What a bathroom renovation actually costs in Melbourne
The most-asked question in our trade, and the one most builders avoid answering. Here are real numbers.
Worked example: a 1960s Altona North bathroom at around $35,000, including asbestos removal, a plumbing upgrade and a dropped subfloor.
Our range
A full bathroom renovation with us typically runs $25,000 to $45,000. That is a complete strip-out to the frame, new waterproofing, plumbing, electrical, tiling, fixtures and fit-off — not a resurface or a partial update.
Why the range is so wide
The single biggest variable is whether the layout changes. Keeping every fixture where it is keeps plumbing costs down. Moving a toilet, relocating a shower, or combining a separate bath and toilet into one room adds drainage work, and drainage is the expensive part — it means opening the floor.
The second variable is what we find once the room is open. Rotten subfloor, failed waterproofing that has been leaking quietly for years, undersized framing, or old plumbing that cannot legally be reconnected. In houses built before about 1960, some of this is common enough that we plan for the possibility rather than treating it as a shock.
Where the money actually goes
Roughly speaking, labour and trades account for more than half. Tiling is the largest single labour line in most bathrooms, and it scales with tile size and pattern far more than with tile price — a mosaic or herringbone layout can add days. Fixtures and finishes are where you have the most control, and where the difference between a sensible choice and an extravagant one is measured in thousands rather than tens of thousands.
What makes a quote go up after you accept it
Variations. Ours are rare, and that is deliberate — we open things up and think through the likely problems before we price, rather than pricing optimistically and adjusting later. A cheaper initial quote that grows by twenty per cent is not cheaper.
If your budget is tighter than that
Talk to us anyway. What we cannot do is a partial renovation, a shower repair or a cosmetic refresh — that is simply not the work we are set up for. But within a full renovation there is real room to move on layout, materials and finishes, and we would rather show you where than assume the answer.
Talk to us about your project
Sven answers the phone himself. Every enquiry gets a reply within one business day.