9 Bathroom Procurement Mistakes Developers Should Avoid

Ordering bathrooms for a development should be easy enough.

Choose what you want. Agree a price. Place the order. Get it delivered.

Sounds simple, right?

But there are plenty of places where bathroom procurement can go wrong along the way.

A product that was available when you chose it suddenly has a long lead time. Something gets discontinued.

A replacement doesn’t quite work with the rest of the bathroom.

A delivery turns up before the site is ready for it. Or the installers are ready to go and something they need hasn’t arrived.

One missing shower tray might sound like a small niggle.

But if it means a bathroom can’t be finished and somebody has to come back to it later, it quickly becomes a bigger problem.

And if you multiply those little problems across a development, they soon add up.

At Bathco Designs, we help developers, contractors and housebuilders choose, order and manage bathrooms for residential developments.

Through our EXO service, we can take care of everything from helping you choose the right products to ordering, deliveries and support during installation.

A lot of what we do is simply about making the whole process easier.

Here are some of the problems we see – and how you can avoid them.

1. Leaving Bathroom Decisions Too Late

We know that bathrooms aren’t always at the top of the list when a development gets underway.

There are bigger things to think about first, so it’s easy to leave them until later.

The trouble is, by the time you start choosing products, you may have fewer options.

Something you like might have a long lead time. A particular finish may not be available.

Or you could find yourself looking for an alternative just as you need to get everything ordered.

Start earlier and you’ve got more time to sort those things out.

It also means you can choose products because they’re right for the project, rather than because they’re the only ones you can get in time.

2. Choosing Each Bathroom Product Separately

A bathroom needs to work as a whole.

It’s no good choosing a basin you love and then discovering it doesn’t work particularly well with the tap you’ve specified.

Or changing one product without realising it affects something else.

It can get even trickier when you need different bathrooms across the same development.

It’s much easier to look at the whole bathroom together.

That way, you can make sure everything works, keep the look consistent and spot any obvious problems before the products arrive on site.

Because finding a problem on paper is considerably easier than finding it while someone’s trying to fit the bathroom.

3. Choosing Bathroom Products on Price Alone

Of course you have a budget.

But the cheapest product isn’t always the one that ends up costing you the least.

It might save you money at the start, but not if it’s difficult to get hold of or causes problems later.

So, although price is important, it shouldn’t be the only consideration.

You also want products that are right for the development, easy to get hold of when you need them and built to do the job properly.

Because Bathco Designs is independent, we’re not tied to one manufacturer.

That gives us more freedom to find products that work for the design, the budget and the practical needs of the project.

4. Assuming Bathroom Products Will Still Be Available Later

You chose it. It’s on the specification.

Surely, it’ll still be available when you need it?

Not necessarily.

Products get discontinued. Lead times change. Certain sizes, colours or finishes can become harder to get hold of.

It’s annoying on any project, but it can be particularly awkward on a development where you’re using the same bathrooms across a number of plots.

Through our EXO Service, we can reserve stock against your call-off schedule, so the products you’ve specified are held for your development.

If something is likely to become a problem, finding out early gives you time to find a sensible alternative.

5. Making Last-Minute Product Swaps

Sometimes you have to change a product.

And that’s not necessarily a problem.

The problem comes when you’re trying to find a replacement at the last minute but nobody has time to check properly whether it works with everything else.

Does it fit? Does it look right? Is it suitable for the job?

If it’s going into several bathrooms, can you get enough of them?

Finding something that ‘will do’ isn’t always the same as finding the right replacement.

If the person sourcing the new product already knows the bathroom and the rest of the specification, it’s much easier to find something that actually works.

6. Not Planning Bathroom Deliveries Properly

Ordering the bathrooms is only half the job.

You also need them to turn up when you actually want them.

Too early and you’ve got boxes of bathroom products sitting around on site, taking up space and potentially getting moved or damaged.

Too late and you’ve got people ready to install a bathroom with nothing to install.

For bigger developments, it often makes much more sense to split deliveries so products arrive as they’re needed.

It sounds simple, but getting this right can save an awful lot of hassle on site.

