In life, do you really get what you pay for? Do you always get quality when you pay more? We’ve never been at the cheap end of the bathroom market. Our service, products, and the finish we offer is to the best standard that we can give and supply.
But is it over-priced?
Is the bathroom industry charging too much?
And are all these products really worth the money?
When you’re planning a new bathroom, you should absolutely have a budget and you should certainly work within it. Without it, you’ll struggle to make big decisions and your project will run out of control.
Cost is a factor, but we don’t think it should be the only factor when choosing your suite, taps, tiles, radiators, lights, cupboards, and more.
You’ll find that some items cost more than you’d expect, and some are far less. You’ll have to make decisions on choice, and that can come down to budget, but we want to add in some expert knowledge to counter that.
Some bathroom products are more expensive than others, but we believe you actually get way more for your money.
We’ll look at five key areas:
• Design.
• Materials.
• Availability.
• Finish.
• Aftersales.
Let’s get to it…
How design affects the price in a bathroom
Not all bathrooms are created equal. The suite, design, and the products that go into a bathroom will vary greatly, and this will vastly change the final cost to you.
Many bathroom products will have been through a large design process and have rigorous testing. This process ensures that what you buy will not only work well and feel quality when you use it, but it’ll last longer than the first year!
The design affects the price because the harder something is to make, or the longer it takes to design and build, the greater the need will be for machine time, testing, and prototypes.
You’ll get the benefit of a better designed and created product when you go premium.
The materials of your bathroom can cost more
The materials will vary hugely in bathroom products. Much like you’d get a better quality car interior in a £50K Land Rover over a family run about, you’ll get a better material in the higher end bathroom products over the budget ones.
Lower quality raw materials will reduce the cost of the finished product. What this means to your bathroom is often an initial compromise on the look and feel of the suite, taps, or cabinets and then over time, a faster demise of the working of the products.
The availability of your bathroom changes the price
One big factor to price will be the off-the-shelf option compared to the bespoke, made-to-measure one.
If you’re looking for a truly bespoke bathroom then you’ll need to have specific products like cabinets and vanity units made for you. This takes longer to design, create, and ship. Due to the way big companies work, the off-the-shelf products are far more cost-effective.
Made-to-order products often cost more than bulk-made and stored products for obvious reasons.
That said, you can also find some more expensive ranges (that are arguably better designed) carry a big price ticket so they aren’t held in stock, and therefore make to order. They’re not bespoke, but still made to order.
We can help with all options so let’s have a discussion if you’re not sure which is right for you.
The finish of your bathroom changes your final investment
The finish you’re looking for will change the price you pay. If you’re after that dream bathroom look, that hotel away feel, that luxury bathroom you’ve always wanted, then you’ll need to pay for the finish that gives it that wow factor.
The materials and design all come into play here, but the final finish of some products that’s applied to keep them clean and protected can often be an invisible cost, but one you’ll appreciate for years to come.
The all-important aftersales affect the bathroom budget
There’s nothing better than a beautifully re-designed bathroom. And there’s nothing worse than a bathroom with broken or failing parts just a few years later.
Cheaper products will fail, that’s pretty obvious. But what’s not so obvious is that cheaper products will rarely have the aftersales support that the more expensive ones do. More often than not, the price tag for cheap products covers the product and nothing else. When it fails, you’re left to sort it out.
You can often overlook the fact that some companies charge more for their products than others because of their infrastructure. We sometimes find the more ‘expensive’ companies have the best after sales and that’s great peace of mind and future proofing for your bathroom.
Buy a cheap bathroom, regret it twice?
That’s often the case and when you consider that your bathroom is possibly the most visited and most used room in the house, it’s going to need to stand up to the test of time and traffic.
Invest in your bathroom is our advice.
You’ll get more joy and life out of it if you do. If you cut corners, you’ll wish you hadn’t. Trust us, we’ve spent almost a life time improving sub-standard bathrooms that were poorly designed with inexpensive products that couldn’t make it in the long haul.
Need more help?
Contact us now or pop-into our bathroom showroom in Coventry. We’ve been family run for decades. A wealth of experience awaits you and your future bathroom.