A wet room is a waterproofing job with a bathroom fitted on top. Most of the cost sits in work you will never see again once the tiling goes down, which is exactly why price comparisons between quotes are so misleading.
The cost stack, from the floor up
- Strip out and floor preparation, £400 to £900. Lifting the old floor, checking joists or screed, and making a flat and sound base.
- Former and drainage, £500 to £1,400. Sloped former or formed falls, plus a centre gully or linear channel and the waste run back to the stack.
- Tanking system, £450 to £1,100. Primer, corner and joint tapes, pipe collars and two coats of membrane, all from one system.
- Tiling, £1,400 to £4,500. Driven by area, tile format and how much cutting the room forces.
- Sanitaryware, screens and brassware, £900 to £3,000. Your main area of control.
- Electrics and ventilation, £350 to £900. Extraction, lighting and any new circuit, tested and certified.
Where local houses add cost
- Victorian and Edwardian terraces often have shallow or notched joists that need strengthening before a recessed former is safe.
- 1960s and 1970s semis frequently have solid ground floors, which suits a build up with a shallow threshold ramp.
- Older properties can still have the original soil position on an outside wall, which either helps or hurts depending on where the drain needs to be.
Ways to bring the number down honestly
- Make only the shower zone a wet area rather than tanking the entire room.
- Keep the drain near the existing waste.
- Use a 300mm by 600mm porcelain rather than a large format that needs a perfectly flat substrate.
- Choose a fixed glass panel instead of a full enclosure.
Things that should never be cut
- Full tanking to the wet zone walls and floor, taken above splash height.
- A proper fall to the drain, checked with water before tiling.
- Mechanical extraction sized for the room.
Free survey, fixed written price
We will tell you at the survey which build method your floor allows and price it properly. Plumbing, tiling and electrics are all handled in house by our own team, we are fully insured, 5 star rated and over 25 years into fitting bathrooms in this area.
Common questions
How much does a wet room cost?
A full wet room in a standard bathroom is typically £6,500 to £12,000 fitted. A partial wet area within an otherwise conventional bathroom is usually £4,500 to £7,500.
Why are some wet room quotes far cheaper?
Nearly always because the tanking is partial or missing, or a tray former has been left out and falls have been chased into a screed by eye. Those are the jobs we get called back to strip out.
Can any bathroom become a wet room?
Most can, but the floor decides the method. Timber floors need the joists checked and often notching or a deck. Solid floors need either a recess or a build up with a small ramp at the door.
How much floor height do I lose?
Usually between 20mm and 45mm with a build up method, and nothing at all where the former is recessed between joists. We confirm which applies once the floor is lifted at survey or on day one.
Is a wet room harder to keep clean?
Not harder, just different. Fewer trays and frames mean fewer traps for grime, but the whole floor gets wet, so a slip resistant tile in a smaller format with good grout is the sensible spec.
Do you guarantee the tanking?
Yes. We tank with a full system rather than mixing brands, we photograph the tanked stage before tiling, and the work carries our written workmanship guarantee.