The bathroom renovation checklist: before, during and at handover

Before you get quotes

Quotes are only comparable if every fitter is pricing the same job. Decide these first, and write them down.

• What stays and what goes: bath kept or out, shower where, toilet moving or not.
• Tiles or wall panels, and how high: splash height, shower area to the ceiling, or every wall.
• Floor: tiles, vinyl, LVT or laminate.
• Lighting and ventilation: downlights, lit mirror, fan type, shaver socket.
• Heating: a towel rail, or keep the radiator.
• Who supplies the products: you, the fitter, or a mix.
• A budget range you are comfortable saying out loud, so nobody designs you a room you will not buy.

Questions to ask any fitter

1. 01

   Is the quote itemised?

   Labour by stage, materials by item, waste, electrics, making good. A single number hides what has been left out.

2. 02

   Who does the electrics, and are they registered?

   The name of the electrician and their scheme (NICEIC, NAPIT or similar), and confirmation that you will receive the certificates.

3. 03

   What is the start date and how many working days?

   Both, in writing. If they cannot say, the plan is not real yet.

4. 04

   How many jobs will you have on during mine?

   The right answer is one. Two is how your bathroom gets a day here and a day there for a month.

5. 05

   Are you insured, and can I see it?

   Public liability insurance covers damage to your house. Any good fitter will show the certificate without being offended.

6. 06

   What happens if you find a problem under the floor?

   You want to hear: we stop, we show you, we price the fix, you decide. Not: it is covered by the quote.

7. 07

   What are the payment stages?

   A deposit for materials if they are supplying, stage payments against progress, and a final payment after you have checked the room.

8. 08

   Who takes away the rubbish?

   Rip-out and disposal should be a line on the quote, not a skip you have to arrange.

Buying the bathroom

If you are supplying the products, buy to a list agreed with the fitter, not from a basket of things you liked. The list should include the things nobody photographs: the bath waste and trap, the shower waste, the riser kit for the tray, the fixing frame for a wall-hung pan, the flexible connectors, the tile trim, the adhesive and grout if you are supplying tiles. Ask the fitter to check the list before you pay; a shower valve that needs 1 bar in a house that has 0.3 goes back to the shop, not into your wall.

Order early enough that everything is in the house a week before the start, and open every box when it arrives. A chipped bath found on delivery day is a phone call. A chipped bath found on day five is a week.

Getting the house ready

• Clear the bathroom completely, including the cabinet contents and anything on the windowsill.
• Clear a route from the front door to the bathroom and a space outside for the skip or the van.
• Decide where the delivered products will sit for the week; a spare room or a garage, not the hallway.
• Tell the fitter where the stopcock is, and check it turns. A stopcock that does not close on day one is a plumber's first job and your first delay.
• Plan for the toilet being out for two to four days in the first week and the shower for the whole job.
• Move pets and anything that minds dust. A bathroom rip-out is loud and dusty for two days.
• Agree working hours, keys or a code, and whether photos at the end of each day would help you.

During the job

Once the room is stripped you will be asked a handful of small questions that were not on anyone's drawing: how high the niche sits, which way the screen hinges, where the towel rail goes now the wall is bare, whether the tiles run horizontal or vertical. Answer them the same day, because a fitter waiting on a decision is a fitter not working. The one thing to avoid is changing your mind about something already fitted or already ordered; every change after the strip-out costs a day or a restocking fee or both. A daily photo from the fitter and a five-minute call at the end of the day keeps the job moving and means there are no surprises at the walk round.

Payment stages

A reasonable pattern is a deposit to cover materials if the fitter is supplying them, one or two stage payments as the job reaches agreed points (first fix complete, tiling complete), and a final payment after the handover walk round. The final payment should never be due before you have seen the room finished and tested. Paying everything up front is a risk you do not need to take; refusing to pay a reasonable materials deposit is unfair on a small trader who has just spent thousands on your behalf.

At handover: check before you pay

• Run every tap hot and cold, and the shower, for a few minutes. Look under the basin and behind the toilet for drips while they run.
• Flush the toilet several times and watch the cistern fill and stop.
• Fill the bath a few inches and let it out; listen for the waste draining freely.
• Switch the fan on and hold a tissue to it; it should pull. Check the timer or humidity setting if it has one.
• Press the silicone at the corners of the shower and along the bath: it should be continuous, smooth and firm.
• Look at the grout lines for gaps and at the tile edges for lippage.
• Open and close the shower door or check the screen is rigid; open every drawer and cupboard door.
• Check the isolation valves under the basin and behind the toilet are there and labelled or obvious.
• Take the Electrical Installation Certificate or Minor Works Certificate, and ask when the Building Regulations compliance certificate will arrive.
• Walk the route the fitter used through the house and check for marks and damage before they leave.