Malvern, VIC 3144 · inner south east
Bathroom renovations in Malvern
Complete bathroom renovations from $19,999 — tiles, fixtures, waterproofing, rubbish removal and GST all in. Typically 4 weeks on site. We're a small local team — the people who quote your job are the people who build it, so you're not paying for a showroom or a sales rep.
- Registered building practitioner
- Fixed written price before we start
- Free inspection across Malvern
Local knowledge
What we see in Malvern homes
Malvern is Edwardian and interwar housing on wide, established streets, much of it with original leadlight, picture rails and pressed ceilings still intact. Bathrooms are usually the one room where the period detail was lost decades ago.
The thing that catches people out here
The brief here is almost always period-sympathetic rather than contemporary. That means smaller format tiles, traditional tapware and often a freestanding bath — all of which cost more in labour than the large-format, minimal look.
Stonnington heritage controls apply across much of Malvern. Internal renovations are fine; changes visible from the street are not automatic.
Before you get quotes
Three things that decide the price in Malvern
1. What your house is built on
Malvern is substantial period housing — Victorian, Edwardian and solid interwar brick — with a layer of apartments along the tram routes. The houses have deep timber subfloors and good access to services, so relocating a shower or toilet is genuinely feasible here in a way it is not on a slab. The catch is scale: Malvern bathrooms are frequently large, and floor area drives the tiling and waterproofing lines more than any fixture choice does. A big bathroom with modest fittings costs more than a small one with expensive ones.
2. Permits, overlays and owners corporations
Internal bathroom and kitchen work needs no planning permit, including inside Malvern's extensive heritage overlays — overlays govern what the street sees, not your wet areas. If you are in one of the apartment blocks, the owners corporation is the real gatekeeper: most require written approval before wet-area work and some ask to see the waterproofing certification and the plumber's compliance certificate afterwards. A heritage overlay mostly governs what is visible from the street, so internal bathroom work is usually exempt — but not always: some overlay schedules apply internal alteration controls, and a property on the Victorian Heritage Register needs a Heritage Victoria permit that does reach interiors. Your council's planning property report settles it in a minute.
3. What a renovation is worth here
Malvern buyers expect the renovation to sit comfortably with the age of the house. The most common and most expensive mistake here is a sharply contemporary bathroom dropped into a Federation home — it reads as a cheap fix even when the budget was not cheap. Period-sympathetic fittings generally cost the same and tend to date more slowly.
None of the above is guesswork on a quote — we look at the subfloor, the wall behind the tiles and the existing drainage during the free inspection, then put a fixed written price on it.
Pricing
Bathroom renovation cost in Malvern
One number, everything in it. Take it to any other quote you get and compare line for line — that is the comparison worth making.
What's included at $19,999
No separate tile bill, no "supply your own fixtures", no GST added at the end.
- Full strip-out and rubbish removal
- Certified waterproofing to AS 3740
- Floor-to-ceiling wall tiling
- New vanity, toilet and shower screen
- Tapware, shower set and towel rail
- Plumbing and electrical by licensed trades
Moving plumbing to a new wall, upgraded finishes, or hidden damage found during demolition are quoted separately and always in writing before any extra work starts.
Also renovating the kitchen? See kitchen pricing for Malvern →
Questions
Malvern bathroom renovations — common questions
Do you actually work in Malvern?
Yes — Malvern is inside our regular service area, along with St Kilda, Camberwell, Hawthorn and the surrounding inner south east. Site inspections across Malvern are free and there's no travel charge.
How long will the job take?
Around 4 weeks on site for a standard bathroom of this type. Malvern is mostly Edwardian and interwar homes, and that's the kind of place we work on most — so the timeline we give you at quote stage is the one we work to.
What could push the price above $19,999?
Three things, in order of likelihood: moving plumbing or fixtures to new positions, choosing finishes above our standard range, and hidden damage behind the walls. In Malvern, where the stock is Edwardian and interwar homes, the third one matters — you get a written price before anyone touches it.
Can I see photos of your work?
Yes — there are real before-and-after photos and video walkthroughs of finished work on the home page. We'll bring more bathroom renovations to the inspection, along with what each job actually cost.
Do you do whole-house renovations in Malvern?
No, and we'd rather say so plainly. We don't do extensions, second storeys, re-roofing or anything that changes the outside of the house — we do bathrooms and kitchens, for a fixed price, and that narrow focus is the reason we can quote the way we do. Taking out an internal wall to open a kitchen to the living area is part of a kitchen and we do that, with an engineer's beam design and a building permit where the wall is load-bearing. If you're planning a full home renovation in Malvern, these are usually the two rooms that blow the budget, so it's worth getting a firm number on them early even if someone else is managing the rest. We're happy to quote just our part and work alongside your builder.
Free, no obligation
Book your free site inspection in Malvern.
Tell us a bit about the room and we'll call you back to arrange a time. You'll get a fixed written price — and an honest answer about what your budget can realistically buy.
Thanks — we've got it.
We'll call you back to arrange a time, usually the same day.