Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Burnt Store Marina, FL: What It Costs and How It Works
A tub-to-shower conversion in Burnt Store Marina replaces your existing bathtub with a walk-in shower, and most projects run between $3,500 and $10,000 depending on the size of the opening, the materials you choose, and what we find when we open the walls. The physical work takes about five to seven working days once permits are in hand, though post-Ian permit volumes at Charlotte County mean the full timeline from signed contract to final inspection is running about three to five weeks right now. Call us at (844) 638-7249 for a written quote built around your actual bathroom, not a guess over the phone.
How We Convert a Tub Into a Walk-In Shower in Five Stages
The job is a lot more than swapping out one fixture for another. Here is the real sequence, with the decisions you make at each stage and the time each step takes.
Stage 1: Demolition and discovery (Day 1, 4-6 hours). We remove the tub, the wall surround, and the surrounding drywall or backer board down to the studs. In Burnt Store Marina homes built from the 1980s through early 2000s, this is the moment we often find moisture damage behind the original tub flange, especially in bathrooms on the harbor-facing side of the house. Salt air and decades of Florida humidity take a toll on the framing behind any tub that was not originally detailed with a proper moisture barrier. You do not make a decision at this stage, but we show you what we find and adjust the scope before we go further.
Stage 2: Rough-in and waterproofing (Days 2-3, 10-14 hours). If we are keeping the drain location where the tub drain was, the plumbing changes are straightforward: we replace the 1½-inch tub trap with a 2-inch shower trap, which is required by code for a shower. If you want the showerhead on a different wall or a second showerhead, we run new supply lines through the stud bays. The shower pan is set and leveled at this stage, and then the entire alcove gets a full waterproofing system-cement board and a liquid-applied membrane-before any tile goes up. The waterproofing has to cure overnight, so this stage spans two days. Your main decision here is about the valve: a standard pressure-balanced valve or a thermostatic valve that gives you precise temperature control.
Stage 3: Tile and surround installation (Day 4, 6-8 hours). This is the day the shower starts to look like a shower. Tile goes up on the walls, the pan or pan tile is finished, and any niches or shelves get set. Grout goes in the same day on wall tile. The tile you chose in the contract matters here: large-format porcelain goes up faster than subway tile, and natural stone takes longer because every piece has to be laid out and inspected for veining and color consistency before it is set. No decisions for you today beyond pointing to where you want the niche.
Stage 4: Glass enclosure and fixtures (Day 5, 3-5 hours). The shower door or glass panel gets measured and installed if we are using a standard framed or semi-frameless unit. If you chose a fully frameless custom glass enclosure, the glass company arrives to measure around Day 3, and the glass itself typically takes one to three weeks to fabricate-we install temporary protection in the meantime. The showerhead, controls, and trim are mounted today, and the shower is fully functional by the end of the day.
Stage 5: Final touches and walkthrough (Day 6-7, 2-4 hours). Any remaining drywall patching, paint, and baseboard work gets completed. We run the shower, check the pan for drainage slope, verify the glass seals, and walk you through the finished shower. The Charlotte County inspector signs off on the permit, and you receive the final lien waiver. You make no decisions at this stage; you just tell us if anything does not look right, and we fix it under the 730-Day Done Right Promise.
The Choices That Shape Your Tub-to-Shower Conversion
Every tub-to-shower conversion in Burnt Store Marina involves real material and layout decisions. These are the ones that actually change how the shower looks, functions, and holds up over time, along with the honest trade-offs for each.
- Shower pan vs. tiled floor. A solid acrylic or composite shower pan runs toward the lower end of the cost range, installs in hours, and will never leak or need resealing. A tiled shower floor gives you more design flexibility and looks higher-end, but it costs more in material and labor, requires periodic sealing, and the slope has to be dead-on precise. For homes in Burnt Store Marina where the concrete slab has settled even slightly, we recommend the solid pan-it’s less sensitive to minor subfloor movement.
