How to Choose a Bathroom Renovator: What to Check, What to Ask, and What to Walk Away From
Most people choosing a bathroom renovator go off gut feel and price. That’s how you end up with cracked grout at the bath junction six months later — or a waterproofing failure you don’t notice until it’s coming through the ceiling of the room below.
This isn’t a guide to finding the cheapest option. It’s a practical framework for separating the renovators who actually know what they’re doing from the ones who can talk a good game. Licence checks, insurance requirements, what a real quote looks like, the questions worth asking before anything gets signed — it’s all here.
Start Here: Licence Checks Are Non-Negotiable
If a renovator can’t produce a current contractor licence, everything else in this guide is irrelevant. In NSW, any contractor undertaking residential building work over $5,000 — labour and materials combined — must hold a contractor licence issued by NSW Fair Trading under the Home Building Act 1989. In the ACT, the equivalent licensing is administered by Access Canberra. This isn’t bureaucratic formality. It’s the legal baseline.
The licence tells you several things at once: the person has completed assessed training, they’re registered with the relevant authority, and there’s a disciplinary framework available to you if something goes wrong. Without one, none of those protections exist.
Verifying is straightforward. NSW: the licence lookup tool at fairtrading.nsw.gov.au. ACT: the Access Canberra licence register. Takes two minutes. Do it before the conversation goes further.
One practical note. Trades commonly involved in bathroom renovations — plumbers, electricians, waterproofers — each carry separate licences. A building contractor licence doesn’t cover plumbing work. Ask specifically who is doing each licenced trade, and verify each one individually.
Related: Understanding contractor licensing requirements for bathroom renovations in NSW and ACT. Contractor licensing guide › NSW Fair Trading for homeowners ›
Insurance: What’s Required and What a Gap Costs You
Two insurance types matter for a bathroom renovation: public liability insurance and, in NSW, Home Building Compensation cover.
Public liability insurance covers third-party property damage or personal injury arising from the contractor’s work. The industry minimum is generally $5 million. Ask for a current certificate of currency — not a verbal confirmation, the actual document. If they don’t have one on file, that’s a problem.
Home Building Compensation — HBC, previously called Home Warranty Insurance — is mandatory in NSW for residential building work over $20,000. It protects you if the contractor dies, disappears, or becomes insolvent before completing the work, or if defects emerge after the job is done and the contractor can no longer be pursued. Before work starts, they’re required to give you an HBC certificate. If they can’t, that’s not a minor administrative gap. It’s a legal compliance failure.
What a gap looks like in practice: a contractor without current public liability insurance completes your bathroom. Three months later, a waterproofing failure causes water damage to the unit below yours. Their policy had lapsed. You’re now handling a neighbour’s damage claim with no insurance to direct it toward. That scenario isn’t hypothetical. Ask for documentation before the contract is signed, not after.
Related: See our HBC Insurance NSW guide for the specifics on what’s required, when it applies, and how to verify coverage before work starts. HBC Insurance NSW guide ›
A Vague Quote Is a Risk Document, Not a Price
A renovation quote that gives you a single number with no detail isn’t really a quote. It’s an opening position — one that can be filled in however suits the contractor once work starts. If something goes wrong, if scope turns out to be different from what you understood, if materials get substituted mid-job — a vague quote gives you almost no recourse.
Here’s what a properly scoped bathroom renovation quote should contain.
Which system, which membrane product, which areas are covered, and who is doing the work. Not “waterproofing included” — the actual specification. If it’s not named, ask for it to be named.
Either the specific products being supplied, or a clear statement that supply is by owner. Ambiguity here is where substitutions happen after sign-off.
Which trades, what scope, and whether any work is being subcontracted. If it’s subcontracted, to whom? You’re entitled to know before the contract is signed.
Stage payments tied to completion milestones, not arbitrary percentages. Upfront deposits for jobs under $20,000 are capped at 10% by law in NSW. Know what you’re agreeing to.
How long is the contractor responsible for defects once the job is done? The statutory minimum in NSW is two years for minor defects, six for major. Does the quote reference this? It should.
Who is organising any required permits? Who signs off on compliance? This should be explicit in the scope, not left to assumption on site.
Eight Questions Worth Asking Before the Contract Gets Signed
These aren’t polite conversation starters. They’re filters. A renovator who gets defensive about any of them is already telling you something.
Who does the waterproofing?
If the tiler and waterproofer are the same person, ask about their wet area licence specifically — it’s a separate licence in NSW. If waterproofing is subcontracted, ask who to, and ask to see that subcontractor’s credentials. “We handle it in-house” is not an answer to this question.
What membrane system do you use?
There’s no single correct answer here. But there should be a specific answer. Brand, product name, application method. If the response is vague, or they can’t name what they’re using, specification matters less to them than it should.
Will there be an inspection before tiling starts?
Under AS 3740, the waterproofing membrane should be fully cured and checked before any tile adhesive goes down. Ask if that step happens as a matter of course on their jobs, or whether it needs to be requested. The answer will tell you how they approach compliance.
