The bathroom is the smallest room in the house, but mistakes there show up on the neighbours' ceiling below or in the wall next door. Nice tiles are no use over weak waterproofing. Know exactly what you want, agree the waterproofing and the test before the first tile goes down, and get an itemised quote.
These decide whether a surface refresh is enough or the room needs stripping out.
Look at the ceiling of the room or flat under the bathroom: yellow stains? Bubbling paint? Water is getting through the floor.
Damp or peeling on the outside of a bathroom wall points to a leaking pipe or a leak around the shower.
If the house is older and has steel pipes, ask the technician to check them: they may need replacing, not just new tiles.
Is there a working extractor fan? If mirrors mist up and stay wet for hours, or there's mould in the corners, airflow is poor.
💧 If there's a leak and you don't know where it comes from, get it traced before renovating (see our leak detection guide). Renovating over an unexplained leak brings the problem back a few months later.
Some problems need a small fix; others only go away once the floor comes up.
The most serious sign. Usually the waterproofing under the tiles has failed or cracked, and the fix is lifting the floor and redoing it.
The slope to the floor drain is wrong, so water sits in a corner. The floor screed needs relaying at the right fall.
Moisture has got between the tiles. If the tiles underneath are sound, regrouting is sometimes enough.
More a ventilation problem than a tile problem. An extractor fan is the main fix.
Old pipes corroding inside. Replacing them while the walls are open is far cheaper than later.
Many people swap it for a walk-in shower or a glass enclosure. It needs drainage changes and waterproofing where the shower goes.
If the floor and walls are fine, new fittings alone freshen the bathroom without breaking anything.
What's under the tiles decides it, not just how it looks.
All tiles and fittings come out, pipes are replaced, everything is waterproofed, then retiled and refitted.
Retiling just the floor, changing the fittings, or turning a bath into a shower.
Wall-hung toilet, concealed mixer, glass instead of a curtain, large tiles and ceiling lights.
Once the old bathroom is out, the pipes are replaced (usually PPR) and pressure-tested before they're covered.
The floor is waterproofed with the membrane carried up the walls, then the drain is plugged and the floor flooded for a day or two. Nothing should come through below.
The floor is laid with a slight fall towards the drain so water doesn't sit. Then tiles and grout.
Last come the toilet, basin and mixers, and a fan that vents steam outside, not into the false ceiling.
The answers show you who really knows bathrooms.
How much for strip-out, plumbing, waterproofing, tiles and fitting? And who takes the rubble away?
Ask to see the waterproofing before tiling, and be there for the test or ask for photos.
PPR is the usual choice now. Ask whether every bathroom pipe is being replaced or only some.
For how long, and covering what? Leaks tend to appear months later, so you want this on paper.
Agree the timeline, and if you're buying, get the quantities and sizes first.
One sign on its own doesn't prove anything, but take care if you see them.
It can work if there's no leak, but if there's damp underneath you're burying it and it comes back worse.
Anyone who says it isn't needed, or wants to tile the same day as waterproofing, is rushing at your expense.
One spoken figure with no line items is hard to hold anyone to if something's missing or the price rises.
A contractor confident in their waterproofing doesn't hesitate to put a warranty in writing.
Size, tile choice, fittings and who supplies the materials all move the price. Treat these as a sense check for quotes you get, not a price list.
| Service | Rough price |
|---|---|
| Full renovation, small bathroom (about 4 m²) | SAR 9,000 – 14,000 |
| Full renovation, main bathroom (about 6 m²) | SAR 13,000 – 19,000 |
| Strip-out and rubble removal | SAR 1,000 – 2,000 |
| Replacing all bathroom plumbing (PPR) | SAR 2,500 – 5,000 |
| Waterproofing with water test | SAR 1,200 – 2,500 |
| Porcelain tiles, supply and fit | SAR 45 – 90 per m² |
| Fittings (toilet, basin, mixers) | SAR 2,000 – 8,000 |
| Glass shower instead of a bath | SAR 1,800 – 4,500 |
💡 Real Riyadh requests on HomeRun in 2026: an old bathroom stripped and rebuilt with porcelain, plumbing and fittings in Al Suwaidi for SAR 6,000; a bath and basin removed and retiled in Uraija for SAR 2,500; and tiles laid over old ones in a 2.5×2 m bathroom in Dhahrat Laban for SAR 6,111.
⚠️ A full renovation takes roughly 10–18 working days, and the water test alone is two days. Plan for another bathroom to use meanwhile, and in a flat, tell the neighbours and building management when the noisy work will happen.
We pulled these figures from 4 sources in 2026: Mashatib's Riyadh price table (September 2026), Awazil Al Wataniya's bathroom waterproofing table at SAR 45–90 per m² (September 2026), Anoud United's price table (August 2026), and real Riyadh customer requests on HomeRun. The final price is agreed between you and the contractor. Laqeeni doesn't set prices or take commission.
A full renovation of a small bathroom is usually SAR 9,000–14,000, and a main bathroom SAR 13,000–19,000, more with glass and premium fittings. A partial refresh can be a few thousand.
A full one is roughly two to three weeks of work: strip-out, plumbing and waterproofing, a two-day water test, tiling, then fittings. A partial job is shorter.
Sometimes, if the old tiles are firm and there's no damp or leak. But the floor gets higher, the drain and door need adjusting, and any problem underneath gets sealed in.
No. Laqeeni is a directory that connects you with the technician directly. You agree and pay between you.
Last updated: November 2026
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