- Wall tile: porcelain, ceramic, or natural stone. Porcelain is the workhorse. It is dense, water absorption is nearly zero, and it handles the humidity of a Charlotte Harbor bathroom without issue. Ceramic is lighter and less expensive but more prone to chipping at the edges. Natural stone-travertine, marble, slate-is gorgeous and adds genuine resale value, but it is porous, requires sealing every year, and costs two to three times as much per square foot as porcelain. For most Burnt Store Marina homeowners, a porcelain tile in a larger format with minimal grout lines is the sweet spot between durability and appearance.
- Glass enclosure style. Framed sliding doors are the most affordable option and work well in a standard 60-inch opening. Semi-frameless doors give you a cleaner look with only a thin header and bottom track, and they run about 30% more. A fully frameless custom glass enclosure with heavy ⅜-inch or ½-inch tempered glass is the premium choice-no metal frame, just glass and a few hinges and clips. It costs the most and adds fabrication time, but it is what you see in high-end Burnt Store Marina condos and canal-front homes.
- Niche and shelf placement. A single recessed niche between the studs is standard. You can add a second niche, a corner shelf, or a full-width ledge, but each one adds to the tile labor and changes how the waterproofing membrane is laid out. Decide on niche placement before the cement board goes up; moving it after waterproofing means starting that wall over.
- Showerhead and valve upgrades. The base option is a single showerhead with a pressure-balanced valve. You can step up to a rainshower head, a handheld on a slide bar, or a dual-outlet thermostatic system that lets you run two fixtures independently. Thermostatic valves are worth the upgrade in any home where the water pressure fluctuates, which is common in older Burnt Store Marina neighborhoods with original supply lines. A Kohler or Delta thermostatic valve adds $250-$500 to the plumbing rough-in cost.
What Tub-to-Shower Conversion Costs in Burnt Store Marina, FL
Most tub-to-shower conversions in Burnt Store Marina land between $3,500 and $10,000, with the typical job settling around $6,500. The low end reflects a standard 60-inch alcove conversion that keeps the drain in place, uses a solid acrylic pan and basic porcelain wall tile, a framed sliding door, and a single showerhead with a pressure-balanced valve. The high end covers a larger custom layout where we relocate the drain, install a tiled pan, use large-format porcelain or natural stone, add a frameless glass enclosure, and incorporate a thermostatic valve with a rainshower head and handheld.
Five variables move your number the most. Shower size: going wider than the standard 60-inch tub opening or extending into an adjacent closet adds square footage and material. Plumbing relocation: if we move the drain or add a second showerhead, the rough-in cost goes up. Wall condition: if we find rot or termite damage behind the tub in a 1980s CBS home, framing repair is outside the base scope. Tile and glass grade: the jump from builder-grade ceramic to handmade tile and frameless glass can double the material cost. Permit scope: a straightforward fixture swap with no structural change gets permitted faster and cheaper; anything that touches the slab, the roofline, or the exterior wall triggers additional reviews.
Every estimate we write is a fixed-price, line-item proposal, not an allowance. The number you see is the number you pay, with no change orders unless you decide to upgrade something mid-project. The estimate includes all demolition, disposal, plumbing rough-in, waterproofing, tile, glass, fixtures, trim-out, and the final Charlotte County inspection. It does not include drywall or paint work outside the shower alcove unless we spell that out as a separate line item.
How Burnt Store Marina Homes Change the Tub-to-Shower Equation
A tub-to-shower conversion inside a Burnt Store Marina condo or single-family home is not the same job as it is 15 miles inland. The community is a 1980s-to-2000s-era marina development with mostly concrete block construction, and many of those homes sat at finished floor elevations that Hurricane Ian exposed as too low. Pre-Ian bathrooms were often slab-on-grade with the tub set directly on the concrete. Post-Ian rebuilds and renovations now operate under Charlotte County’s updated flood maps and revised Base Flood Elevations, and even an interior bathroom remodel can trigger a review if the building department determines the work touches any structural component below the required freeboard height. Practically, that means your tub-to-shower conversion may need an elevation certificate on file before the permit moves, and we budget that into the timeline from day one.
The salt-air environment off Charlotte Harbor is the other factor we account for. We spec hot-dipped galvanized or stainless fasteners in every shower assembly because standard zinc-plated screws corrode within a few years of exposure to the humid, saline air that moves through Burnt Store Marina homes. Exhaust fan performance matters more here than it does inland. A bathroom that does not vent moisture properly will cause the grout, caulk, and even the tile substrate to degrade faster, so we always check the existing fan setup during the demo stage and recommend an upgrade if the CFM rating is insufficient for the bathroom’s square footage.