7. Sending Bathroom Products to Site Without a Plan

Imagine you’ve ordered bathrooms for several apartments.

The delivery arrives. Everything is there.

Great.

Except now somebody has to work out which basin, tap, toilet and shower belongs in which apartment.

Technically, the order has been delivered correctly. In reality, you’ve just created another job for the site team.

This is why things like clear specifications, organised deliveries and labelling products by plot can be so useful.

At Crossfields Chambers in Enfield, Bathco Designs supplied bathrooms for a 16-apartment residential conversion.

We coordinated the products, split the deliveries to work with the project and labelled them by plot.

It’s a fairly simple thing to do.

But when you’re the person on site trying to work out where everything goes, it makes a big difference.

Want to see more examples of our work?

Take a look at some of our recent bathroom projects and see how we’ve helped developers and contractors with bathrooms for a range of different developments.

8. Only Thinking About Bathroom Snagging at the End

You can’t avoid every snag on a building project.

But you can avoid creating some of them unnecessarily.

Quite a few problems that show up during installation actually begin much earlier.

The wrong product was ordered, two products didn’t work together, something was changed without checking the rest of the bathroom, or the right item simply didn’t arrive.

And it’s rarely just the cost of replacing the product that’s annoying.

Someone has to spot the problem, work out what’s needed, order it, get it delivered and then find time to go back and finish the job.

Getting the bathroom right earlier in the process can help avoid some of that extra work later.

Want to avoid more problems further down the line?

Read our guide to reducing bathroom snagging on construction projects for more practical ways to keep things running smoothly on site.

9. Trying to Manage Bathroom Procurement Yourself

If you know exactly which products you want and simply need somebody to supply them, that’s easy enough.

But developments aren’t always that straightforward.

You might have several bathroom types, different budgets, products from different manufacturers and deliveries needed at different stages.

Then something changes.

Having one person who already knows the project and can help sort it out makes life much easier.

It’s better than dealing separately with different manufacturers and suppliers every time there’s a question.

That’s essentially what our EXO service is for.

Bathco Designs can help with everything from choosing and sourcing the products to ordering them, organising deliveries and helping with any issues that crop up during installation.

You still make the decisions. We just take a lot of the legwork out of making them happen.

You can find out more about how this works in our guide to why contractors and developers choose the EXO bathroom supply service.

What Should Developers Look for in a Bathroom Supplier?

Your bathroom supplier should make your job easier rather than give you more to manage.

They should understand what you’re trying to achieve, know the budget they’re working with and tell you if something you’ve chosen is going to be difficult to get hold of.

And they shouldn’t disappear once you’ve placed the order.

Ask how deliveries will work. Can they be split to suit the build?

Can products be labelled by plot? What happens if something becomes unavailable?

And if there’s a problem when something is being fitted, is there somebody you can actually speak to?

None of this is particularly complicated.

But when you’re managing a development, having somebody else keeping an eye on these details can make a big difference.

If you’re weighing up your options for an upcoming project, take a look at our guide to choosing the right bathroom supplier for your construction project for some of the key things to consider before making a decision.

Bathroom Procurement for Residential Developments

Every development is different.

What works for a small apartment conversion won’t necessarily be right for a large housing development.

And there’s no reason the bathroom package should be the same either.

Bathco Designs works with developers, contractors and housebuilders to choose and supply bathrooms for residential projects.

Because we’re independent, we can source products from a wide range of manufacturers.

So rather than starting with a particular brand and trying to make it fit the project, we can start with what the development actually needs.

What’s the budget? What look are you trying to achieve?

How many bathrooms are there? When will you need them?

And what’s going to make things easiest once those products reach site?

Through our EXO service, we can then help manage the process from the initial bathroom specification and ordering through to deliveries, installation support and aftercare.

Because good bathroom procurement doesn’t need to be complicated.

You need the right bathrooms, at the right price, turning up in the right place when you need them.

And if we can make that happen without giving you another dozen things to think about, we’ve done our job.

Book a meeting with Bathco Designs to talk about bathrooms for your next residential development.