How to hire
Start by matching the worker to the job. A bathroom fitter owns the refit: rip-out, suite, tiling, sealing and finishing. Plumbing alterations belong to a plumber, ideally one listed on the WaterSafe register [1]. Anything touching a gas boiler must by law be handled by a Gas Safe registered engineer, so ask for the registration and check it [5]. Say which room, what is moving and what stays when you first enquire.
Treat bathroom electrics as specialist work. New circuits, showers and much bathroom wiring count as notifiable work, which must be certified and signed off through a registered competent person or building control [9]. Ask who does the electrical part, which certificate you receive and who notifies it. Get the answer in writing on the quote, and file the certificate with your house papers.
Telford and Wrekin's building control team draws a useful line for bathroom work: fitting a new bathroom, en suite or WC with new drainage needs building regulations approval, while renovating one that already stands there normally does not [12]. Where your job adds drainage, ask who makes the application and get the completion certificate before you pay the final balance, since the council recommends holding payment until that certificate is issued [11] [12]. If you are unsure, contact the council's building control team before work starts rather than regularising afterwards [12].
Extra rules apply in parts of the borough. The council lists eight conservation areas, including Wellington and the Severn Gorge, where works that need no permission elsewhere can need it there [13]. Inside the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site an Article 4 Direction means minor alterations that need no permission elsewhere can need it there, and listed cottages need listed building consent for works affecting their character, so Gorge owners should read the council's residents guide before agreeing a scope [14]. Name the street in your first enquiry, since consent-first jobs run longer.
Trade associations add back-up but prove less than a register. Bathroom specialists may belong to the KBSA and builders to the Federation of Master Builders, and both bodies set standards their members should follow [3] [4]. TrustMark points to checks on trading practices as well as competence [2]. If a firm claims any membership, look it up on that body's own site rather than trusting a logo, and ask what complaint route comes with it [6].
Get at least three itemised quotes on the same written scope, so you compare like with like [6]. Each should separate labour, materials and VAT, name the suite and fittings, give start and finish dates, and state how waste disposal and making-good are handled, since extras such as disposal mount up fast [6]. A deposit for ordering the suite is normal, while full payment before completion is not, so question anyone asking for most of it upfront [6].
Ask who will actually be in your bathroom. Fitters often bring in tilers, electricians or plasterers, which is fine when it is planned [6]. Get the names, the days each trade attends and who project-manages them, plus one contact when something slips. If you buy the suite yourself while the fitter supplies fixings, write down exactly where that boundary sits.
At the end, collect the paperwork before you pay the balance: the itemised invoice, the written warranty terms with their length, any electrical certificate and building notification, and receipts for deposits and stage payments. If faults appear after you have paid, write to the firm promptly while the job is fresh. Citizens Advice sets out your options when a trader dispute stands [10]. File everything with your house papers for the day you sell or let. Tie stage payments to visible progress and hold the final balance until the snag list is cleared and every certificate is in your hands.
A typical job runs from first enquiry and home measure to itemised quote, suite order, rip-out and first fix, tiling and finishing, then one walk-through, one snag list and sign-off. Say at the start whether the home is a terrace near Dawley or Madeley, an estate home around Lawley, or a Gorge cottage, since access and pipework surprises differ across them. On waste, the borough's recycling centres take household rubbish only and turn trade waste away, so the quote should state who carts the old suite off and where that cost sits [15].
Plan the practicalities before the start date. Agree working hours, parking, and washing arrangements while the bathroom is out of use, plus how dust and waste leave the house each day. Confirm who protects the floors and who returns for sealant, grout and paint touch-ups. Put the snag process in writing: one walk-through, one list and one return visit.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, national guides put a full bathroom, suite plus fitting, at roughly five and a half to eight thousand pounds including materials, averaging around seven thousand, with basic refreshes from about four thousand and luxury refits past fourteen thousand [8]. Most standard installations take five to ten days [8]. Use those bands to sense-check the quotes you receive rather than as a quote for your room.
The parts tell you where the money goes. Expect roughly one hundred and seventy-five to three hundred and fifty pounds to fit a toilet, one hundred to two hundred and seventy-five for a basin, two hundred and fifty to four hundred for a bath, and two hundred and fifty to seven hundred and fifty for a shower, with enclosures higher again [8]. Ripping out the old suite runs several hundred pounds, wall tiling around a thousand, and first- and second-fix plumbing well over a thousand on a full job [8].
Job type sets the starting point. A like-for-like suite swap in the same positions is the simplest brief, a strip-and-refit with moved fittings and fresh tiling sits above it, and a walk-in shower or wet room adds tanking and drainage days on top [7] [8]. Adding a bathroom or en suite where none existed runs dearest, since new drainage and building control approval join the bill [8] [12]. Price each type on its own quote rather than scaling one figure to another.
Layout moves the price most. Keeping the suite where the plumbing already runs holds the price down, while moving the toilet or waste pipe, hanging a wall-hung frame, tanking a wet room, or choosing stone tiles and underfloor heating all add labour and specialist days [7]. The age and condition of the room, access for getting a bath upstairs, and whether one firm or several trades attend also shift the final figure.
Ask whether VAT sits inside or on top of every figure, and get the scope in writing before work starts: exactly which suite, tiles and making-good are included, what changes the price if the fitter finds worse pipework than expected, and stage payments tied to visible progress. Keep every quote, invoice and warranty together, and treat any single fixed price for a large job with no breakdown as a question, not an answer.
Red flags
Quotes a full refit without visiting, measuring, or asking for photos of the room and pipework.
Cannot say who does the plumbing, electrics and tiling, or whether subcontractors are used [6].
Gives one fixed price for a large job with no breakdown of labour, materials and VAT [6].
Asks for full payment, or most of it, before the suite is even ordered [6].
Offers boiler or gas work without a Gas Safe registration you can check [5].
Promises electrical work in the bathroom with no mention of a certificate or notification [9].
Will not put the scope, price, start date and warranty terms in writing before starting.
Presses for a suite choice on the first visit with a discount that expires that day.
Plans to tile over the old finish without saying how the wall behind stays dry.