The total timeline of a bathroom renovation depends on the scope (refresh vs full reno), the housing type (freestanding vs apartment), the spec (off-the-shelf vs custom), and how well the trades coordinate. Most standard freestanding reno timelines on the Gold Coast run 3-5 weeks.
Standard timeline, freestanding home, 3-5 weeks
- Week 1, days 1-3: Strip-out and demolition. All existing fittings removed, tiles removed, walls back to studs or substrate.
- Week 1-2, days 3-7: Plumbing rough-in. New drainage if layout changing, hot and cold water lines to new fixture positions, pressure test.
- Week 2, days 6-9: Electrical rough-in. Downlights, exhaust fan, power points.
- Week 2-3, days 9-12: Plastering and waterproofing. Waterproofing membrane needs 1-2 days to cure before tiling.
- Week 3-4, days 12-22: Tiling. The longest stage, sometimes 7-10 days depending on tile complexity.
- Week 4, days 18-24: Joinery install (vanity, shaving cabinet). Plumbing fit-off (taps, mixers, basin, toilet, shower, bath).
- Week 4-5, days 22-28: Glazier install (shower glass, mirror). Final electrical fit-off. Painting touch-ups. Final cleaning.
- Week 5, day 28-35: Final inspection and walkthrough.
Total: 3-5 weeks for a typical freestanding home reno. Some renos finish closer to 3 weeks if everything coordinates perfectly. Most run 4 weeks. Bigger or more complex renos run 5 weeks.
Apartment timeline, 5-8 weeks
Apartment renos run longer because:
- Strata bylaws restrict trade work hours, typically 8am-5pm weekdays plus limited Saturday hours. No Sundays or public holidays. Working day is shorter.
- Body corp approval process takes 1-3 weeks before work starts.
- Material delivery via lift requires booking and coordination with building manager.
- Common-area protection setup and takedown adds time each day.
- Strata-grade waterproofing documentation adds time at handover.
Standard apartment bathroom reno timeline 5-6 weeks, premium 7-8 weeks.
What delays bathroom renos
- Unexpected discoveries during strip-out. Salt-corroded copper, drainage falls wrong, asbestos in older homes, structural issues. Coastal and old inland homes most affected. Add 3-7 days to resolve.
- Tile delivery delays. Some premium imported tiles have 6-10 week lead times. Order at planning stage, not at strip-out.
- Custom joinery delays. Custom vanities and shaving cabinets are typically 4-8 weeks build time. Order early.
- Tapware delivery delays. Premium brassware (Astra Walker, Gareth Ashton) sometimes 4-8 weeks lead time. Order at planning stage.
- Trade scheduling conflicts. If one trade is delayed, the next trade may have moved on to another job. Add 1-2 weeks of slippage.
- Body corp approval delays in apartments. Sometimes 4-6 weeks if the committee meets quarterly.
How to keep the timeline tight
- Plan all material orders early. Tile, tapware, vanity, toilet, bath should be ordered and confirmed delivered before strip-out starts.
- Approve fixture positions on the plumbing rough-in plan before rough-in starts. Late position changes are expensive.
- Be available for decisions. If the trades need to ask about a niche position, tile pattern, or finish level, fast answers keep work moving.
- Engage a project manager or builder who handles trade scheduling. Saves you the coordination work.
- For apartments, start the body corp process early. 6-8 weeks before planned start.
Our plumbing days within the reno
The plumbing portion of a typical Gold Coast bathroom reno is 4-5 site visits across 4-5 days total. We are not on-site every day, we attend at specific stages: strip-out (1 day), rough-in (1-2 days), pre-tile inspection (half day), fit-off after tiling (1-2 days), final commissioning (half day).
The rest of the days are other trades (waterproofer cure, tiler, electrician, joiner, glazier, painter). We coordinate with them so we are not the hold-up.
What to do during the reno
- Single-bathroom households, plan to use a friend's bathroom, a gym, or temporary accommodation. Cannot live in the house without a shower for 4 weeks.
- Multi-bathroom households, use the other bathroom. We can sequence the reno to keep one bathroom usable if you are doing both.
- Pets and children, consider how the household will manage with trades on-site every day, dust, noise, gates open.
- Property access, trades need access. Plan keys / lock boxes if you will not be home.
Can it be done faster?
Sometimes yes. A like-for-like refresh keeping all positions (just new fittings) can be done in 1-2 weeks. A full custom reno with all the trades cannot realistically be done faster than 3 weeks without compromising quality, the waterproofing alone needs 24-48 hours cure time before tiling, and tiling premium patterns cannot be rushed.
Beware quotes promising 2-week full renos, almost always means rushed waterproofing or substandard tile work.
Critical path scheduling, what actually blocks what
Most owners think a bathroom reno is a sequence of trades, one finishes and the next starts. The reality is more like a critical path with parallel work and forced cure times. The chain of dependencies that genuinely cannot compress:
- Waterproofing membrane cure: 24 hours for a single coat product, 48 hours for two-coat systems. No tiling can start until cure is complete. AS3740 requires the cure, building inspectors check it.
- Tile adhesive cure: 24 hours before grouting, 48-72 hours before wet exposure. Cannot be skipped without future tile failure.
- Grout cure: 24-72 hours depending on product before sealing or wet use.
- Silicone cure on perimeter seals: 24 hours minimum before water exposure.
Add it up and there is roughly 4-6 days of forced cure time built into any standard reno that no amount of crew or coordination can compress. Quotes promising 10-day turnaround are either cutting cure times (future failure) or running incomplete scope.
