A bathroom renovation is the most sequence-dependent room in the house, and the bathroom renovation order of trades is what decides whether it runs cleanly or stalls. More distinct trades work in a bathroom than almost any other room — a builder, a plumber, an electrician, a waterproofer, a tiler, and a glazier — and each one waits on the one before. Get the order right and the project flows; get it wrong and a trade arrives to find the work they need is not done, the job stops, and the costs climb.
The reason the order of trades matters so much in New Zealand is that one step — the waterproofing — is a hold point that cannot be undone. Once tiles are over a membrane, the membrane cannot be inspected, so the sequence is not a matter of efficiency but of whether the room is sound. A bathroom built out of order is a bathroom where the most important work may be buried unverified beneath the tile.
A bathroom is built in one direction only — every trade waits on the last, and the waterproofing has to be signed off before a single tile is laid.
What follows is the correct order of trades for a New Zealand bathroom, the one hold point you verify yourself before tiling, where the trades hand work to each other, and how the sequence changes when the plumbing moves.
Why does the order of trades matter in a bathroom
Because every trade in a bathroom builds on the work of the one before, and a step taken out of order has to be undone to fix it. The plumber cannot set the rough-in until the walls are framed; the waterproofer cannot start until the substrate is ready; the tiler cannot start until the waterproofing is signed off; the glazier cannot measure the shower screen until the tiling is finished. Each handover is a dependency, and a dependency missed is a delay or a tear-out.
This is why a bathroom cannot be rushed by running trades in parallel. The sequence is fixed by the physics of the build, not the calendar, and the cost of working out of order is always higher than the cost of waiting for the right moment. The same discipline that sets the bathroom renovation cost — sequence dictates cost — is the discipline that runs the order of trades.
Get your bathroom cost baseline first
The free Renovation Cost Calculator gives you a trade-by-trade estimate in under 5 minutes — before your first trade conversation. Knowing the cost of each trade is what lets you read the sequence as a budget, not just a schedule.
What is the correct order of trades for a bathroom renovation
A New Zealand bathroom moves through these stages in this order. Each is a dependency for the next, and the waterproofing record at stage six is the hold point everything after it relies on.
- Strip-out and demolition. The old fixtures, linings, and floor come out, exposing the framing and the existing services. This is where hidden problems — rot, old pipework, inadequate framing — first appear, and where the scope can shift before the trades arrive.
- Building and framing. Any new or altered walls, the shower former or hob, and the substrate are built, and the floor is prepared for the falls the drainage needs. Restricted Building Work here must be carried out or supervised by a Licensed Building Practitioner who issues a Record of Work.
- Plumbing first fix. The plumber sets the rough-in — the hot and cold supply, the waste and drainage, and the positions for the mixer, the shower, the toilet, and the basin — inside the framing before the walls are closed.
- Electrical first fix. The electrician runs the cabling for lighting, the extractor fan, the heated towel rail, and any underfloor heating, and sets the points, again before the linings go on.
- Linings and substrate. The wall and floor linings suitable for a wet area are fixed, giving the waterproofer and tiler the surface they need. The room is now a sealed shell ready for the most important step.
- Waterproofing. The membrane is applied to the wet area to NZ Building Code clause E3, with the record issued and retained. This is the hold point: it must be complete and verified before any tiling begins, because once tiles are down the membrane cannot be checked.
- Tiling. The tiler lays the floor and wall tiles over the signed-off membrane, cuts the falls into the floor tiling, and finishes the grout and silicone.
- Plumbing and electrical second fix. The fixtures go on — the mixer, the shower, the toilet, the basin, the heated towel rail, the fan, and the lights — connected to the rough-in set earlier, with the tempering valve limiting hot water to the bath and basin under clause G12.
- Glazing and fit-off. The glazier measures and fits the shower screen once the tiling is set, the vanity and mirror go in, and the accessories are mounted.
- Paint, clean, and final inspection. The painting is finished, the room is cleaned, and every element is checked against a defects list before final payment is released.
See The Bathroom Renovation Blueprint
Every stage of a New Zealand bathroom in order, with the dependencies between trades, the E3 waterproofing hold point to verify, and the documents to demand at each handover — before the first trade is booked.
Where is the hold point you must not skip
Stage six — the waterproofing — is the one point in the order of trades where a missed step is not a delay but a rebuild. Internal wet-area waterproofing in New Zealand is governed by NZ Building Code clause E3, with membranes installed to AS/NZS 4858, and a producer statement or record must be issued and retained before tiling. The reason it is a hold point is physical: the tiler covers the membrane, so the only moment it can ever be verified is before the first tile is laid.
This is the stage the prepared homeowner checks personally, not on trust. The cost of confirming the record exists and the membrane is sound is fifteen minutes; the cost of discovering a failed membrane after the tiling is the tiling coming up and the room being rebuilt. Exactly how the membrane is applied and what the record should show is set out in the bathroom waterproofing guide, and the failures that follow when it is rushed are in the bathroom renovation mistakes guide.
