With over 20 years and thousands of bathroom renovations under my belt, I have one big piece of advice on saving on a bathroom renovation.

You need to look at it from this point of view, every bathroom is unique and you may be reading this anywhere in the world so it’s important to give out money-saving bathroom advice that will cover everyone.

So here it is, the biggest tip to saving you thousands on your next bathroom renovation… That is buy your own materials but I will give you three things to avoid during this process to ensure you get the savings.

What Am I Really Saving

Material quoting can be really difficult in this day and age with so many choices but when a client gets a quote they expect both material and labour to be included in the price.

The reason for this is everyone wants to know how much it’s going to cost them all up and there is a great comfort in that.

At this time renovators are really trying to cover their bases and most of the time will add at least 30% increase on a material for the inconvenience of supply. That amount changes depending on the renovator.

Let me break that down further below with a super basic covering job cost and materials

• $20,000 Renovation Overall (Average)
• $6,750 Materials Cost Allowance (Average)
• $2000 (Renovator Making On Supplying Materials)

Clearly, everyone needs to make money in this scenario or what would be the point but as you can see from this set up you are saving $2000 at least and this isn’t covering the markup renovators put on the materials.

But I Want To SAVE Even More On My Renovation

Now we are talking about deep-level savings. When it comes to saving money on your bathroom renovation yes material supply is the number one option but this is how you save even more.

You get very thrifty on the items. My savings calculations above are based on your average cost for quality materials at the market rate. Still, you can save a thousand or two more by buying items during sales or lower-quality items.

Bunnings tapware will always be the cheapest if you looking to save money, yes you have their Mondella and Estillo ranges which are the cheapest tapware for renovations.

They also though have the lowest-cost Phoniex and Caroma tapware which are amazing brands but will save you money.

If you intend to sell the property in under a year then go as low as you want but if not try to stay in the middle range but on specials to save money.

Avoid Going Too Cheap On These Items

We all want to save on our bathroom but avoid these items below when looking for cheaper options.

Pre Made Full Shower Screens

As someone who has installed pre-made full shower screens and project-managed pre-made shower screens, they can be a disaster.

For a fully enclosed shower screen like the one below you will save about $1000 most likely but they are often either a disaster to install/manage like the fully frameless screens or look like a disaster with the fully framed versions.

If you can always go just a fixed panel like the image below it only costs a few hundred and will save you on the cleaning.

Tapware

Tapware ranges in crazy costs but for a renovator looking to save money should be looking at spending max $150 for wall mixers, $200 for basin mixers and $300 for a shower head.

The key element with anything plumbing-related is that you want to buy from places that are national companies such as Bunnings or Highgrove where any warranty issues are not a drama.

Tiles

Lastly, we come to tiles which gets every renoator buying items themselves. Often you will be tempted to buy end-of-line stock DO NOT DO IT unless you are buying tons more than you need.

In my years renovating bathrooms for people supplying their own materials they almost always run short on tiles and often buy end-of-line where you can not get more which is a disaster.

So my advice is if you are going to buy the end of the line buy 10m2 more for walls than you think you need and 5m2 more for the floor than you think you need it might seem like a lot but it will take the stress away.

Final Words Of Advice

In an ideal world you would get the bathroom renovator to supply everything and take the stress out of the renovation but in a time of high cost of living buying your own items is your own negotiating power.

If you are a first-time renovator and a little bit of a novice stick to Bunnings for your bathroom items. The big reason is any issues you know they are going to be around to help you fix it and secondly, they have a fantastic return policy in case you change your mind.

NEW TO RENOVATIONS? Well I have the ultimate guide to either your FIRST BATHROOM RENOVATION or the BIGGEST BATHROOM Trend the Curved Bathroom Guide

Both are below all you need to do is CLICK THE IMAGES

It’s important to note that all our advice is general in nature and all bathrooms are unique so always speak to your local qualified tradesman for the best advice. If you are looking for a bathroom renovation quote and live in Perth, Western Australia just email us at smallbathroomrenovations@gmail.com

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