Bathroom Refurbishment in Woking | Case Study

The brief

Henley Bridge Homes was asked to refurbish the main bathroom in a 1970s semi on the outskirts of Woking, not far from the GU21 postcode district. The owners wanted to replace the dated suite, add a separate shower enclosure and create some concealed storage without changing the room's footprint. Because the family was living in the house, the work had to be clean, quiet and quick. The brief also included improving the lighting, adding a powerful extractor fan and tiling the full height of the shower area so the room felt more like a modern family bathroom than a tired retrofit from the previous decade.

The existing bathroom had vinyl flooring, a steel bath, a plastic shower tray and a built-in airing cupboard that wasted space. Henley Bridge planned to strip the room back to the studs, reconfigure the layout slightly and refit it in four weeks. The new design moved the bath under the window, placed the shower in the former airing cupboard recess and built a full-height storage cabinet next to the basin. The clients chose large-format wall tiles and electric underfloor heating to complete the transformation, and they wanted all the work finished before the children broke up for the summer holidays. They also wanted the heating controls moved to a convenient height near the door so the underfloor heating could be adjusted without bending down, and they asked for a demisting mirror above the basin.

We were brought in to supply the fixings pack for the carpentry and drylining. Although the order was small, the builder wanted the items on site at exactly the right moment so the room was not cluttered with stock. The plasterboard, timber stud, metal edge beads and tile backer boards were sourced by Henley Bridge's usual drylining merchant because they formed part of a larger monthly account. Our role was to make sure the fixings arrived when the carpenter and dryliner needed them, and that the right screw types were supplied for timber studs, metal studs, plasterboard and cabinet construction.

The project was typical of the Woking area, where many of the 1970s semis have bathrooms that are structurally sound but stylistically dated. The clients did not want to extend or move, so a four-week refurbishment was the most cost-effective way to get the space they needed. Henley Bridge had used Star Hawk on previous jobs and knew that even a small fixings order would be treated with the same attention as a full structural pack. The clients also appreciated that one supplier handled the fixings, which kept the number of delivery vehicles to a minimum on a small residential street near Woking town centre.

• Client: Henley Bridge Homes
• Location: Woking, Surrey (GU21, GU22)
• Project: Bathroom refurbishment
• Duration: 4 weeks
• Star Hawk material cost: £260

The challenge

Small domestic refurbishments have their own logistics. Three things mattered on this Woking job.

1. Keeping the house usable. The family had only one bathroom, so Henley Bridge installed a temporary shower in the utility room. Our deliveries had to be timed so materials did not block the hallway or the temporary facilities. The builder also fitted a temporary toilet seat over the downstairs cloakroom basin so the family had some privacy during the day. Any delay to the fixings would have delayed the boarding, which would have delayed the plasterer, which would have left the family without a proper bathroom for longer than planned.
2. Dust and noise. The house was occupied, so deliveries were booked for mid-morning after the school run. The driver carried the boxes through the front door on dust sheets rather than wheeling them over the hallway carpet. Noisy work such as chasing walls and removing tiles was scheduled between 9am and 3pm to avoid early mornings and evenings. The neighbours on both sides had young children, so the builder made sure power tools were not used before 8.30am and that the skip was positioned where it blocked the least light into the neighbouring windows.
3. Tight programme. With only four weeks, there was no margin for a missing box of screws. We supplied a small reserve of fixings on account so the carpenter and dryliner never had to leave site for a merchant run. The plasterer was booked for the end of week three, so any delay to the boarding would have pushed the whole programme back and made the temporary shower arrangement untenable.

The order was modest, but the service expectation was the same as a major build: arrive on time, with the right items, and leave no mess. The clients were also working from home on some days, which meant the builder had to coordinate noisy tasks around video calls and online meetings. This level of coordination is normal for Star Hawk on occupied domestic jobs, but it requires a supplier who is willing to book precise delivery slots, communicate clearly and react quickly when the builder needs a small top-up. Henley Bridge said afterwards that the responsiveness was as important as the original delivery.

Materials we supplied

Henley Bridge sent us the drylining and carpentry schedule for the bathroom and we supplied the fixings pack:

• Galvanized nails: 2 boxes for the battens and any timber grounds.
• High-performance wood screws: 9 boxes in assorted lengths for studwork, plasterboard, cabinetry and the new built-in storage unit.

The plasterboard, timber stud, metal edge beads and tile backer boards were sourced by Henley Bridge's usual drylining merchant because they formed part of a larger monthly account. Our role was to make sure the fixings arrived when the carpenter and dryliner needed them. We also supplied the screws in a mix of coarse and fine threads so the carpenter had the right fixing for timber studs, metal studs and the cabinet carcasses.

Because the airing cupboard was being converted into a shower enclosure, the carpenter needed extra fixings for the new stud partition and the timber grounds that would carry the tile backer board. The nine boxes of screws covered the frame, the plasterboard, the cabinet construction and a contingency for any missed fixings behind the old pipework. The galvanized nails were used for the timber battens that supported the edges of the plasterboard and for any small timber grounds around the window reveal.

We also made sure the fixings were compatible with the moisture-resistant plasterboard that the drylining merchant was supplying for the shower area. Using the wrong screws in a bathroom can lead to corrosion and staining, so we supplied corrosion-resistant high-performance wood screws that would last the life of the room. The carpenter noted that the screws drove cleanly without snapping, which saved time and reduced waste.

