Bathroom Renovation Cost Cork: 2026 Budget Planner

What the published Irish ranges include — and exclude

The benchmarks used here describe a renovation as a whole job: taking out the old room, preparing surfaces, plumbing and electrics, tiling, fitting sanitaryware and finishing. They are national guide bands published for the Irish market, so they cover the typical spread of labour and materials rather than any one contractor's rate card.

They do not cover structural alterations, moving a bathroom to a different room, knocking through or building new walls, replacing a boiler or upgrading a whole heating system, new windows, mould or rot remediation, or anything discovered behind the tiles once the room is stripped. They also assume normal access. Those are the items that move a real Cork job outside the band, in either direction.

The biggest legitimate cost drivers

• Moving plumbing. Keeping the WC, bath and basin where they are is the single cheapest decision you can make. Moving them means new runs, lifting floors and making good.
• Wet rooms and tanking. A properly tanked, correctly-falled wet room is more work than a tray and screen — and it is the wrong place to save money.
• The age and state of the existing services. Older Cork housing stock regularly hides tired pipework, soft floors or failed waterproofing behind the old tiles.
• Tiling specification. Large-format, book-matched, herringbone or patterned tiling takes longer to set out and cut than a standard straight lay.
• Fixtures and sanitaryware. The same room can be fitted at very different price points; this is usually the biggest lever you control.
• Access. Upstairs rooms, narrow stairwells, apartment buildings and restricted parking all add handling time.

How to prepare for a quote

1. Measure the room roughly — length, width and ceiling height are enough to start.
2. Take photos of every wall, the floor and the existing pipework or access hatch.
3. Decide whether the layout is staying or changing before you price anything.
4. Pick a specification band and note who is buying the tiles and sanitaryware.
5. Print the brief above and bring it to the site visit so nothing gets missed.

What Greenstone actually does in Cork

We handle bathrooms end to end across Cork & surrounding areas: strip-out and disposal, first and second fix plumbing, floor and wall tiling including large-format and patterned work, shower trays, screens and wet rooms, vanity, WC, taps and accessories, then a final clean and snag walkthrough. One team, one timeline, one point of contact.

A typical full bathroom takes 1–2 weeks depending on specification. That timeline assumes a like-for-like layout and normal access — moving plumbing, building a wet room, structural changes or bespoke tiling will extend it, and we put a firm date range in the written quote rather than guessing.

Sources

• BathroomStore.ie — Irish bathroom remodel cost guide, published 30 September 2025. Source of the €4,000–€8,000, €10,000–€18,000 and €20,000–€40,000 bands.
• BathroomDecoded — How much does a bathroom renovation cost?, published 15 January 2026. Cross-check: standard Irish bathroom renovations €6,500–€12,500.