What does a cloakroom or downstairs WC cost in the Highlands and Islands?
Our guide range in the Highlands and Islands is £1,750–£4,300 including VAT. Prices in the Highlands and Islands run at about 4% below the UK guide, based on Scotland labour rates. Travel and delivery to islands and remote areas are priced on your quote.
Refit
- Splashback tiling, new floor
Upgrade
- Wall-hung WC with concealed frame
New cloakroom
- New waste or macerator
Guide prices for Highlands & Islands including VAT. Your itemised written quote after the free survey is the price that counts.
Which towns do we cover in the Highlands and Islands?
Most of the Highlands and Islands is supplied with soft water. In soft water, taps, wastes and toilet pans scale up slowly, so brushed and matt finishes are a safe choice. Hardness varies street by street, so check the figure for your postcode with your water supplier. Where your Inverness home already has a WC on gravity drainage, a macerator opens up more places a new cloakroom can go.
What the job includes
- Compact sanitaryware: a short-projection, back-to-wall or wall-hung WC and a corner, wall-hung or slim vanity basin
- A concealed cistern frame or WC unit where the space allows
- An extractor fan ducted to outside, wired with an overrun timer or linked to the light
- Splashback or feature tiling and a new floor, often LVT or porcelain
- A new waste connection to the soil stack or drain, or a macerator where the rules allow it
- A survey that checks the headroom under the stairs, the door swing and how the waste will reach the drain
Decisions to make first
WC style
A wall-hung WC on a frame gives the most floor space and looks neat. A back-to-wall pan in a short furniture unit is easier to fit against an uneven wall.
Door
An outward-opening door is usually needed so it does not hit the WC. A sliding door suits a narrow hallway where an outward door would block the way.
Macerator or gravity
Gravity drainage is silent and needs no maintenance. A macerator lets a WC go where a pipe could not otherwise fall, provided another WC in the house is on gravity drainage.
Finishes
A small room can carry a bolder tile or wallpaper. A feature wall behind the WC costs far less here than in a full bathroom because there is so little of it.
Rules that apply in Scotland
A cloakroom refit does not need planning permission, and forming a new one inside the house rarely does, although a listed building needs listed building consent for internal alterations affecting its character. A macerator or pumped WC is acceptable only where the home also has a WC on gravity drainage. The water fittings rules in each nation limit a new WC to a 6-litre flush.
In Scotland, forming a new WC that alters drainage may need a building warrant, while refitting an existing cloakroom normally does not. Water fittings are covered by the Scottish Water Byelaws 2014, and electrics should be tested and certified to BS 7671.