What a bathroom renovation costs in New Zealand
A typical New Zealand bathroom renovation costs about $22,000 excl. GST, with most mid-range jobs between $15,000 and $35,000, cosmetic refreshes from about $8,000, and premium work with structural changes at $35,000–70,000 (CheckMyBuilder, July 2026). Add 15–20% contingency on top (Superior Renovations).
Below are both published sources we use, side by side, with their GST status stated, plus the regional figures, what moves the price, where the money goes and a worked example.
The three tiers
CheckMyBuilder publishes three tiers for a standard New Zealand bathroom, all excluding GST, updated July 2026.
| Level | Cost | What it gets you |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | $8,000–$15,000 | Paint, new fixtures and minor updates with no layout change. |
| Mid-range | $15,000–$35,000 | New tiles, upgraded fittings, better lighting and a partial layout change. |
| Premium | $35,000–$70,000 | Full redesign, luxury materials, custom cabinetry and structural changes. |
Small rooms are not proportionally cheaper
This is the single most useful thing in either source. Superior Renovations puts fixed trade costs in Auckland, at plumber, electrician and tiler rates of $90–120 an hour, at $10,000–15,000 regardless of the size of the bathroom. What scales with size is tiles and waterproofing membrane, and between a 5 m² room and a 10 m² room that is perhaps $1,000–2,000. Not the $10,000 people expect.
It publishes separate small-bathroom bands as a result. Its page does not state whether these include GST, so neither do we.
| Scope | NZ average |
|---|---|
| minor upgrade (fixture swaps, paint) | $4,000–$8,000 |
| full renovation (demo, trades, retiling) | $15,000–$25,000 |
| custom renovation (layout changes, premium) | $25,000–$35,000 |
By region
CheckMyBuilder publishes an indicative figure per region, adjusted from the typical for regional labour and material differences. Those four numbers are what the calculator divides by $22,000 to get its region factor.
| Region | Typical | Factor vs $22,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Auckland | $28,000 | ×1.27 |
| Wellington | $24,000 | ×1.09 |
| Christchurch | $22,000 | ×1 |
| Rest of New Zealand | $20,000 | ×0.91 |
What moves the price
| Factor | Impact |
|---|---|
| Moving the toilet or shower | +$2,000–$6,000 |
| Floor-to-ceiling tiling, or premium tile | +$2,000–$10,000 |
| Custom vanity or joinery, instead of off-the-shelf | +$1,500–$5,000 |
| Acrylic shower unit, installed | $900–$2,000 |
| New tiled shower, New Zealand range | $1,550–$8,250 |
The two shower rows are Superior Renovations' figures and its page does not state GST status. In Auckland it puts a tiled shower at $2,000–$9,500, which it attributes to labour rates and membrane products. See tiled vs acrylic.
Where the money goes
Labour is the biggest line, not tiles and not the vanity. These shares are Superior Renovations' breakdown across its three tiers.
| Component | Share |
|---|---|
| Labour, all trades | 40–50% |
| Materials: tiles, GIB, adhesive | 20–25% |
| Fixtures: shower, toilet, vanity | 15–20% |
| Plumbing | 8–12% |
| Electrical | 5–8% |
| Waterproofing | 3–5% |
| Painting and plastering | 5–10% |
| Structural changes | 0–10% |
Waterproofing is 3–5% of the job and the cause of most of the expensive failures. What the Building Code requires.
Contingency: what is behind the walls
Superior Renovations puts it plainly: always add 15–20% contingency, so a $30,000 budget should have $4,500–6,000 set aside. Older housing stock regularly produces surprises once the GIB comes off. Its own worked example is a 1960s bungalow where rotten framing, outdated wiring and no waterproofing at all turned a $25,000 job into a $38,000 one.
We show contingency as its own line on every estimate rather than folding it into a total, because a hidden buffer gets spent invisibly and an explicit one gets managed.
