Savvy Renovator Reveals How To Save £2k On A Luxury Bathroom Renovation
- Sally Killington, 43 needed to completely renovate a bathroom that hadn’t been touched for decades
- The renovation cost £10k - but Sally says she saved up to £2.5k along the way
- Her money-saving tips include doing lots of research, buying value packs and buying supplies from Amazon and IKEA
If your bathroom renovation is going to cost thousands of pounds, you might have thought there’s no way of possibly cutting down on costs.
But one savvy homeowner has proven that even if your home renovation is going to be expensive, you can still make clever savings along the way.
Sally Killington, 43, an executive assistant from Essex, needed to completely renovate a bathroom that hadn’t been touched for decades.
Due to the age of the bathroom, and the fact a new boiler was needed, the renovation cost £10k - but Sally says she saved up to £2.5k along the way by doing lots of research, buying value packs and buying supplies from Amazon and IKEA.
Her bathroom is now absolutely beautiful, and wouldn’t look out of home on the fanciest of Pinterest or Instagram pages.
Sally told money-saving Facebook group DIY On A Budget UK: "I bought my maisonette, my first property alone, in September 2021. At the time, the housing market was booming due to the stamp duty holiday and I only got to see it once, for 10 minutes, before I moved in.
"As a result, I severely underestimated the amount of work needed – with the bathroom being in the most desperate need of modernisation.
"The property once had a water tank so there were large cupboards in the bathroom that used to house it, which were now dead space.
"The bathroom itself was old - I think the sink and toilet may have been the originals from when it was built at the end of the 60s! - and barely functional.
“An electric shower had been installed at some point which was so far back from the end of the bath, you had to practically limbo to get the water to hit you.
"The bath was a cheap acrylic one that would drop as soon as you put the smallest amount of water in it.
"The taps had eroded, the pipes were ugly and exposed, the radiator had rusted and stopped working and the light switch was practically in the middle of the room – it was a bit of a disaster.
"There was also a really old boiler that had had the front panel removed so that needed replacing too.
"I knew that I wanted to utilise the space in the cupboards and I was sure I wanted a bigger bath, so that’s where I started.
"My friend's Dad came over to take a look and firstly suggested that I put a separate shower where the cupboards were, but I wasn’t keen on that idea – it’s just something else that would need to be cleaned!
"So instead we discussed having a large vanity unit and I liked the idea of gaining back some space whilst maintaining some storage so that’s what I went with.
"The boiler had to remain in the bathroom so I decided that I would get some mirrored cabinets to cover it.
"The large mirrored doors would then give the illusion of a bigger space.
"Once I’d decided on how I wanted it to look, finding what I had imagined was a bit of a nightmare!
"It took months of looking at showrooms, going through brochures, trawling websites, reading reviews and so on.
"I wanted it to be modern and clean without looking clinical – but I was also conscious of the fact that I couldn’t just re-do it if I didn’t like it, so it was quite a lot of pressure making decisions.
"I had that many tile samples sent, I could have probably tiled the whole bathroom with them in the end!
"I wanted a bit of colour in there and whilst other colours are more on-trend, I opted for the greenish-blue tiles as blue is my favourite colour so I knew I wouldn’t get bored of it after a couple of years.
"I ended up buying everything separately from different places.
"I bought the main bathroom suite, which included the bath, sink, toilet and vanity, from a bathroom shop called Damans of Witham.
"They were super helpful and humoured me whilst I sent them endless emails about what shape I wanted the sink to be and the exact shade I wanted the vanity etc.
"The mirrored cabinets were bespoke from a company in Portsmouth as typically, bathroom cabinets aren’t made as deep as I needed mine to be.
"And the rest I bought from various online shops including Porcelain superstore, Plumbworld, Big Bathroom Shop and Amazon.
"For a small room, it was a very big job.
"I had to get the professionals in but luckily, my friend's Dad does bathrooms for a living so I knew I had someone I could trust.
"We removed the cupboards and part of the wall, moved the waste for the toilet, moved and replaced the boiler and replaced all the old pipes.
