A Complete Budget Breakdown for Planning a Wet Area Remodel

Many laundry reno quotes go skew-whiff because people are inadvertently measuring them against bathroom pricing, and the two rooms don’t play by the same budgeting rules. A reconfigured laundry requires infinitely less waterproofed area but infinitely more cabinetry and bench; a complete inversion of the cost breakdown most arrive at. If you balance the figures first, you’ll have a pretty good idea what the fair price will be, and most likely smell a rat the second you read the sum of the first quote in your inbox.

The six components that make up your budget

When you break down the costs for remodeling a wet area like a laundry room, you can usually see that cabinetry and benchtops, plumbing, tiling, labor, waterproofing, and fixtures all make up a specific percentage of the total budget. For a laundry room, cabinet and benchtop costs would be the highest at around 25-30% of the total spend. Then plumbing costs would be around 20-25%, tiling and substrates around 15-20%. Labor and other costs not included above would be around 15-20%, waterproofing membrane and other materials around 8-10%, and finally, fixtures and tapware would be around 8-12%. If your cabinet quote seems too low or high, you can compare it to these percentages for an approximate budget.

Plumbing is where the money disappears

Moving plumbing is often required in a renovation. For example, if you can only gain additional space for a toilet in your renovation by moving it 50cm along the same wall, this is straightforward. Most plumbers performing residential work can carry this out easily while the wall linings are off. Likewise, adding an extra inlet and waste so you can install a dual-basin bathroom vanity should only run into the hundreds. However, if relocating that washing machine outlet, for instance, requires running a new line inside a solid wall where there is no cavity – that could get messy, with plasterers, tilers, and sometimes even painters needing to charge for reinstatement. Items like breaking and cutting or core drilling concrete or brick walls to relocate new lines, or alterations required to the subfloor for new drainage, quickly multiply costs.

Waterproofing to AS 3740 isn’t optional

Waterproofing is often overlooked in a laundry room because it’s a small wet area. But the reality is it costs just as much to repair a washing machine overflow or supply hose failure as it does a shower leak. And when you don’t comply with AS 3740, just like in the wet areas, all that water gets into your subflooring, the room next door, and maybe the level below.

If you plan to remediate it later expect to pay for tiles to be removed, subfloor replaced, new tiling done, and all else that’s damaged in the room next door. You can prevent all this with a straightforward compliance certificate from a licensed waterproofer, not a tiler who “also does waterproofing”. It’s the cheapest insurance in the renovation.

Custom joinery vs flat-pack: where the laundry differs from a bathroom

Cabinetry is such a large share of a laundry budget that the joinery decision matters more here than in almost any other wet area. Flat-pack cabinetry is cheaper upfront and fine for a rental or a quick refresh. Custom joinery costs 20-40% more but can help solve a laundry problem like fitting in to irregular spaces, working around pipework, or ensuring there are exact clearances for a washer and dryer.

The bigger issue is material. Standard particleboard swells and delaminates when it gets damp, and a laundry is damp more often than any other room in the house. Moisture-resistant materials (sold under brand names like HMR board or products that can be screened for WBP or MR ratings) cost more but hold up.

Paying extra for HMR board on cabinetry that sits within splash range of the tub is worth it. Paying extra for it on a cupboard at the far end of the room, away from any water source, usually isn’t. Match the material grade to the actual exposure, not the whole room uniformly.

If you want a laundry-specific plan rather than a generic renovation quote, it’s worth talking to a business that specialises in this exact room. A laundry room renovation Sydney service will price cabinetry, plumbing, and waterproofing as a laundry job, not a scaled-down bathroom, which tends to produce a more accurate number than a general renovator quoting off a bathroom template.

Flat-pack laundry cabinets made from moisture-resistant material are likely to cost about the same as fully custom ones fabricated in standard board, as the custom guys pass on the cost of the better material in a much more significant way.

Fixture tiers: where to spend and where to save

Laundry hardware can be categorized into three levels. Builder-grade will give you a basic tub, regular tapware, and laminate benchtop – it’s functional but it won’t last as long and it’s not as water-efficient. Mid-range includes better tapware finishes, a more durable benchtop material, and WELS-rated fixtures, which reduce water usage at a relatively minor cost increase. Premium provides either stone benchtops or a stone look, designer tapware, and appliance cabinetry to hide everything away.

