What is in a full bathroom renovation? A line-by-line BOQ breakdown

Complete is supposed to say that the price covers all the work from the start to a bathroom ready to use: both materials and labor, with no surprises in the middle. In practice different contractors put different things into their complete, so the same word covers jobs that aren't the same.

The only way to know what you bought is a BOQ: an ordered list of every stage of the work with its quantity. A detailed BOQ lets you see exactly what is in, compare contractors on the same basis, and catch a dropped line before it comes back as an extra. A one-line quote, a single sum with no breakdown, isn't a cheaper quote. It's just a quote you can't check.

With us, every quote is a transparent BOQ you see in front of you: every stage, what it includes, and what sits outside it. That way it's clear from the start what you're paying for, and no line shows up only after the room has already been torn out.

Every bathroom renovation starts with taking out the existing. This line covers stripping the tiles and floor, sometimes down to the concrete, removing the old fixtures, and cleaning the base so you can build on it again. In older rooms, this is also the stage where you find out what's really hiding behind the walls.

Two lines drop here most often. The first is waste removal: getting the rubble out of the home and hauling it to a licensed disposal site, a real line in cost and time, not something that happens on its own. The second is base repair after demolition, leveling and prepping the surface before waterproofing and tiling. If the base isn't level, no tiling will sit on it well.

This is one of the easiest lines to hide in a quote, and one of the most expensive to fix after the fact. Plumbing covers the water points, the pipe runs, the waste and drain connections, and sometimes relocating a point when a toilet or shower moves from its spot. The important question is whether the pipes themselves are replaced or just reconnected.

In an old bathroom, old iron pipes or worn connections are a time bomb. If the wall is going to be opened anyway, this is the right moment to replace questionable pipes, because reopening a tiled wall in three years costs several times more. It's worth confirming in the quote whether pipe replacement is in, or whether it'll appear as an extra the moment something turns up behind the wall.

We work plumbing as part of the core, not as an occasional subcontractor, and we show in the BOQ what the water stage includes: which points, what is replaced and what is reconnected, and every pipe penetration that needs dedicated sealing around it.

If there's one line you must never let drop from a quote, it's the waterproofing line. Waterproofing is the envelope that stops water from getting under the tiles into the concrete, into the adjoining wall and into the neighbor's flat below. It sits under the tiles, so when it's missing or done carelessly you can't see it, until damp appears and a finished room has to be torn out to reach it.

This is where the cheap-quote trap sits. It's very easy to drop the price by skipping a dedicated waterproofing layer, leaning on tile adhesive as if it seals, or giving up the flood test that proves the waterproofing works before tiling. The room will look finished and clean like one that was sealed properly, and the difference only shows up when it's too late.

With us the waterproofing line is the center of the job, not an add-on to it: double waterproofing in the wet areas, a documented flood test before tiling, and a written warranty on wet work. When you compare quotes, this line is the first one to confirm exists and is detailed, because a quote without real waterproofing isn't cheaper. It just pushes the cost forward, and grows it.

The tiling line covers laying the tiles on the floor and walls, filling the grout, and every finish detail around it: thresholds, corners and edges. There's a big difference here between tiling that sits flat with even grout lines and tiling that looks fine at first glance but is wavy and imprecise.

The materials themselves, the tiles, are usually a separate line from the labor, and sometimes yours to buy entirely. It's worth checking in the quote whether the tile price is in or out, and up to what price per meter. A particularly expensive tile or a large format that needs complex cutting work can move the price, so they're set against the finish you chose.

Fewer grout lines means fewer weak points over time, so choosing the tile format isn't only about looks but about durability too. We present labor and material separately in the BOQ, so you know what you're paying for the work and what for the tile.

The last stage is what you see: toilet, basin, taps, shower, vanity, mirror and sometimes shower glass. Here it matters to separate two lines that get mixed up a lot: the price of the fixtures themselves, and the line for installing them. It's easy to see a quote that includes installation but assumes you'll buy the fixtures yourself, or the other way around.

If the fixture price is inside the quote, ask what price range it assumes. A basic fixture range and a premium one are a meaningful gap, and without a clear range it's easy to reach a final price different from what you pictured. If the fixtures are yours, make sure the installation, connection and sealing around them are included in the work.

We separate the fixtures line from the installation line in the BOQ, and when the fixtures are yours we state a range for orientation only so you can budget, without it counting as a fixed price.

Even in a fair, detailed quote there are lines that are normally left out, simply because they aren't known in advance or depend on your choice. Better to know about them at the start than to run into them mid-job. These are the lines most worth asking about before you sign.

Some depend on what's found after demolition, like repairing rotted infrastructure or questionable pipes that weren't visible before. Others depend on you, like a finish upgrade or fixtures more expensive than the priced range. A good quote doesn't commit to what can't be seen in advance, but it does tell you clearly what isn't included and how it'll be priced if it comes up.

Once you know all the lines, it's easier to read a quote and see what's missing. A good quote doesn't have to be the most expensive one, but it has to be detailed enough that you can check it and compare it to another on the same basis.

The numbers will always stay a range until the site visit, because two same-size rooms can need completely different work depending on the state of the infrastructure and the finish you choose. So we don't give a fixed price over the phone, we come, see the room, and produce a transparent BOQ you can check line by line.