There’s nothing worse than doing a job and then having to do it again. And if there’s one place where cutting corners can end up costing you a lot more money, it’s in home renovations.
You’re dreaming of your luxury bathroom, and you’ve got plenty of ideas in mind. But when it comes down to the final quote, you start to wonder where you can cut the costs. Of course, there are ways to achieve much of what you want, and our designers are on hand to help you adapt your ideas to your budget. But one area we really advise you don’t compromise is on the quality of your fittings and fixtures.
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Quality products last longer
We all expect a branded product to be better quality and last much longer. They will be more expensive, but they also come with certain guarantees.
If you use a cheap tap that starts dripping 18 months after it’s fitted you may well have a far bigger job that you expected. It’s out of guarantee, and as an un-branded product, you won’t be able to find replacement parts. That means the entire tap needs removing and replacing – which in turn could mean you need to remove tiles, boxing and panels to get to the pipework. You can see how the costs of a simple job can grow.
A branded product, on the other hand, can be far simpler. With the name of the manufacturer to hand, you can source a replacement cartridge to repair the tap, and the job is done.
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Your time is precious
It’s not just bathroom furniture that can go wrong. Cheap adhesive is more likely to fail than a quality product. As your tiles fall down and damage your shower tray or your mastic fails and allows water behind your bath, your repair list mounts up, and you’ll be spending more time in your bathroom fixing it than enjoying the bubbles.
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Your family life is affected
Let’s be honest, the kitchen may be where everyone gathers but the bathroom is the hub of your home. Every member of the family uses the bathroom, and when it’s out of service you’re all impacted.
As things start to break, you’ll end up working around them. One basin stops working, you just all use the other. When the toilet seat slips sideways, you learn to lean to the left. But it’s not ideal, and it’s becoming embarrassing to have to keep explaining things to visitors. Before you know it, your partner is nagging you to get things done and the bathroom is a bone of contention in your happy home.
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DIY can cost more than a professional
Besides the time you spend fixing issues in your bathroom, DIY often brings additional costs. First you have to buy materials, and possibly even tools. Then you have to rely on your own DIY skills to make a repair that’s strong enough to last. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to call in a tradesman. With every call out, the cost of your budget bathroom goes up rapidly.
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Do a job cheaply, do it twice
After the breakages, the repairs and the delays, it’s likely that you will have fallen out of love with your refurbished bathroom very quickly. The only answer is to head back to the bathroom professionals for that dream bathroom you were quoted so many leaks ago. Unfortunately, this time it’s cost you between 50 and 100% more, as the entire process has been done twice.
If you’d like to skip over the pain of a budget bathroom and get a lot closer to the luxury you had in mind, come and talk to our design team.
As John Ruskin said, “It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When
you pay too much, you lose a little money – that’s all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot – it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”
We use the latest CAD design software that will help you plan a bathroom that does everything you need and spot potential problems before you start. We’ll also always suggest ways you can save costs without compromising on quality at the same time.
Call us today on 024 7669 1469 to book an appointment with your experienced bathroom designers.