What a rental bathroom should be built from
The cheapest bathroom to own over ten years is not the cheapest to fit. A thin acrylic tray flexes and the seal fails within two years, and then there is a ceiling to repaint and a tenant complaint. A pedestal basin with no storage means things on the floor. Grout goes grey in a house where nobody wipes the shower down. So we specify differently for rentals: a stone-resin tray, wall panels in the shower instead of tiles, a porcelain floor tile rather than vinyl that lifts, a close-coupled toilet with a soft-close seat that is easy to replace, a basic thermostatic shower from a brand whose cartridges will still exist in five years, lever taps, and a decent extractor fan with a humidity sensor so the room dries whether or not the tenant opens a window.
None of that costs much more than the cheapest option, and all of it saves callouts.
How we work with letting agents
- 01
Quote from the agent's description or a visit
For a known property type (the agent usually has a dozen the same) we can often quote from photos and a description, with a visit to confirm before we start.
- 02
Keys and access
We collect keys from the branch, confirm access with the tenant where the property is occupied, and work the hours the tenancy allows.
- 03
The job
Done in the days quoted. The property is left clean and the heating and water are left as we found them.
- 04
Photos and sign-off
Before and after photos sent to the agent the day the job finishes, so the file is complete without a visit.
- 05
Invoicing
In the agent's format, with the property address and reference, to the landlord or the agent as instructed.
HMO bathrooms
An HMO bathroom gets used by five or six people a day and is inspected by the council. It needs to be robust, easy to clean, well ventilated and compliant: a working extractor, safe electrics with certificates, a thermostatic shower that cannot scald, and finishes that hold up. Where the licence requires a particular ratio of bathrooms to tenants we build the extra shower room or ensuite the layout allows, including the drainage and the stud walls. We are used to working around tenants in occupied HMOs, with set hours and a bathroom back in use every evening where there is only one.
Reactive repairs for managed properties
The regular calls: a toilet that will not stop running, a shower leaking into the flat below, black silicone, a broken seat, a fan that has died, a blocked basin. We fit these in around the bigger jobs, usually within a few days, price them before the visit where the fault is clear, and report back with a photo. Where a repair would be the third on the same bathroom this year, we say so and quote the refurbishment instead.