Electrics, bathrooms, housekeeping and fire safety in one catalogue.
Most UK suppliers force a hotel operator or HMO landlord to coordinate four or five vendors during a refurb — switches and sockets from one wholesaler, bathroom suites from another, fire extinguishers from a compliance specialist, trouser presses and minibars from a hospitality supplier. Each vendor has its own lead times, account terms, delivery windows, and snagging process. By the time you reach handover, you have four invoices, four delivery notes to reconcile, and four phone numbers to call when something doesn't fit.
This guide is the alternative. It maps the full refurb workflow — from first survey to second-fix finish — against a single catalogue at Kent Traders that covers all four categories. You'll find specs, room-by-room bills of materials, cost banding by property type, and the compliance checks the Fire Safety Act 2021 requires.
If you'd rather skip to your stage, jump to bedroom electrics, bathroom suite, fire and life safety, or the room-by-room BOMs.
Refurbing only the bathrooms? Read the UK bathroom refurb supply guide for brand-coherent Geberit, Grohe, Aqualisa and Ideal Standard bathroom specs.
Why use a single supplier
The hidden cost of multi-supplier sourcing
The headline price of any product is rarely what it costs you to receive on site. Multi-vendor refurbs add real friction:
- Coordination time. A 30-room hotel refurb typically generates 80–120 separate purchase orders across vendors. Each PO needs to be raised, approved, tracked, received, and reconciled. Industry benchmarks put this admin burden at £35–£60 of operations time per PO.
- Lead-time risk. When the bathroom supplier's delivery slips a week, the electrical first-fix can't start, and the trouser press order doesn't matter. Single-supplier refurbs collapse that risk into one supply chain you can phone.
- Snagging fragmentation. A guest complains the hair dryer is loose, the socket plate is wrong colour, and the fire extinguisher mount is too low — all in the same room. Three suppliers, three RMA processes, three credit notes.
- VAT and trade-account fragmentation. Each vendor wants a separate trade-account application, separate credit limits, separate purchase records. HMRC won't penalise you for it, but your bookkeeper will.
A single supplier collapses those costs to one PO process, one delivery window, one returns flow, and one trade account.
Lead-time risk and snagging at handover
Most hotel refurb delays at handover come from two product categories: bathroom fittings and fire safety equipment. Bathroom fittings because mixed-vendor sourcing leads to mismatched flush plates, missing tap accessories, or wrong-thread waste connectors. Fire safety because compliance equipment is often ordered last and arrives short of inspection deadlines.
Single-supplier sourcing fixes both. You spec the bathroom suite as one Geberit or Grohe set, including flush plates, taps, and accessories — no inter-brand thread mismatches. You spec the fire safety kit alongside the rest, so the inspector sees the right equipment, mounted correctly, on day one of operation.
For the deeper bathroom-only workflow — brand selection, room-by-room BOMs, BS 7671 zones — see the UK bathroom refurb supply guide.
Refurb workflow — what to specify, in what order
A typical UK hotel or HMO refurb follows six stages. The order matters because each stage's first-fix work locks in what later stages can install.
Stage 1 — Survey and risk assessment
Before any product is ordered, complete two surveys.
Electrical condition report (EICR). A registered electrician inspects the existing installation. Outputs a list of code 1 (immediate danger), code 2 (potential danger), and code 3 (improvement recommended) items. Anything code 1 or 2 must be remediated before reopening.
Fire risk assessment. Required under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and updated by the Fire Safety Act 2021. The Responsible Person — usually the operator — must commission a written assessment covering fire detection, means of escape, signage, and equipment.
These two surveys together determine the BOM you actually need. Don't order anything until both are done.
Stage 2 — First-fix electrical
First-fix is the wiring stage before walls are closed. You're specifying:
- Sockets — type, count, layout per room
- Light switches and dimmers — circuit count, gangs per plate
- USB charging — at bedside, desk, and luggage zones
- Hotel key-card switches — for energy-efficient room control
- Bathroom electrical (shaver sockets, IP44-rated extractors)
- Emergency and exit lighting
- Smart-accessory integration if planned
Most UK hotel rooms now spec a minimum of 6 sockets per double room, 8 for twins, and 4 in the bathroom (one shaver, three IP44 fan/light/heater controls outside the zone 2 area). The full per-room BOMs are below.
