How much does it cost to fit a new bathroom?

A new bathroom is one of the bigger jobs most homeowners take on, and the prices you see online range from a couple of thousand pounds to well over twenty. The gap is real: a straight swap of an old suite in a small terraced house is a very different job from moving the toilet, adding a walk in shower and tiling floor to ceiling. This guide breaks the price down into the parts you are actually paying for, gives you published 2026 figures for each, and shows you how to get quotes you can compare.

It is written for homes in England, with local detail for Birmingham and the wider West Midlands.

How much does it cost to fit a new bathroom?

There is no independent national survey of bathroom prices that is free to read. Which? publishes average costs from the Building Cost Information Service for its members only. The clearest public breakdown we found is the 2026 guide from Bathroom Mountain, a bathroom and tile retailer, so treat it as a guide and get local quotes. It does not say whether its figures include VAT.

Across all types it puts the usual range at £4,500 to £11,000, and suggests £6,500 to £8,000 as a sensible mid range budget.

Labour and materials

The same guide puts materials at about £2,000 to £6,000 and labour at about £1,800 to £4,000, which it says is usually 45 to 60 percent of the total. Its labour figures split like this:

• General fitting: £1,000 to £1,800
• Plumbing: £500 to £1,200
• Tiling: £600 to £1,500
• Electrics: £250 to £500
• Joinery: £200 to £400

Day rates in the West Midlands

Bathroom Mountain gives a national average of about £245 a day for a bathroom fitter. For the Midlands, Wales and the South West it puts the range at £200 to £275 a day, against £180 to £220 in the North and £300 to £350 in London. Many fitters quote a fixed price for the whole job instead, which is easier to compare.

A worked example

This is our arithmetic on the figures above, not a quote. Say you are replacing the bath, basin and toilet in a family bathroom in Birmingham, keeping them in the same places, with a shower over the bath and tiling around it. A fitter who does the plumbing and tiling, at £250 a day for 7 working days, is £1,750 in labour. Add a mid range suite, tiles and fittings at about £2,500 to £3,500, and the job comes to roughly £4,250 to £5,250 before VAT, if your fitter charges it, and before any surprises behind the old tiles.

What pushes the price up

• Moving things. Keeping the toilet, bath and basin where they are is the cheapest option. Bathroom Mountain puts plumbing for a straight replacement at £600 to £1,200, a partial reconfiguration at £1,000 to £2,000, and full repositioning or boiler work at £2,000 to £4,000.
• The shower. A new electric shower usually needs its own circuit from the fuse box. The guide puts electric showers, underfloor heating or a demister mirror at £800 to £1,500 in electrical work, against £300 to £500 for basic lighting and a fan.
• Tiling. Floor to ceiling tiling takes far longer than a splashback. Tiles themselves range from about £10 to £20 per square metre for basic ceramic to £50 to £70 for premium.
• Structural work. Moving a wall or making the room bigger adds about £1,500 to £3,000, according to the same guide.
• What is behind the old suite. Rotten floorboards, a leaking waste pipe or old pipework often only show up once the bathroom is stripped out. Ask every fitter how they price this.

How long does it take to fit a bathroom?

Bathroom Mountain says a typical bathroom takes 6 to 10 working days. A cloakroom or small en suite can take 3 to 5 days, and a large room or a layout change 10 to 15 working days or more. The usual order is strip out, first fix plumbing and electrics, boarding or plastering, tiling, then fitting the suite, sealing and finishing.

If it is your only bathroom, ask the fitter to keep a toilet working at the end of each day where they can, and plan for a few days with no bath or shower.

Do you need building regulations approval?

Sometimes. GOV.UK lists two bathroom jobs where you might need building regulations approval: installing a bathroom that will involve plumbing, and changing electrics near a bath or shower. It also says that replacing baths, toilets, basins and sinks is exempt, and that new power and lighting points are exempt except around baths and showers.

The electrical rules are set out in Approved Document P. The simple way to stay on the right side of them is to use an electrician registered with a competent person scheme, such as one checked on the NICEIC register. GOV.UK says a registered installer can self certify the work, tell your council for you, and give you a certificate within 8 weeks. You will want that certificate when you sell your home. If the boiler or any gas pipe is moved, that must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

A bathroom also needs ventilation to control condensation. If yours has no extractor fan, budget for one, and see our guide to condensation, damp and mould if the old bathroom has a mould problem.

Asbestos in older bathrooms

The Health and Safety Executive warns that buildings built or refurbished before 2000 can contain asbestos, for example in textured ceiling coatings, old floor tiles and boxing panels. If you are stripping out an older bathroom and are not sure, ask the fitter to stop and get it tested before anything is drilled or broken up.

Help with the cost of an accessible bathroom

If the work is to help a disabled person live at home, two kinds of help are worth checking before you get quotes.

• Disabled Facilities Grant. Your council can pay up to £30,000 in England towards changes such as a level access shower. It is means tested on household income and savings over £6,000, so you may have to pay part of the cost.
• VAT relief. Under HMRC VAT Notice 701/7, providing, extending or adapting a bathroom in the home of a disabled person can be zero rated where the work is needed because of their condition. People aged 60 or over can get a reduced rate of VAT on items such as grab rails, walk in baths with sealable doors and built in shower seats. The fitter applies the relief, and you will usually sign a declaration.

How to save money on a new bathroom

In a Which? survey of 1,129 members in September 2023, the most common ways people said they kept the cost down were finding their own fitter (31 percent), sourcing the components themselves (26 percent), buying from different stores (20 percent) and negotiating the price (19 percent).

• Keep the layout. Leaving the toilet and waste where they are is usually the biggest single saving.
• Tile the wet areas only. Tiling around the bath and shower, and painting the rest with a bathroom paint, cuts both tiles and days.
• Buy the suite yourself, carefully. Agree with the fitter who handles a damaged or missing part, as a delivery problem can stop the job.
• Get three quotes for the same list. Send every fitter the same room size, photos and wish list, so you can compare line by line.

What a good bathroom quote includes

A quote you can hold someone to should list removal and disposal of the old suite, plumbing, any boarding or plastering, tiling (with the area in square metres), electrics and who certifies them, sealing and making good. It should say whether materials and VAT are included, how many days the job will take, and when each payment is due. Ask what happens, and what it costs, if they find rot or a leak once the old bathroom is out.

Your rights help here too. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the work must be done with reasonable care and skill, so a leaking seal or a cracked tile in the first weeks is worth raising with the fitter straight away. Before anyone starts, see how to check a tradesperson is genuine, and if a fitter lets you down mid job, what to do if a tradesperson does not turn up. For the plumbing side of the job, see what a plumber charges per hour.

Find a bathroom fitter near you

Post your bathroom job free with the room size, what you want changed and a few photos, and hear back from a local bathroom fitter with a price. You pay the business directly, and nothing is taken online.

Or browse local businesses: bathroom fitters in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Solihull, Dudley or Stourbridge. If you only need the tiling done, see tilers in Birmingham. For more guides on repairs and costs, see all our home advice.