Bathrooms that stay watertight

It depends mostly on whether the layout stays or the toilet and shower move, so we don't publish a price list. What we do is make our quote easy to compare. It's itemised: strip-out, waterproofing, tiling, fixtures, licensed trades, and a named allowance for anything we can't confirm until the room is open. Put it beside two other quotes and you'll see what each one has left out.

A standard bathroom generally runs three to four weeks from strip-out to handover. The waterproofing cure and the 24-hour flood test that follows it are fixed waits that cannot be compressed, and tiling cannot start until both are done. Older homes can add time if what is behind the walls differs from what was expected.

We flood test every bathroom. After the membrane has cured, the floor waste is plugged, the room is filled with water and left for 24 hours. A drop in the level, or damp showing anywhere below, means there is a fault to fix while it is still easy to reach. Tiling only starts once it passes, and it is part of the waterproofing stage on every job, not something you have to ask for.

A like-for-like bathroom renovation usually does not require approval. It can change if you are moving walls, altering the building's structure, or working on a heritage-listed property. We will tell you at the quote stage if we think approval applies to your job.

Often yes, and it will save money. Keeping the toilet, vanity and shower in their current positions avoids re-running waste lines. Moving them is possible but the cost sits in the floor and wall work, not the fixtures.

Old bathrooms hide things — previous leaks, damaged framing, asbestos sheeting in mid-century homes. We stop, show you what we have found, and price the additional work before continuing. It does not get absorbed quietly into the job.

No. Once the strip-out starts the room is out of use until handover. If it is the only bathroom in the house, that is worth planning around before we book a start date.

Either. Some clients want to choose their own tapware and tiles, others prefer an allowance in the quote and a shortlist from us. Both work — the important thing is that it is settled before the rough-in, because fixture choice changes where the plumbing goes.

Yes. Sydney Property Works Pty Ltd holds NSW Contractor Licence 492200C for Kitchen, Bathroom and Laundry Renovation, current to 10 March 2029 with a clean record on the Fair Trading register. We carry $10 million public liability and workers compensation through icare NSW, and send you a certificate of currency before work starts. Bathrooms over $20,000 also carry Home Building Compensation Fund cover, with the certificate sent to you before we take a deposit or start work.

Statutory warranties under the NSW Home Building Act apply automatically to bathroom renovation work and cannot be contracted out of — six years from completion for a major defect, two years for anything else, with an extra six months to raise anything that surfaces in the final six months of that period. The waterproofing itself is certified at completion too, so there is a paper trail behind the warranty as well as the warranty itself.