New bathrooms: bathroom studios, intermediaries, and fantasy prices

I am renovating a small old town house and am on the path to understanding the construction industry. It somehow still seems to function despite processes, lack of transparency, and shady dealings, as if the internet didn’t exist.

At the moment, I am still waiting for an offer for furniture and ceramics, but I assume the price will be 1.5 to 2 times higher than what I would have to pay for individual orders from common retailers. What I find particularly bizarre is that even when installing by myself, I will not get the offer directly from the studio, but there will always be a plumber involved. Who will add their cut to the prices when issuing an invoice. As far as I understand.

I will definitely have the pipes and water outlets done by a plumber, who will also install the heating and possibly a ventilation system. But is there a good reason not to order the toilet, furniture, and other parts directly?

The studio says "but then you have no warranty." I have the normal statutory warranty on the parts. If I assemble the furniture myself, screw it to the wall, and connect the water to the tap, I will have no warranty on the tightness. If I drop the toilet, I have to pay for it myself. That is clear to me so far. But is "warranty" beyond that something I should be worried about?

I am currently still waiting for an offer for furniture and ceramics, but I assume that the price will be 1.5x to 2x higher than what I would have to pay for individual orders through common dealers.

Is there a reason why you order from a studio and not a good, well-known product from a hardware store of your choice if you are going to install it yourself anyway?
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We did build with a general contractor, but back then in the old house we ordered through a plumber and only paid 1/3 of the studio price. Have the times changed that much?

Is there a reason why you order from a studio and not from a good and reputable product at a hardware store of your choice, if you’re going to install it yourself anyway?
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We did build with GU, but back then in the old house many years ago we ordered through an installer and only paid 1/3 of the studio price because of that. Have times changed that much?

I went to a studio because I relied on the advice. I would also gladly pay for that. What really confuses me is that I won’t receive an offer from the studio. Instead, it will come from an intermediary installer. What the studio is charging is totally unclear to me.

Or am I missing something?

Another example: An electrician offers me sockets from his wholesaler. The unit price is above what I would pay online. But I can’t buy them myself if the electrician refuses (because he wants to make a profit on the material).

I mean, I see how that worked in 1990. Before the internet. But today?

Another example: An electrician offers me sockets from his wholesaler. Unit price is higher than what I would pay online. But I can't buy them myself if the electrician refuses (because he wants to make a profit on the material).

But he would install them? Actually, it results in a mixed calculation because he installs them and provides a warranty on it. And the invoice of course then includes the warranty. Or did I misunderstand you?

It somehow still seems to work despite procedures, lack of transparency, and skullduggery, as if the internet didn't exist.

Where you looked at the bathroom furniture, it is only sold to registered specialist tradespeople. That is basically already stated on the entrance door. They also have project goods for a small budget, so to speak. Just wait for the offer from your installer. It has nothing to do with skullduggery & co.

I can fully understand your problem. Sanitary fixtures, tiles, kitchens, heat pumps, and similar things are often extremely opaque and overpriced. And as you already said, in times of the internet there are many alternatives.

The argument "but then you have no warranty" causes most people to be willing to pay a lot more. To me, that is sneaky and incomprehensible.

One might think that so-called wholesalers are cheap, but far from it – everything is overpriced. Either many craft businesses are really that naive and constantly purchase overpriced goods, or they are making a killing from it. This topic frustrates me the most during my construction phase. With simple means, you can quickly save over 10,000 euros. I could really write a list of such examples.

After I have vented a bit, I would like to address your question. We also had the rough installation done by our house technician/sanitary company, meaning all the pipes behind the wall. We procured and installed the furniture and ceramics ourselves. You have a warranty for all the pipes behind the wall and also for the fixtures themselves. As long as you are able to connect the drain properly, install the water connection watertight, and drill holes in the tiles, I see no problem.

A tip for execution: We selected all the furniture and ceramics in advance and printed out the technical drawings. It is best to choose something you like and that has high availability. Before the house technician started, we met on site and went through every point with the drawings to determine the position at every water and waste water connection. That took two hours on site. If you want something different afterwards, you can compare the drawings with each other.