Renovate kitchen & bathroom.

A well-executed renovation not only improves your daily quality of life but can also add between 5% and 15% to your property's market value. However, because these projects involve water, gas, and electricity, they require careful planning and professional expertise to meet UK building standards.

What Does the Work Involve?

• Strip out: Removing existing units, worktops, appliances, and sanitaryware, followed by safe disposal of waste.
• First fix: Rerouting or installing new pipework for water and waste, and running electrical cables for sockets, lighting, and appliances.
• Surface preparation: Levelling floors, plastering walls, and "making good" any damage caused during the demolition phase.
• Installation: Fitting kitchen cabinetry, worktops, sinks, baths, showers, and toilets, ensuring all units are level and securely fixed.
• Second fix: Connecting taps, installing hobs and ovens, fitting light fixtures, and connecting shower valves.
• Finishing touches: Tiling, grouting, silicone sealing, flooring installation, and final decoration.

Typical Costs

Prices vary significantly based on the quality of materials, the size of the room, and your location in the UK. The following estimates include VAT and reflect 2025/26 market rates for professional installation.

Factors that push costs higher include structural changes (like removing a wall), upgrading an old boiler to handle a new rain shower, or choosing specialist materials like quartz or marble that require professional templating.

How Long Does It Take?

• Standard Bathroom Refit: 7–12 working days.
• Standard Kitchen Replacement: 10–15 working days (assuming no major layout changes).
• Complex Renovation: 3–5 weeks if involving structural work, new flooring throughout, or extensive tiling.
• Templated Worktops: Add 7–10 days to the timeline for stone worktops to be measured, cut, and fitted after the units are installed.

DIY or Professional?

While DIY is suitable for cosmetic updates like painting or replacing cabinet handles, full renovations should be handled by professionals. In the UK, any work involving gas must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer, and most electrical work in "wet rooms" must comply with Part P building regulations.

Attempting to DIY plumbing or electrics can invalidate your home insurance and lead to costly leaks or safety hazards that are difficult to fix once the room is finished.

Choosing the Right Tradesperson

• Check Credentials: Ensure they are Gas Safe registered (for hobs/boilers) and NICEIC or NAPIT registered (for electrics).
• Portfolio: Ask for photos of recent "real-life" projects, not just manufacturer brochures.
• Detailed Quotes: A professional quote should itemise labour, materials, and waste disposal so there are no hidden "extras."
• Red Flags: Be wary of anyone who can start "tomorrow," asks for 100% payment upfront, or refuses to provide a written contract.

3 Questions to Ask:

• "Will you provide a dedicated project manager or will I need to coordinate the plumber, sparky, and tiler myself?"
• "What happens if you find rot or damp behind the old units?"
• "Do you provide a guarantee for your workmanship, and for how long?"

UK Regulations

• Part P (Electrical): All electrical work in bathrooms and kitchens must be safe and, in many cases, notified to Local Authority Building Control.
• Part G (Sanitation/Hot Water): Covers water efficiency and safety, including temperature limiters to prevent scalding.
• Gas Safety: Mandatory for any gas appliance installation; you must receive a certificate upon completion.
• Building Control: Usually required if you are removing load-bearing walls or significantly altering drainage.

Common Problems

• Hidden Damp: Removing old tiles often reveals "blown" plaster or rot in floor joists, which adds time and cost to the prep stage.
• Incompatible Plumbing: Buying a high-pressure shower for a low-pressure gravity-fed system will result in a poor experience.
• Poor Layout: Forgetting the "working triangle" in a kitchen or leaving insufficient clearance for a bathroom door to swing open.
• Inadequate Tanking: Failing to properly waterproof shower areas leads to leaks that may not appear until months after the job is finished.

Frequently Asked Questions