What not to do when renovating a bathroom?

Do not change the plan once the build has started. Mid-build changes are the biggest single cause of blown budgets and stalled programmes on the bathrooms we fit. Moving a shower after first fix means redoing pipework, boarding and sometimes tiling that was already paid for. Make the decisions on paper, where changing your mind is free.

Do not buy fixtures before measuring, and that means measuring the access as well as the room. We have seen a bath bought in a sale that would not make the turn on the stairs of a Victorian terrace, and a 1200mm vanity ordered for an alcove that measured 1140mm. Check the room, the doorways and the stairs before anything is ordered. And do not hire on price alone. Ask what the quote includes, who does the electrics and whether they are insured, because the saving on a cheap quote usually reappears later as a snag list.

Two smaller ones. Do not mix finishes at random. A chrome shower valve, brass taps and a black towel rail in one room always looks like an accident, so pick one metal, or two used deliberately. And do not spend every pound of the budget on day one. Hold back roughly ten per cent, because older bathrooms hide rotten joists, dead pipework and bodged wiring, and you only find out at strip-out.