People call us asking about bathroom renovations all the time. Usually, they’ve got a budget somewhere between £2,000 and £8,000, and they’re wondering how far that’ll stretch. The good news? You can do a genuinely impressive bathroom overhaul without spending a fortune. The bad news? There are ways to waste money that’ll leave you frustrated within two years.
We’ve been doing bathroom work in Norwich for years—everything from complete strips in Victorian terraces to sensible updates in modern semis across Costessey and Bowthorpe. We’ve seen people make smart choices and dumb ones. Here’s what actually works when you’ve got a limited budget.
Know What You’re Actually Paying For
Before you book anyone or buy anything, understand where your money goes in a bathroom renovation. Richard from Royal Flush Plumbing explains below.
Labour typically costs between 40 and 60 percent of your total budget. Materials are 30 to 40 percent. The remainder covers things like waste disposal, fixing problems you discover during the work, and unforeseen issues (there are always unforeseen issues in bathrooms).
Let’s say you’ve got £5,000. That’s roughly £2,500 on labour, £1,500 on materials, and £1,000 as a buffer for contingencies. If you ignore this breakdown and spend £4,500 on a fancy suite and fixtures, you’ve left yourself with £500 to pay a plumber for a full installation. That’s not happening. Not properly, anyway.
This is why people end up disappointed. They fall in love with a £800 freestanding bath, forget about labour costs, and then either end up with a half-finished bathroom or they’re out of pocket an extra £2,000 they didn’t budget for.
Before you start, ask yourself:
- What’s my actual total budget? (Not what you’d like to spend, but what you can genuinely afford)
- Am I doing this myself, hiring one tradesperson, or hiring multiple people?
- What am I trying to achieve? (A refresh, or a complete overhaul?)
- How long can I live without a bathroom?
Be honest about these questions. They’ll drive every decision that follows.
Prioritise Plumbing and Electrics (Even If It’s Boring)
Here’s what separates a good bathroom renovation from one you’ll regret: the stuff you can’t see.
Your pipes and electrics need to be sorted properly. You cannot cut corners here. If you skimp on getting a qualified plumber to fit new waste pipes or an electrician to install proper lighting circuits, you’re looking at problems that cost three times as much to fix later.
In Eaton, we attended a property where the homeowners had saved money by asking a mate to fit pipes during their renovation. Two years later, persistent damp issues meant they needed the walls opened up again. The pipe work was wrong. Total cost to fix it properly? £1,800. They’d saved £400 by cutting corners.
Your plumbing needs to be:
- Correctly graded (pipes at the right angle so water flows properly)
- Properly vented (so you don’t get airlocks or smells)
- Accessible (so future problems can be fixed without destroying walls)
- Compliant with building regulations (yes, bathroom work usually needs sign-off)
The same goes for electrics. Bathrooms are wet rooms. Wet rooms need proper installation with the right circuits, protective devices, and correct positioning of sockets and lights away from water sources.
These jobs are not places to economise. Budget £800 to £1,200 for competent plumbing work and electrical installation. It’ll be money well spent.
Choose Your Focal Point (And Stick To It)
You can’t have everything when you’ve got a limited budget. So pick one thing worth investing in, and make everything else work around it.
Most people choose either the bath or shower. This makes sense because that’s what you interact with daily. If you’re going to spend extra on one thing, that’s it.
Let’s work through the math. A standard fitted shower enclosure with a decent mixer tap and thermostatic control costs £400 to £700. Installation is another £300 to £500. That’s your focal point—you’ve invested in something that’ll last and work properly.
Your toilet and sink? You don’t need to spend a fortune. A decent toilet seat is £150 to £250. A decent sink and tap combination is £200 to £400. These are functional, they’ll look clean and modern, and they won’t let you down.
Your focal point could be:
- A large shower enclosure with rainfall head and body jets
- A freestanding bath (though these are pricey and labour-intensive to fit)
- Premium tiling on one wall as a feature
- Heated towel rails and quality lighting
Everything else supports that choice. You’re not trying to make every element premium. You’re creating one thing that feels special and letting the rest be solid and functional.
This approach means you get a bathroom that feels intentional, rather than one where every element is mediocre because you spread the budget too thin.
Tiling: Where You Can Actually Save Money
This is where most people get it wrong. They assume expensive tiles make a beautiful bathroom. They don’t. Good workmanship does.
A £15 per square metre tile installed properly looks better than a £40 per square metre tile installed badly. The difference between a great-looking bathroom and an amateur one is usually the grouting and level of the installation, not the cost of individual tiles.