Sequencing two bathrooms in one reno
A pattern we run regularly for Gold Coast families doing both bathrooms together is staggered sequencing rather than parallel. Why:
- Parallel (both bathrooms stripped at once) leaves the house with no usable bathroom for 3-4 weeks, forcing Airbnb or family stay. Cost $4,000-8,000 in accommodation.
- Staggered (ensuite first, family bath second, 1 week overlap) keeps one bathroom usable throughout. Total reno time stretches by 1-2 weeks but accommodation cost is zero.
- Net saving on a typical Robina or Mudgeeraba family home is $3,000-6,000 plus reduced disruption.
Trade efficiency is slightly lower on staggered sequencing (mobilising twice for some scope) but the saving on accommodation usually wins. We run staggered as default unless the household has clear alternative bathroom arrangements.
Coastal home strip-out surprises that add days
Older Burleigh, Palm Beach and Currumbin homes from the 1970s-1990s consistently surface unexpected scope during strip-out that adds 3-10 days to the timeline. The most common:
- Asbestos cement sheet behind tiles: common in pre-1987 builds. Requires licensed asbestos removalist, $1,800-4,500 and 2-3 day delay. Cannot be touched by general trades.
- Salt-corroded copper supply lines: green corrosion product on copper, weakened pipe walls, often discovered when first tile drilled. Requires full supply line replacement, 1-2 day delay.
- Drainage falls wrong from original install: waste water that has been pooling under tiles for years. Floor needs leveling or new fall built, 2-3 day delay.
- Termite damage in stud wall framing: seen behind shower walls where leaks have fed moisture into the timber for years. Carpenter required for stud replacement before tiling can begin, 1-3 day delay.
- Old electrical wiring not to current code: rubber-insulated cable in the wall cavity, electrician must upgrade, 1 day delay.
Build a 5-10 day contingency into any coastal-home or pre-1990 reno timeline. New estate homes (Coomera, Pimpama, Pacific Pines post-2010) rarely surface these surprises and run closer to the quoted timeline.
Material lead times we are seeing in 2026
Current lead times for common spec items, useful for owners planning a reno start date:
- Phoenix Vivid tapware, in stock at Reece, 1-3 days
- Sussex Voda tapware, in stock or 1-2 weeks
- Astra Walker tapware, 4-8 weeks (most ranges), 6-12 weeks for less common finishes
- Gareth Ashton tapware, 4-8 weeks typical, longer for matt black ranges
- Caroma toilet suites, in stock 1-3 days
- Standard freestanding baths (Decina, Adesso), 1-3 weeks
- Premium baths (Apaiser, custom stone), 6-12 weeks
- Custom vanity joinery, 4-8 weeks from final drawing approval
- Imported European tile, 6-14 weeks from order to GC port
- Australian-stocked tile (Beaumont, Di Lorenzo standard ranges), 1-3 weeks
- Frameless shower glass, 2-4 weeks from final tile measurement
The headline timeline rule, your reno start date cannot be earlier than your longest-lead item arrival. Most delayed renos we see started with materials that had not yet arrived, then waited for tile or tapware while paid trades stood idle. Sequence order first, then schedule strip-out backward from confirmed delivery dates.
The weekly cadence of a typical reno
For owners trying to picture what each week looks like on the ground, a typical 4-week Gold Coast freestanding home reno runs:
Week 1, Monday-Friday: demo and strip-out Monday-Tuesday. Plumber rough-in Wednesday-Thursday. Electrician rough-in Thursday-Friday in parallel. Sometimes Friday is used for plasterer if walls need patching. End of week, room is gutted, all services roughed in.
Week 2, Monday-Friday: waterproofer Monday. Cure Tuesday. Tiler starts Wednesday with floor tile. Tile work continues Thursday-Friday on walls. End of week, floor tiled, walls partly tiled.
Week 3, Monday-Friday: tiler continues Monday-Wednesday completing walls and feature areas. Grouting Thursday. Silicone Friday. Joiner installs vanity Friday afternoon if cure permits. End of week, all tiling complete, vanity in.
Week 4, Monday-Friday: plumber fit-off Monday-Tuesday (tapware, basin, toilet, shower, bath). Glazier Wednesday for shower glass and mirror. Electrician fit-off Wednesday (downlights, exhaust). Painter touch-ups Thursday. Final clean Friday. Walkthrough and handover end of week.
This cadence is the smoothest case. Any one trade running over by a day shifts the chain. Owners who can be available for quick decisions and approvals during the reno help the cadence hold.
Where renovators commonly overpromise on timeline
Five things to watch for when comparing renovation quotes on timeline:
- Promises of 2-week complete reno: impossible unless waterproofing cure is being cut or the scope is unusually small.
- Promises of weekend work bringing forward by days: trades that work weekends to save time exist but usually charge premium rates. Make sure the quote includes the weekend premium.
- Lead times not specified for materials: if the quote does not list expected material delivery dates, ask. The lead time on tapware is often the gating item.
- No contingency for strip-out surprises: coastal and older homes need 5-10 days contingency. Quotes that show no contingency are either understating the timeline or will hit you with variations when surprises emerge.
- Body corp approval not yet in hand on apartments: apartment renos cannot start until body corp signs off. Quotes that promise a start date before approval is confirmed are setting up disappointment.
Realistic timelines build in cure time, lead times, and contingency. Optimistic timelines do not. Pick the realistic quote even if the headline number is longer, you will get to handover sooner in practice.