The Brisbane bathroom timeline week by week, why the waterproofing membrane is the job (not a coat of paint over the screed), and what AS 3740 plus the QBCC certificate actually require. Why the right order matters more than the bigger tile.
Short answer: a Brisbane bathroom is built in a strict order. Strip out. Make good the frame. Plumb and rough in. Lay the screed and falls. Waterproof to AS 3740. Cure and flood test. Tile. Grout. Fit out. Snag. Hand over. The order is not artistic. It is the difference between a bathroom that lasts twenty years and one that leaks at year two. The membrane is the job. Everything else is the surface.
Before the first tool turns up, the design is locked, the fixtures are ordered, and the tile is sitting in the warehouse with a delivery slot. Brisbane tile lead times run two to six weeks for imported ranges. Designer fixtures run four to twelve weeks. The most common cause of a stalled bathroom is not the trade. It is a fixture that did not turn up. We do not start demolition until everything has landed.
The room is sheeted in plastic. Floor protection is laid through the corridor to the front door. The bathroom is stripped to the bare frame. This is the only chance to see what is really under the old finishes. If the studs are sound, the new bathroom sits on the old bones. If the bottom plate is rotten where the shower used to be, the bottom plate is replaced before anything else happens. The make-good week is where a renovator earns the trust the photos do not show.
The licensed plumber runs the new pipework and sets the drainage. The screed is laid to falls, so water always finds the drain. Then the waterproofer arrives. The membrane is brushed and rolled to AS 3740: the floor pan, the hob, two wall returns at every wet wall, the shower zone to the height in the spec, and an overlap into the floor at every change of plane. The membrane is left to cure for 24 to 48 hours. Then the flood test: the floor is filled, sealed and watched. A bathroom that fails a flood test does not get tiled. The waterproofer fixes the membrane until the test passes. Then the certificate is signed.
The tiler sets out the floor first, because the floor pattern decides where every wall cut lands. Walls go up next, kept off the floor on a packer so the floor grout joint is even. The grout is mixed in small batches and worked in two stages: pushed across the joints with a rubber float, then washed off with a damp sponge in slow circles. The grout colour is decided before tile day, not on tile day. Grout cures for 24 hours before anyone walks on it.
The vanity, the screen, the tapware, the toilet, the towel rails and the mirror go in once the grout has cured. The electrician is back for the lights and the heated towel rail. The plumber is back for the connection check. Then we snag the room ourselves before you see it: every silicone bead, every grout joint, every fixture alignment. On handover day you get the keys, the waterproofing certificate, the plumbing compliance, the electrical compliance, the fixture warranties, and our 10-year waterproofing and workmanship warranty in writing.
Tiles are a finish. Fixtures are a finish. The waterproof membrane is the bathroom. A great bathroom built on a poor membrane is a leak waiting for year three. A plain bathroom built on a great membrane is a room you forget about for two decades. When you are deciding what to spend more on, spend on the membrane system, the waterproofer, and the time the membrane gets to cure. The rest is taste, and taste comes back later.
Waterline