Bathroom renovations are among the most often done refurbishment activities in the UK and around the globe, and for most cases, the result will increase the property value significantly. What are the main reasons behind bathroom renovations? How is it done and what you need to look out for? It is worth it? These are the questions we are going to address in our article about bathroom renovations in Manchester.
Surprisingly, a significant portion of all bathroom remodelings is triggered by having the necessary money to invest, while less than a third of the cases are initiated by broken equipment or deterioration. Naturally, the majority of the refurbishments are complete changes, especially aiming at the installed devices.
Setting up goals
Budgeting is the absolute most important part of any refurbishment, and to do it well, you need to ask a few questions of yourself. Let’s start with setting up the overall goals.
- What is your goal with the refurbishment? Do you plan to live or stay in the apartment and plan to increase its level of comfort? Or is it a property you recently bought as an investor, and you want to realize profits as soon as possible?
- Especially if you are an investor planning the refurbishment, planning the potential buyer’s persona is key to create an easy-to-sell home. If you are targeting young couples or pensioners are two extremely different routes to success. For example, the latter group will appreciate functions and equipment to assist the mobility of older residents, while the former would rather opt-in for a Wi-Fi-compatible boiler.
- How much time do you have for the project? Are you planning a DIY solution and take off a few weeks with your friends? Do you plan to involve a professional constructor for other activities than the legally obliged ones (including boiler, chimney, and plumbing installation)?
Reviewing practical aspects
There are also quite a few practical factors affecting your opportunities. You don’t want to miss asking these questions yourself.
- What style fits the property and, even more so, the surroundings? Though Pinterest is a great repository of inspirational bathroom pictures, an Ancient Roman style might not be the best fit for a small apartment on the ground floor. While on the other hand, if you have caught a great deal, and have bought a house in a luxurious area, IKEA is probably not your best bet. You need a style that sits well.
- How many people are going to use the bathroom? This triggers many aspects, including but not limited to hot water storage, toilet separation, size of the bathtub, potential performance, and functionality of the installed equipment.
- What is of primary importance: comfort and easy cleaning, or trendy design? These rarely walk hand-in-hand, while the answer is again heavily affected by the targeted age group.
- What is the available space for the bathroom? Is it possible or necessary to increase the size at the expense of other rooms? Do you plan to have the toilet area separated, or on the contrary, integrated with the common bathroom area?
Answering these questions will instantly get you closer to a rough budget, for which we strongly advise involving a professional renovation specialist.
How to choose the right renovation specialist?
Always start with asking for an in-personal, onsite survey. A professional expert is unable to provide a proper quote without checking out the bathroom area and the property in person. Ask for references along with the quote, and prepare for a little math exercise.
Constructors often have their own, unique templates for quoting that may or may not be comparable with their competitors’. While assessing the different documents, always calculate a common ground, as you want to compare apples with apples instead of apples with elephants. There might be a company calculating only the necessary amounts of raw materials, while others may leave in a safety reserve.
Don’t forget to review their references, and if possible talk to the owners about their impressions of the company.
How does a professional bathroom renovation look like?
- The very first step in the renovation process is demolition. The renovator will have to take out the furniture, fittings, then dismantle the old covering, tiles, and floor.
- Then they start carving out the walls and replace the pipes, which is important to be done, even if the plumbing seems intact, to increase the lifetime of the otherwise unreachable parts.
- Once the raw materials are in place, the pipes and partitions will be installed. This is followed by paving, concreting, or setting up plasterboard walls. Uneven walls should be corrected with plaster.
- After cladding, the constructor will install the bathtub or shower enclosure, followed by grouting. In the end, the bathroom utensils and sanitary ware (hand basin, toilet, washbasin, other furniture, and decoration elements) are replaced.
Why invest in bathroom renovations at all?
If we exclude the obvious, i.e. regulatory obligations, broken bathroom ware, or equipment, investing in a bathroom refurbishment offers a great return of investment. While the new owners will most likely renovate or rearrange the living and bedrooms, premises with built-in equipment, such as the kitchen and bathroom, are less frequently touched.
A professional renovation expert can help you in choosing the right style, decoration, equipment within your budget that will uplift the overall appearance of the property. If it is for sale or if you plan to rent it, the bathroom is among the most important decision factors. If targeted and planned well, a stylish bathroom can win you multiple times more than the cost of renovation.
If you plan to have your bathroom refurbished in the Manchester area, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us for a free quote.
What we can help you with:
- Support in choosing the right style for your bathroom
- Planning
- Carefully choosing the best available elements from raw materials to furniture and equipment to fit your budget
- Providing a free and non-binding quote that is easy-to-understand and ready-for-comparison
- Renovating with exceptional care, even if you plan to use the property during the construction period
- Doing the work in a timely manner within the agreed budget.
Get in touch with us, we are here to help you.
