New research carried out by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) reveals that there is often a significant gap between expectation and reality when homeowners plan bathroom renovations, leaving consumers vulnerable to cowboy installers offering lower quotes. The study has found that 71% of homeowners expect their bathroom renovation to come in under £10,000.  However, professional builders are warning that skilled labour, quality fittings, plumbing complications and unforeseen structural issues frequently push the final bill far higher.

The data exposes a widespread misconception that puts homeowners at risk: a quarter (26%) believe a full bathroom renovation can be done for under £5,000, while only 14% expect to pay £10,000-£15,000 and just 3% anticipate costs of £15,000 or more.

The research also reveals homeowners are getting the fundamentals wrong. While 38% correctly identify labour as the single most expensive element of a bathroom renovation, many still fixate on the cost of fittings (17%) or plumbing (16%) and a significant proportion admitted they simply don’t know where their money will go.

Timeline expectations are equally divorced from reality, with nearly one in five (19%) expecting a full bathroom renovation to be completed in a week or less, while 39% expect it done within two weeks – schedules that professional builders say are unrealistic for quality work involving strip-outs, drying time, and coordinating multiple trades.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, says: “Bathroom renovations are one of the most common home improvement projects, but our research shows homeowners are walking into them with unrealistic expectations about both costs and timelines. The gap between what people think they’ll pay and what they actually need to budget is setting them up for disappointment – or worse, pushing them towards rogue traders offering unrealistic quotes and timelines.

“When someone thinks a full bathroom can be done for £3,000 in five days, they’re prime targets for cowboys who will take a deposit, do substandard work and disappear. Most homeowners are budgeting for the bathroom they imagine, not the bathroom they’ll actually get. Labour alone can swallow half the budget before a single tile goes up.”