Our Bathroom Renovation Process
Twelve stages, run in one fixed order, from the first conversation in your Malvern home to the handover walkthrough. This page sets out what happens at each stage, what you need to decide or approve, what gets written down, and where the sequence has to pause.
A bathroom is built in one direction only
Wet-area work is unforgiving about order. Waste positions are set before the screed goes down. The membrane goes on before a single tile is laid. A frameless screen is measured after tiling, not before, because the finished surfaces are what it has to seal against. Skip a step or bring one forward and the fix is usually demolition.
So the process below is not a marketing timeline — it is the build order. The scope changes between a full bathroom renovation, a compact ensuite and a targeted shower rebuild, but the stages that apply always run in the same sequence.
Two guides sit alongside this page: the renovation checklist for the decisions worth making before demolition, and the stage timeline for how the stages stack up against each other in real weeks.
How to read each entry.
What happens — the work carried out on site or off it at that point.
You decide — the approval or selection that has to come from you before the next stage can start.
Documented — what is written down, marked up or photographed so the decision is not left to memory.
AT HANDOVER
What the twelve stages add up to
By stage twelve the sequence is behind you: selections locked, services roughed in, membrane cured, tiling set out, fixtures fitted and the screen measured off finished walls. The walkthrough checks drainage falls under running water, screen operation, silicone lines and door and drawer alignment before the job is closed out.
Stages 01–04: before anyone touches the room
01 / Consultation
What happens: a conversation in the room itself. Who uses it and when, what fails now — a leaking base, a cramped shower, a vanity with no storage — and how far you want the scope to go. Options range from a targeted repair to a full strip-out.
You decide: the broad direction, and whether the room is being renovated in place or reconfigured.
Documented: a written scope note listing what is in and what is deliberately left out.
02 / Site Assessment
What happens: measuring up and reading the constraints. Floor structure and substrate, ceiling height, existing waste and drainage positions, stud versus masonry walls, access for materials and waste, and for apartments the strata rules and lift access that shape the program — a recurring factor in South Yarra and Prahran work. Period homes in Armadale and Malvern often add lath walls and uneven floors.
You decide: whether fixtures stay on their existing services or move, knowing what moving them involves.
Documented: measured dimensions and a constraints list that the design has to work within.
03 / Design
What happens: the layout is resolved on paper before it is resolved in tiles. Fixture positions, door and screen swings, niche location, tile set-out, storage and lighting are drawn as a plan and elevations. Small rooms get the most attention here, because millimetres decide whether the space works — see small bathroom renovations and layout ideas.
You decide: sign-off on one layout. Later layout changes are the expensive kind.
Documented: a dimensioned plan and elevations, held as the reference for every stage that follows. More on this in bathroom design.
04 / Quote
What happens: the approved design is priced as an itemised scope rather than a single figure. Trades, materials, waste removal and allowances for items still to be selected are set out separately, along with exclusions — the things a bathroom quote commonly leaves out.
You decide: whether to proceed, adjust the scope, or move an item into an allowance and choose later.
Documented: the itemised scope, the allowances and the exclusions, in writing. What actually moves the number is explained in cost in Malvern and cost in Melbourne.
Strip-out reference: workers remove material from an interior. Illustrative stock photography, not a completed local project.
Stages 05–08: the work you will never see again
Everything between the strip-out and the first tile is buried by the finished room. It is also the part that decides whether the bathroom lasts.
05 / Materials and Selections
What happens: eight decisions are locked — tile format, stone or engineered top, tapware finish, screen type, niche size, floor waste type, lighting and heat, and storage. Lead times are checked so nothing halts the trades mid-sequence.
You decide: all eight, ideally before demolition starts.
Documented: a selection schedule with product, finish and quantity per item. Background reading: the materials guide, tile ideas and the vanity guide.
06 / Demolition and Strip-Out
What happens: floor protection and dust containment go in first, then fixtures, linings and old membrane come out and waste is removed. This is the point where hidden conditions appear — rot behind a leaking base, undersized joists, old plumbing that has to be replaced.
You decide: approval of any variation raised by what is found behind the walls.
Documented: photographs of the stripped room and a written note of anything discovered. Scope detail sits on full bathroom renovations.
07 / Plumbing and Electrical Rough-In
What happens: regulated plumbing and electrical work is carried out by licensed trades. Wastes and water are set to the approved plan, mixer and rail heights are set to the people who will use them, the niche is framed, screen and rail fixing points are backed with noggins, and lighting, exhaust and any heat unit are wired.