Where to splash and where to save? Tapware and the benchtop get used and abused on a daily basis so it’s worth investing in at least mid-range quality. Waterproofing, as we’ve already advised, is not the place to make savings. Tiles on the other hand, are a reasonably low-risk spot to economize. A mid-range tile, well laid, looks no different to a three-times-the-price version from three feet away and realistically, who’s going to be inspecting laundry floor tiles at close range? Internal cabinet fittings and door handles are other relatively low-stake spots to save. Spend nothing there, spend on what counts – what’s actually coming into contact with water.

Why you need a contingency fund, and why it’s non-negotiable

Having a 10-20% contingency isn’t just a smart idea, it’s something most builders would consider mandatory. There are certain issues common to older homes – and houses of any age – that most frequently rear their heads once the site has been opened up: rotted timber framing that was exposed to water leaking behind old tiles, the discovery that all that old galvanised plumbing must be replaced rather than just reconnected, the fact that pre-1990s wiring isn’t up to your electrician’s code.

And when it comes to properties built before 1990, there’s a very real chance that asbestos is lurking in that benign-looking sheeting compound or old adhesive. House rules say that testing must be done, and if positive you’re not going anywhere near this stuff without the specialist professionals and their protective gear. None of it is optional, none of it is cheap if you’ve overlooked it in your budget. And none of it is “future spend”. Your contingency is there awaiting these costs. And if you don’t have to spend it, pat yourself on the back.

Laundry vs bathroom: don’t benchmark against the wrong room

This bears restating as it is the biggest error homeowners tend to make in their costing research. A bathroom reno guide will advise you to put aside a decent whack for waterproofing and tiling since you’re covering walls, floor, and often a shower recess. A laundry has a smaller wet footprint, but the same needs for a functional benchtop, detergent and linen storage, and room for a washer and dryer – stacked in some machines, side by side in others.

If you price your laundry against a bathroom benchmark, you’ll overspend on waterproofing and tiling, or underassign for cabinetry and storage. Treat it as its own category. Broadly, a typical Sydney laundry reno will set you back anywhere from $8,000 to $20,000, depending on whether plumbing shifts, how much custom joinery you want, and your fixture tier.

Get three quotes, and check the licence

Obtain three detailed quotes from licensed and insured trades before making a decision. Detailed quotes allow you to compare similar services rather than trying to figure out what is included in a total cost. Unlicensed work may seem cheaper, but it frequently doesn’t meet the standards of the National Construction Code, and if something goes awry with your house later your insurance can be null and void. Not to mention reselling becomes difficult if the building inspector of a buyer identifies unauthorised work.

Ask for the licence number of each trade and make sure it is current. It only takes five minutes and it protects the whole investment.

Return on investment: don’t overcapitalise

While wet area remodels like bathrooms and laundries certainly make life better while you’re in the home, may improve your sale chances and lift the end price slightly, it’ll be the hygiene and functionality wins they bring that genuinely seal the deal for your buyer. It’s not a particularly exciting fact but it’s an important one to bear in mind if you are redoing them for resale reasons.

That makes overcapitalising a real risk. Natural stone benchtops and premium designer tapware in a laundry might feel like a nice upgrade, but they rarely add resale value proportional to their cost. Spend to make the room work well and look tidy. Save the splurge budget for rooms buyers actually linger in.

Putting the numbers together

Let’s say a $15,000 laundry renovation is typical: that’s roughly $4,000 on cabinetry and benchtop, $3,300 on plumbing, $2,700 on tiling and substrate work, $2,700 on ‘additional’ labour, $1,300 on waterproofing, $1,500 – $2,000 on fixtures and tapware, and another $1,500 – $3,000 for contingency. Stretch or shrink the percentages according to whether you’re reusing the existing plumbing layout or shifting everything, and whether the cabinetry is flat-pack or custom.

Now, stack your quotes against those percentages. If one area is way over, get them to justify it to you before you give them the nod.