Planning a new bathroom? We do the plumbing from strip-out to the last tap: moving the waste, roughing in, getting the falls right for the tiler, and fitting off. You get a written timeline before we start and a fixed price for our part.
NSW plumbing, drainage and gasfitting Lic. 000000C (demo)
Sample review
We got a timeline with dates on it before they started, and they stuck to it. The tiler said the falls were the best he'd worked to, and the fit-off was done the morning they said it would be.
Sample review · Wattlewater Plumbing is a fictional business
What's involved
A bathroom is the job people plan longest and worry about most. It's weeks of choosing tiles and tapware, and then a few days when the room is a shell and every pipe is out in the open. The plumbing decides how those days go. A bathroom renovation plumber who sets the waste in the right place, gets the falls right for the tiler and turns up for the fit-off on the day they said is the difference between a four-week job and a three-month one.
We do the plumbing on bathroom renovations across Maitland and the Lower Hunter, for homeowners managing their own reno and for builders who need a plumber who keeps to the program.
You get this before we start, with dates, not just durations:
If a supplier is late with the vanity or the tapware, the fit-off moves and we tell you the new date the same day, rather than when you ring to ask.
Keeping the toilet, shower and vanity where they are is the cheapest bathroom. Moving them is where most of the cost and the risk sit, so it's worth knowing early.
A toilet needs a waste with enough fall to the sewer line. On a timber floor that depends on the direction of the joists; on a slab it means cutting a trench and patching it. A shower is easier to move, but a level-entry shower with no hob needs a set-down in the floor, which is simple in a new slab and harder in an old one. A vanity is the easiest of the three: a new waste and two lines.
We look under the house or at the slab before we quote, and the quote says plainly which moves are small and which are big.
You choose the look; we check it fits. A wall-hung toilet needs an in-wall cistern and a frame that goes in at the rough-in, not after the tiles. A wall-mounted basin mixer needs its body set at the right depth before the wall is sheeted. A rain shower head needs enough pressure to be worth having, which on some Maitland streets means a pressure check before you buy. Send us the model numbers when you've picked them, and we confirm each one against the rough-in before anything is ordered.
Buy Australian WaterMark-certified tapware. It's the law for anything connected to the water supply, and it saves the awkward moment when an online bargain arrives without the mark and can't be fitted.
If a builder is running the renovation, we work to their program and talk to them directly. If you're managing it yourself, we'll tell you the order the trades go in and how long each one needs, so the tiler isn't booked before the waterproofing has cured.
Plenty of homes around East Maitland and Lorn were built with galvanised water pipe and clay waste, and both age badly. A bathroom renovation is the one time those pipes are in the open, so it's the cheapest moment to replace them. If we find something, we stop, show you a photo and give you a written price. Nothing extra happens until you agree.
If the leak has been running for a while, our leak detection work tells you how far the water travelled before you close the wall up again.
A bigger shower head or a freestanding bath can outrun an old hot water system. If yours is near the end of its life, or too small for the new room, replacing it during the renovation saves a second visit. Our page on hot water system replacement covers the options, including heat pumps.
The same applies to a kitchen or laundry renovation: the sink, dishwasher and washing machine taps moved where the new layout needs them, roughed in before the cabinets and fitted off after. If you only need the fit-off at the end of someone else's renovation, that's a smaller job we book as a single visit.
This page is for planned work. If water is coming through the ceiling right now, don't fill in a form: ring us, and turn the water off at the meter while you wait.
Our work
Two of the rooms we've plumbed around Maitland, from strip-out to fit-off.
Sample photos · Wattlewater Plumbing is a fictional business
Questions
Most bathrooms take three to four weeks from strip-out to the last tap, with the plumbing done in two visits: the rough-in in the first week, and the fit-off once the tiling is finished. Moving the toilet or the shower usually adds a day to the rough-in, not to the whole job.
Usually, yes. A toilet needs a new waste with enough fall to the sewer, so on a slab it means cutting a trench, and on timber floors it depends on the joists. A shower is easier to move. We look under the house or at the slab before we quote, so you know whether the layout you want is a small job or a big one.
Demo figures, for a fictional business: the plumbing for a standard bathroom renovation in Maitland usually costs $4,500 to $8,500, from strip-out to fit-off, with the toilet, shower and vanity staying roughly where they are. Moving fixtures, a new hot water system or a second bathroom add to it, each as its own line on the quote.
We work with the builder or project manager you've chosen, or with tradies we've worked alongside for years if you'd rather we suggest some. Either way, we tell them when the rough-in is done and the falls are set, so the waterproofer isn't waiting on us.
We stop and show you before we do anything extra. Old galvanised pipe, a cracked clay waste or a leak that's been running into the frame for years all turn up in Maitland bathrooms. You get a photo and a written price for the fix, and nothing extra happens until you agree to it.
Yes. We cap off the bathroom's supply so the rest of the house keeps its water, and the toilet goes back in temporarily overnight if it's the only one. The water is off for the whole house only for an hour or two on the rough-in day, and we tell you when.