Luxury Bathroom Installation In Exeter
Planning a high-end bathroom in Exeter?
Full installation managed end to end, from strip-out and first fix through to the final seal and handover.
A bathroom installation touches almost every trade in the house - plumbing, electrics, carpentry, tiling, decorating, and occasionally structure. The reason it goes wrong is almost never the tiles. It is the sequencing, and the fact that five separately booked trades have no shared interest in each other's work. We run the whole thing as one job with one point of contact, which is slower to quote and considerably faster to build.
Ask About Your Installation
Tell us a little about the room and we will come back to you to arrange a visit. No obligation, and no pressure to decide on the day.
The Case For It
What Running It As One Job Actually Changes
Nobody is waiting on anybody
The single biggest cause of a bathroom taking six weeks instead of two is a trade turning up to find the previous stage is not ready. When the same team controls the sequence, that stops happening.
The survey happens before the price
We look behind panelling and under baths where we can get access, so the quote is based on what is there. Most of the horror stories we get called in to fix started with a price given from a doorway.
One warranty conversation, not five
If a wall-hung pan works loose, you do not need to establish whether that is the plumber's frame or the tiler's substrate. It is ours either way.
Certified electrical work where it is needed
Any work inside the special location around the bath or shower, or a new circuit, is carried out and certified by a registered electrician. You get the certificate, and it matters when you sell.
Dust and access managed daily
You are living in the house. Sheeting goes down on the landing and stairs each morning and comes up each evening, and the room is left swept.
Older Exeter properties surveyed properly
Solid brick, cob, lath and plaster, suspended timber floors and original soil stacks all change the build-up. In Heavitree or St Leonard's that is the norm rather than the exception.
- High-End Projects
- 100+ High-End Projects
- Workmanship
- Guaranteed Workmanship
- Design Consultations
- Free Design Consultations
- Team, Start To Finish
- One Team, Start To Finish
Before You Choose
How To Tell A Good Installer From A Confident One
Insist on a written specification, not just a price. A quote that says "supply and fit bathroom suite" is unquotable and uncomparable. A real specification names the pan, the frame, the valve, the tile, the adhesive and the tanking system, so you can put two quotes side by side and see what the difference actually is. If a firm will not put the specification in writing, the reason is usually that they intend to decide later.
Ask what happens when they open the wall. A good installer has already told you, before you sign anything, what they suspect is behind there and what it will cost if they are right. That is not a firm hedging - it is the difference between a priced contingency and a mid-project renegotiation when you have no bathroom and no leverage.
Check accreditation with the right body, and check the trade matches. TrustMark is the government-endorsed scheme for work in and around the home, and it is worth confirming a business is registered for the specific trade rather than just listed. For installer accreditation specifically, the relevant body is now BIFIS - it was BiKBBI until October 2025, so a firm still advertising the old name may not have looked at its own accreditation recently.
Compared
Four Ways To Get A Bathroom Installed
There is no dishonest option here. They suit different budgets and different appetites for project management. This is a fair account of what each involves.
| One managed team | Showroom supply and fit | General builder | Trades booked separately | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who designs it | Measured survey and drawn layouts before quoting | Showroom CAD, usually built around their own product range | Often you, or nobody | You |
| Who sequences the trades | Us | A subcontracted fitter, quality varies by who is free | The builder, alongside their other jobs | You, by phone, daily |
| Product choice | Open - specified to suit the room and the water | Limited to stocked brands | Whatever the merchant has | Unlimited |
| Typical duration | 8-12 working days simple, 3-4 weeks complex | 2-4 weeks, gaps between stages | Highly variable | 6 weeks upward in practice |
| If something fails later | One firm, one guarantee | Split between showroom and fitter | One firm, if still trading | Disputed between trades |
| Indicative cost | £12,000 - £35,000 | £8,000 - £20,000 | £7,000 - £18,000 | Lowest on paper, frequently not in the end |
Our Process
How An Exeter Bathroom Project Runs
Seven stages, in this order, every time. Most of the problems we get called in to fix on other people's work come from skipping straight from strip-out to tiling.
-
Design consultation and measured survey
We come to the house, measure the room properly, and ask how you actually use it - who uses it, at what time of day, and what irritates you about it now. Where we can get a look behind panelling or under a bath, we do, because that is where the surprises live.
-
Drawn layouts and full specification
You get two or three layouts to look at, not one. Alongside them, a written specification naming every tile, valve, tap and light - so the quote is for a defined room rather than a vague intention.
-
Fixed written quote
Itemised, VAT inclusive, with the specification attached. If the survey turned up something that might need attention once the walls are open, it is written down as a possibility with a cost, rather than sprung on you later.
-
Strip-out and first fix
Old suite out, back to the substrate. Pipework and cabling re-routed to suit the new layout, with electrics kept to the correct zones for a bathroom. This is the stage where an older property tells you the truth about its plumbing.
-
Substrate, tanking and falls
Walls and floors boarded and primed. Wet areas tanked as a complete system rather than a coat of paint near the tray. In a wet room the falls are formed and checked with a level before any tile is cut.
-
Tiling and set-out
Set-out is planned from the sightlines you will actually stand and look at, so full tiles land on the focal wall and cuts finish in the corners. Large-format and book-matched stone is dry-laid first to get the veining right.
-
Second fix, commissioning and handover
Sanitaryware and brassware fitted, thermostatic valves balanced to the pressure your house genuinely has, extraction tested against the required rate. Then we walk the room with you, hand over the warranties in your name, and leave a care guide for the finishes.
