Choosing a bathroom or kitchen renovator: a practical checklist

Choosing a renovator is a bigger decision than most home service bookings, simply because the money involved is larger and the work is much harder to undo once it is done. A handful of practical checks, done before any contract is signed, catch the large majority of problems that homeowners run into with renovations that go wrong — and none of them take long to run through with a renovator who is genuinely doing things properly.

Start with the licence itself. Once a job crosses your state's threshold for licensed work — commonly around $5,000 in NSW and Victoria, around $3,300 in Queensland, and around $20,000 in WA — the renovator legally needs to hold the correct licence for work of that type and value, which our separate article on renovator licensing and contracts covers in more detail. A legitimate renovator will provide their licence number without hesitation, and most states maintain a public register where that number can be checked against the name and class of work being quoted.

Insurance is the next check, and it is easy to overlook because it rarely comes up unless something goes wrong. Ask specifically about home warranty or domestic building insurance coverage for the value of your job, and confirm the renovator carries public liability insurance covering the work being done on your property. This protects you if the renovator is unable to complete the work, or if something is damaged during the renovation, and a renovator without adequate cover is a meaningfully bigger risk than one who is simply more expensive.

A written contract matters more than it might seem for a renovation that feels straightforward at the quoting stage. Once a job is anywhere near your state's contract threshold — commonly $20,000 in NSW — a written contract setting out the full scope, price and timeframe becomes a legal requirement, not just good practice. Even below that threshold, insisting on a written scope and price in an email or simple agreement, rather than relying on a verbal quote, gives you something to point back to if the finished job does not match what was discussed.

Deposits and payment schedules are one of the more common areas where things go wrong, generally because homeowners are not aware of what is actually reasonable. A lawful deposit is commonly capped somewhere around 5 to 10 percent of the contract price in most states for larger jobs, and a renovator asking for 30, 40 or 50 percent upfront is asking for considerably more than the law in most states allows. Beyond the deposit, ask for a clear payment schedule tied to completed stages of the work — rough-in complete, waterproofing complete, tiling complete, final fit-off — rather than a single lump sum paid early, since a staged schedule keeps the renovator financially motivated to keep working through to completion rather than being paid out before the job is finished.

A few further checks round out a proper due-diligence pass. Ask to see photos of recent, similar completed work — a bathroom or kitchen at a comparable scope to yours, not just a gallery of a renovator's best-ever job. Ask whether waterproofing will be documented with photos and a compliance certificate before tiling covers it, since our separate article on AS 3740 waterproofing explains why this stage is impossible to verify after the fact. And ask for a realistic timeline with the major stages identified, so you have a reasonable basis for noticing if the job is running well behind schedule rather than discovering it only when the finish date has already passed.

None of these checks are unusual or excessive to ask of a professional renovator, and a legitimate business will not hesitate to answer any of them clearly. This article is general guidance, not a substitute for your own judgement about a specific renovator or job. Our directory lists Australian bathroom and kitchen renovators by area if you are ready to start comparing your options.

Frequently asked questions