Bathroom landed in Sydney

The bathroom we priced

1200 wall-hung vanity with stone top, basin, basin mixer, shower rail and rose with a concealed mixer, toilet suite with concealed cistern, towel rail and accessories. Tiles priced separately.

Landed in Sydney, line by line

Every line from the factory gate to your site. Low, middle and high use the low, middle and high of every published rate at once. Estimate: no delivered Elje job sits behind this figure yet.

Shipped with a kitchen

On its own, a bathroom pays the full set of fixed charges and Elje's minimum fees. Added to a kitchen in the same shipment it adds about $4,254 to the kitchen's landed price ($3,296 to $5,554), because the port, broker, delivery and Project Plan are already paid. Estimate.

Against Sydney prices

Supply only is the fair comparison with a landed price; installed prices include labour, which you pay either way.

The local set is priced from real products at an Australian online retailer that ships nationally: a Timberline or Parisi 1200 vanity, Phoenix or Gessi tapware, a Caroma or Villeroy and Boch wall-faced toilet suite. Many were on sale.

Is it worth it?

Not on its own. Shipped alone it lands at about $7,909, inside the $5,900 to $10,100 a local set costs, because one bathroom carries a whole shipment's fixed charges. Shipped with a kitchen it adds about $4,254, well under the local price. Estimate.

The Sydney market

Sydney is the dearest of the eight cities: about 15 percent above Brisbane on the cost index, with kitchens $13,800 to $51,750 installed, bathrooms $11,500 to $40,250 and tiling labour $46 to $115 per m2. Plumbers charge about $92 to $230 an hour, and stone fabricators 15 to 20 percent more per metre than Brisbane or Adelaide. Amber Tiles' Sydney price zone is its cheapest, so tiles are the one line where Sydney shoppers start ahead.

How it gets to Sydney

Foshan factory to Nansha, Shekou or Yantian, a direct service to Port Botany, then the M5 or the M8 to the suburbs.

DP World, Patrick and Hutchison run container terminals at Port Botany, about 15 km south of the city.

Inner suburbs: depot unpack and a small truck. Outer suburbs and new estates in the west and north-west: a container at the kerb is usually fine.

What moves the number

• Vanity size and top. A 1200 vanity with a stone top costs about twice a 900 with a ceramic top.
• Cistern. A concealed cistern and panel costs more than a close-coupled suite, and needs a wall cavity ready for it.
• Finish. Brushed brass, gunmetal and other PVD finishes cost more than chrome at the factory, but far less than the same finish here.
• Two factories. Tapware and sanitary ware often come from a different factory to the vanity, so two inspections.
• Tiles are priced separately. See tiles.

What it has to comply with

• Every tap, mixer, waste, toilet and cistern needs a current WaterMark certificate in the maker's name. A licensed plumber is not permitted to install a product without it.
• Toilets, taps and showers need WELS registration and labelling before supply.
• Toilets and basins: tariff 6910.10.00, general duty 5 percent, Free from China with a certificate of origin.

Notes for Sydney

Temperate and humid on the coast. Moisture-resistant board in wet rooms is enough for most of Sydney.

• Sydney has the most local showrooms and the widest local price range, so the gap to landed varies more here than anywhere else.
• Terraces and inner-city streets rarely take a side-loader. Plan on depot unpacking and a smaller truck, and a council permit if anything stands in the street.
• Port Botany charges a per-container terminal access fee of about $225 to $233, like Brisbane and Melbourne. It is on the breakdown below, not hidden in the freight rate.

Questions