"There were also a lot of false walls put in to cover pipes, and a false ceiling to hide the new electrical wiring.
"It was estimated that it would take two weeks and I moved out for the first week whilst the main demolition was done. It actually ended up taking closer to three weeks for various reasons and was a bit stressful living with it.
"All in all, it cost just over £10k, including the boiler and labour.
“The labour, including plastering, pipes, skip and all building materials, came to £4,250, the electrics were £300, the boiler plus installation was £1,700, the bathroom suite was £1,550, the bespoke cupboards were £670, the tiles were £600 and other bits such as the shower, taps, towel rail, shower screen and lights came to £1,100.
"It was a lot more than I hoped and I had to get a loan to cover it, but I think supply problems this country is currently experiencing made prices skyrocket.
“My tips on saving would be to ask your workman to recommend suppliers – they often have relationships with suppliers that will give you good deals and discounts with a builder’s recommendation.
"Shop around: get the brand and model of things you see in showrooms and look to see if you can find the same products cheaper online.
"Look at delivery costs because sometimes, you may think the cost of something is cheap but the delivery cost can bump it up quite a bit.
"Try and look for things like taps and showers that come in ‘value packs’. For instance, my large shower head, small shower head, triple controls, bath filler and bath waste all came as one pack. Had I bought them separately, the price would have been at least 50% more.
"You don’t have to buy everything from specialist bathroom suppliers. I researched the type of lights that are safe for bathrooms and ended up buying mine from IKEA and Amazon which worked out a fraction of the price of specialist suppliers.
"Plan your budget. Some things simply cost what they cost so it leaves you little wriggle room, but others can range in price wildly so have a budget in mind and only look at the things in that price range.
"But be realistic with your budget: if the bath you like is £300 and you find something similar for £150, chances are it will not be the same quality. Most of what you put in a bathroom is costly to remove and replace so make sure you are buying to last – read those reviews!
"My advice to anyone doing something similar is to do a lot of research before you buy things.
"Read reviews from companies you are ordering from to make sure the products are the quality you are expecting – cheapest isn’t always best!
"Also, order samples where you can. Things look a lot different online than they do in real life.
"And shop around for brands. I often found something in a bathroom shop, took note of the brand and found the same product cheaper online.
"I found joining DIY and interior design Facebook groups for ideas really helpful too – you’ll learn a lot from other people's renovations.
"Think about logistics – you will be using the room for a long time so you not only want it to look nice, but you want it to be functional.
"Is your shower head the right height for you? Where will you put the controls for the shower so that your arm doesn’t get wet every time you turn it on? Does the heated towel rail have the right output to heat your room or do you just need it to be decorative? Is the layout going to be easy to manoeuvre around and accessible to clean?
"And lastly, check everything for damage as soon as it’s delivered. A lot of companies give a really short return window – some as little as 24 hours – so you don’t want it sitting in the box, waiting for installation for a week, only to find out that there is a part missing or it’s broken and you can no longer get a replacement.
"I would estimate I saved between £2,000 and £2,500 by using my money-saving tips. The biggest saving was probably on using the builder's recommendations for suppliers of large goods as they were really helpful in shopping around for what I wanted and keeping within my budget, as well as offering good discounts where they could.
"It was a bit stressful living in such a small flat with such a big job happening – and the dust I will be cleaning up for the rest of my life! But it was worth it.
"When it was finished, I wasn’t sure I even liked it anymore.
"I think I’d put so much effort in to choosing and planning, I was kind of over it at that point.
"But the first night that I sat in that giant bath with a glass of wine and looked around at what a difference it had made, I definitely fell in love with it.”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “Bathroom renovations are notoriously expensive, and very hard for people to take on themselves when you consider the plumbing and electrics experience necessary.
“With the average bathroom renovation costing £6,500 in the UK, it’s easy to see why people put them off for years.
“But now that Sally has taken the plunge and got the bathroom of her dreams, she will enjoy it for years to come: it’s absolutely beautiful!
“The extras like the boiler ended up costing her more, but well done to her for saving an extra £2.5k by being so diligent about research.”
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