Utility Room Costs UK — What to Charge to Fit One in 2026

Typical Utility Room Price Ranges

Utility room fit-outs span a wide range because the term covers everything from a single run of budget units in an existing alcove to a fully converted garage with new walls, flooring and a relocated boiler. Here's how the three broad tiers break down at 2026 prices, including materials and labour.

Basic Utility Room Fit-Out — £2,000–£4,000

A basic fit-out is a short run of budget or mid-tier flat-pack units, a laminate worktop, a single sink and tap, and minimal plumbing changes — typically reusing existing supply and waste points for a washing machine. There's little or no structural work and the room is already a usable internal space. This is a 2–3 day job for a fitter plus a half-day plumbing visit.

• Units and worktop (supply): £600–£1,400
• Sink, tap and basic plumbing: £300–£600
• Labour (2–3 days): £700–£1,400

Mid-Range Utility Room — £4,000–£7,000

The most common spec. This covers a fuller layout of quality rigid or semi-bespoke units, a solid laminate or entry-level solid-surface worktop, an inset or undermount sink with a decent mixer tap, plumbing for both a washing machine and a tumble dryer, new sockets and possibly a new circuit, and a tiled splashback or full tiling with new flooring. Expect 4–6 days across the trades involved.

• Units and worktop (supply): £1,400–£3,000
• Sink, tap, plumbing for washer + dryer: £600–£1,200
• Electrics, flooring, tiling: £700–£1,500
• Labour across trades: £1,300–£2,300

High-End or Conversion — £7,000–£12,000+

At the top end you have bespoke or premium units, a quartz or solid-surface worktop, a Belfast or undermount sink with a feature tap, full appliance integration, and — most significantly — structural or conversion work. Converting part of a garage or an outbuilding into a utility room means insulation, a damp-proof membrane and screed or new floor, plastered walls, a new external door or window, plus all the plumbing, electrics and ventilation run from scratch. A boiler relocation, if needed, pushes the figure higher still. This is a 6–10 day project once you factor in drying times for screed and plaster.

• Premium units and quartz worktop: £3,000–£6,000
• Conversion fabric (insulation, floor, walls, door/window): £2,000–£4,500
• Plumbing, electrics, ventilation, finishing: £2,000–£4,000

Labour and Day Rates Across Trades

A utility room rarely involves a single trade. Even a basic fit-out usually needs a fitter and a plumber; a mid-range or conversion job pulls in an electrician and a tiler or decorator too. Day rates in 2026 vary by region and trade, but the working bands are:

• Kitchen fitter / joiner: £200–£280/day
• Plumber: £200–£300/day (often charged as a half-day for connections)
• Electrician: £200–£300/day (Part P notifiable work adds certification cost)
• Tiler / decorator: £180–£250/day

A typical utility room takes 3–7 working days in total across the trades, though calendar time is usually longer because of curing and drying. When you sub-contract, build the other trades' rates into your quote with a small coordination margin — you carry the risk of their no-shows and snagging, and that's worth charging for.

What Drives the Price

Two utility rooms of the same floor area can differ by thousands depending on the spec and the existing services. These are the main cost drivers to identify on your survey before you quote.

• Units — quantity and quality: Budget flat-pack runs at a fraction of the cost of rigid, semi-bespoke or fully bespoke cabinetry. Tall larder units, integrated appliance housings and feature racking all add up.
• Worktop material: Laminate is the workhorse at £40–£120/m. An entry solid-surface or wood worktop sits higher, and quartz or granite jumps to £250–£500/m supplied and templated — a major swing on the total.
• Sink and tap: A basic stainless inset sink and mixer is inexpensive; a Belfast sink with a feature or boiling-water tap is a several-hundred-pound line on its own.
• Plumbing for washer and dryer: Reusing existing hot, cold and waste is cheap. Moving or adding supply and waste runs — or fitting a standpipe and trap for a second appliance — adds plumber time and materials.
• Condensing vs vented dryer: A condensing or heat-pump dryer needs no external duct, but a vented dryer requires a core-drilled hole and external vent through the wall, plus making good.
• Electrics and Part P: Adding sockets is straightforward, but a new circuit or consumer-unit work is notifiable under Part P and must be certified by a registered electrician — factor in the certificate fee.
• Boiler relocation: If the layout requires moving the boiler, that's a Gas Safe job with flue, pipework and commissioning costs that can add £800–£2,000.
• Flooring, tiling and splashback: Vinyl or LVT, tiled floors, and a splashback or full tiling all carry separate material and labour lines.
• Extractor and ventilation: A utility handling laundry moisture often needs extraction or trickle ventilation to control condensation.
• Conversion work: Where you're converting a garage or outbuilding, insulation, a damp-proof membrane, a new floor build-up, plastered walls and a compliant door or window all fall under Building Regulations and add the most cost of any factor.

