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The definition reproduced in Approved Document P is precise. Within a room containing a bath or shower, the special location is the space surrounding a bath tap or shower head extending vertically from finished floor level to a height of 2.25 metres, or to the position of the shower head where it is attached to a wall or ceiling higher than 2.25 metres. Horizontally it extends from the edge of the bath tub or shower tray to a distance of 0.6 metres; where there is no bath tub or shower tray, it extends 1.2 metres from the centre point of the shower head.

Inside that zone, minor additions and alterations to existing circuits are notifiable as well as new circuits. That is why a wet room with a wall-mounted head and no tray has a substantially larger notifiable zone than a bath with a shower over it — 1.2 metres of radius instead of 0.6 metres from a tray edge. A designer who moves the shower to the far wall changes the electrical scope of the job at the same time.

Approved Document P also carries a note alongside its diagram that socket outlets should not be located within 3 metres of a bath tub or shower tray. In most British bathrooms that effectively rules out a general-purpose socket altogether, which is worth knowing before a scheme is drawn with a vanity charging point in it.

Replacing sanitaryware in an existing bathroom is usually a like-for-like fit-out. Creating a new bathroom in a bedroom, a landing cupboard or a loft is building work: new drainage has to be connected, the floor structure may need altering, ventilation has to be provided, and a new circuit is very likely. That brings the project within the approval route, which in England and Wales runs through either your local authority's building control service or a private registered building control approver.

GOV.UK notes that you may avoid a separate application where the work is done by someone registered with a competent person scheme, who notifies on your behalf. That covers the electrical and plumbing elements in many domestic bathrooms, but it does not cover structural alterations, and it does not remove the need for approval where the project changes the building rather than its fittings.

Scotland uses a building warrant rather than building regulations approval, granted by the council's building standards department before work starts, and it is an offence to begin work that needs a warrant without one. Northern Ireland works to the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, administered by the district councils. Check which system applies to your address before assuming the English route.

The variables that move a bathroom price are almost all invisible in the finished photograph: whether the drainage positions stay put, whether the floor or walls need rebuilding, how much tanking the layout demands, tile size and format, whether underfloor heating and a new circuit are involved, and whether the room is on a floor where access for the trades is awkward. Sanitaryware and brassware can range enormously without changing the labour at all, which is why two quotations for the same room can differ more in specification than in workmanship. Ask for the labour and the goods to be shown separately.

LokalMatch is an introduction service and nothing more. Describe the bathroom once, give your postcode, and designers and installers who cover your area will contact you directly. It costs homeowners nothing; the professionals pay for the enquiries they receive. LokalMatch does not design or install bathrooms, does not set prices and does not vet, rank or recommend anyone who responds.