How much to charge to fit a bathroom in 2026 (UK)
"How much do you charge to fit a bathroom?" — you get asked it on the phone before you've seen the room, the customer wants a number, and whatever you say off the top of your head tends to become the price in their head.
This guide gives you realistic 2026 ballpark figures to sanity-check your own, broken down so you can see where the money goes. If you want the actual method — how to build a quote line by line so it holds up — read how to price a bathroom refit alongside this.
These figures are indicative and vary a lot by region and spec. They're here as a reference point, not a rate card. You fit bathrooms — your real numbers beat any published range. Treat London and the South East as the top of every band and the North, Wales and the fringes as the bottom.
What "fitting a bathroom" actually means
The phone question hides a huge range. A like-for-like swap and a full refit with walls moving are different jobs at different prices:
- Suite swap (like-for-like): rip out the old suite, fit new in the same spots, minimal tiling. 2–3 days.
- Standard refit: new suite, new layout stays roughly the same, full tiling, some pipework moved. 5–8 days.
- Full refit with changes: moving the layout, knocking out an airing cupboard, new stud walls, underfloor heating, wet room. 8–12+ days.
Never quote a firm price until you know which of these you're being asked for.
Indicative labour cost (2026)
Labour is the part that's really yours to set. Materials you buy in; labour is your day rate times the days.
| Job type | Typical days | Indicative labour |
|---|---|---|
| Suite swap (like-for-like) | 2–3 | £700 – £1,400 |
| Standard refit | 5–8 | £1,800 – £3,500 |
| Full refit / layout change | 8–12+ | £3,500 – £6,000+ |
| Wet room (tanked, formed floor) | 7–12 | £3,000 – £6,000+ |
These assume one experienced fitter (bringing in a tiler or spark as needed). If you sub out tiling or electrics, that cost sits on top or comes out of the total — decide which and make it clear on the quote.
Indicative total (labour + materials)
Customers usually want the all-in number. For a standard mid-range refit, a realistic 2026 total lands somewhere around:
| Spec | Indicative all-in total |
|---|---|
| Budget (own-brand suite, ceramic tiles) | £4,000 – £6,500 |
| Mid-range (branded suite, porcelain, thermostatic shower) | £6,500 – £10,000 |
| High end (premium suite, large-format tiles, UFH, fitted furniture) | £10,000 – £18,000+ |
The suite and tiles are where a customer's "budget" and "high end" separate wildly — the same three days of tiling labour goes onto £8/m² ceramic or £60/m² porcelain. Cost the materials for their actual choices, mark them up 10–20%, and keep them on a separate line so a tile change doesn't blow up your labour price.
What pushes the price up
The stuff that turns a "standard" job into an expensive one — spot these on the survey, because they're where quotes go wrong:
- Moving the soil pipe or the layout — first-fix days you can't see until the walls are open.
- Old properties — no isolation valves, lead or dodgy pipework, walls 20mm out, rotten floors.
- Full-height tiling on all four walls vs a splash area — tiling is often the single biggest labour line.
- Wet rooms — tanking and forming falls is skilled, slow work.
- Electrics — new circuits, UFH, extractor, shower pull all need a Part P registered spark, and that's a chargeable trade.
- Access — third-floor flat, no parking, one skip permit.
Build a 5–10% contingency into older properties so a rotten joist doesn't come out of your margin.
Don't forget VAT
If you're VAT registered, your price must state clearly whether it includes VAT — a £7,000 job is £8,400 with VAT at 20%, and "I thought that was the price" is a fight you don't want after the fact.
Most domestic bathroom work is standard-rated. There are reduced and zero-rated exceptions (some work for disabled people, certain energy-saving measures, conversions and empty-home renovations) — worth knowing they exist, but check the current HMRC rules for the specific job rather than assuming.
Make your number stick
Whatever you quote, protect it with three things on the paper:
- A clear scope — what's included and, just as important, what isn't.
- A deposit — 25–40% up front funds the materials. See how much deposit to take.
- A validity period — "valid 30 days"; material prices move.
The fitter who turns the phone call into a tidy, itemised quote that evening usually wins over the one who takes a week — momentum wins domestic work, and half the battle is just getting a proper quote out fast.
QuoteSnap turns a few notes from the survey into a branded, itemised bathroom quote — labour, materials, VAT and deposit handled — in about a minute from the van. Try the quote tool free for 14 days.