How much to install a shower?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want this job done cheaply but well, YOU need to choose the tile, fixtures, grout color, etc. and buy it yourself. This may sound daunting, but it’s not. Keep things simple. Find a picture you like and reproduce it with Lowe’s material. Don’t go to a fancy tile company.

Also, you need to find an independent contractor. If you use a flashy design/build company, they have tons of overhead and the same job will cost $10-$15k. That’s because the salesperson gets a commission, there’s lots of overhead (storefront, etc), and they subcontract the work, so their profit is a margin on top of the subcontractors charge.

This. I used an independent contractor for a bathroom remodel in 2024. It was about $15K all in, which including trading a bathtub for a shower. I picked and bought all of the tile, grout, shower doors, fixtures, and vanities. The contractor installed them. Looks gray and for the extra “hassle” of managing the selection and purchasing I saved about $12k of the next best price. Bathroom is great and the contractor did an excellent job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want this job done cheaply but well, YOU need to choose the tile, fixtures, grout color, etc. and buy it yourself. This may sound daunting, but it’s not. Keep things simple. Find a picture you like and reproduce it with Lowe’s material. Don’t go to a fancy tile company.

Also, you need to find an independent contractor. If you use a flashy design/build company, they have tons of overhead and the same job will cost $10-$15k. That’s because the salesperson gets a commission, there’s lots of overhead (storefront, etc), and they subcontract the work, so their profit is a margin on top of the subcontractors charge.

This. I used an independent contractor for a bathroom remodel in 2024. It was about $15K all in, which including trading a bathtub for a shower. I picked and bought all of the tile, grout, shower doors, fixtures, and vanities. The contractor installed them. Looks gray and for the extra “hassle” of managing the selection and purchasing I saved about $12k of the next best price. Bathroom is great and the contractor did an excellent job.

My contractor can usually get a better price than I can. He usually checks for me to see if the military discount is better than his contractor price. If it’s less, we get it ourselves (spouse is retired military), if the contractor price is better, he gets it for us. We’ve had the same independent contractor do a number of jobs for us, so he’s happy to work with us so we can get the best price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want this job done cheaply but well, YOU need to choose the tile, fixtures, grout color, etc. and buy it yourself. This may sound daunting, but it’s not. Keep things simple. Find a picture you like and reproduce it with Lowe’s material. Don’t go to a fancy tile company.

Also, you need to find an independent contractor. If you use a flashy design/build company, they have tons of overhead and the same job will cost $10-$15k. That’s because the salesperson gets a commission, there’s lots of overhead (storefront, etc), and they subcontract the work, so their profit is a margin on top of the subcontractors charge.

This. I used an independent contractor for a bathroom remodel in 2024. It was about $15K all in, which including trading a bathtub for a shower. I picked and bought all of the tile, grout, shower doors, fixtures, and vanities. The contractor installed them. Looks gray and for the extra “hassle” of managing the selection and purchasing I saved about $12k of the next best price. Bathroom is great and the contractor did an excellent job.

My contractor can usually get a better price than I can. He usually checks for me to see if the military discount is better than his contractor price. If it’s less, we get it ourselves (spouse is retired military), if the contractor price is better, he gets it for us. We’ve had the same independent contractor do a number of jobs for us, so he’s happy to work with us so we can get the best price.

Poster above and yes, I was able to get a contractor rate on the materials through my contractor. But I selected them and paid for them versus working through store / designer to select and purchase.

[Anonymous]

I’m one of the PP. I also selected my tiles and other materials, then just told my contractor which ones I selected. He purchased for contractor rate.

I did sit down with a couple of designers through the tile stores. None were exactly what I wanted and some were very expensive. Ended up getting tile from Floor& Decor. Floor & Decor does have a design center in Tyson’s., but it has limited tile selection there. The regular F&D stores have designers too and larger tile selections. They were also relatively cheap compared to other tile stores. We’re very pleased with how it came out.

[Anonymous]

Responses to cost breakdown some made

Demo bathtub and walls - $1k
It's an OK price if they are also removing debris from the job site.

Here’s a list of material cost based on a standard size tub being removed and 8ft ceilings

10 2x4s for reinforcement or niche - $30
At 3.85 ea. at Home Depot, this is a good deal for 10 of them. But you won't need that many. Maybe half.

Durock 20 sheets and screws - $220
At 13.26 per 1/2" thick sheet, at 20 sheets this is a good deal. But you won't need 20 sheets.
I used 7 sheets for my 36" x 48" shower.

Thinset mortar for entire job and fiber tape - $200
Half that.

Shower pan mud bed and curb 4:1 mud - $100
Used 2 bags of Mapei at around 11 per bag of 50Lbs.

