How Long Does a Bathroom Renovation Actually Take?

A standard Sydney bathroom, keeping the existing layout, takes about 2 to 3 weeks of on-site work. Structural changes, moved plumbing or problems behind the walls push it out from there.

That is the on-site time. Planning, selections and scheduling happen before it and often take longer than the build.

Week by week

Days 1 to 2. Strip out. Everything comes out back to frame or slab: tiles, fixtures, sheeting, sometimes the screed. This is also when you find out what is actually behind the walls, which is why a contingency exists.

Days 3 to 4. Rough-in. Plumber relocates or renews supply and waste lines. Electrician runs cabling for lighting, heating, exhaust and power. Both have to be done before anything gets sheeted, because it all disappears behind the wall.

Days 5 to 6. Sheeting and preparation. Wet area sheeting goes on, set and prepared. Floor screed laid to establish falls to the waste.

Days 7 to 9. Waterproofing. Primer, multiple membrane coats with drying time between, then a full cure. This stage cannot be compressed and it is the one most often squeezed when a job is behind.

Days 10 to 14. Tiling. Floor and walls. Cuts around penetrations, niches and hobs are what take the time on a bathroom, not the open field of the wall.

Days 15 to 16. Grouting. Then grout cures before anything is siliconed. Grout needs its own drying time.

Days 17 to 19. Fit-off. Toilet, vanity, tapware, shower screen, accessories. Plumber and electrician return to connect and test.

Day 20. Silicone and clean. Movement joints and internal corners get silicone rather than grout, and it needs to cure before the shower is used.

What makes it longer

Moving the layout. Relocating a waste means more plumbing, sometimes cutting a slab, and an extra inspection point. Add several days at least.

What demolition finds. Rot in the framing, corroded pipework, old wiring that is not compliant, or a floor that is not level. All of it has to be fixed and none of it is visible when quoting.

Late selections. The most avoidable cause of delay. Tiles on a long lead time, a vanity out of stock, tapware that arrives in the wrong finish. Have everything on site before demolition.

Cold weather. Membranes and adhesives cure slower. A cold snap can add a day or two to the waterproofing stage.

Strata. Restricted working hours in an apartment building stretch the calendar even though the labour hours are unchanged.

Trade availability. A bathroom needs a plumber and an electrician twice each, at rough-in and at fit-off. If either cannot come back on the day they are needed, everything behind them waits.

Why it cannot be compressed much

Three stages are chemical rather than physical: the waterproofing cure, the adhesive set, and the grout cure. They take the time they take regardless of how many people are on site.

Adding labour speeds up demolition and tiling. It does nothing for the curing stages. Any quote promising a finished bathroom in under a fortnight is either not counting the same things or is planning to tile over a membrane that has not cured, which is the most common cause of wet area failure.

Planning around it

If it is your only bathroom, arrange alternatives for the full duration. Do not plan the job to finish the week before you are hosting something.

Our fixed-price renovation packages come with a schedule up front, and the full order of works is set out here.