Can I get a new bathroom for 5k?
Yes — £5,000 excluding VAT buys a genuine like-for-like renovation in south London: new suite in the existing positions, over-bath shower, re-tiled wet areas and new flooring. It does not buy layout changes, full-height tiling on every wall, or a wetroom.
The £5,000 bathroom is real, but it is built on one discipline: nothing moves. The bath, basin and WC go back where their predecessors stood, so the first-fix plumbing bill stays small. Add a £700–£900 suite from an online warehouse, mid-range tiles on the wet walls only with painted elsewhere, vinyl or LVT flooring, and honest labour — that is the budget, fully spent.
What breaks the £5,000 ceiling fastest, in order: moving the WC (soil pipe work), converting to a walk-in shower with new glass, tiling floor-to-ceiling on four walls, and discovering rot or historic leaks under the old bath — which is why the contingency matters more on a tight budget, not less.
Where we would not economise even at £5,000: the tanking behind the shower tiles, the extractor fan, and the thermostatic valve. Those three are the difference between a bathroom that looks new for a year and one that stays new for fifteen. The place to save is the suite and the non-wet walls, never the waterproofing.
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