Full Bathroom Renovations
First fix and second fix, working to the builder’s programme so the tiler is never waiting on pipework.
Home/Bathroom & Kitchen Plumbing
Bathroom and kitchen plumbing in Hermanus is quoted in two stages and programmed around the builder. First fix before the screed, second fix after the tiling, and the hot water sized before either.
Tell us what you are changing and whether a builder is already involved. If you have a layout drawing, that is the most useful thing you can send.
Three of these happen before the tiler arrives and cannot be done afterwards without breaking something.
First fix and second fix, working to the builder’s programme so the tiler is never waiting on pipework.
Sinks, mixers, appliance points and waste. Smaller than a bathroom and much cheaper done at the same time.
The part nobody sees and everybody notices when it is wrong. Set out properly before anything is screeded over.
Working out whether the cylinder you have will run the rooms you are adding, at design stage rather than afterwards.
Moving basins, showers and baths, with an honest answer on what moving the toilet would actually cost.
A reachable isolating valve at every fitting, so the next repair does not start with closing the main stopcock.
Renovation conversations in this district almost always begin in the same place: tiles, taps, whether the bath goes or stays, and how big the shower can be. They almost never begin with the cylinder sitting in the roof, which is the component that decides whether the finished room is any good to live with.
The reason this bites hard in the Overstrand is what these houses are asked to do. A property here spends much of the year holding one or two people and then, for a few weeks, holds considerably more. Overstrand's own billing material describes the pattern candidly: occupation of properties here is unpredictable, and consumption can swing by well over a hundred percent between an empty month and an occupied one. A second bathroom added to a holiday house is not there for the quiet months. It exists precisely for the fortnight when every bed is full and three people want a shower before nine.
A cylinder sized for the original house will not do that. Hot water is a stored quantity, not a tap you turn harder, and a 150 litre cylinder is a 150 litre cylinder whether it is serving one bathroom or three. The recovery time between draws is what actually limits you, and it does not shorten because you have added a room. So the failure mode is entirely predictable and it arrives on the first busy morning, months after the tiler has been paid and left.
The remedy is cheap at the right moment and expensive at the wrong one. At design stage, before anything is opened up, upsizing the cylinder or adding a second one near the new bathroom is largely a materials cost, and the pipe route to it is going in anyway. After the tiling is finished, the same change means a new run through completed rooms, a new platform, possibly an electrical alteration, and making good afterwards. The work is identical. The disruption is not.
It is worth asking the same question about the drains while the floor is still open, since moving a toilet needs fall and fall cannot be created afterwards. Before you choose a single tile, ask what your hot water storage is and how many simultaneous showers the new layout expects. If the two numbers do not match, fix that while the walls are open.
Renovations go wrong on sequence far more often than on skill.
Before layout, before tiles. It is the one thing that cannot be fixed cheaply afterwards.
First fix and second fix booked into the programme at the start, so nobody is waiting on anybody.
Quoted as first fix and second fix so the price is not being renegotiated with the tiler standing there.
Certificate issued before the final invoice, which matters most on work that disappears behind tiles.
What does bathroom plumbing cost in a Hermanus renovation?
The plumbing is normally quoted in two stages: first fix, which is the pipework in the walls and floor before anything is closed up, and second fix, which is hanging the sanitaryware and connecting it. Quoting both separately is how you avoid the situation where the tiler is waiting and the price is being renegotiated.
Can you work to my builder’s programme?
Yes, and the plumbing has to. First fix has to happen before screeding and tiling, and second fix after. Getting those two dates wrong is the most common way a bathroom renovation loses a fortnight, so we would rather agree them with the builder at the start than negotiate them mid-job.
Do I need to move the drain to move the toilet?
Usually yes, and that is the single most expensive decision in a bathroom layout. A toilet needs fall to the existing waste, and fall is not negotiable. Basins and showers are far more forgiving. If the budget is tight, keeping the toilet where it is buys you most of the layout freedom you wanted.
Will my geyser cope with a second bathroom?
That is the question people ask last and should ask first. A cylinder sized for one bathroom will not comfortably run two showers, and the disappointment arrives on the first morning everyone is home. It is far cheaper to size the hot water at design stage than to add a second cylinder after the tiling is done.
Can you do the kitchen at the same time?
It is usually the cheaper way to do it. The kitchen is a smaller plumbing job than a bathroom, and combining them means one first fix, one second fix and one set of mobilisation costs rather than two of each.
What about the dishwasher and washing machine points?
Both need a supply, a drain point and a serviceable isolating valve you can actually reach. That last one gets skipped constantly and it is what turns a five-minute appliance change into an afternoon with the main stopcock closed. It costs almost nothing at first fix.
Do you supply the sanitaryware or do I?
Either. Supplying it yourself often saves money and it puts the delivery risk on you, which is the trade-off. What we do insist on is knowing exactly what you have chosen before first fix, because a wall-hung basin and a pedestal one need their pipework in different places.
Will I get a certificate for a renovation?
On the plumbing work carried out, yes, and it is issued before the final invoice is closed. Renovations are exactly when this matters, because the work disappears behind tiles and nobody can inspect it afterwards without breaking something.
Get In Touch
Tell us what you are changing, whether a builder is involved, and how many people the finished house needs to shower on a busy morning. That last one matters more than it sounds.