I am looking at renovating our bathroom which is small ca. 4 sqm.
Replacing the bath with shower, new WC, washbasin and tiling.
The cost of the materials I like is around CHF 4K/5K, I wonder what I should budget for labour here in Switzerland?
Anybody care to make a guess?
I got one Swiss quote for the whole job including materials which was CHF 35K and that is far more than I expected.
Been to a few DIY places looking for the items I want.
OBI in Germany (Waldshut) who have a good display and had some I liked, also gave me business cards of some firms (Swiss and DE) who would do installation work.
Went to Bauhaus in Schlieren which also has a good display but is somehow mostly boring, OBI had more modern designs.
Bauarena in Volketswill has a huge display on two floors, but some Swiss prices were eyewatering.
We got a small bathroom done a couple of years ago.
The quote came to 10,500 CHF and included ripping out the old bathroom - tiles, shower etc and etc and fitting a new shower with glass doors, tiles on floor and some walls, plastering, shower fixings (rain and normal), moving some pipes, new sink and so on.
We bought other stuff separately from Reuter.de including an under-sink cabinet, towel rails, mirror etc.
Extra was also the WC and the tank which we decided to replace as it was really old and sealed behind tiling. This was from Hornbach.
The tiles were also from Hornbach but they were the same as from much more expensive places.
I bought the lighting locally and fitted that and new switches myself and I also painted the walls and ceiling and fitted the sink and undersink cabinet.
So, it was a bit of a joint effort but I like doing that kind of thing and we agreed it beforehand.
It's important, if you do this, to arrange the things you are doing around the tradesmen so you don't get in their way, hold them up and so on.
I did all my stuff while we were waiting for the delivery of the cabinet and then the chap came to do the sealing afterwards.
My general rule is to define a "ball park" budget at the outset and to discover, by the time the project has been defined in all details, that it is 2.5 times my original figure.
Anyway, we are considering doing something with a similar sized bathroom soon so please keep the thread up to date.
We are also following this thread. Especially welcome any experience receiving reasonable quotes (less than 1500 francs) from companies providing bathroom shower doors.
We didn’t remove the old floor tiles, we just tiled them over with new tiles. That saved a bit of money and avoided potential damage to the underfloor heating pipes. The throne felt a bit low when sitting on it though, but we got used to it.
I retiled our bathroom floor some years ago, I laid the tiles over the existing ones being lazy, it also gave a nice flat floor to work on.
I use a steel ruler to ensure the tiles are nicely lined up, I also use the plastic crosses between the tiles but although they ensure the gap between the tiles is good they do not line the tiles up accurately enough.
I have done bathroom renovations myself in the past but I will be 80 this year and have little enthusiasm to get my working clothes out of the cupboard again.
Normally the underfloor heating pipes are not directly accessible/visible just by removing tiles. Not taking up the old tiles and placing yet another layer of tiles on the pipes, means the heat struggles to get through. You may well have saved money by not removing the tiles (labour), but in the long run it costs far more to heat the room as the floor surface is no longer energy-efficient. We discovered in our flat that one room was cooler because the previous owner had placed laminate flooring on top of a filthy, stained, beige carpet which itself was on the surface containing the underfloor heating pipes. Madness.
Easily solved, during renovations you can ask for it to put higher or choose another style with a higher seat. This is what we did in two bathrooms.
The person who tiled our bathroom floor, and who did lift up the old tiles, was concerned about a 2mm height difference between the bathroom floor and the hall floor.
It sounds like some people on this thread could easily describe their bathroom as being on a mezzanine level!
Our bathroom opens directly into our living room, we had replaced the carpet with laminate so it was higher than the bathroom floor and after tiling the bathroom over the existing tiles they matched again.
Anyway, we had one of these metal door strips that absorbs small height differences and gives a neat finish between different materials.
As a long-time DIYer I also find these prices insane but it's supply and demand. Many quotes are not based on labour time but rather how much are you willing to pay to add value to your home. Maybe try to find some illegal Eastern European workers :-D
3 years ago we replaced and renovated a 6 m2 bathroom. New tiles, fresh paint on the ceiling, cupboards, bath out and walk in shower instead. WC and washbasin. Most of the stuff came from IKEA. The tiles came from Italy and it took 2 people 3 days to finish.
Total cost was about CHF6,500 of which CHF3,000 was labour.
We paid 25.000- but it included taking a wall down and rebuilding with thick insulation - taking ceiling down, insulating and new slatted ceiling, a new window, a massive italian shower room, and modern WC, sink, and cupboard over and new electric towel rail, with full tiling floor and sides, and a huge pane of special glass at side of Italian shower. About 4.50 x 4.50.
We were tempted to buy materials from France, but the local tradesmen will just not do this, eg they will refuse the job unless things are bought through their own suppliers.. And we had to coordinate it all, builder, tiler, plumber and electrician- so you are lucky that someone is prepared to take on the job from end to end- but paying a price for this. Using local people does cost more, but then you build a relationship and you know you can call on them anytime in an emergency, and they will be there in a flash to sort you out.
Our en-suite bathroom, about same size- could do with up-dating- but as we have the size and height- I think I will get them to tile over existing tiles, and insulate on top of exisiting slats + new slats on top and change for more modern sink and towel radiator- hopefully much cheaper.
We had the old shower with a deep tray replaced with one with folding doors and a flat floor.
The bathroom is the downstairs guest one and with the doors folded back, the room seems so much bigger.
The photos are on the website to which I linked before. I can't post the pictures or links to them but the new bathroom is 20191221_130759.jpg onwards and the before/after is 20191206_075739.jpg