THE COST GUIDE
What a new bathroom actually costs.
Honest ranges for Lancashire in 2026, and the things that move the number up or down.
START HERE
Anyone who quotes a price without seeing the room is guessing.
Bathroom costs attract more nonsense than any other part of a renovation. Search around and you'll find “average” figures from £2,500 to £25,000, all presented as fact. The truth is simpler: a bathroom is priced on the room, the plan and the fittings, and those three things vary enormously from house to house.
What we can do is show you the ranges you'll realistically see in Lancashire, explain what drives the number up or down, and help you compare quotes properly, whoever you end up hiring. If that leads you to us, great. If it just makes you a smarter buyer, that's fine too.
TYPICAL RANGES
What bathrooms cost around here.
Working ranges based on published trade data for the North West and the jobs we quote every week. Treat them as a starting point, not a quote.
£2,000 – £5,000
Labour for a complete installation: strip-out, plumbing, tiling, fitting and finishing, with you supplying the suite and materials.
£6,000 – £12,000
The complete job. Everything supplied and fitted, from the suite and tiles to the last line of sealant. The most common way customers do it.
£5,000 – £10,000
Typically a touch less than a main bathroom, though wet room tanking and awkward pipe runs can close the gap quickly.
£6,500 – £12,000
Tanking, drainage and floor work make wet rooms the most involved option. Superb when done properly, expensive when done cheaply.
Prices assume a standard-sized room with no structural work. Anything hidden behind the old tiles, like failed pipework or a floor that needs attention, is priced once we've seen it, and always before we proceed.
WHAT MOVES THE NUMBER
Eight things that change your quote.
Layout changes. Swapping a bath for a shower is a simple day's work. Moving the toilet to the other wall means re-routing waste pipework, lifting floors and sometimes ceilings. This is where budgets move fastest.
Tiling area. A half-tiled room and a floor-to-ceiling wet room can differ by thousands in materials and labour alone. Larger tiles mean fewer grout lines and faster days, but they need flatter walls to start with.
The specification. Two bathrooms can look similar and cost £4,000 apart. Brassware, furniture, shower systems and mirrors are where the range lives. A cheap shower valve and a good one both get you clean, but only one still feels new in ten years.
Wet room or standard. Wet rooms need full tanking, a waterproof membrane under the tiles, and usually a re-graded floor for drainage. Done right, it's invisible and lasts decades. Done cheaply, it's a leak waiting to happen.
Ventilation and lighting. Extractor fans, spotlights and shaver points are small line items that add up. Skipping extraction is a false economy in a room that steams every day.
The room you start with. Old pipework, previous DIY and uneven floors all add prep time. Prep is the least glamorous part of the bill and the most important.
Access. Tight parking, narrow staircases and upstairs bathrooms add real time to every delivery and every waste run. It's rarely mentioned in quotes, and it should be.
Who supplies what. We can supply everything, or fit pieces you've chosen yourself. Supply is usually simpler, because everything arrives matched and covered by one guarantee, but there are savings in sourcing some items yourself.
BEFORE YOU BOOK
How to compare quotes properly.
When quotes for the “same” bathroom differ by thousands, they're rarely quoting the same job. Compare on these five things:
Itemisation. A good quote lists what's included and, just as importantly, what isn't. A single lump sum tells you nothing about what happens when the floorboards come up.
Exclusions. Tiling? Waste removal? Extractor? Ask what's left out, then price those items in yourself before comparing totals.
Prep and protection. Tanking, floor prep and dust protection are invisible in the finished room and expensive to retrofit. Ask how each will be handled.
Timescale and sequence. A clear schedule protects you from a bathroom that sits half-finished for a month. Ask how many days on site, and in what order.
Guarantees. Ask what's covered, for how long, and who to call if something goes wrong in year three.
THE BIT NOBODY TELLS YOU
Why the cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest job.
A full bathroom for £2,500 sounds like a bargain until the shower leaks into the kitchen ceiling. The parts of a bathroom that fail are the parts you can't see: tanking, sealing, pipework and prep. Cutting those is the easiest way to shave a quote, and the most expensive way to save money.
None of this means paying top dollar. It means comparing like for like, asking what's underneath, and choosing the quote that accounts for the boring bits. That's the one that lasts.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Straight answers on bathroom money.
How much does a small bathroom cost to renovate?
Small rooms save on materials but not on time, because the fitting days barely change. As a guide, a complete small bathroom renovation in Lancashire typically lands between £5,000 and £8,000.
Do your prices include the bathroom suite and tiles?
They can. We can supply everything, or fit materials you've chosen yourself. Your quote will make clear what's included either way.
How long does a bathroom installation take?
Most full installations take one to two weeks on site. Layout changes, wet rooms and hidden surprises can add time, and you'll get a clear schedule before we start.
Is a wet room more expensive than a standard bathroom?
Usually, yes. Tanking, drainage and floor work make wet rooms more involved. Done properly they're superb, and done cheaply they're a false economy.
Why do quotes vary so much for the same bathroom?
Usually because they aren't for the same job. Different specifications, different prep, different inclusions. Itemised quotes are the only way to compare fairly.
What's included in a Cooper Plumbing & Heating quote?
Everything we know about: labour, materials if we're supplying, what's excluded and why, and the schedule. It's itemised, it's free, and it comes after a proper site visit.
Want a real number for your bathroom?
Book a free site visit and you'll get an itemised quote you can compare against anyone.