The short answer
An apartment bathroom renovation in Sydney runs $15,000 to $20,000 for a standard refit, $20,000 to $30,000 for a full mid-range renovation, and $30,000 to $45,000+ for a high-end reconfigure. Done properly, it starts around $15,000. The small footprint does not make it cheap. Four apartment-only costs sit on top of the build: whole-floor waterproofing to AS 3740, a registered strata by-law, lift and access logistics, and acoustic underlay. Those are the things a house bathroom never pays for, and the things cheap quotes leave out.
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This is the apartment-only cut of bathroom pricing. If you want the broader Sydney bathroom picture, including house bathrooms and the full tier breakdown, read our Sydney bathroom renovation cost guide. If you own a unit, stay here. An apartment bathroom is a different job to a house bathroom, and the difference is exactly where the surprise costs live.
How much does an apartment bathroom renovation cost in Sydney?
An apartment bathroom renovation in Sydney runs $15,000 to $20,000 for a standard refit that keeps the layout, $20,000 to $30,000 for a full mid-range renovation, and $30,000 to $45,000 or more for a high-end reconfigure. The number is set by the finishes you choose and the apartment layer most cost guides skip. Here is how it breaks down by tier.
| Tier | What it covers | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Full strip and refit, same layout, quality off-the-shelf finishes | $15,000 – $20,000 |
| Mid-range | New membrane and plumbing, better tiles and fixtures, frameless screen | $20,000 – $30,000 |
| High-end | Reconfigure, premium stone and tiling, custom joinery | $30,000 – $45,000+ |
These are our real Fine Touch Group ranges, drawn from 1,000+ Sydney apartment projects. The figures sit at or above the bands you will see quoted because an apartment bathroom carries strata and access costs a house bathroom does not.
“27m here too, bought a small 2 bed apartment in Sydney. Old very small bathroom, wanted to renovate it, lowest quote from reputable builder was $20k for a modest renovation and not doing anything structural like moving plumbing.”
What you get at each budget
Standard refit
from, one-off project cost
A full apartment bathroom refit at a solid, honest standard.
- Same layout, stripped and rebuilt
- New waterproofing to AS 3740
- Quality off-the-shelf vanity, toilet and tapware
- Wall and floor tiling
- Strata by-law and approval handled
Mid-range
from, one-off project cost
A full rebuild with better finishes and a fresh layout if needed.
- Strip to studs, new membrane and plumbing
- Large-format tiles, frameless shower screen
- Floating vanity with stone top
- Acoustic underlay to your building's rating
- Strata, access and waterproofing handled
High-end
from, one-off project cost
A full reconfigure with premium stone and custom joinery.
- Layout reconfigured, plumbing relocated
- Natural stone or premium porcelain
- Custom joinery and designer fixtures
- Underfloor heating and niche detailing
- Full compliance and certification
A small apartment bathroom is not a small bill
Most apartment bathrooms are compact, often under nine square metres, and owners reasonably expect a small room to cost a small amount. It does not work that way. A bathroom is the most labour-heavy room in the home, and labour plus tiling is 40 to 50 percent of the cost regardless of size. A compact bathroom still needs the full strip-out, a fresh membrane, the same plumber and tiler hours, and the same fixtures as a larger one. The price tracks the work and the compliance, not the square metres.
| Element | Share of budget | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Labour and tiling | 40 – 50% | The biggest line, and it does not shrink with the room |
| Fixtures and fittings | 20 – 30% | Vanity, toilet, tapware, shower screen, mirror |
| Plumbing and electrical | 10 – 15% | Relocating a toilet, shower or bath adds $1,500–$3,000 each |
| Demolition and waste | 5 – 10% | Strip-out plus strata-compliant waste removal |
| Waterproofing to AS 3740 | ~$500 – $750 | The cheapest line and the one you never cut |
Waterproofing install figure from the hipages waterproofing cost guide, which cites the BCA and AS 3740. Labour and plumbing shares from published Sydney renovation cost breakdowns.
The apartment premium: four things a house bathroom never pays for
This is where an apartment bathroom parts ways with a house bathroom, and where the cheap quotes go quiet. The build is the easy part. Four apartment-only costs sit on top, and they are the reason a unit bathroom starts higher and takes longer than the same work in a freestanding home.
1. Whole-floor waterproofing to AS 3740
In an apartment, your bathroom floor is someone else's ceiling. AS 3740 is the Australian Standard for waterproofing wet areas, and in a unit the membrane usually has to cover the whole floor, not just the shower, because there is no sub-floor to catch a leak. Installed by a licensed waterproofer it costs around $500 to $750, one of the cheapest lines on the job and the single most important. Skip it, or paint over the old one, and you have built a leak into the floor above your neighbour.
2. A registered strata by-law, and the leak liability that comes with it
Because a bathroom touches waterproofing, it counts as major work under the Strata Schemes Management Act. That needs a special resolution at a general meeting and a registered by-law, which runs around $900 to $1,000 plus GST to draft, plus $175.70 to register with NSW Land Registry Services. Realistically the approval adds 6 to 12 weeks before a tool is lifted, and that holding time is a real cost most quotes never mention.
Once you renovate the bathroom, the leak is yours
“I used to own a tenanted upstairs apartment. Drainage, waterproofing etc was on ME so I had to get insurance for it. That includes flooding because it should have operational drains, these had to be checked by a plumber every year.”
3. Lift access and the logistics of a unit
A bathroom strip-out is heavy, dusty and noisy, and in a unit block every bit of it has to move through shared space. That means service-lift bookings, floor and common-area protection, skip access, and restricted work hours that are often 8am to 4pm on weekdays only. In a tower, how big the lift is decides how many trips the trades make, and that feeds straight into the labour bill. None of this exists when you renovate a house.
“Biggest thing will be logistics, i.e. access times to get materials up, how big the lift (if there is one) is will determine how many trips need to be made which may increase labour components of your pricing. Don't forget the strata committee also and what they dictate.”
4. Acoustic underlay to your building's rating
Any new tiled floor in an apartment has to meet the building's acoustic rating, usually a 4 or 5 star rating tested on site, so footsteps and water noise do not carry to the unit below. That means an acoustic underlay under the tiles and, sometimes, a sign-off after the fact. It is a small line on the budget and a common reason a by-law gets knocked back when it is missed, which is one more delay you do not want.
This is the part we handle. In 30 years and 1,000+ Sydney apartments, our strata approval rate is 100 percent. We draft the by-law, book the lifts, protect the common areas, waterproof the whole floor to AS 3740, meet the acoustic rating, and certify the work, so the leak liability is built out, not built in. The compliance sits with us, not with you.
Can I do an apartment bathroom for $10,000?
Not for a real one. At $10,000 you are buying a surface refresh: new tapware, a vanity, a toilet, fresh grout and a paint, with the original waterproofing left untouched. That is fine for a quick tidy-up before a sale. It is the wrong move in an apartment you live in, because the membrane is the one thing that fails quietly and expensively, and a patch-up leaves it in place.
When that old membrane fails behind your new tiles, you are not looking at a $700 fix. You are looking at the unit below, a body corporate dispute, and a full re-do. A done-right apartment bathroom starts around $15,000 because that is what it costs to strip it back, waterproof the whole floor, sort the plumbing, and get the strata sign-off properly. The cheap quote is not cheaper, it is just deferred, and in a unit the bill lands on your neighbour's ceiling first.
2026 Sydney Apartment Renovation Price Guide
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Bathroom renovation cost Sydney (2026)
The full Sydney bathroom cost guide, with the tier bands, where the money goes, and why a $10k bathroom is a leak waiting to happen.