Ask three people what a new bathroom costs and you will get three very different answers, usually because they are describing three very different bathrooms. As a bathroom and kitchen refit business working across Lee-on-the-Solent, Gosport and the wider Solent area, we get asked this almost daily. Here is an honest breakdown of what UK homeowners actually pay in 2026, and why the number varies so much.
For a standard family bathroom of around 2m x 2m, most UK homeowners pay somewhere between 5,500 and 14,000 pounds for a full rip-out and refit, including labour, materials and sanitaryware. That is a wide range, so it helps to break it into tiers.
A budget refit reuses the existing layout, fits sensible mid-market sanitaryware and keeps tiling to the wet areas. A mid-range job might move the odd pipe, tile floor to ceiling in the shower zone and add underfloor heating or a better shower enclosure. High-end work involves layout changes, large-format tiles, wall-hung toilets with concealed cisterns and premium brassware, and can comfortably exceed 15,000 pounds.
Labour is usually 40 to 50 percent of the total. A full refit involves stripping out, first-fix plumbing and electrics, plastering or boarding, waterproofing, tiling, second fix and decoration, and typically takes two to three weeks on site. In Hampshire and along the south coast, day rates sit close to the national average, a little below London but above much of the north.
Beyond labour, the biggest swings come from tiling and layout. Floor-to-ceiling tiling can double the tiling bill compared with tiling wet areas only, and moving the toilet or shower means new soil and waste runs, which adds days of work. Older properties, and there are plenty of 1930s to 1960s homes around Lee-on-the-Solent and Stubbington, often reveal surprises once the old suite comes out: corroded pipework, rotten floorboards under a leaking bath, or walls that need replastering before a tile can go anywhere near them.
You can save meaningfully by keeping the existing layout, choosing a fitted shower tray over a wet room, and picking mid-market sanitaryware. A 300 pound basin and a 1,200 pound basin do broadly the same job, and much of the difference disappears once it is plumbed in.
Do not economise on waterproofing, the shower valve, or the labour itself. A failed shower seal or a leak inside a stud wall costs far more to put right than it would have cost to do properly, and it is the most common problem we are called out to fix on bathrooms fitted cheaply a few years earlier.
Get itemised quotes rather than a single figure, so you can see what is included: strip-out and waste disposal, first and second fix, tiling per square metre, and whether sanitaryware is supplied or you are buying it yourself. Two quotes that look 2,000 pounds apart are often covering different scopes of work.
Hold back a contingency of around 10 to 15 percent for what turns up behind the old suite. If it is not needed, you have a head start on the towels and accessories. And be wary of any quote that seems dramatically cheaper than the rest; in this trade that usually means corners on the parts you cannot see.
A straightforward like-for-like refit usually takes 10 to 15 working days on site. Layout changes, wet rooms or plastering throughout can stretch that to three or four weeks, so plan alternative washing arrangements for at least the first week.
Yes, many customers buy their own sanitaryware and tiles, and a good fitter will happily work that way. Just agree the specification before ordering, because the wrong waste position or an undersized shower tray can hold up the whole job.
A tired bathroom actively puts buyers off, so replacing one generally protects value and helps a sale rather than delivering a pound-for-pound return. Most estate agents suggest keeping the spend proportionate to the property, which for a typical Solent-area home means a mid-range refit rather than a luxury one.
Call, email or WhatsApp a few photos of the job. We will come back to you with an honest opinion and a clear price.
Lee-on-the-Solent, Gosport, Stubbington, Hill Head, Fareham, Portchester, Warsash and along the Solent coast.