Delivery and logistics

A two-box delivery is not worth a seven-tonne lorry. We handled the Woking order as part of a multi-drop round, sending a small van that could park on the drive without blocking the pavement.

• Combined drop. The fixings were delivered with other small orders on the same round, keeping the delivery cost down and the carbon footprint low. The van arrived at 10am and the driver carried the boxes straight to the bathroom doorway. Because the order was small, the whole drop was completed while the carpenter was making his first cup of tea.
• Timed arrival. The drop was booked for 10am, after the children had left for school and before the plumber needed the hallway clear. The site manager received a confirmation text when the van left the yard and another when it arrived. This level of communication mattered on a job where every hour counted.
• Reserve on account. Henley Bridge keeps a small Star Hawk account for exactly these jobs, so the reserve stock meant the dryliner could grab an extra box of screws the same morning if his count was out. On the second day of boarding, the carpenter did need an extra box of drywall screws, and it was on site within two hours.

The delivery took less than five minutes from van arrival to the boxes being in the hallway. The driver removed the empty carton from the first delivery on the return leg, which kept the hallway clear and the family happy. The builder later said that this was the kind of service that made Star Hawk his first call for fixings, even on small jobs where other suppliers might not be interested.

The build

The build ran for 4 weeks on a tightly sequenced bathroom programme.

• Week 1: Strip-out. The old suite, tiles and plasterboard were removed. The floor was levelled and the waste pipe positions were checked. The old airing cupboard was dismantled and the timber was saved for reuse where possible. The plumber capped the pipes each evening so the temporary shower could be used. The skip was filled by the Wednesday and replaced before the weekend.
• Week 2: First fix and studwork. New stud partitions were built to create the shower enclosure and storage recess. Plumbing and electrics were first-fixed, including the underfloor heating cables and the extractor duct. The carpenter used galvanized nails for the battens and high-performance wood screws for the studs and plasterboard. The shower waste and pipework were pressure-tested before the boarding started.
• Week 3: Boarding and tanking. The walls were boarded, tanking membrane went into the shower area and the floor was prepared for tiling. The plasterer skimmed the walls and the builder checked the falls in the shower tray former before the tiler started. The underfloor heating mat was laid and tested before the floor tiles were fixed.
• Week 4: Tiling, suite and finishing. Tiles were fixed and grouted, the new suite was installed, and the room was decorated and snagged. The underfloor heating was commissioned, the extractor was tested and the clients took their first shower on the Friday evening. The builder left a small pack of spare tiles and grout in the loft for future repairs.

The owners were using their new bathroom by the Friday of week 4. The only small adjustment was a delayed delivery of the vanity unit from the bathroom supplier, which arrived on the Monday after handover. The builder fitted it the same day and the project was complete.

The result

The finished bathroom has a walk-in shower, a freestanding bath under the window, a concealed cistern and a full-height storage cabinet where the old airing cupboard used to be. The room feels larger despite having the same footprint, and the large-format tiles and underfloor heating give it a contemporary finish. The family said the shower enclosure was the biggest improvement because it removed the need for a shower curtain over the bath.

Henley Bridge billed the owners £9,800 for the four-week refurbishment. The Star Hawk fixings order was £260, but the real value was the reliability: no missing screws, no delayed deliveries, no extra van trips and no downtime. The builder was able to keep the programme on track because the fixings were always available when the carpenter needed them.

The clients were pleased enough to recommend Henley Bridge to a neighbour in the same road, and the builder has since used Star Hawk for two more refurbishment jobs in the GU22 area. Small orders like this one are easy to overlook, but they are often the ones that build long-term relationships between builders and suppliers. The builder now keeps a standard Star Hawk fixings list on his estimating template for every bathroom job.

What we don't supply on a refurbishment

On a bathroom refurbishment like this one in Woking, the following items sit outside our range:

• Bathroom suites, sanitaryware, taps, showers and brassware.
• Tiles, adhesives, grouts and tile trims.
• Electrical fittings, lighting, extractor fans and underfloor heating mats.
• Mirrors, cabinets, towel rails and accessories.
• Decoration, sealants and final cleaning.
• Plumbing labour and gas work.
• Skip hire and waste disposal.

We supply the structural fixings, timber, plasterboard and insulation that sit behind the finishes. For the items above, we can recommend trusted local suppliers and trades.

Cost transparency

The materials Star Hawk supplied came to £260 and broke down as follows:

Category	Materials supplied	Cost
Fixings & hardware	2 boxes galvanized nails, 9 boxes wood screws	£260

The remaining £9,540 covered the sanitaryware, tiles, electrics, plumbing, decoration, underfloor heating, the demisting mirror and labour supplied by other partners on the same site. The Star Hawk line was a small part of the overall budget, but it kept the carpentry and drylining on schedule, which protected the more expensive trades that followed.

Why Woking homeowners choose Star Hawk

We are 10 minutes from the GU21 postcode district and our round covers Woking, including Horsell, Knaphill, St Johns, Maybury and Old Woking. From Woking we also deliver to Guildford, Camberley, Farnham and Staines-upon-Thames on the same day for refurbishment projects.

Most of our Woking customers are homeowners and small builders who need a reliable supplier for both large projects and small refurbishments. They want the same service whether the order is two boxes or two pallets. If your Woking Bathroom refurbishment needs a reliable structural schedule, send it through the quote builder and we will come back the same business day.