What should be in writing on a bathroom renovation quote

A bathroom quote is only comparable to another one if both describe the same room in the same words. In Nicosia the three prices a household collects usually differ less in rate than in scope: one includes the strip-out and the waterproofing, one assumes you are buying the sanitaryware, one has not decided whether the WC is moving. Get eleven things named in writing before you choose, stage the payments against the trade sequence rather than the calendar, and settle in advance how extra work will be priced once a wall is opened up.

Why written scope matters

The cost of a bathroom is decided by questions that are invisible once the room is finished. Whether the drainage stays where it is. Whether there is a bonded waterproof membrane behind and beneath the tiling in the shower area, which is the standard wet-area specification, or a waterproofing additive stirred into the adhesive. Whether the old tiles came off cleanly or took the render with them. None of that shows at handover, all of it shows in year six.

Those figures are read from recorded quotes at page load. They are a starting point, not a substitute for the document — the same headline number can describe two genuinely different jobs.

There is a second reason to put it on paper that has nothing to do with mistrust. In the 1970s to 1990s apartment blocks around Strovolos and the inner suburbs, where replumbing and rewiring dominate renovation work, it is routine to find crumbling galvanised supply pipe and sand-cement bedded tiles that pull plaster off the wall. Written scope is what lets both sides tell work that was always going to be needed from work nobody could have seen.

The eleven items a quote needs

A quote that answers all eleven can be compared line for line against another one that does.

1. Strip-out and disposal. What comes out, who removes it, whose skip. In a fourth-floor flat with no lift — common in the older Nicosia blocks — rubble removal is a day of labour on its own.
2. Whether any drainage or waste position moves. Usually worth more than every tile and tap choice combined. Reusing the existing soil connection is a finishing job; moving the WC means moving a soil pipe, which in a flat means building the floor up, which changes the threshold and then the door.
3. The waterproofing system, named. Not "waterproofing included": the product, where it starts and stops, and how the floor and door junctions are detailed. The item most often missing from the cheapest of three quotes.
4. Screed, falls and floor build-up. Where the water is going and how far the floor rises to get it there. If that changes the threshold, say so here rather than when the door will not close.
5. Tiling, as measured area with the format stated. Format changes labour more than the tile price does: large-format rectified tile needs a flatter substrate, mosaic in a recess is slow by the metre, natural stone needs sealing twice.
6. Sanitaryware and brassware, itemised by product. Pan, cistern, basin, mixer, shower valve, waste and trap, each named. An allowance with no products is a placeholder, and the gap between it and the real cost lands on you.
7. Shower screen or enclosure and its fixings, left out of both the labour-only quote and the lump sum, each assuming the other has it.
8. Mechanical extraction and the duct route. A bathroom needs an extract ducted to outside air, not a fan that stirs the room.
9. Electrical alterations and the certificate. Any alteration to the circuits is carried out and certified by a licensed electrician, and that certificate is what the supply authority relies on.
10. Making good. Door and threshold after any build-up, plaster repairs where old tiles came off, painting the ceiling and untiled walls, siliconing, sealing of stone. Individually minor, collectively a visible sum.
11. The commercial terms. VAT rate and its basis, payment stages, the agreed rate for extra work, the programme, and the handover documents.

Payment stages

Stage the money against completed points in the trade sequence, not against dates. The sequence is strip-out, plumbing first fix, electrical first fix, tanking, screed and falls, tiling, plumbing second fix, electrical second fix, glazing and decorating, and several of those steps have to cure before the next can begin. A structure that follows the work looks like this:

• A deposit against goods, because the contractor is buying sanitaryware, tile and materials on your behalf. Ask for the supplier order or receipt.
• A stage after first fix and tanking. The expensive invisible work is done at this point, and inspecting before you pay is the most useful site visit you will make — once tiling starts, the waterproofing cannot be seen again.
• A stage after tiling, when the bulk of the labour is behind you.
• A closing balance on completion and handover, released when the snagging list is cleared and the documents are in your hand.

The money should never get meaningfully ahead of the work, and the closing balance has to be worth returning for — a trivial one does not bring anyone back to adjust a screen or replace a cracked tile. Ask for each stage to be invoiced with the VAT rate shown.

Variations and how they are priced

A variation is any work that was not in the written scope, and in the older Nicosia stock at least one is likely. What protects you is not a promise that nothing will change but a mechanism agreed before anyone starts.

A named rate for extra work. An hourly or day rate for the plumber, tiler and electrician, written into the quote. Agreeing it in advance is worth far more than a discount on the headline figure, because it is settled while you still have a choice of contractor.

Written before it is done. A variation should be described, priced and accepted — even by a message you both keep — before the work happens. Verbal variations discovered on the final invoice are a common source of dispute.

The categories, kept apart. A genuine discovery, such as crumbling galvanised pipe behind the plaster, is a variation. A change of mind, such as a different tile after the substrate was prepared for the first one, may also carry restocking or lost time. An item that was always going to be needed and simply was not written down is neither — that is a gap in the original scope.