For a standard bathroom—say 40 square metres of walls and floor—budget £600 to £1,000 for tiles. That includes the tiles themselves and labour. You can absolutely get beautiful, contemporary-looking tiles in that range. They won’t be boutique Italian marble, but they’ll be modern and clean.
What actually matters with tiling:
- Large format tiles look more contemporary and require fewer grout lines (which means fewer places for mould to hide)
- Matt finishes are more forgiving than glossy for showing water marks
- Neutral colours—whites, greys, soft greiges—never go out of style
- Light colours make small bathrooms feel bigger
We’ve seen bathrooms in Thorpe St Andrew transformed by simple white metro tiles and good grouting work, costing less than £800. We’ve also seen bathrooms with expensive designer tiles that look cheap because the installation was rushed.
Spend your money on getting a skilled tiler. Don’t spend it chasing expensive tiles.
Fixtures and Fittings: Don’t Confuse Price With Quality
The tap you buy is not the tap you’ll have in five years. It’ll be coated in limescale, water spots, and possibly corroded depending on your water chemistry.
This is why it’s worth getting something mid-range from a brand with decent reviews, rather than the cheapest option or the most expensive. A £60 tap and a £300 tap perform the same function. The £300 tap might have slightly smoother operation and fancier finishes, but in a bathroom, you’re rinsing your hands, not playing the violin.
Same applies to shower heads, toilet seats, towel rails, and mirrors. Mid-range, solid brands work fine. Cheap ones often need replacing within three years. Luxury ones are paying for aesthetics you might not want in five years.
Brands that genuinely work well without breaking the bank:
- Kartell (toilet and basin)
- Grohe (taps and showers)
- Ideal Standard (baths and suites)
- Wickes own-brand (honestly, perfectly functional)
Check reviews on Trustpilot or Google. If something’s got 4.2 stars across 200 reviews, it’s reliable. If it’s got 100 five-star reviews and 20 one-star reviews, there’s something dodgy.
Plan For What You Can’t See Yet
You’re opening walls. That means you might find problems—dodgy plasterwork, damp patches, pipes that aren’t where the plans said they were.
Budget 15 percent of your total costs as a contingency. If your budget is £5,000, that’s £750 set aside. If you don’t need it, great—you’ve got money to upgrade something. If you do find a problem, you’re not panicking about how to afford the fix.
In older properties—and Norwich has plenty of these—you might discover that your waste pipes are lead, or your walls have movement, or there’s a damp issue that needs sorting before you install new finishes. These things cost money but they’re essential.
Ignore contingencies and you’ll either end up with a half-finished bathroom or you’ll be forced to do the work badly just to get it finished.
Don’t Do Everything At Once (Unless You Have To)
Here’s a strategy that works if you’re not in a rush: phase your renovation.
Year one: Sort the plumbing, electrics, and structural issues. Get the basics working. Yes, the bathroom might look basic, but it’s safe and functional.
Year two: Update the suite, tiles, and finishes.
This approach means you’re not trying to fund everything at once. It also means you discover any hidden problems (and budget for them) before you’re committed to expensive finishes.
Most people can’t do this because they need a functioning bathroom immediately. But if you can, it’s genuinely smart budgeting.
The Numbers That Actually Matter
Here’s a realistic breakdown for a £5,000 bathroom renovation in Norwich:
Plumbing and electrics (labour and materials): £1,200 Tiles and adhesive: £800 Bath or shower suite: £600 Toilet, sink, and tap: £400 Other fixtures (towel rails, mirrors, lighting, extractor fan): £600 Labour for installation (non-plumbing): £800 Contingency: £600
Total: £5,000
That gets you a functional, modern-looking bathroom with decent quality throughout. Nothing’s luxury, but nothing’s cheap either. It’ll last 10+ years without major problems.
You could go lower if you’re willing to do some work yourself (painting, simple tiling, fitting accessories). You could go higher if you want better-quality finishes throughout. But the breakdown above is what actually happens in real bathrooms across Norfolk.
Hire People Who Know What They’re Doing
The single biggest way to wreck a budget is hiring the wrong people.
Someone who charges £30 an hour and doesn’t know how to grade a fall correctly will cost you hundreds in future problems. Someone who charges £50 an hour and gets it right costs you less in the long run.
Ask for references. Ask about guarantees. Ask them to explain why they’re doing something a particular way. If they can’t answer, they shouldn’t be doing it.
Your bathroom renovation is too important to risk on the cheapest quote. Get three quotes, check reviews, and pick the one that feels professional and thorough. Usually that’s not the cheapest and not the most expensive—it’s the middle one where someone’s taken time to understand your needs.
Getting this right turns a stressful project into something you’re actually proud of.
