If you're planning a new bathroom in Fulham, two questions really matter: how long it takes, and what can go wrong. Here's what 20+ years of Fulham bathroom installs has taught us — the stuff the showroom brochure skips.
How long a new bathroom in Fulham takes
Plan for 2.5–4 weeks from strip-out to sign-off, assuming no structural changes. Rough breakdown:
- Days 1–2: Strip-out, skip, protect floor coverings on the route in.
- Days 3–5: First-fix plumbing and electrics. Walls opened up where needed.
- Days 6–8: Plastering, boarding, screed for underfloor heating if used.
- Days 9–15: Tiling. This is the bottleneck. Stone tiles are particularly slow.
- Days 16–19: Second-fix plumbing, install suite, glass screens, fit mirrors.
- Days 20+: Grouting, silicone, snagging, final clean.
Moving pipework or adding underfloor heating adds a week. Waiting on bespoke joinery for a vanity adds two.
What drives length and complexity
Two things shape timeline and labour more than the choice of finish: whether you're moving plumbing, and whether you need structural work (e.g. combining a separate toilet and bathroom into one room). Both more than double the labour hours.
5 things that usually go wrong
- Tiles arrive damaged or short. Order 10–15% over. Even good suppliers send the wrong lot sometimes — and matching a lot number six weeks later is rarely possible.
- The soil pipe is in the wrong place. Turn-of-century Fulham terraces have soil stacks running through the most inconvenient positions. Moving one means chasing a wall or boxing it in — neither decided in a showroom.
- Electrics don't meet Part P. Old bathrooms often have a shaver socket wired off a lighting circuit. A new bathroom install needs zone-compliant lighting, IP-rated fittings, and certification. Factor in the spark.
- Waterproofing skipped under the tiles. The cheap way is skim, prime, tile. The correct way is to tank the wet zones with a membrane. If water gets behind the tiles, you find out when the ceiling below starts to bulge.
- Silicone failing in year two. Cheap silicone pulls away from the bath lip inside 18 months. Spec a mould-resistant sanitary grade and have it redone every 4–5 years.
What to get in writing before you sign
- Fixed price (not "estimate"), itemised.
- Schedule of works with week-by-week milestones.
- Specification of waterproofing (tanking membrane, brand).
- Who's responsible for removing the skip and protecting the rest of the flat or house.
- Electrical certification and water-regs sign-off at handover.
Why use a Fulham-based team
A local team knows the stock: the Edwardian conversion flats around Eel Brook Common, the mansion blocks on Fulham Road, the riverside developments off Wandsworth Bridge Road. Each has its own quirks — lath-and-plaster walls, concrete floors you can't chase, party-wall agreements for anything touching a shared stack.
Fulham BM has installed new bathrooms across SW6 for 20+ years. FMB and Chas accredited, fixed quotes, no subcontractors. See examples and request a quote.