We also see the split-jurisdiction issue on properties near the Charlotte-Lee county line along Burnt Store Road. A canal-front home in the Marina proper that falls within Charlotte County for the structure may have its seawall or dock under Lee County jurisdiction. The shower itself is inside the Charlotte County permit, but if the work requires running new drain lines out to the street or into a common wall in a condo building, we coordinate with the HOA and whichever county has purview over that building. It is a detail that out-of-area crews miss, and it causes stop-work orders. We have been doing this long enough that it is baked into our pre-construction checklist for every Burnt Store Marina project.
Homeowners here often pair a tub-to-shower conversion with a broader bathroom refresh, and many of the same clients are also working with us on exterior projects that took a beating from Ian. It is not uncommon for a condominium owner to do the shower while the association handles a Metal Roofing in Burnt Store Marina replacement, or for a single-family homeowner to update two bathrooms while we handle storm-related Tile Roofing in Burnt Store Marina repairs on the main house. If the project extends beyond the shower into a full gut remodel, that falls under our Bathroom Remodeling in Burnt Store Marina scope, and we will price it accordingly.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Burnt Store Marina
The physical construction takes five to seven working days from demolition to final walkthrough. Permitting through Charlotte County adds about two to three weeks to the front end, and if you choose a fully frameless custom glass enclosure, the glass fabrication adds one to three weeks between the rough-in and glass install stages. A realistic expectation for a signed contract to a finished, inspected shower is four to six weeks.
Yes. Any project that changes the plumbing configuration, the drain trap, or the shower valve requires a plumbing permit in Charlotte County. If we relocate the drain or alter any wall framing, the permit scope expands. We pull the permit and our background-checked, uniformed team handles the inspection scheduling. Charlotte County inspectors look for the 2-inch shower trap, the waterproofing installation, and proper slope on the pan. We do not ask the homeowner to manage the permit process.
In most standard 60-inch alcove tubs, we can use the existing drain location and keep the plumbing changes minimal. The trap still gets upgraded from 1½ inches to 2 inches to meet shower code, but that is a straightforward swap within the same cavity. If you want a larger shower footprint or the drain centered in a new location, that involves cutting into the slab and running new drain lines, which adds cost and a day or two to the schedule.
A tub-to-shower conversion in Burnt Store Marina runs $3,500 to $10,000. A full Bathroom Remodeling project that includes the shower, the vanity, the flooring, lighting, and paint runs $9,000 to $28,000. If your bathroom is in otherwise good condition and the tub is the only thing you want to change, a conversion is the tighter, faster, lower-cost option. If the vanity is failing, the tile floor is cracked, or the lighting is dated, bundling the work into a full remodel often saves money compared to doing them as separate projects a year apart.
Every tub-to-shower conversion we complete is covered by the Groundwork Construction Co. 730-Day Done Right Promise-if it is not done right, we make it right, for two full years. The materials carry their own manufacturer warranties. Kohler, Delta, and the tile manufacturers each have their own coverage terms, and we walk you through what is covered by whom at the final walkthrough so there is no confusion.
Only if you ask us to change the scope. Our estimate is a fixed-price, line-item proposal. If we open the wall and find rot or termite damage behind the tub, we stop, show you what we found, and write a change order for the repair before we touch the framing. You approve it or you do not. We do not send surprise bills at the end. Upfront pricing, no surprises.
Get a Fixed-Price Quote for Your Tub-to-Shower Conversion
If you are ready to turn your Burnt Store Marina bathtub into a walk-in shower, the next step is a free on-site estimate with a written, line-item price. Call (844) 638-7249 and a live person answers-no voicemail, no waiting until Monday. We will schedule a time to measure your bathroom, walk through the material and layout options, and hand you a fixed-price proposal. You also qualify for 0% financing for 18 months and $1,000 off projects over $10,000 if your scope reaches that threshold.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving Burnt Store Marina with upfront pricing, the 730-Day Done Right Promise, and a live person on the phone 24/7.