Walk in Bath / General Bathroom fitting questions

[JP_]

The company I work for is thinking about selling walk in baths. At the moment they mostly sell non-bathroom products, which are just delivered to customers and unpacked for them.

But selling baths is a different game altogether - I am not sure our market (elderly people) would be interested in buying a bath if it was not also going to be fitted, and old taken away. We are not geared up to do that yet.

Also, from having bathroom work done myself, I also think most plumbers would prefer to source baths (inc. walk in baths) themselves - is that right?

I think we either need to:

1. not sell them
2. sell them with full plumbing installation, tiling/mastic, etc.

Which is opening a can or worms that we should probably leave closed for now ...

Thoughts?

 

[Bodd]

Hello Jon

Firstly I don't like walk in baths. The ones I've seen you have to sit down close the door and wait for the hot water to fill. If they have a combi or a gravity system thus will take ages.

Then you have to wait until it drains before you get out leaving you freezing cold.

TBC

 

[Bodd]

But selling baths is a different game altogether - I am not sure our market (elderly people) would be interested in buying a bath if it was not also going to be fitted, and old taken away. We are not geared up to do that yet.

Also, from having bathroom work done myself, I also think most plumbers would prefer to source baths (inc. walk in baths) themselves - is that right?

The only reason I like to purchase is for quality. I don't like to fit B&Q Wicks. Bathstore as they are in general bad quality. If the quality was good then I'd have no problem.

Bad quality causes installation problems and warranty arguments.

Also those plumbers thst are not VAT registered and want to avoid being do would rather someone else buys the bathroom.

 

[JP_]

OK, so might still be workable ... now the million dollar question, about how much would we expect a plumber to charge to carry out such a job? I'm not sure if we'd sell at a price that includes installation, or refer local plumbers. Personally, I think we need to do it all, but then that is going to make it tricky unless we hire a plumber who is happy to work as a delivery driver most of the time, and only do the occasional plumbing job ...

 

[dilalio]

The walkin's are a smaller footprint than a standard bath, so replacing one for the other would leave building fabric exposed and would need making good to floors and walls... And still be watertight... This is where it gets expensive as tiles will not match with old so could need complete reptile... 2-5k depending on desired finishes!

 

[Bodd]

2~5 grand wouldn't be just for the plumber but other trades as well.
Plumber on a day rate I would say £200 - £300 per day. And try to get a good plumber as there is an abundance of wannabee plumbers out there.