How to price a bathroom job, worked through end to end

↑ Part of the Pricing series · How to price a job and not lose money

A bathroom is priced the same way as any job: work out how long each stage takes, cost your labour and materials, add the costs people forget, recover your overheads for the days on site, then put your markup on top. What makes bathrooms go wrong is that a lot of the job sits behind the tiles and under the floor, and a lot of it is somebody else's trade. Price the visible work carefully and the hidden parts honestly, and a bathroom is one of the steadiest jobs there is.

This page sits under our guide to pricing a job. It walks one bathroom refit through from the survey to the figure on the quote; our guide to pricing an extension does the same for a bigger build. The numbers are an illustration built from one set of costs, not a market rate: use your own.

Part 1Start at the survey

---

Most of the money lost on a bathroom is lost on the first visit, by not looking. Before you price anything:

• Lift a corner of the floor covering if you can, and check what is underneath: boards, ply, a solid floor, any sign of old leaks.
• Find the pipework and where the waste runs. Moving a toilet or a shower waste is a different job from replacing like for like.
• Check the walls. Tiles straight onto old plaster, a stud wall that flexes, or a window reveal that needs boarding all change the days.
• Look at the ventilation and the electrics. An extractor that vents into the loft, or a shower that needs a new circuit, is work you either do or subcontract, and electrical work in a bathroom often has to be done or certified by a registered electrician.
• Ask who supplies what. A suite the customer buys themselves changes your materials line and your risk: you fit it, but you did not choose it.

Anything you genuinely cannot see goes on the quote as a provisional sum, not as a guess folded into the price.

Part 2Break it into stages and days

---

Write the job as the stages you will actually work through, and put a time against each. A typical full refit of a small bathroom, by one person:

• Strip-out and disposal: the old suite, tiles and boards out.
• First fix plumbing: pipework and waste moved or renewed.
• Boarding and preparation: walls and floor made ready to tile.
• Tiling: walls and floor.
• Second fix: suite, taps, shower and accessories fitted and tested.
• Making good: sealant, decoration, the snags.

On the example job below that comes to 6 days on site, plus a subcontracted electrician for the shower and extractor. The days are the number that matters most, because your labour and your overhead recovery both follow from them. Be honest about them. A bathroom priced at five days and done in seven has given two days away.

Part 3Materials, and who carries the risk

---

List materials by what you will actually buy: the suite, the shower, the tiles and adhesive, boards, pipework and fittings, sealant, the extractor. If the customer is still choosing the tiles, put a PC sum in for them rather than a figure you will have to argue about later.

If the customer supplies the suite, say so on the quote, and say that you fit what is supplied. A missing part or a damaged basin on the day costs you time, and the quote is where that is agreed in advance.

Part 4The costs people forget

---

The hidden costs of a job are worst on bathrooms, because there is so much to take away and so little room to work: the skip or the tip runs, parking, deliveries, the second visit to the merchant for the fitting that was not in stock. Each is its own line, costed like the work, so your markup applies to the full cost and not to a cost with holes in it.

Part 5The worked example

---

Here is the job above priced in full. Labour is costed at the wage you pay yourself, £250 a day; your overheads are recovered separately, at £55 for each day on site (our guide to working out your day rate shows where both figures come from); and the markup is 20% of the bare cost.

Your labour, 6 days at £250	£1,500.00
Suite, shower, tiles and fittings	£2,400.00
Electrician for the shower circuit and extractor, subcontracted	£450.00
Skip and disposal	£280.00
Bare cost of the job	£4,630.00
Overhead recovery, 6 days at £55	£330.00
Markup at 20% of the bare cost	£926.00
Price before VAT	£5,886.00

Two things about how that reaches the customer. The overhead is never a line on the quote: it is spread through the line prices, so the customer sees the work, not your van insurance. And the markup is a markup on cost, not a margin: £926 on a £5,886 price is a margin of about 16%. Our guide to markup vs margin explains why the difference matters.

If you are VAT registered, VAT goes on top, and a quote to a homeowner shows the total including it.

Part 6Put it on a quote that holds

---

A bathroom is a good job for stage payments: a deposit on acceptance that covers the suite and tiles, a stage at first fix or tiling, and a final balance on completion. Put them on the quote with the provisional sums and anything the customer is supplying, and the questions that usually come up halfway through are already answered.

Common questionsPricing a bathroom: quick FAQ

---

How do I price a bathroom job?

Survey it properly, break it into stages and put a number of days against each, cost your labour and materials, add the costs that are easy to forget such as the skip and parking, recover your overheads for the days on site, then add your markup to the bare cost.

How many days does a bathroom take?

It depends on the size, whether pipework moves, and the state of the walls and floor. A small like-for-like refit by one person is often around a week; moving the layout or a lot of making good adds days. Price your own days, from your own pace, and be honest about them.

Should I charge for the suite if the customer buys it?

You charge to fit it, not for the suite itself. Say on the quote that the customer is supplying it and that you fit what is supplied, so it is agreed in writing before you start that a missing or faulty part they supplied, and any return visit it causes, is charged as extra.

What markup should I put on a bathroom?

That is your call, but put it on the full bare cost, including subcontractors and disposal, not just your labour. 20% is a common starting point; check what margin that gives you, because a 20% markup is about a 16.7% margin.

What if I find rot under the floor?

Allow for it on the quote as a provisional sum if you suspect it, so the customer knows the figure may move. If it is something nobody could have foreseen, treat it as a variation and agree the price before you do the work.

This guide is general information for UK tradespeople, current to the best of our knowledge in 2026, and is not tax, accounting or legal advice. Rates, thresholds and how they apply to you change, so confirm your position with HMRC, a qualified accountant or a solicitor before relying on it. TradeDraft accepts no liability for decisions made on the basis of this guide. Questions: hello@tradedraft.co.uk.