Bathroom landed in Perth

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 Perth, 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 Perth 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 Perth market

Perth sits about 5 percent above Brisbane on the cost index: kitchens $12,600 to $47,250 installed, bathrooms $10,500 to $36,750. Rider Levett Bucknall puts custom houses at $3,100 to $5,100 per m2, a high floor. A 2023 average put stone benchtops at about $1,600 per m2 in Perth against $2,200 in Sydney and Melbourne. Much local stock is shipped from the east coast first.

How it gets to Perth

Foshan factory to Nansha, Shekou or Yantian, a direct service to Fremantle, the closest Australian container port to South China, then about 20 km by road.

DP World and Patrick run the container terminals in Fremantle's Inner Harbour, about 20 km from the city.

Most Perth suburbs take a container at the kerb. Hills sites and narrow coastal streets may need a depot unpack.

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 Perth

Hot dry summers and coastal wind. UV-stable finishes outside, and conditioned timber inside.

• Fremantle is the first Australian call on some South China services, and its terminal access charge is the lowest of the five ports, under $100 a container.
• Perth is a long way from the east coast showrooms and warehouses, so local stock often carries a freight cost of its own. Landed direct from Foshan skips that leg.
• Plumbing and building work is licensed through Building and Energy WA. Imported WaterMark and RCM products are installed the same way as local ones.

Questions