Cost To Fix Or Replace A Toilet

Toilets are an important part of our lives & homes, we spend a considerable amount of time (around 73 hours a year!) on them according to research, so it’s important to make sure your ‘phone time’ goes off without a hitch. If your toilet is acting a bit funny we’ve broken down how much you can expect to pay for various repair jobs.

	Low	Average	High	Average Total (Materials + Labour)
Flange	£17	£25	£60	£85-£145
Valves	£6	£20	£80	£60
Tank	£40	£60	£700	£120
Drain	£10	£15	£40	£120-£135
Intake Pipe/Hose	£5	£7	£15	£140-£157
Seals	£0.50	£2	£5	£60
Plinth	£40	£70	£120	£70
Seat	£8	£20	£500	£20
New/Replacement Toilet	£80	£150	£3,000	£270
Labour (per hour)	£40	£60	£75

Although they may not seem like it, toilets are made up of various complex mechanical parts – and like all things mechanical, if something goes wrong, it can go badly wrong.

If you’re in a rush, the average cost to fix a toilet is £100. Of course, a more detailed breakdown follows below.

The main mechanical issues you are likely to face with a toilet are;

• Flanges
• Valves
• Tanks
• Drains
• Intake Pipes/Hoses
• Seals

The non-mechanical features that can also break include;

• Plinths
• Seats

Labour Cost For Toilet Repair

The average hourly rate of a plumber is around £60, but usually can be between £40-75 an hour.

Not all problems are equal, so they aren’t all going to take an hour to sort, and some can be classed as an emergency – like if your intake pipe bursts you’ll need an emergency plumber and the call-out fees & hourly rates are often higher.

Cost For New/Replacement Toilet

The cost for a new or replacement toilet, just for the toilet itself ranges from £80 – £3,000. On average they are £150. Combined with roughly 2 hours of labour, £120, to replace a typical toilet you’re looking at a total of £270.

It’s worth bearing in mind that the more complex the toilet the longer it will take to install. For example, replacing a standard toilet for one with a hidden cistern is going to take more than 2 hours.

Toilet Flange Replacement Cost

What is a ‘toilet flange’?

Firstly, a toilet flange is a pipe fitting connecting the toilet to both the floor & the drainage system – so it’s a fairly important part of the overall toilet.

If it is broken then you’ll likely notice, but below are some signs to keep an eye out for.

Signs of broken toilet flange:

There are a few signs that your flange might be broken or on its way to breaking;

• Leaks underneath the toilet
• The toilet rocks/moves
• The surrounding floor is damp/soft
• Water staining on a ceiling below the toilet
• Odours…

If you suspect your flange is broken, you’ll want to call a plumber straight away, depending on the severity, you might want to consider an emergency plumber to sort it.

How long does it take to replace a toilet flange?

Typically, this should take about an hour or two to do for a professional. If you plan on tackling this from a DIY perspective, expect it to take at least double that time if not longer.

Total Cost To Fix A Toilet Flange

The average cost to fix a broken toilet flange is between £85-£145. It can of course be as low as £65 but as high as £180. A typical plumber is likely to quote based on this taking 2 hours just to cover themselves if it runs over the hour mark.

An additional £25 on average for the materials needed to do the job will be factored into the cost.

If the issue is an emergency though, your average cost is going to look more like £265.

For that kind of price you may be considering tackling this as a DIY-er but as usual, make sure you are confident enough to tackle the issue at hand, and any subsequent issues you might encounter as a result.

Toilet Valve Replacement Cost

What is a toilet valve?

The valve on a toilet is what controls the water flow coming into the tank after it empties, or when the water level is below a certain point.

Signs of a broken toilet valve:

There are a couple of signs the toilet valve is malfunctioning, these can be pretty obvious.

• Constantly filling/running
• Underfilling/Not filling

Total cost to replace toilet valve

Typically, it should only take an hour to replace a toilet valve (assuming no other issues) which puts labour costs at an average £40. The material cost of the valve itself varies quite a lot, from a cheap £6 to a staggering £80, but on average it is going to be about £20, if you’re buying it yourself, your plumber might charge you a little bit more if they supply the materials needed.