You decide: confirm heights on site — mixer, rail, niche, vanity, mirror — while they can still be moved.
Documented: rough-in photographs showing service positions before the walls are closed. Useful later for walk-in shower and vanity work.
08 / Waterproofing
What happens: substrates are prepared and primed, then bond breakers, angles, junctions, penetrations and the floor and wall zones are membraned to the applicable standard. Detail work at corners, the hob or hobless threshold and around the floor waste is where wet areas succeed or fail.
You decide: nothing to select here — but the program has to allow the membrane to cure fully before tiling.
Documented: photographs of the completed membrane and the products used. See waterproofing and the waterproofing guide.
Stages 09–12: the finished room appears
09 / Tiling
What happens: screed and falls are formed to the waste, the set-out is marked so cuts land where they are least visible, walls and floors are laid, then grout and silicone at movement joints. Large-format porcelain, stone and mosaic each have their own handling and set-out rules.
You decide: grout colour and joint width, confirmed against a sample rather than a screen.
Documented: the set-out marked up on the approved elevations. Detail on bathroom tiling.
10 / Fixtures and Fit-Off
What happens: vanity and cabinetry are installed and levelled, the top and basin are fitted, tapware, toilet, rail, towel fittings and mirror go on, and lights and exhaust are connected. The shower screen is measured after tiling is complete, then made and installed — a fixed pause in every program.
You decide: final positions for mirror, rail and accessory heights.
Documented: installed products recorded against the selection schedule. See vanity installation.
11 / Finishing
What happens: painting and cornice work, door and architrave reinstatement, silicone lines cut clean, caps and cover plates fitted, then a full clean-down. The room is walked with a snag list — a mark on a wall, a grout line to point up, a door that needs easing — and those items are closed out before handover.
You decide: add anything you spot to the snag list before it is signed off.
Documented: the snag list, with each item marked complete.
12 / Handover
What happens: a walkthrough of the finished room. Isolation valves and the switchboard circuit are pointed out, the exhaust and any heat unit are demonstrated, and surface care is explained — what cleans stone safely, why silicone is a maintenance item and how grout behaves in its first weeks.
You decide: raise anything that is not right while everyone is still standing in the room.
Documented: the selection schedule, product and care information, and the compliance paperwork issued by the licensed trades for their regulated work.
Fixed waiting points
Some pauses cannot be compressed, and a program that ignores them is not a faster renovation — it is a failure waiting to be tiled over.
Membrane cure. Tiling starts only once the waterproofing has cured for the period the product requires.
Screen measure. Frameless and semi-frameless screens are measured off finished tiled surfaces, then manufactured, so there is a gap between tiling and installation.
Stone fabrication. Stone tops are templated after cabinetry is in place, then cut off site.
Lead times. Tapware, tiles and cabinetry ordered late become the critical path. The timeline guide sets these out against a full sequence.
How variations are handled
Two things cause a change to an agreed scope: something found behind the walls at strip-out, or a change of mind about a selection.
Either way the sequence is the same. The change is described in writing, priced, and its effect on the program noted. Nothing proceeds on that item until you approve it. Verbal changes discussed on site are confirmed in writing before they are built.
The best defence against variations is deciding early. The renovation checklist lists the decisions worth closing before demolition rather than during it.
On site each day
Most bathrooms are renovated in occupied homes, so the corridor between the front door and the bathroom matters as much as the bathroom.
Floor protection and dust containment go in before the first fixture is removed. Waste is contained rather than stockpiled. Tools and materials are stacked at the end of each day and the working path is swept down. Water and power isolation is agreed in advance so the rest of the house keeps running.
For apartments, access, lift bookings and building hours are confirmed with the owners corporation before the program is set.
The same sequence, different scopes
A shower rebuild uses stages 01–02 and 06–12. A full renovation uses all twelve. A design-only engagement stops at stage 04. Each service page explains which stages apply and where that scope is different.
Start at stage one
Tell us about the room and we will walk the scope with you. The enquiry form asks for your name, email, phone, suburb, renovation type, budget range, timeframe and project details — the same information stage 01 starts from. Enquiries are stored privately in this website; they are not passed to external marketing services.
Serving Malvern, Malvern East, Armadale, Toorak, Glen Iris, Kooyong, Prahran, South Yarra, Caulfield North and Carnegie.