Is $3,500 really what a walk-in shower costs?

$3,500 is our starting price for the labor on a standard walk-in shower conversion — the tub out, the shower in, built properly. It is not the finished price of the room, because it does not include the tile, the pan, the glass or the fixtures you pick out. When we supply those too, a turnkey walk-in shower starts at $6,995. We publish both numbers on purpose. A contractor who quotes you the labor number and lets you assume it is the whole job has not lied yet, but he is going to.

What is actually included in the labor-only price?

Demo and haul-off of the old tub or shower, re-setting the drain and valve for a shower instead of a tub, framing and backer board, the waterproofing membrane, setting the tile you supply, grout and seal, and the final punch. Permits and licensed-trade work are pulled when the job needs them. What you supply is the material: tile, pan or mud-bed materials, glass, valve trim and fixtures.

Why would I buy my own tile instead of having you do it?

Because on a small bathroom it can genuinely save you money, and because some people want to stand in the store and pick it. Labor-only works well if you already know what you want and you are comfortable ordering the right quantity with overage. If you would rather make one decision and have the whole thing handled, turnkey is the better deal — we buy at contractor pricing, and a wrong tile order that sits in your garage for three weeks costs more than the margin.

What pushes a walk-in shower above the starting price?

Size first — a 60-inch alcove is the baseline and anything larger is more of everything. Then: moving the drain, going curbless (which means cutting and re-sloping the floor), a niche or bench, a mortar-bed pan instead of a pre-formed one, frameless glass instead of a door, and whatever the wall looks like once the tub comes out. Old water damage behind a tub is the single most common reason a bathroom bid moves, and nobody can see it until demo day. We tell you what we find before we do anything about it.

Do you use acrylic shower inserts?

Yes, when it is the right call. Acrylic goes in faster and costs less, and for a rental turn, a tight budget or a fast timeline it is the honest recommendation. Most of what we build is tile over a bonded waterproofing membrane, because it lasts longer and looks like part of the house instead of a product dropped into it. What we do not do is the one-day method of gluing panels over the existing walls without opening them up — whatever is wrong behind that wall is still wrong, and now it is sealed in.

How long does a walk-in shower conversion take?

A straightforward tub-to-shower conversion runs about 5 to 7 working days, most of which is waiting on mortar, waterproofing and grout to cure rather than anyone standing in your bathroom. Curbless, a re-routed drain or a full-gut bathroom runs longer. The finish date goes in the contract before demo day, and our workmanship carries a two-year written warranty.

Pricing · San Antonio

The $3,500 walk-in shower: exactly what labor-only includes

We publish two starting prices for the same shower, and the difference between them is the single most common misunderstanding in a bathroom bid. Here is the whole thing in plain language, so you can decide which one you are actually shopping for before anybody comes to your house.

Labor-only, starting at

$3,500

You buy the tile, pan, glass and fixtures. We do everything else.

Turnkey, starting at

$6,995

Materials included at contractor pricing. One number, one decision.

What the $3,500 actually buys

It buys the part of a shower you cannot see once it is finished, which is also the part that decides whether it is still sound in ten years. The tub comes out and gets hauled off. The drain and the valve get re-set for a shower instead of a tub, because a tub drain sits in the wrong place and at the wrong height. The walls get framed and backed properly. Then the waterproofing membrane goes on and gets bonded, the tile you bought gets set on top of it, and the whole thing gets grouted, sealed and punched out.

The membrane is the line between a shower and a problem. Tile is not waterproof and grout is not waterproof — water goes through both, every day, and something behind them has to stop it. Done right, that is a bonded membrane over the backer board. Done wrong, it is nothing, and you find out three years later when the baseboard in the next room starts to swell. We have opened enough of those walls to be blunt about it.

What it does not buy

Material. Tile, the shower pan or the mud-bed materials, the glass, the valve trim and the fixtures are yours to pick and yours to pay for. On a standard 60-inch alcove that is usually the difference between the two numbers at the top of this page. If you would rather not shop, the turnkey price starting at $6,995 covers the same work with the materials included, bought at contractor pricing.

What moves the number

Size, first. A 60-inch alcove is the baseline; a larger shower is more of everything. After that: relocating the drain, going curbless (the floor has to be cut and re-sloped), adding a niche or a bench, a mortar-bed pan instead of a pre-formed one, and frameless glass instead of a door.

And then there is the one nobody can quote in advance. Old water damage behind the tub is the most common reason a bathroom bid changes, and it is invisible until demo day. When we find it, you see the photos before we touch it — that is the same habit we bring to water damage work, where documenting the full loss before demo is what keeps an insurance scope honest.

Tile or acrylic

Both, depending on the job. Acrylic is faster and cheaper, and for a rental turn or a tight timeline it is the right answer and we will say so. Most of what we build is tile over bonded waterproofing, because it lasts longer and reads as part of the house. The method we will not use is the one-day franchise install — panels glued over the existing walls without opening them. Whatever is behind that wall does not get better under a panel.

See it on a real bathroom

Walk-in showers in San Antonio — the service page, with what the build looks like step by step.
Tub-to-shower conversions — the same job described from the tub side, which is how most people search for it.
A walk-in shower rebuild in Sonoma Ranch — one real job, start to finish.
What a full bathroom remodel costs in San Antonio — if the shower is only part of what you are doing.
Everything else we build, and the cities we cover

FAQ

Walk-in shower pricing questions

$3,500 is our starting price for the labor on a standard walk-in shower conversion — the tub out, the shower in, built properly. It is not the finished price of the room, because it does not include the tile, the pan, the glass or the fixtures you pick out. When we supply those too, a turnkey walk-in shower starts at $6,995. We publish both numbers on purpose. A contractor who quotes you the labor number and lets you assume it is the whole job has not lied yet, but he is going to.

Want the number for your bathroom, not the starting number?

Thirty-minute walkthrough, fixed price in writing, and we tell you which of the two options is cheaper for your job.

Book free estimate →Call (512) 665-1073