Detail
The Part Of The Job You Will Never See
Most of what you are paying for is hidden by the time we leave. The frame carrying a wall-hung pan has to be fixed back to something structural - in a solid Victorian wall in Newtown or St Thomas, resin anchors into soft brick will not do it. Tanking in a wet area has to be a continuous system, taken past the door threshold, not a coat of waterproofer near the tray. Waste runs have to achieve fall within the limits Approved Document H sets, which is frequently what dictates where a WC can physically go.
This is also why the sequence matters so much. Tanking cannot be tested once tiles are on it. Falls cannot be corrected after a screed has gone off. First fix has to anticipate the exact position of a filler and a valve, because chasing a wall afterwards means re-tiling it. Every one of those is a decision made days or weeks before the finish that depends on it.
If you want the detail on how the set-out itself is planned, that sits on our bathroom tiling page. If you are still deciding on the layout, start with bathroom design instead.
Reassurance
What Our Guarantee Actually Covers
- The workmanship, not just the products
- Manufacturers cover their own goods. What usually fails on a bathroom is the work around them - a tray that was not bedded, a valve set to the wrong pressure, tanking that stopped short of the door. That is the part we stand behind.
- Tanking and falls in wet areas
- Any fully tiled shower area or wet room we build is tanked as a system and the falls are set and checked before tiling. Water finding its way into a floor void is the single most expensive bathroom failure there is.
- Manufacturer warranties passed to you
- Every warranty on your sanitaryware, brassware and shower valves is registered in your name and handed over in writing at the end of the job, along with the specification of what was actually installed.
- Anything we got wrong, we come back for
- If something we installed is not right, we return and put it right. Most of our enquiries come from people who were let down by someone who stopped answering the phone.
Budget
What Luxury Bathroom Installation Costs In Exeter
£12,000 – £35,000
The range covers everything: strip-out, all trades, materials, sanitaryware, brassware, tiling, decoration and making good. What moves a project up the range is altering the layout, forming a wet room, natural stone rather than porcelain, and anything the survey turns up in an older property.
Guide range based on recent Exeter projects, VAT included. Your figure comes from the survey and written specification, not from this page.
Full cost breakdownQuestions
Installation Questions
- How long will the bathroom be out of use?
- Eight to twelve working days for a replacement in a sound room with the layout unchanged. Three to four weeks if the layout moves, a wet room is formed, or we open up a floor in an older property. You get a working-day count with the quote rather than a vague estimate.
- Is bathroom installation notifiable under building regulations?
- Usually not. Schedule 4 of the Building Regulations makes replacing a WC, basin, bath or shower non-notifiable, provided it does not involve underground drainage or changes affecting water safety. It becomes notifiable if a new circuit is installed or circuits inside the special location around the bath or shower are altered, if below-ground drainage changes, if structural work enlarges the room, if a window is replaced, or if an unvented cylinder goes in. We tell you which of those apply to your job at quote stage.
- Do I need to move out?
- Almost nobody does. If it is your only bathroom we will talk through the days when the WC is genuinely unavailable and plan around them - often we can keep a working WC for most of the project. Water is off only for short, agreed periods.
- Can you install products I have bought myself?
- Yes, with one condition: we look at them first. We are happy to fit client-supplied sanitaryware and brassware, but if something is unsuitable for your water pressure or is missing the parts needed to install it properly, we will say so before it goes in rather than after. We cannot guarantee products we did not supply.
- What if you find something unexpected behind the wall?
- You hear about it the same day, with a cost, before we carry on. In Exeter's older housing the usual finds are lead or steel feeds, a soil stack in worse condition than it looked, or a joist end that has been damp for years. Anything the survey flagged as a possibility was already priced in the quote, which is why our figures rarely move.
- Will the work be guaranteed?
- Our workmanship is guaranteed and we come back if something we installed is not right. Manufacturer warranties on sanitaryware, brassware and valves are registered in your name and handed over in writing at the end, along with the specification of exactly what was fitted.
Feedback
What Clients Say
Rated 5 out of 5
“We had put off doing the main bathroom for years because the house is Georgian and we were nervous about what was behind the panelling. They took the whole wall back, found the old lead feed we suspected was there, and re-ran it properly before any tiling started. The set-out on the marble is what sells the room - the cuts all land in the corners.”
Rated 5 out of 5
“Our en-suite is a small room in a Victorian villa with a horrible drainage run. Three other firms told us a wet room was not possible. This lot spent an hour with a laser level working out the falls, then built it. Two years on there is no movement and no damp anywhere near the joists.”
Rated 5 out of 5
“What I appreciated most was the drawings. We saw three layouts before committing, including one that moved the door - which we would never have thought of and which made the whole room work. Being able to see it properly first was worth every penny of the design fee.”
Rated 5 out of 5
“Freestanding bath on a first floor in a 1930s semi, so the joists needed checking and doubling up in one place. They flagged it on the survey rather than discovering it halfway through, which is presumably why the quote did not move once. Filler position was marked out and agreed before the floor went back down.”
Rated 5 out of 5
“The thing nobody warns you about is the dust. They sheeted the landing and the stairs every single morning and hoovered before they left. Eleven working days, one team, same two faces throughout. My neighbour has now booked them.”
Coverage
Areas We Cover
We work across Exeter and out into East and Mid Devon. If your town is not listed, it is still worth asking - the practical limit is travel time rather than a fixed radius.
Or jump straight to a service
Let's Look At The Room First
No showroom to walk around and no sales appointment to sit through. We come to the house, measure up, and tell you honestly what the room can and cannot do.