgware, and into Wembley, Pinner, Kingsbury, Mill Hill and the neighbouring areas. Much of this housing is interwar, where the original bathroom was small and the WC often sat in a separate room next to it. Knocking the two together is one of the most common jobs we quote. In purpose-built flats, check the lease for flooring and noise clauses first.

Plumbing by area: Plumbers in Harrow, Plumbers in Kenton, Plumbers in Stanmore, Plumbers in Edgware, Plumbers in Bushey, Plumbers in Colindale, Plumbers in Hendon, Plumbers in Mill Hill, Plumbers in Northolt, Plumbers in Northwood, Plumbers in Pinner, Plumbers in Ruislip and Plumbers in Wembley.

What we refer on

We do not move or replace gas boilers, and we do not take on structural alterations such as removing a load-bearing wall to enlarge a bathroom. Where a floor has rot that goes beyond the boards into the joists, we will show you and advise a structural assessment before we rebuild over it. Damp that is not caused by a plumbing leak is also outside our scope.

Why people trust us

• Repairs tested before we leave, and the area left clean
• A walk-in office on Kenton Lane, not a serviced address
• We diagnose first and tell you what we have found before doing more
• A time slot rather than a morning-or-afternoon window
• Work photographed before and after, and reported
• We tell you when you do not need something we sell

We are building a review profile under this name and would rather show you none than borrow someone else's. Ask us for references from landlords and we will put you in touch.

Official sources

• GOV.UK: Electrical safety, Approved Document P (2013 edition)
• GOV.UK: Ventilation, Approved Document F (Volume 1, dwellings)
• GOV.UK: When you need building regulations approval
• legislation.gov.uk: Building Regulations 2010, Schedule 4 (work not notifiable)
• legislation.gov.uk: HMO Regulations 2006, Schedule 3 (amenity standards)

Last reviewed October 2026 by EliteShires Property Services.