Who pulls the permits?
Structural work, plumbing, and electrical work each require permits from the relevant authority. This is the contractor’s responsibility, not yours. It should be accounted for in the scope. If they seem surprised by the question, that’s relevant.
Is any part of this job being subcontracted?
Nothing wrong with subcontracting — most renovations involve multiple trades. What matters is transparency. Who is actually doing the work, and is the principal contractor taking full responsibility for all of it? You shouldn’t be finding this out halfway through the job.
What is your defect liability period, and how do I raise a claim?
The statutory warranty period applies regardless of contract. But knowing whether a contractor treats this as a normal part of their process — or as an inconvenient question — tells you something about how disputes will get handled if they arise.
What happens if the scope changes during the job?
Changes should be documented as written variations before the work proceeds. Ask specifically how they handle this. “We’ll sort it out” is not a process. It’s a liability.
Can I contact a recent client?
Not a client from two years ago. A recent one. A contractor who hesitates here, or can only produce aged references, is worth probing further. Recent work tells you about their current standard, not the best job they’ve ever done.
The Signals That Say Walk Away
Some of these are obviously bad. Others feel minor in the moment and turn out to be expensive later. None of them should be rationalised.
Cash-only quotes with no written scope
Cash payment is fine with a proper receipt. Cash-only with no written documentation is different — it means there’s no trail if the job goes wrong. That benefits one party, and it isn’t you.
No site inspection before quoting
A renovation quote that arrives without the contractor visiting the site was written against a description, not actual conditions. Substrate state, existing waterproofing, access constraints, current plumbing configuration — none of that is visible in a photo. A quote without a site visit is a guess with a number attached.
Vague or evasive answers on waterproofing
Already covered in the questions section. Worth treating as a standalone signal because it comes up regularly. If the renovator talks around the waterproofing question rather than answering it, their approach to wet area compliance reflects that.
Pressure to sign before you’ve compared quotes
Time pressure in a renovation quote is almost always manufactured. A contractor worth hiring doesn’t need to create urgency. If you’re being pushed to sign before you’ve had time to review things properly, ask yourself why the timeline matters so much to them.
Payment structure heavily weighted to upfront
A large deposit before work starts, combined with milestone payments that don’t track actual completion, is a risk structure that favours the contractor. In NSW, deposits for jobs under $20,000 are capped at 10% by law. For jobs above that threshold, a deposit exceeding 20–25% is worth a direct question about why.
Subcontractors appearing after you’ve signed
Who does the work matters. If you asked before signing and got a vague answer — then three unfamiliar subcontractors show up on day one — that’s not coincidence. The contractor knew, and chose not to tell you.
The quote is a single number with no scope
One line: “Bathroom renovation — $18,500.” No breakdown, no fixture schedule, no waterproofing specification. That’s not a quote. It’s a placeholder that can be filled in however suits the contractor once work starts and you’re already committed.
One of the most preventable and expensive renovation failures: cement grout used at movement joints where flexible silicone sealant is required under AS 3740. Looks fine for months. Then it cracks. Then water gets in behind the tiles. By the time you see the damage, it’s already significant. See our full renovator red flags guide ›
Waterproofing: The One Thing Most People Don’t Check
It’s invisible once the tiles are down. It’s not something a homeowner can inspect in the finished job. And it’s the single failure mode most likely to turn a $20,000 renovation into a $40,000 repair bill.
Australian Standard AS 3740 governs wet area waterproofing in residential construction. It specifies which areas must be waterproofed, what membrane systems are acceptable, and how they must be applied. Compliance isn’t optional — it’s a requirement under the National Construction Code. Most homeowners don’t think to ask about it. They’re focused on tiles and tapware. The renovator knows this.
What to ask specifically: Is the waterproofing being done by a licenced waterproofer? Will the membrane be inspected and documented before tiling starts? Is the shower floor-to-wall junction being sealed with the correct flexible sealant rather than grout? Are all penetrations — the shower rose, the mixer, any drainage outlets — waterproofed correctly?
Confident, specific answers to those questions are a good sign. Vague reassurance — “yeah, we do all that” — is not. Keep asking until you get specifics.
Related: See our full AS 3740 waterproofing compliance guide for what the standard requires, which areas must be treated, and how to verify compliance before tiles go down. AS 3740 waterproofing guide ›
Want a Renovator Who Ticks All These Boxes?
We connect homeowners and property professionals with vetted bathroom renovation specialists across NSW and ACT — contractors who’ve had their licensing, insurance, and compliance history reviewed before we refer them.
Lifestyle Bathrooms is a referral and connector service, not a licenced contractor. We connect homeowners and property professionals with vetted bathroom renovation specialists across NSW and ACT.
Comparing Quotes That Aren’t Comparing the Same Thing
Three quotes for the same bathroom. One at $16,500. One at $21,000. One at $24,500. The cheapest looks attractive. It probably isn’t.
The problem is scope. If the $16,500 quote excludes tile supply, uses an unspecified membrane system, doesn’t include waste removal, and subcontracts waterproofing to someone you’ve never heard of — it’s not the same job. You’re not comparing prices. You’re comparing two completely different scopes of work and not realising it.