A running total you can see, tracked cumulatively rather than arriving as one number at the end.

Red flags

None of these means a contractor is dishonest. Each means the quote is not yet finished, and each is worth a question before you sign.

• No mention of waterproofing anywhere in the document. The cheapest of three quotes is nearly always cheaper because it is a smaller job, and this is usually where the difference sits.
• A lump sum with no breakdown, which you can neither compare now nor account for later.
• A sanitaryware allowance with no products named, a deposit that is a large share of the total, or payment set by dates rather than completed stages.
• Pressure to decide today. A price that expires this week is a sales technique, not a programme constraint.
• No electrician named, or an assurance that the electrical work does not need certifying.
• Cash-only, no invoice, no VAT number, which removes your record of what was agreed and paid.
• A programme that ignores curing. Tanking and screed need time; a quote promising a bathroom faster than the sequence allows is omitting steps.
• A structural suggestion made casually on site. Whether a wall is load-bearing is a question for an engineer, not a fitter, and ETEK maintains the register of engineers and technical professionals in Cyprus.

One last piece of context specific to the capital. Nicosia sits inland and takes the widest temperature range on the island, which shows up in bathrooms twice: cold concrete columns behind the plaster in January, where moisture condenses and mould returns however often it is wiped, and fast-skinning adhesive in August. Our bathroom renovation pages list firms by district and the Nicosia area pages record what changes locally.

Common questions

How many quotes should I get, and what should I send them?

Three is enough if all three price the same thing. Send each contractor the same written brief: room dimensions, whether the layout stays put, whether you are supplying the sanitaryware, and the eleven items above.

Does a bathroom refit need a permit?

Replacing fittings and finishes inside an existing bathroom, with no change to structure, layout or external appearance, sits outside permit scope. It changes if you take down a wall to enlarge the room, add a window, or alter the drainage arrangement of the building. In a block there is a separate question from the planning one: your management committee's rules on working hours, lift use and common pipework.

What should I receive at handover?

The electrical certificate, the product literature and warranty position for the waterproofing system, the shower valve and the tile, the invoices showing the VAT rate applied, and a note of the tile batch in case one has to be replaced later. Ask for this list at quote stage so it is not a surprise on the last day.

What if I find a problem a month afterwards?

Raise it in writing straight away, with photographs and the date. Most defects that appear early — a lifting silicone line, a screen that drops, a tile that sounds hollow — are quick to put right. The written scope and the closing balance are what keep that conversation short.

Bathroom renovation firms in the Nicosia district

8 companies covering this area.

• PC

  Polart Construction

  Strovolos Iii, Nicosia

  Polart Construction is an architecture practice in Strovolos Iii, in the Nicosia district. Recorded services include planning submissions, drawings, site supervision.

  • Planning submissions
  • Drawings
  • Site supervision

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• ΟΥ

  Ο υδραλικός στο σπίτι σας Μάριος Κασινιδης & υιοί ltd

  Kalograes, Nicosia

  Ο υδραλικός στο σπίτι σας Μάριος Κασινιδης & υιοί ltd is a plumbing business in Kalograes, in the Nicosia district. Recorded services include leak detection, bathroom installation, water tanks.

  • Leak detection
  • Bathroom installation
  • Water tanks
  • Pipe replacement

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• CT

  Charalambos Thoma & Sons

  Archangelos, Nicosia

  Charalambos Thoma & Sons is a plumbing business in Archangelos, in the Nicosia district. Recorded services include leak detection, bathroom installation, water tanks.

  • Leak detection
  • Bathroom installation
  • Water tanks
  • Pipe replacement

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• TQ

  Thermodynamics Quality Heating

  Acropolis, Nicosia

  Thermodynamics Quality Heating is a fireplace business in Acropolis, in the Nicosia district.

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• PA

  P. A. Constructions Ltd.

  Engomi, Nicosia

  P. A. Constructions Ltd. is an architecture practice in Engomi, in the Nicosia district. Recorded services include planning submissions, drawings, site supervision.

  • Planning submissions
  • Drawings
  • Site supervision

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• M

  Moudouros

  Nicosia

  Moudouros is a plumbing business in the Nicosia district. Recorded services include leak detection, bathroom installation, water tanks.

  • Leak detection
  • Bathroom installation
  • Water tanks
  • Pipe replacement

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• SP

  SB Pazzleco

  Acropolis, Nicosia

  SB Pazzleco is a construction company in Acropolis, in the Nicosia district.

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• FC

  Fabretti Construction

  Agioi Omologites, Nicosia

  Fabretti Construction is an architecture practice in Agioi Omologites, in the Nicosia district. Recorded services include planning submissions, drawings, site supervision.

  • Planning submissions
  • Drawings
  • Site supervision

  View profileGet quotes