Your total average cost is £60 to replace a broken toilet valve using a professional plumber.

As a broken valve is unlikely to be an emergency, you shouldn’t need to worry about emergency call-out fees/hourly fees.

Toilet Tank Repair/Replacement Cost

The toilet tank, also known as a cistern, is what holds all the water pre-flush.

If this is broken, you might notice a less than satisfactory flush, a leak, or even pooling water on the floor behind the toilet.

You may also notice crack(s) on the enamel, the size of the cracks can vary with some requiring an urgent repair and others not so urgent but should still make the top of the to-do list.

Depending on the severity of the damage, you may be able to get away with a simple repair, but if it’s beyond repair only a replacement will suffice.

Materials for this one are more difficult to estimate due to the varying different brands & locations of the tank – such as if it’s built into a wall, cabinet or other kind of structure. But, they generally range between £40-£700, with an average price of £60.

The same factors of location/difficulty to access are going to play into the labour costs as well. Usually, it’s a pretty straightforward affair and should only take an hour bringing the total average cost to £120.

Toilet Drain Unblocking/Replacement Cost

We’ve covered Drain Unblocking Costs in greater detail before, but the average price is around £120. That’s about 2 hours’ worth of labour.

It will take roughly the same amount of time to perform a drain replacement, plus the additional cost of materials which range from £10-£40, with an average cost of £15. So for a drain replacement, you can be looking in the region of £135.

Toilet Intake Pipe/Hose Replacement Cost

What is a toilet intake pipe/hose?

The hose/pipe is what supplies your toilet tank with water. A pipe is usually used when it’s a straightforward fitting, but a hose is sometimes needed to connect the pipe to the tank.

Total cost to fix toilet intake pipe/hose

If it’s a simple leak, we’ve covered the cost of repairing a leaky pipe – the average cost is around £140. If it has suddenly burst and there’s a new feature river that has appeared in your bathroom, and your teenager didn’t just have a shower, you’ll likely need an emergency plumber.

If that’s the case, your total is going to look a bit more like £157.

Toilet Seal Replacement Cost

There are multiple different seals in your toilet to help prevent leaks and maintain a healthy, working system.

However, over time they can wear down and break. This is usually the cause of some of the following issues;

• Mould Growth
• Water pooling on the floor
• Leaks
• Rocking/Moving toilet
• Bad odours/smells

The material costs of seals are generally quite cheap, starting from just £0.50 and at the top end £5. Again, this can be a relatively cheap DIY job if you are able to do it yourself. If not, however, labour is going to take about an hour to do so around £60.

What’s good about this one is your plumber probably won’t charge you for materials to fix this as they usually carry these kinds of parts and they’re so cheap that it doesn’t really make an impact.

Toilet Plinth Repair/Replacement Cost

A plinth is usually used to raise the height of the toilet for assistance reasons, but can also be used for aesthetic/comfort reasons.

Whatever the purpose, if a plinth breaks it can cause problems not just for the person using the toilet, but also for the plumbing stability, so it’s important to get it fixed as quickly as possible even if it isn’t classed as an emergency.

Typically, a plinth replacement part is going to set you back £70, but the costs range from £40-£120.

Labour is going to be about 2 hours so in the region of £120.

As mentioned, it’s super important to fix a plinth straight away or you may end up facing other costs associated with broken pipes/tanks/drains and it will run an expensive bill.

Toilet Seat Replacement Cost

An average toilet seat will cost £20 when buying it yourself, but in some cases, we’ve seen toilet seats costing as much as £500! Talk about sitting on a throne.

Replacing a toilet seat is generally a DIY job, but for some, it will require the services of a handyman to carry out the job. A handyman charges anywhere between £10-£50 an hour, but on average about £30. In this case, you’re looking at a total average of £50 to replace a toilet seat.

So there we have it, on average, the cost to fix a toilet is £100. But depending on what the issue is, it can range from £20 all the way through to £157. Unless you have one of those £500 toilet seats of course!