Read this first
The figures below are broad, dated, and deliberately overlapping. They exist to help you work out whether you are planning a refresh or a renovation — not to price your room.
They are not a quote, they are not an offer, and no one should make a financial decision on them. Every job on this page ends the same way: a free on-site measure, then a written, itemised quote for your bathroom.
Three broad tiers, as a rough guide for 2026
| Kind of job | Rough 2026 guide (AUD) | What it typically covers |
|---|---|---|
| Refresh, powder room or laundry | About $6,000 to $18,000 | No strip-out. New tapware, vanity, mirror cabinet, lighting, a regrout and reseal, a proper ducted fan. Also most laundry renovations and separate-toilet work. |
| Full bathroom or ensuite | About $16,000 to $36,000 | Back to frame and slab: new pipework, screed and falls, membrane, tiles, shower, vanity, toilet, screen, fan and lighting. |
| Larger, accessible or complex | About $32,000 and up | Bigger rooms, level-entry accessible fit-outs, walls or plumbing moved, upper-floor rooms, or a bathroom and ensuite in one program. |
The bands overlap on purpose. A small bathroom in a 1960s Warilla house can land above a larger one in a Shell Cove estate home, because of what turns up once the old room is open.
What moves a price within a tier
What the house is hiding. This is the big one locally. Fibre cement sheeting that needs asbestos testing and, if positive, licensed removal. Soft floor framing under an old leaking shower. Galvanised supply pipework narrowed by rust. Common in Oak Flats, Warilla, Barrack Heights and the older Albion Park streets; essentially absent in Shell Cove and Flinders.
Whether the plumbing moves. Keeping the shower, toilet and vanity wastes where they are is the cheap path. On a slab, moving a waste means cutting and re-coring concrete, and it is the single largest controllable swing in an estate home. On a timber floor with access underneath it is far less painful.
Size and how far the tiles go. More floor and wall means more board, screed, membrane, tile and labour. Tiling to the ceiling adds a modest amount and removes the paint line that always peels.
Tile format and pattern. Large-format tiles need flatter walls and more preparation. Herringbone, stacked verticals, mosaics and mitred external corners all take materially longer to lay. These are labour decisions, and they belong in the quote as such.
Fittings and finishes. The range between a serviceable mainstream tapware set and a designer one is wide. Near the ocean at Warilla, Barrack Point or Shellharbour Village, better plating and stainless fixings are worth paying for — see tapware finishes compared.
Access. A sloping or stepped block, a long carry, nowhere level for a skip, or a unit with stairs, a lift and restricted hours. All labour, all real.
Strata. Units and townhouses add owners corporation approval, by-law requirements for hours and protection, and sometimes acoustic requirements for floor finishes. Approval timing usually sets the start date.
Extras people add. A heated towel rail and its dedicated circuit, underfloor heating, a niche, extra lighting, a second basin. Each is small. Several together are not.
What costs less than people expect
Tiles to the ceiling. A little more tile and time, and no more peeling paint above the tile line.
A properly sized, ducted exhaust fan. Small against the job, and the most effective thing you can do about mould in a humid coastal climate.
Blocking in the walls for grab rails. Almost nothing while the walls are open, and a near-renovation to retrofit. Worth doing in any house you intend to stay in.
A fixed glass panel instead of a framed pivot door. Often similar money, much easier to clean, and it hands back usable floor.
Drawers instead of cupboard doors. A modest difference in the vanity price and a large difference in how the room works.
What is not offered at any price
Engineered stone. Banned in Australia from 1 July 2024. Vanity tops here are porcelain, sintered surface, natural stone, timber or laminate.
A price over the phone. Not because of policy, but because it would be a guess at your expense.
Tiling over the existing tiles as a "renovation". It is a cosmetic fix, and in a room worth renovating it buys a problem.
The NSW payment rules worth knowing
- Deposit capped at 10 per cent of the contract value for residential building work.
- Home building compensation cover must be in place before a deposit is requested on work over $20,000.
- A written contract is required above the statutory threshold.
- Progress payments tied to completed stages, not to dates.
Comparing quotes properly
Ask every quote the same questions:
- Is asbestos testing included, and how would removal be priced?
- What is the stated allowance for rot or structural repair, and what is the variation method?
- Which pipework is being replaced?
- Fittings by brand and model, and what the tile allowance is based on?
- Which waterproofing system, and what cure time?
- Which exhaust fan, and where does it discharge?
- Access, site protection and waste removal?
- A program in working days?
A quote that answers all eight is comparable. A total with four lines on it is not.
Every job is different — get a proper quote
Two bathrooms the same size, two streets apart, can sit in different tiers. Nothing on this page can price your room, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
The only way to get a customised price is a proper on-site measure. It takes about half an hour, it is free anywhere in Shellharbour City, and it is where we look at the floor type, the waste runs, the condition behind the shower wall, the access and what you actually want. You then get a written, fixed quote with the fittings named, the allowances stated and a program in working days.
Renovation work is carried out in partnership with Coastal Renovation Group, a licensed NSW builder. Licence and insurance details are provided on request.
Book the measure: call 02 4214 4283 or send the room details through. If you want to know how long you will lose the room for first, read stage by stage.
Planning pages and guides
Questions people ask before they commit
Why will you not give a price per square metre?
Because bathrooms are not priced by area in any meaningful way. Two rooms of identical size, one in a Flinders estate home on a slab and one in a 1960s Warilla house on timber, can be many thousands apart because of pipework, floor framing, asbestos testing and access. A rate per square metre would be a number that looks precise and is not.
What is the cheapest way to improve a bathroom?
If the waterproofing is intact and the shower is not leaking, a partial update: new tapware, a vanity, a mirror cabinet, better lighting, a careful regrout and reseal, and a proper ducted exhaust fan. That sits well inside the first tier below. If the shower is leaking, the cheap option is the expensive one.
How much deposit can be asked for?
No more than 10 per cent of the contract value for residential building work in NSW. Where the work is over $20,000, home building compensation cover must be in place before a deposit is requested. If someone wants a large sum upfront or will not put the contract in writing, that is the moment to stop.
Why do two quotes for the same bathroom differ so much?
Nearly always because they include different things. One allows for asbestos testing, replacing supply pipework and tiling to the ceiling; the other does not, and will find those items later as variations. Ask every quote the same list of questions and compare line by line rather than comparing totals.
Does combining the bathroom and ensuite save money?
Per room, yes — the trades, the set-up and the skip are shared, and the combined program is shorter than two separate jobs. The total is still higher than one room, and you are without both showers at once, which is the real reason many households stage them instead.
Are Shellharbour prices lower than Sydney?
Sometimes a little, but not by as much as people hope. Materials cost the same everywhere, the compliance is identical, and a large share of the older local housing needs asbestos testing, pipework replacement and floor repair that a newer Sydney bathroom does not.