Coordinating and Sequencing the Trades

The hidden cost in a utility room is poor sequencing. Get the order wrong and you pay trades to come back, or you hold one up waiting on another. The logical sequence on a conversion is: structural and fabric work first (floor, insulation, walls, door/window), then first-fix plumbing and electrics in the open walls, then plastering and drying, then flooring, then unit installation, then worktop templating and fitting, then second-fix plumbing and electrics, then tiling, splashback and decorating, and finally appliance connection and testing.

On a straightforward internal fit-out the sequence compresses, but the principle holds: anything that touches the wall or floor build-up goes in before the units. Worktop templating in particular cannot happen until the units are level and fixed, and quartz or solid-surface tops then need a few days for fabrication — build that gap into the programme so it doesn't look like a delay to the customer.

Worked Example: A Mid-Range Utility Room

A customer wants a mid-range utility room in an existing internal room off the kitchen. The brief: a run of quality rigid units along one wall, a solid laminate worktop, an undermount stainless sink with a mixer tap, plumbing for a washing machine and a condensing tumble dryer, two new double sockets on the existing ring, LVT flooring and a tiled splashback. No conversion or boiler work. Here's how the quote builds up.

• Rigid units (supply): £1,200
• Solid laminate worktop, templated and fitted: £550
• Undermount sink, mixer tap and plumbing connections: £700
• Electrician — two sockets, test and certificate: £300
• LVT flooring (supply and lay): £450
• Tiled splashback (materials and tiling labour): £350
• Fitter labour, 4 days at £240: £960
• Coordination, sundries and consumables: £250

That totals around £4,760 before VAT and your overhead margin. Add a contingency of 10% for the things a survey doesn't always reveal — uneven floors, awkward waste runs, a wall that won't take a standard fixing — and you land at a confident quote of £5,200–£5,400. That sits comfortably in the mid-range band and gives you room to absorb a minor surprise without eating your profit.

Quick Reference: Utility Room Costs UK 2026

Quoting Tips — What to Clarify Before You Price

Utility room quotes most often go wrong on appliance supply and conversion scope. Nail these down in writing before you commit a figure.

• Who supplies the appliances: Confirm whether the washing machine, dryer and any other appliances are customer-supplied or part of your quote. If you're supplying, get exact models so you can size the housing and check whether the dryer is condensing or vented.
• Conversion scope and Building Regs: On a garage or outbuilding conversion, establish early whether the work is notifiable and who is responsible for the Building Regulations application and sign-off. Insulation, damp-proofing, the floor build-up and a compliant door or window are the big-ticket fabric items — never assume the existing structure is sound or dry.
• Existing services: Check the location and condition of hot, cold, waste, gas and the consumer unit. Moving any of them adds cost most customers don't anticipate.
• Build in a contingency: A 10–15% contingency on utility rooms covers the hidden surprises — uneven floors, hard-to-route waste, fixings that won't hold. State it as a line or fold it into your day allowance, but don't quote with zero slack.
• Spell out exclusions: Decorating beyond the work area, appliance disposal, and making good external render after a core drill are common scope creep items. List what's out as clearly as what's in.
• VAT and payment stages: For a job spanning several days and multiple trades, agree a staged payment schedule and be clear on whether prices include VAT.

A utility room is a high-satisfaction job when it's priced and sequenced properly. Survey thoroughly, identify the services and any conversion fabric work up front, build in your trades' rates and a contingency, and you'll deliver a clean job at a margin you can rely on.