If you're keen to renovate your bathroom but can't afford to spend a lot of money, read on to learn about the steps you can take to reduce the costs involved in this type of renovation project.

Avoid rearranging the plumbing

Whilst you might like the idea of repositioning the bathtub so that it fits neatly into the corner of the bathroom or moving the toilet into a less-visible area, the fact of the matter is that these seemingly small changes could end up drastically increasing the amount of money you spend on this project.

The complexity of rearranging water pipes means that this type of work will almost certainly add a few thousand dollars onto the cost of the renovation. Not only will you have to cover the expense of new piping, but you'll also have to pay for a professional plumber to carry out the work itself (as this is not the kind of job you can do yourself). As such, if possible, try to leave the plumbing where it is.

Create an accent feature with tiling

Tiling the entire bathroom is a sure-fire way to drive up the cost of your renovation project. This is especially true if you opt for a high-end, luxury tile. Given this, if you're on a tight budget, it may be wiser to only tile a small area of the space, such as the inside of the shower stall, and then add a few coats of an inexpensive paint to the other walls. This will allow you to stay within budget, and it will help you to create an attractive focal point for the space.

Tiling a shower takes far less time than tiling an entire room, which means that you'll make savings not only on materials but also on labour costs. Moreover, because this area is relatively small, you may be able to afford a higher-quality tile than you would have been able to, had you chosen to tile the whole space.

Don't attempt any major DIY work

A lot of homeowners make the mistake of attempting to do some of the renovation work themselves, in the hopes of saving themselves a few hundred dollars. In reality, this often ends up increasing the cost of the project.

There are several reasons for this. Firstly, unless you are a skilled plumber, electrician and builder, you are unlikely to have the skills required to do the work to a high standard. Given this, you could end up making some serious mistakes, which may result in major damage that will cost you a huge amount of money to repair. For example, if you attempt to install new plumbing fixtures by yourself and fail to do the necessary waterproofing, you may find yourself dealing with significant water damage, as well as mould and mildew issues, a few months down the line.