Bathroom landed on the Sunshine Coast

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 on the Sunshine Coast, 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 Sunshine Coast 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 Sunshine Coast market

The Sunshine Coast runs about 3 percent under Brisbane on the cost index: kitchens $11,650 to $43,650 installed, bathrooms $9,700 to $33,950. Few local suppliers publish prices online, so Brisbane prices are the practical benchmark, and most showroom shopping happens there anyway.

How it gets to the Sunshine Coast

Foshan factory to Nansha or Shekou, a South China service to the Port of Brisbane, then about 100 km by road up the Bruce Highway to Maroochydore, further to Noosa.

The Sunshine Coast has no container port. Goods land at Fisherman Islands in Brisbane and come up the Bruce Highway.

A container can usually go straight to a new-build site on acreage. Check the access road can take a side-loader before the booking.

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 the Sunshine Coast

Coastal and subtropical. The same salt and humidity rules as the Gold Coast: PVD or 316 stainless outside, moisture-resistant board inside.

• Freight, port and border charges are the Brisbane figures. Cartage is the only line that moves.
• Hinterland sites (Maleny, Montville, Eumundi) often need a smaller truck for the last few kilometres. Ask before booking a 40 ft container.
• Plenty of Sunshine Coast builds are new houses on acreage, where the whole fit-out fills its own container and the cartage cost is spread over far more goods.

Questions