Tiling does not begin until the E3 waterproofing record exists and you have seen it. This is the one hold point a homeowner verifies personally rather than assuming.
Every other stage can be corrected later at a cost. This one cannot, because the evidence is buried the moment the next trade starts. Fifteen minutes of attention here protects the entire room.
Where do the trades wait on each other
The handovers are where a bathroom schedule lives or dies. The plumber and electrician both need the framing done before they can first-fix, and both need to be finished before the linings close the walls — so a delay in the framing pushes two trades, and a delay in either of them pushes the linings. The waterproofer needs the substrate complete and dry; the tiler needs the membrane signed off; the glazier needs the tiling finished and cured before measuring the screen.
None of these can be safely overlapped, which is why a bathroom takes the time it takes and why compressing it usually means doing something out of order. A homeowner coordinating the trades has to manage the handovers as carefully as the work itself, because an idle trade waiting on an unfinished predecessor is both a delay and, often, a charge. The same dependency logic across the whole project is the core of the twelve phases of a renovation, and the kitchen version of this sequence is in the kitchen renovation order of trades.
How the order changes if you move the plumbing
Moving fixtures changes both the work and the consent position, not the sequence itself. Relocating the toilet, basin, or shower means the plumbing first fix is larger — new supply and waste runs, new falls cut into the floor — and that work, along with any structural change or weathertightness work, generally requires a building consent with a 20-working-day processing window. A like-for-like replacement in the same positions is usually exempt under Schedule 1 of the Building Act and needs no consent, which keeps the front of the sequence short.
The order of trades stays the same, but a moved layout stretches the early stages: more demolition, more framing, a larger first fix, and the consent timeline added before site work can begin. This is why the staying-or-moving decision sits at the very start of planning — it does not reorder the trades, but it reshapes how long the first half of the sequence takes and whether a council inspection sits inside it.
Where the discipline comes from
Running a bathroom in the correct order of trades is the output of The 12-Phase System — Property Blueprint Co.'s framework for taking a homeowner from the first quote conversation to final sign-off without paying the variation premium, the out-of-sequence rework, or the defects shortfall the unprepared homeowner pays. The sequence is planned before the trades arrive, the waterproofing is scoped as a verified hold point rather than a step taken on trust, and each handover is managed as deliberately as the work. A bathroom does not fail because a trade was poor; it fails because the trades ran out of order and the membrane was buried unverified.
Knowing the order of trades is the starting point. Running the handovers so no trade arrives to unfinished work, and verifying the one hold point that cannot be undone, is the operational work that decides whether the bathroom finishes on schedule and stays sound.
If the cost baseline is the right first step, use the free Renovation Cost Calculator — a trade-by-trade estimate for the specific bathroom, in under 5 minutes, before any trade has quoted.
Frequently asked questions
What is the correct order of trades for a bathroom renovation?
Strip-out and demolition, then building and framing, plumbing first fix, electrical first fix, linings and substrate, waterproofing, tiling, plumbing and electrical second fix, glazing and fit-off, and finally paint, clean, and inspection. Each stage is a dependency for the next, and the waterproofing record sits between the substrate and the tiling as the hold point everything after it relies on.
When is waterproofing done in a bathroom renovation?
After the linings and substrate are complete and before any tiling begins. In New Zealand the membrane is installed to NZ Building Code clause E3 with the record issued and retained, and it is the one hold point that cannot be undone, because the tiler covers the membrane and it can never be inspected again. Tiling should not start until the E3 record exists and has been verified.
Can bathroom trades work at the same time?
Mostly no. The sequence is fixed by the physics of the build: the plumber and electrician need the framing done, the waterproofer needs the substrate, the tiler needs the signed-off membrane, and the glazier needs the finished tiling. Each waits on the one before, so overlapping trades usually means doing something out of order, which costs more to correct than the time saved.
Does moving the plumbing change the order of trades?
It changes the work and the consent position, not the sequence. Relocating fixtures means a larger plumbing first fix and, generally, a building consent with a 20-working-day processing window, while a like-for-like replacement in the same positions is usually exempt under Schedule 1 of the Building Act. The order of trades stays the same, but a moved layout stretches the early stages and may add a council inspection.
Who fits the shower screen in a bathroom renovation?
The glazier, and only after the tiling is finished and cured. The screen has to be measured against the actual tiled surfaces, not the framed openings, because tiling changes the dimensions. Fitting the screen too early, or measuring before the tiling is done, is a common out-of-sequence mistake that means a screen that does not fit and has to be remade.
What happens if bathroom trades work out of order?
Work has to be undone to fix it, which is always more expensive than waiting for the right moment. Tiling before the waterproofing is signed off is the worst case, because a failed membrane means the tiles come up and the room is rebuilt. Lesser examples — second-fixing before tiling, glazing before the tiles cure — still mean rework. Out-of-sequence work is the most expensive work in the project.