It’s one of the first things people notice on our FAQ page — we only fit bathrooms where we’ve supplied everything ourselves. No fit-only work, no exceptions.
That policy sometimes raises an eyebrow. Especially if a customer has already spotted a suite they like, or has tiles sitting in the garage waiting to go in. So here’s the honest explanation for why we work this way — because it’s not arbitrary, and it’s not about being difficult.
We used to do fit-only work
This is worth saying upfront, because it changes the nature of the answer. We’re not a company that has always had this policy and never thought twice about it. We tried fit-only work. We did it for a while. And we stopped — because of what kept happening.
When a customer supplies their own goods, they naturally shop on price. That’s completely understandable — it’s their money and their choice. But time and again, the products that arrived for us to fit were at the cheaper end of the market. Suites that looked fine in the box but had tolerances that made installation frustrating. Shower enclosures with components that didn’t quite align. Tiles that were inconsistent in thickness, which creates real problems when you’re trying to achieve a flat, even finish.
And here’s the part that really didn’t work: we still offered a 12-month workmanship guarantee. So when things went wrong — and with lower-quality products, things went wrong regularly — we were going back to jobs at our own cost to sort out problems that weren’t caused by our workmanship at all. They were caused by the products.
It was an arrangement that was unfair to us and, honestly, not great for the customer either. Nobody wants a fitter back in their bathroom three months after the job’s been done.
It’s not just about cheap products
This is where it gets a bit more nuanced — and why we’d rather be honest about it than just talk in generalities.
Even expensive products can cause problems if we’re not familiar with them. There are some well-known, premium-priced brands in the shower enclosure market, for example, that we find genuinely difficult and time-consuming to install — not because the product is poor quality, but because the design is needlessly complicated to work with in practice. More time fitting means more cost, and more complexity usually means more that can go wrong.
Similarly, tiles bought from well-known high street tile shops can vary considerably in quality. Inconsistent tile thickness — even small variations — causes real headaches when you’re tiling a large wall and trying to maintain a consistent grout line. It takes longer, it’s harder to get right, and if the finished result isn’t perfect, it reflects on us even if the tiles were the issue.
Fitting products we’re not familiar with — regardless of price — also just takes longer. We know the products we use. We know how they go together, where the awkward bits are, what to watch for. That familiarity is part of what makes a job run smoothly and finish on time.
What we use instead — and why
We source everything from established manufacturers with a proven track record. Not the most expensive products on the market, but brands that have been around long enough to have sorted out the design issues, maintain consistent quality, and — importantly — will still be supporting their products in ten years if a spare part is ever needed.
We know these products inside out. We know how they install, how they perform, and what to expect when we open the box. That familiarity is genuinely valuable — it means fewer surprises on site, cleaner installations, and a finished result we’re confident standing behind.
What this means for our guarantee
Every bathroom we fit comes with a 12-month workmanship guarantee. When we’ve supplied everything ourselves, that guarantee means something clean and straightforward — if something isn’t right, we’ll sort it, no questions asked.
When a customer supplies their own goods, the lines blur. Is a problem with the shower enclosure a product issue or a fitting issue? In practice, it often doesn’t matter — the customer just wants it fixed, and a fitter who supplied nothing has limited leverage to push back on a manufacturer. We found ourselves absorbing costs that weren’t ours to absorb.
Supplying everything ourselves means the guarantee is simple, honest, and worth the paper it’s written on.
Is this right for every customer?
Probably not — and we’re honest about that. If you’ve already bought a bathroom suite and you’re looking for someone to fit it, we’re not the right company for that job, and we’d rather tell you that upfront than take the work and have things go wrong.
But if you want one person handling the whole project — sourcing the right products, managing the installation, and standing behind the finished result — then this is exactly how we work. You deal with Martin from the first phone call to the day we hand the bathroom back to you. No coordinating multiple suppliers, no wondering whose problem it is if something doesn’t fit.
It’s a simpler way to have a bathroom fitted. And in our experience, it’s the way that ends well for everyone.
Thinking about a new bathroom in Cheshire?
We cover Middlewich, Sandbach, Northwich, Knutsford, Holmes Chapel and Winsford. Call Martin on 07734 703414 for a free, no-obligation quote — or use the contact form on the site.
Cheshire Bathroom Fitters — based in Middlewich, working across Cheshire for over 20 years.
