Quick answer
Yes — a full-service bathroom fitter handles all the trades. Plumbing, tiling, plastering, electrics, carpentry and decorating are all run under one project manager, with Gas Safe and Part P qualified people for the regulated parts. You hire one team, not six — so there’s no chasing trades and one person is accountable from strip-out to handover.
A bathroom is half a dozen trades in one room
People often picture a bathroom fitter as a plumber who also lays tiles. In reality, a single bathroom pulls in more separate trades than almost any other room in the house — and they all have to dovetail in the right order. That’s why hiring one managed team makes such a difference: the coordination is done for you. Here’s what’s going on behind a finished Plymouth bathroom.
Plumbing
First fix runs the new hot, cold and waste pipework while walls are open; second fix connects the suite, taps, shower and towel rail. It’s the backbone of the job and where most things go wrong if it’s rushed.
Electrics
Feeds for lighting, the extractor, an electric shower or underfloor heating — installed and tested to the bathroom zone rules. This is regulated work (more below) and needs a qualified electrician.
Plastering
Walls get patched, re-skimmed or boarded out so they’re flat and sound before a single tile goes up. Tile onto wavy old plaster and it shows — so this stage quietly decides how good the finish looks.
Tiling
Setting out, cutting, fixing and grouting — the part that takes the most skill and patience. Our tiling and flooring page covers how we get joints and floors right.
Carpentry & boxing
Boxing in pipework, building bath panels and false walls, hanging doors and fitting furniture — the joinery that makes everything look built-in rather than bolted on.
Decorating & waste
Caulking, painting, sealing and final trims — then clearing and disposing of all the old suite, tiles and rubble. The bits that turn a working bathroom into a finished one.
One managed team vs hiring trades yourself
You can absolutely line up a plumber, an electrician, a plasterer, a tiler and a decorator separately — plenty of people do, and for some it works out. But it puts you in the role of project manager, and that’s where the headaches start.
What you take on yourself
- Booking each trade in the right order, on the right days
- Filling the gaps when one runs late and pushes the next back
- Carrying the cost when a trade no-shows and the job stalls
- Refereeing if the tiler blames the plasterer for a bad wall
What a managed team takes off your plate
- One project manager who sequences every trade for you
- One point of contact and one number to call
- One firm accountable for the whole result — no finger-pointing
- One written price and timeline, start to finish
Each trade hands cleanly to the next — plastering before tiling, first-fix before plastering — which is the bit that’s hard to coordinate when you hire separately.
The regulated work: electrics and gas
Most bathroom trades just need to be done well. Two of them have to be done by someone qualified and certified, by law — and this is where a fly-by-night fitter can land you in trouble at resale or with your insurer.
Electrics fall under Part P of the Building Regulations. Notifiable work — new circuits, an electric shower, certain alterations — must be carried out or signed off by a registered electrician who issues the proper certificate, and bathrooms have strict zone rules about what fitting goes where near water. A good fitter has a Part P electrician in-house or manages one as part of the job, so the certificate lands in your handover pack.
Gas work must be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer. If your project moves a boiler or relocates a gas supply, that part is legally restricted to a Gas Safe person — not the general fitter. We make sure the regulated trades are handled by the right registered people, with paperwork to prove it.
Want the detail on the regulated side? See are bathroom fitters Gas Safe and do I need an electrician for a bathroom for the full picture.
How our all-trades team works
When you book a full bathroom installation with us, every trade is part of one managed job. A standard fit runs around 7–10 working days, and you deal with one team the whole way through.
Trades in-house or managed
Plumbing, tiling, plastering, carpentry and decorating are ours; Part P electrics and any Gas Safe work are handled by registered people we manage so it’s all one job.
One project manager
Someone owns the schedule and the result. They sequence the trades, keep the days on track and answer the phone when you call — no chasing five different mobiles.
Certificates in your pack
The regulated work comes with the paperwork it should — electrical certification and any gas documentation — handed to you at the end so you’re covered for insurance and resale.
Not sure who to trust with all of it? Our guide on how to choose a bathroom fitter walks through what to check, and our FAQs answer the rest.
Common questions about who does what
Do I still need to hire a separate plumber or electrician?
No. With a full-service fitter the plumbing is part of the job and the electrics are handled by a Part P registered electrician we manage. You don’t need to source or coordinate either yourself — it’s all priced and scheduled as one piece of work.
Do bathroom fitters do the plastering as well?
Yes. Plastering — patching, re-skimming or boarding out walls so they’re flat and sound — is a standard part of a full bathroom fit. It happens after first fix and before tiling, because tiling onto poor plaster ruins the finish.
What about moving the boiler or gas supply?
Any gas work is legally restricted to a Gas Safe registered engineer. We don’t let a general fitter touch it — that part of the job is done by a registered person and documented, so you’re properly covered.
Is it cheaper to hire the trades myself?
Sometimes the headline cost looks lower, but you take on the coordination, the gaps when trades run late, and the risk if something goes wrong with no single firm accountable. A managed team usually saves time, stress and the cost of mistakes.
One team, every trade
Get a fixed quote for the whole job
Tell us about your bathroom and we’ll price every trade — plumbing, plastering, electrics, tiling and the rest — in one written quote, with one team accountable from start to finish.