When undertaking a bathroom refurbishment that incorporates mobility adaptations, the financial budget is a key consideration. If you last refurbished your bathroom a few decades ago, you may be surprised at how much the costs have increased, as well as the choice of materials and equipment that are available.
Do it yourself, or bring in a professional?
When considering an accessible bathroom upgrade two options are available for getting the work done. You can either:
1. Enlist multiple trades people and organise them yourself; or
2. Bring in a mobility bathrooms specialist, with all the skills under one roof, such as Absolute Mobility.
The difference in cost is sometimes not as much as you might think and the specialist bathroom fitter will take the burden of project management off your shoulders. If you try to organise the job yourself you could be letting yourself in for more trouble than any saving is worth. You will experience headaches with material deliveries and shortages and tradespersons cancelling the job at the last minute, thereby delaying your project and throwing all the other work out of schedule.
Whereas bringing in a specialist such as Absolute Mobility, they can design a mobility bathroom solution that meets the needs of the end user, source appropriate products and then project manage all aspects of fitting and installation for you.
Whichever option you decide to take, you will need to take into account the following types of costs that will affect your final budget:
- A walk-in bath or shower tray/doors or materials to install a wet room.
- Basins, WC’s, taps, shower screens, shower pumps, shower heads, thermostatic controls, etc.
- A Clos-o-Mat or Geberit adapted toilet, if required.
- Vanity units and /or cupboards.
- New lighting such as spot lights.
- Heating, such as heated towel rails, radiators or under floor heating.
- Installation labour.
- Electrics eg for an electric shower.
- Tiling and flooring.
- Re-routing plumbing, pipes, electrics and building work, such as taking down walls.
Cost will depend on simplicity of the task
When changing sinks and WC’s the labour costs should be straightforward as it is a like for like swap. However, the cost will rise if fitting something more labour intensive such as a wall hung WC. Where costs really start to rise is where the work is not a like for like swap and new plumbing is required. If a shower with a high step is in place and a new level access shower tray is to be fitted, new pipe work will need to be routed under floor level in order to achieve level access. If the bathroom needs to be enlarged to make it more accessible, eg for a wheelchair or Zimmer frame user, knocking down walls will be costly work.
Plan and design what you need before work starts
With any mobility bathroom adaptation the best use of budget is to get the design and layout right to ensure the work and expense only happens once. That is the best use of one’s budget that can be made. To do this you really need the expertise of a mobility bathing specialist, such as Absolute Mobility, who can design a new bathroom around the needs of the end user and project manage all of the fitting and installation.
To get in touch with Absolute Mobility visit www.absolutemobility.co.uk or call 01491 411 041.