Timelines
| Scope | NZ average | Auckland |
|---|---|---|
| Budget refresh | 2–5 days | 3–7 days |
| Mid-range full renovation | 2–3 weeks | 3–4 weeks |
| Luxury or structural | 5–6 weeks | 4–8 weeks and up |
CheckMyBuilder puts a bathroom renovation at 2–6 weeks and notes drying time for waterproofing and tiling as a key part of the schedule. Where the days go.
Consent fees, where consent is needed
Most bathroom renovations are exempt under Schedule 1 of the Building Act, so most jobs pay nothing here. Where consent is needed, these are Superior Renovations' Auckland figures. They are one company's summary of one council's schedule and every council sets its own.
| Situation | Fee |
|---|---|
| Auckland, minor plumbing work under $5,000 with a producer statement | $354 fixed fee |
| Auckland, mid-range job that needs consent (new tiled shower, plumbing changes) | $1,000–2,500, adding 2–3 weeks |
| Auckland, structural changes, wet rooms or wall removal | $2,000–3,500 and up, adding 3–4 weeks |
Whether your job needs consent turns on Schedule 1 clauses 12 and 35, not on the size of the budget. Check your own job with your council before anyone starts.
A worked example
A standard Auckland main bathroom, 2.4m × 1.8m, being retiled: same layout, new membrane, new tiled shower, off-the-shelf vanity, tiling to the floor and the shower walls.
- Base: CheckMyBuilder mid-range tier, $15,000–$35,000 excl. GST
- No fixtures moved, standard tiling extent, off-the-shelf vanity: no adjusters
- Auckland factor ×1.27: $19,100–44,500
- Contingency at 15–20%: $2,900–8,900
- Total: about $22,000–53,400 excl. GST, or $25,300–61,400 incl. GST
That range is uncomfortably wide, and it is honest. A mid-range tier that runs $15,000–35,000 cannot produce a narrow answer. Narrowing it is what a measure-and-design visit does: it replaces a published band with the actual room.
Our own prices
We do not publish package from-prices yet, because we do not have them. They go up once we hold at least two crew quotes on a standard Refresh and Retile scope, in a small and a standard room. Until then every figure on this site is a published market band with a source next to it, and none of them is our price. What we do publish.
Questions about cost
How much does a bathroom renovation cost in NZ?
About $22,000 excl. GST for a typical job, with most mid-range renovations between $15,000 and $35,000 and cosmetic refreshes from about $8,000 (CheckMyBuilder, July 2026). Premium work with a full redesign and structural changes runs $35,000–70,000.
Are small bathrooms cheaper?
Less than people expect. Superior Renovations puts fixed trade costs in Auckland at $10,000–15,000 regardless of room size, and says the tiles-and-membrane difference between a 5 m² and a 10 m² bathroom is perhaps $1,000–2,000. Its NZ-average bands for small rooms are $4,000–8,000 for a minor upgrade, $15,000–25,000 for a full renovation and $25,000–35,000 for a custom one, with no GST status stated.
Where does the money go?
Labour is the biggest line. Superior's breakdown puts labour at 40–50% of the total, materials 20–25%, fixtures 15–20%, plumbing 8–12%, electrical 5–8%, painting and plastering 5–10%, waterproofing 3–5% and structural changes 0–10%.
Do these figures include GST?
CheckMyBuilder states its figures exclude GST unless stated. Superior Renovations does not state a GST status on its page, so we label its figures that way rather than assuming. We do not convert a figure whose GST status we do not know.
How much should I hold back for surprises?
Superior Renovations says always add 15–20% contingency, and gives the worked example that a $30,000 budget should have $4,500–6,000 set aside. On an older house with GIB coming off, that is not optional.
What about consent fees?
Most bathroom renovations do not need consent at all. Where they do, Superior puts Auckland Council fees at $1,000–2,500 for a mid-range consented job and $2,000–3,500 and up for structural work, and cites a fixed fee of $354 for minor plumbing under $5,000 with a producer statement. Those are one company's summary of one council's schedule; confirm your own.
Published and last updated 16 September 2026 by Bathroom Renovation NZ. Every figure above is quoted from a source we read in full on that date. See our editorial policy.