how to quote a bathroom refit
How to Quote a Bathroom Refit: A Step-by-Step Itemised Guide
The way to quote a bathroom refit without a mid-job row is to itemise it in three blocks - strip-out and waste, first fix, second fix - with PC sums for anything the customer chooses themselves. One 'all-in' number looks tidy on the day, but it hides where the money goes, and hidden money is where every bathroom dispute starts.
Bathrooms are dispute magnets for a reason: half the cost is invisible behind the walls, and half the spec is taste. The structure below deals with both.
Step 1: Survey properly and confirm the scope in writing
Never price a bathroom from two photos and a prayer. Check water pressure, look for signs of past leaks, note access for materials and waste, and ask the layout question early - moving the toilet is a different job from replacing it. Then send the scope back in writing: what's in, what's out, which layout you've priced. That message is the anchor for everything that follows.
Step 2: Price strip-out and waste disposal separately
Give demolition its own line: stripping the old suite, tiles and flooring, plus disposal. A skip on a public road needs a council permit - usually arranged by the skip company, but confirm it, because the hirer is the one liable if it's missed. Pricing waste separately also stops disposal costs quietly eating the labour line when the old floor turns out to have three layers.
Step 3: Itemise the first fix
First fix is the hidden work: pipework alterations, wiring for the shower and fan, lighting circuits, studwork and boarding. Customers can't see it, so a lump-sum quote makes it look like nothing happened for the first week. Itemising it does two jobs - it justifies the price, and it protects you when someone asks why the 'cheap' quote down the road is £1,500 lighter. That quote skipped this section; yours shows it.
Step 4: Itemise the second fix
Second fix is the stage the customer actually sees, so break it out on its own block. Splitting it from first fix does something subtle: the customer watches the quote come true in the right order, week by week, instead of wondering where the money went. Typical lines:
- Fitting sanitaryware - bath or shower tray, WC, basin, screen
- Tiling, with approximate areas stated so quantity changes are visible
- Sealing, trims and finishing
- Final plumbing and electrical connections, with certification where it applies
Step 5: Use PC sums for customer-choice items
Tiles and brassware are taste decisions, and taste changes - usually upwards, usually mid-job. A PC (prime cost) sum sets an allowance in the price: tiles at £30 per square metre supplied, brassware at £450, say. Choose dearer, the difference is added; cheaper, it's deducted. The quote stays intact and the conversation about the £90-a-metre porcelain becomes arithmetic instead of argument.
Step 6: List exclusions and your contingency approach
This quote excludes: removal of asbestos-containing materials if discovered; repairs to the subfloor beyond the visible area inspected; and unforeseen structural work. If any of these arise, work will pause and a written variation will be agreed before we continue. PC sums: tiles £30 per m2 supplied; brassware £450 supplied. Differences between allowance and your final choices are added or deducted on the final invoice.
You cannot price what you cannot see, and old bathrooms hide sins. The exclusions list isn't small print to sneak past the customer - walk them through it, so the day you find a rotten subfloor it's a known procedure, not a betrayal.
Step 7: Present it and get written acceptance
Send the quote with a 30-day validity line and your deposit terms, talk the customer through each block, and get acceptance in writing before you order a single tile. If you use Quotato, the itemised breakdown, deposit request and one-tap online acceptance are handled on the shareable quote page - the paper trail builds itself.
From the tools: My brother did the first-fix wiring on a refit in Chapel Allerton alongside a bathroom fitter who'd quoted '£7,200 all in' - one line. The customer chose porcelain tiles at nearly triple the figure the fitter had silently assumed, and the row over who owed the difference soured the whole job; the fitter ate about £600 of it to keep the peace. The next bathroom they did together, the fitter's quote ran to three blocks and two PC sums. Same customer demographic, same street almost - but when that client upgraded the brassware, it was a thirty-second chat and a line on the final invoice. My brother reckons the itemised quote took twenty extra minutes and saved a week of grief.
Describe the bathroom job in a voice note - get the itemised, PC-summed quote drafted in seconds.
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