Before comparing numbers, normalise the scope. Run each quote against the same checklist.
That table tells you what you’re actually comparing. A $21,000 quote with everything on the left may be cheaper in real terms than a $16,500 quote missing half of it.
Payment terms as a risk signal: a contractor who wants 40–50% upfront has structured the deal so the leverage shifts to them the moment work starts. Stage payments tied to actual milestones — deposit, waterproofing completion, tiling completion, practical completion — align the contractor’s incentive with delivery. That’s the structure worth asking for.
See our full bathroom renovation cost guide for indicative pricing by project type and scope. Bathroom renovation cost guide ›
How to Actually Use a Reference
Most homeowners receive a reference list and either don’t call, or call, ask “were you happy?”, get a positive answer, and consider the box ticked.
That’s not using a reference. That’s going through a motion.
Questions worth asking a previous client: Did the job finish on time? Were there scope changes — and if so, were they documented in writing before the work proceeded? Was there anything that went wrong, and how did the contractor handle it? If you were doing it again, would you use the same person? That last question often produces the most useful answer of the conversation.
When inspecting past work, look at the junctions, not the tile field. Silicone lines at the bath-to-wall junction and floor-to-wall corners, grout condition around penetrations like the shower rose and mixer — these tell you more about the quality of the finish than the tile selection does. Silicone that’s already cracking or lifting on a job completed in the last twelve months is a direct read on application standards.
On reviews: look for patterns, not outliers. A contractor with forty reviews and a couple of negatives is very different from one with eight reviews and two that mention communication problems or incomplete work. Read the negative reviews. The contractor’s response to them — or absence of a response — tells you as much as the reviews themselves.
How Lifestyle Bathrooms Vets the Specialists We Connect You With
We don’t refer contractors we haven’t checked. Before any specialist is connected through Lifestyle Bathrooms, they go through a verification process that covers the filters this guide has outlined.
Licence verification against the NSW Fair Trading or ACT Access Canberra register. Public liability insurance — current certificate, not a verbal confirmation. HBC cover for jobs where it’s required. A review of recent work history and client feedback. And specifically, how the contractor approaches wet area waterproofing — whether it’s treated as a compliance requirement or an afterthought.
It’s not a guarantee. No referral service can guarantee a renovation outcome. What it means is that the contractors we connect you with have cleared the baseline filters that most homeowners never think to apply, because they didn’t know to look.
The full vetting criteria are documented on our LB Checklist page. The LB Checklist ›
Common Questions
Three is a reasonable starting point — enough to spot whether one quote is an outlier without making the comparison process unmanageable. Beyond five, you tend to create noise rather than clarity, particularly when scopes aren’t normalised and you’re trying to compare documents that aren’t structured the same way.
What matters more than the number of quotes is the quality of the scopes. One detailed, properly documented quote is more useful than three vague ones. If you’re receiving three quotes and none of them reference waterproofing specifications or payment milestones, the problem isn’t the number of quotes.
A contractor licence from NSW Fair Trading under the Home Building Act is the baseline for the renovation itself. That covers the general building work.
Beyond that: plumbing and drainage work requires a plumbing licence — either held by the contractor or performed by a licenced subcontractor. Any electrical work needs a licenced electrician. Waterproofing in wet areas is its own licenced trade in NSW. The principal contractor’s licence doesn’t cover these individual scopes.
Ask about each trade separately. Don’t assume the contractor’s licence covers all of it, because it doesn’t.
Yes, and it’s reasonably common. Some contractors will adjust their quote to account for the reduced supply cost; others won’t. Worth clarifying upfront.
The more important consideration: when you supply materials, responsibility for defects in those materials sits with you, not the contractor. If a tile batch has a manufacturing fault, or a shower valve fails early, the contractor is liable for the installation — not the product. That’s a relevant distinction if something goes wrong.
Supplying your own tiles and fixtures can still be the right call, particularly for products the contractor doesn’t stock. Just be clear on where the liability boundary sits before committing.
It’s the period after practical completion during which the contractor must return and rectify defects in their work at no additional cost. In NSW, the statutory warranty is two years for minor defects and six years for major structural defects — these apply regardless of what any contract says.
A defect liability period written into the contract is separate from the statutory warranty and is usually shorter, often three to twelve months. It’s the agreed window for identifying and rectifying issues before the job is formally closed out. If the contract doesn’t reference one, ask why, and ask how defects raised after completion are handled.
Sometimes. A lower quote from a contractor whose overhead is leaner, or who wants the work more, isn’t automatically a red flag. Price alone isn’t the issue.
The question is what the price is attached to. A thin quote with a low number is a liability. A detailed, well-scoped quote with a lower number is a conversation worth having. The difference between those two scenarios is usually about twenty minutes of reading the document carefully.
If the lowest quote is also the most clearly scoped — waterproofing specified, payment terms reasonable, references available — that’s a different situation from a single-number quote with nothing behind it.