Most bathroom renovations that go badly do not go badly on site. They go badly because a decision that should have been made in week minus four gets made in week two, when the wall is already sheeted and the tiler is booked.
This checklist is ordered the way decisions actually have to be made, not the way a showroom would like you to make them.
Before you ask for quotes
- Measure the room. Length, width, ceiling height, window and door positions. A phone sketch with numbers on it is enough.
- Decide bath or no bath. This is the single biggest layout decision and it changes everything downstream.
- Decide if plumbing moves. Keeping the toilet, shower and vanity where they are can save $3,000 to $8,000. Only move them if the current layout genuinely does not work.
- Set a budget band. Not a number, a band. It is the only way a renovator can tell you what is realistic.
- Note known problems. Existing leaks, movement, sagging floors, mould, a shower that has always drained badly. These change the scope.
- Collect three reference photos. Bathrooms you like, with one sentence each about what you like in them.
- Check strata rules if you are in an apartment. Approval, work hours and lift bookings all affect the program.
What the quote should contain
Read this part before you read the total.
- Demolition, disposal, skip hire and site protection.
- Plumbing rough-in and fit-off, stated separately if points are being moved.
- Electrical, including lighting, exhaust and any new circuits.
- Waterproofing as its own line, with a certificate to AS 3740 at completion.
- Screed, floor preparation and falls to the waste.
- Tiling labour, and a stated provisional sum per square metre for tile supply.
- Who supplies the vanity, toilet, bath, tapware and screen, with allowances if the renovator supplies them.
- Painting and make-good, and how far beyond the bathroom it extends.
- The variation rate and process for unforeseen work.
- The payment schedule tied to real progress stages.
- Start date, program length, and what happens if it runs over.
Selections to lock before demolition
All of them. Every single one. In practice that means:
- Floor tile, wall tile, feature tile, and grout colour.
- Vanity size, style and top material, plus basin type.
- Toilet suite type. Wall-hung means an in-wall cistern, which is a framing decision, not a fit-off decision.
- Bath type and size, if you are having one.
- Tapware finish and style, and whether the shower is a rail, a fixed rose or both.
- Screen type. Frameless is measured after tiling, so it needs to be decided early even though it arrives late.
- Niche positions and sizes. These are framed in week one.
- Lighting layout, exhaust type, and whether you want a heated towel rail or heated floor.
- Mirror or shaving cabinet, recessed or surface mounted. Recessed is a framing decision.
Note how many of those are framing or rough-in decisions. That is the point. In a bathroom, most of the "finishes" are actually structural decisions in disguise.
The week before demolition
- Confirm every long-lead item has arrived or has a confirmed date.
- Empty the bathroom completely, including the cabinet nobody has opened since 2019.
- Agree where the skip goes and where trades will park.
- Clear a path from the front door to the bathroom and protect the floor along it.
- Arrange alternative bathroom facilities if this is your only one.
- Confirm the site contact and how variations will be approved. In writing, not by text at 6pm.
During the job
- Walk the room after rough-in, before sheeting. This is the last cheap moment to move a tap or a light.
- Confirm the waterproofing was inspected and the certificate is coming.
- Check the tile set-out before the tiler gets past the first square metre.
- Keep a running list for the defect walk rather than raising each item as it appears.
At handover
- Waterproofing certificate, in your name, filed with the property records.
- Compliance certificates for plumbing and electrical work.
- Warranty terms in writing, from the renovator and from fixture manufacturers.
- Leftover tiles, at least a box, stored somewhere you will find them in ten years.
- A defect list agreed with dates, and the final payment held until it is cleared.
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