Shower pan liner - $ 125
A 5' wide roll is 6.38/ft

Oatey drain with strainer - $40
I splurged on this and got Infinity Drain. $400 0 $1000 depending on source.

Shower valve and head moen or kohler - $150
Do yourself a favor, get Grohe if modernist or Waterworks if traditional
Grohe is economical and well made German stuff. Waterworks is pricey and pretty.

Shower pan tile - $400-$4000
I think I used 12 sheets of 12x12 mosaic tile at 11 per sheet.

Wall tile - $500-$10000
Depends on owner choice.
I am a big fan of simple subway or square tiles. I put the attention of the room on the vanity.

Shower curtain rod - $100 or Glass doors - $750-$3500
My custom sized glass door cost 1400, water white (low iron, no green in the glass).
If you can use a standard size, it will be much less and you can source it from Home Depot or Lowes. But you won't get the low-iron stuff And you can't specify the CR Laurence hardware for the door.

This is your materials cost.
Add waterproofing paint - Mapelastic Aquadefense or Laticrete Hydrogan. Never forget to add that and this goes underneath the wall tile setting.
Plumbing work will run 2-5K for hooking up the shower valve and if you need to relocate the shower drain.
The rest of the work is mostly a tile job. I'd ask a tile person to price it out, not a GC. You basically act as your own GC and get your trades - plumber and tiler. Ask for recommendations at your tile shop, like Architessa or Country Tile. You might be given names of people who have English language challenges so be aware but they won't suggest people who don't understand tile.
If you are going to GC it yourself, I strongly suggest making some drawings so you understand what areas you need to cover. You probably need to do so anyway in order to count how much tile you need to order (rule of thumb, add 10% in case of bad cuts while installing). AND it's always good to lay it out in a drawing to understand how to avoid tiny slivers of tile - those are annoying and don't look good. Pre-plan your tile because there is no do-over. The thinset dries rock hard and you'll have to break the tile/chop it out if you have regrets.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the detail!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Demo bathtub and walls - $1k

Here’s a list of material cost based on a standard size tub being removed and 8ft ceilings

10 2x4s for reinforcement or niche - $30

Durock 20 sheets and screws - $220

Thinset mortar for entire job and fiber tape - $200

Shower pan mud bed and curb 4:1 mud - $100

Shower pan liner - $ 125

Oatey drain with strainer - $40

Shower valve and head moen or kohler - $150

Shower pan tile - $400-$4000

Wall tile - $500-$10000

Shower curtain rod - $100 or Glass doors - $750-$3500

\
this sounds about right. $25K is still a lot.

$25k is not the number. You’re playing to the high-end of exotic tile estimates.

We recently did this and it cost us $5k. The numbers broke down this way:

Demo bathtub and old tile wall and build a new shower stall with niche, including all building parts and complete job/tile/fixture labor: $3k

Polished Porcelain marble-look 12x24” tile from Lowes for walls: $250

Polished porcelain mosaic tile from Lowes: $150

Kohler shower fixtures from Lowes: $250

Glass door partition and sliding glass door with handle and towel bar, installed from Dulles Glass: $1000

I would like to see a photo of the quality of the work please.

[Anonymous]

I just did a full bathroom rip-and-replace remodel, and the labor was around $15K. That did not include materials, which I provided. But bathroom materials are not super expensive. Tile around $2K. Most expensive single piece was a vanity I splurged on ($4k). The only issue I think would be getting a contractor to come out for a small job. That's the challenge. You need someone looking to fill deadspace between jobs. We did this packaged with a few other things which probably helped with labor costs. And we sourced all the materials ourselves. (At Ferguson home and various tile shops and room and board, etc., took time but was worth it.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just did a full bathroom rip-and-replace remodel, and the labor was around $15K. That did not include materials, which I provided. But bathroom materials are not super expensive. Tile around $2K. Most expensive single piece was a vanity I splurged on ($4k). The only issue I think would be getting a contractor to come out for a small job. That's the challenge. You need someone looking to fill deadspace between jobs. We did this packaged with a few other things which probably helped with labor costs. And we sourced all the materials ourselves. (At Ferguson home and various tile shops and room and board, etc., took time but was worth it.)

Just saw your reference to tile -- it's not THAT expensive. What are you trying to get? Go to Architessa and Renaissance Tile and price out what you like based on your square footage. I went with what I liked, buying zellige for some things, marble for some things, and porcelain for some things. It was a few thousand but nothing that should hit $30K for just a tub/shower.

[Anonymous]

It's very easy to screw up a shower with a tile floor. Don't go with a general contractor, but rather a tile guy with lots of experience doing showers. There are now several different systems available, so ask a few questions to determine if he will be doing things correctly. If he screws up, it will be a painful mistake! If you go with an independent tile guy and hire a plumber, I'd say it will run you maybe 8k.