It is the first question we are asked, and the honest answer has two parts: the working days and the waiting days. Anyone who counts only the first gives you a date they will not keep.
The stages, one by one
Demolition — 1 to 2 days
Everything comes out down to the blockwork: sanitaryware, tiling, suspended ceilings, often the screed. It is the noisiest stage and the one that produces all the waste.
Water, waste and electrics — 2 to 3 days
Chasing walls, running pipework, setting the falls, pulling cables. At the end, a pressure test on the water. Only then does anything get closed up.
Masonry and levelling — 2 to 3 days, plus curing
Filling chases, building partitions, levelling walls and floor. This is where the first real wait comes in: mortars need to cure before they can take waterproofing.
Waterproofing — 1 day, plus 1 to 2 drying
The shower area and the floor. It is quick to apply and the drying cannot be rushed.
Tiling — 3 to 5 days
Laying the ceramic or the stone, with the joints set out beforehand. Then 24 hours for the adhesive to cure before grouting.
Ceilings, painting and joinery — 3 to 4 days
Suspended ceiling, joints taped in three passes with sanding in between, and the paint over the top.
Stone and worktops — measure, then 7 to 10 days waiting
This is the wait that surprises people most. The worktop can only be measured once the units are fitted, and from then there is a week and a half in the stone workshop. That is why this stage is booked as early as possible.
Fitting sanitaryware and ironmongery — 1 to 2 days
WC, shower tray, taps, screen, silicone and the final clean.
Adding it up
A complete bathroom, with no surprises and with all the materials in the house at the start, takes three to four weeks. Not a fortnight — and anyone who tells you a fortnight is counting only the days somebody is inside.
Work does not stop because there is nothing to do. It stops because a part was ordered too late.
The three reasons for delay
1. Materials ordered late
Reason number one, by a distance. A ceramic that is out of stock can take three weeks to arrive. Choosing the materials before the work starts is not bureaucracy: it is what makes the timescale real.
2. What turns up inside the wall
Iron risers drilled through, a beam where it should not be, damp coming from next door. In an old building it is common and it cannot be predicted — what can be predicted is some slack in the timescale.
3. Decisions put off
The grout colour, the tap model, the height of the mirror. They look like details and they stop a crew for a whole day. We draw up the list of decisions at the start, each with its own deadline.
If you want a firm date for your bathroom, book the visit. Once we have seen the services and the layout, we give you a date and write it into the quote.
