Bathroom landed in Canberra

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 Canberra, 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 ($3,295 to $5,554), because the port, broker, delivery and Project Plan are already paid. Estimate.

Against Canberra 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 $8,186, 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 Canberra market

Canberra is the second dearest city after Sydney, about 10 percent above Brisbane on the cost index: kitchens $13,200 to $49,500 installed, bathrooms $11,000 to $38,500. Amber Tiles prices its ACT zone about 8 percent above Sydney. Much of what Canberra buys is trucked in from Sydney already, so the extra truck leg on a landed order is a cost the local supply chain carries too.

How it gets to Canberra

Foshan factory to Nansha, Shekou or Yantian, a direct service to Port Botany, then about 300 km by road to Canberra.

Canberra has no port. Goods land at Port Botany in Sydney and come down the Hume and Federal Highways.

Most Canberra deliveries come as a tautliner load from a Sydney depot. A whole-house order can come as a container on a B-double route; ask what your street will take.

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 Canberra

Cold winters, frost and dry heat in summer. Ask for timber and veneer that has been conditioned for low humidity, and check door and window glazing against your energy rating.

• Canberra carries the longest truck leg of any capital on this page. Cartage is the line to watch.
• Most Canberra fit-outs come from the Sydney side, so a Sydney container run is the benchmark for timing.
• ACT building and plumbing work is licensed through Access Canberra. Imported WaterMark and RCM products are installed by a licensed trade, the same as local ones.

Questions