Browse the switches and sockets range, light switches, dimmer switches, USB sockets, hotel key-card switches, shaver sockets, and emergency lighting.
Stage 3 — Bathroom suite and tap fitting
Bathroom is the most expensive line item per room and the most common source of guest complaints. Spec the suite as one set:
- Toilet (close-coupled, wall-hung, or shower-toilet)
- Toilet seat (soft-close standard for hotels)
- Basin and pedestal or vanity unit
- Bath or shower tray
- Shower (electric, mixer, or thermostatic)
- Basin tap, bath tap, shower fittings
- Cistern, flush plate, fixing pack
- Mirror, shaver socket, towel rail, accessories
Geberit, Grohe, and Aqualisa are the three brands most UK hoteliers standardise on. We carry all three as full collections with matched accessories, so a refurb spec stays internally consistent.
Browse showers, electric showers, taps, basin taps, bath shower taps, toilets, toilet seats, and the Geberit or Grohe full ranges. For the deep bathroom workflow see the UK bathroom refurb supply guide.
Stage 4 — Fire and life safety
Compliance equipment is often ordered last. Don't. Order at the same time as electrical first-fix, because mounting points need to be agreed during the wiring stage.
Required equipment for a typical UK hotel:
- Fire extinguishers. At minimum: water for class A combustibles in corridors and lounges, CO2 for electrical risk near fuse boards, dry powder near plant rooms, wet chemical in commercial kitchens.
- Fire blankets. One per kitchenette and one per commercial cooking area.
- Smoke and heat detectors. Heat detectors in kitchens; smoke detectors in escape routes and bedrooms (BS 5839 Part 1 grade depending on category).
- Carbon monoxide alarms. Required wherever a fixed combustion appliance is fitted in a sleeping room — and in many HMOs.
- Emergency lighting. BS 5266-compliant exit signs and escape route lighting.
- First aid kits. HSE-recommended workplace kits sized to occupancy.
- Signage. Fire action notice, fire equipment location signs, exit signs, no smoking signs.
Browse fire extinguishers and equipment, fire extinguisher signs, exit signs, emergency lighting signs, emergency lighting, first aid kits, and site alarms.
Stage 5 — Second-fix and finishes
After walls are closed and decoration is complete, second-fix wiring goes in: socket plates fitted to back boxes, light switches mounted, dimmers commissioned. This is the stage where finish — antique brass, polished chrome, screwless flat plate, matt black — actually goes onto the wall.
This is also the stage where colour mismatches appear. If you ordered a 6-gang light switch in antique brass from one vendor and the matching dimmer from another, you'll see the mismatch on the wall. Single-vendor sourcing eliminates that risk.
Browse antique brass switches and sockets, black chrome, polished chrome, matt black, satin brass, stainless steel, or white moulded.
Stage 6 — Housekeeping and guestroom items
Final stage before opening. Each guestroom needs:
- Trouser press (Corby 3300, 4400, 6600, 7700 or Executive depending on property tier)
- Hair dryer (wall-mounted hospitality grade or folding portable)
- Welcome tray with kettle, sachet holders, sugar caddy
- In-room safe (top-opening or front-opening, PIN or key)
- Minibar (glass-door for premium properties, solid-door for mid-market)
- Hangers, luggage rack, ironing facility
- Bathroom bin, hygiene-bag dispenser, scales
Browse trouser presses, hair dryers, welcome trays and kettles, hotel safes, minibars, ironing equipment, and the full guestroom items range.
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Note: this guide focuses on the integrated hotel and HMO refurb workflow. For a brand-coherent bathroom-only spec (Geberit, Grohe, Aqualisa, Ideal Standard) including BOMs by room type and BS 7671 zones, see the UK bathroom refurb supply guide. Both pillars cross-reference each other and are designed to be read together for whole-property refurbs.