Search "bathroom fitters London" and you get two very different kinds of result: individual fitters who will hang a bath and tile around it, and full refurbishment companies who coordinate every trade from strip-out to snagging. Choosing between them — and vetting whichever one you pick — is where most bathroom projects in Central London go right or wrong, usually before a single tile has been laid.
This isn't a pricing guide or a timeline guide; we've written those separately and you can find them at bathroom refurbishment costs in London and how long a bathroom refurbishment actually takes. This is about what to check before you commit to a fitter, because a bathroom is one of the few rooms in a flat where a mistake doesn't just look bad — it leaks into the flat below.
Before the questions: which of the four jobs are you actually buying?
There are at least four distinct jobs hiding under the same search term, and they carry very different price points and very different skill requirements:
- Replace suite only, like-for-like — swapping a bath, basin, toilet or shower for a similar one in the same position, without moving pipework or altering waterproofing. This is the cheapest and fastest option, and on our published price list it runs from £1,800.
- Bathroom installation — first and second fix (labour only) — a fitter installing a new bathroom into an already-prepared shell: first fix pipework and containment, then second fix sanitaryware and fittings. This is labour-only pricing from £2,800, with materials priced separately.
- Compact or cloakroom refurbishment — a small bathroom or WC done properly, including waterproofing and tiling, typically from £5,500.
- Full bathroom refurbishment — strip-out, waterproofing, tiling, new pipework, new electrics and finishing, typically from £7,000, or from £9,500 for a wet room conversion.
1. A single point of accountability, or a chain of trades?
The core decision is whether you want one company responsible for the whole job — plumbing, electrics, tiling, waterproofing, plastering — or whether you're assembling your own team of separate fitters. A single accountable contractor means one person to call if the shower tray leaks in six months, rather than a plumber pointing at the tiler and the tiler pointing at the plumber. For anything beyond a like-for-like swap, that single point of contact is usually worth paying for.
2. Who is actually doing the electrical work?
Bathrooms are classed as "special locations" under the wiring regulations, and electrical work in the zones around a bath or shower is notifiable under Building Regulations Part P in England. That means downlights, extractor fans, shaver sockets and any new circuit need to be installed — and certified — by someone qualified to sign it off, not fitted by a tiler as an afterthought. Ask specifically who is doing the electrics and whether you'll receive a certificate at the end. If a fitter can't answer that clearly, that's a red flag on its own.
3. Ask to see the waterproofing method, not just the tiles
The tiles are the part everyone looks at. The tanking underneath them is the part that determines whether your flat has a bathroom problem or a downstairs neighbour's insurance claim in three years' time. A proper fitter should be able to explain — unprompted — how they're waterproofing the floor and the shower walls, what membrane or tanking system they use, and how they treat penetrations like pipework and waste outlets. If the answer is vague, or amounts to "we tile straight onto the boards," walk away. Our guide to wet room waterproofing and tanking covers what a competent job actually involves.
4. Do they know your building type?
A Victorian mansion block in Marylebone, a purpose-built 1930s block in St John's Wood and a converted terrace in Bayswater all behave differently under a bathroom refurbishment — different floor build-ups, different riser access, different leasehold consent requirements. A fitter who has only ever worked on new-build flats may not think to check whether your lease requires freeholder consent before work starts, or whether a wet room conversion is even permitted. Ask directly whether they've worked in similar buildings, and check our page on freeholder consent for bathroom refurbishment if you're a leaseholder and unsure whether this applies to you.
5. Building Regulations compliance, not just "it looks fine"
Beyond Part P, bathroom work can trigger Building Regulations requirements around ventilation, water efficiency and drainage falls. A fitter who understands this will mention it before you ask — extractor fan sizing, whether the floor needs a fall to a gully in a wet room, whether waste pipe runs meet current standards. If none of this comes up in the initial conversation, ask. Our page on building regulations for bathrooms in London sets out what's actually required.
6. A written, itemised quote before work starts
A fixed, itemised quote protects both sides. It should separate labour, materials, and any allowances for tiles or sanitaryware you're choosing yourself, so you know exactly what happens if you upgrade a fitting halfway through. Verbal estimates that "firm up on the day" are how bathroom jobs run over budget — ask for the quote in writing and query anything that isn't itemised.
7. How they sequence the work
Strip-out, first fix plumbing and electrics, waterproofing, tiling, second fix, then snagging — in that order, with each stage signed off before the next begins. If you're doing a bathroom alongside a kitchen or other rooms, the sequencing gets more involved; our guide to sequencing a kitchen and bathroom refurbishment together explains how the trades should overlap without treading on each other.
8. References you can actually check, not just photos
Photos on a website show you the finished tiling. They don't tell you whether the job ran to time, whether the waterproofing has held up, or whether the fitter was easy to deal with when something needed adjusting. Ask for a recent job in a similar building, ideally one you can ring the owner about, not just look at online.
9. A proper snagging process at the end
Every bathroom job, however well it's run, ends with a snagging list — grout lines to finish, a door that needs adjusting, silicone that needs a second pass. What separates a good fitter from an average one is whether they expect and welcome that list, or treat it as an argument. Ask upfront how they handle snagging and what the timeframe is for sorting it. Our page on managing a snagging list after refurbishment is a useful reference to bring to that conversation.
Where this fits with cost and timeframe
Once you've vetted a fitter against these nine points, cost and time become far easier conversations, because you're comparing like with like rather than comparing a full tanking-and-waterproofing job against a quick tile-over. Bathroom refurbishment work typically starts from £2,800 for the labour and coordination, with the final figure depending on layout changes, waterproofing scope and finishes — details we set out fully on our costs page.
A bathroom fitter who answers all nine questions confidently, in writing, before you've paid a deposit, is doing exactly what a good one should. One who bristles at being asked is telling you something too.