DIY Couple Quoted £550 For New WC Do It Themselves For Just £235, Saving £100s
- Lyndsey Thomas, 39, wanted a fancy loo but didn’t want to spend a fortune
- After being quoted £550 by local builders, she decided to do it on her own for £235
- She shopped at Home Bargains and B&M, painted the WC herself and bought essentials on sale
We’ve all been giving a hair-raising quote by a builder.
And when one couple was quoted £550 by a local company to overhaul their WC, they decided to take matters into their own hands.
Lyndsey Thomas, 39, a teaching assistant from South Wales, and her husband Adrian, decided to see if they could get the look they wanted, but keep costs down at the same time.
The couple, who have two daughters between them, found expensive WCs they liked on Pinterest, then hunted at Home Bargains and B&M to see if they could get the look for less.
They also shopped at sales, painted the bathroom themselves and found a cheaper local tiler to do the tiling.
Lyndsey told money-saving Facebook group DIY On A Budget UK: "We had the idea for our makeover after researching small toilet and bathroom ideas on Pinterest.
"We felt like we needed to make it look a bit special as it’s such a small room.
"We had two quotes to do the work from local companies. One was for £510 and the other was for £550 so we decided to try and do it ourselves.
"When we took on the property the toilet was looking tragic and sorry for itself.
"We felt we needed something show-stopping as the room was so small and needed to be made to look bigger.
"When we were looking for design ideas we trawled through Pinterest and found the look we liked.
"I went around the shops looking for the same products that we saw on Pinterest at prices which were in our budget.
"Home Bargains and B&M sell a lot of lovely products so we ended up buying from there.
"I think if you're prepared to look around you can get anything within your budget. Facebook Marketplace is a great place to pick up things for cheap too.
"We had some quotes from local tilers and we settled on somebody who we felt was right for us. His fee was £130 which included all the grout and the beading on top of the tiles.
"We shopped around and found that B&Q had a sale on tiles. We bought four boxes of tiles which cost us £35.20.
"We bought the floor vinyl on offer from a carpet fitter who was doing the rest of the house for £30 fitted.
"The grey paint on the wall is called Cosy Grey by Crown Paints. This was £14.99.
"Because of the horrid magnolia colour on the walls, we had to put two coats of grey to cover it.
"We took our time and taped off the edges so as not to get grey on anything.
"The mirror was from Home Bargains and it cost £11.
"The vase and light shade came to a total of £14.
"The total cost was £235.19.
"We also saved money by shopping around.
"Once it was complete we felt amazing at what could be achieved on such a small budget.
"By doing the work ourselves it’s given us more confidence to have a go at other projects!”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “Lyndsey and Adrian have managed to save over half on the cost of getting their bathroom professionally done, so hats off to them!
“By shopping around, buying materials during sales and doing some of the labour themselves, they’ve saved hundreds of pounds - and their WC looks fantastic and is totally unrecognisable.
“It just shows you should never accept the first quote you get, but do lots of research - it could save you hundreds of pounds."
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