What Walk-In Showers & Shower Remodeling in Plantation Actually Costs and How Long It Takes
A full walk-in shower or shower remodeling project in Plantation runs $9,000 to $28,000 for a complete tear-out-and-replace scope. Most jobs take 7 to 14 working days from the first hammer swing to the final silicone bead, depending on whether we’re moving plumbing, reframing a wall, or chasing hidden water damage behind the old tile. That range covers everything from a simple like-for-like acrylic shower swap to a fully custom floor-to-ceiling tile and glass enclosure. Call (844) 638-7249 to schedule a free on-site estimate and get a written, fixed-price quote based on your exact bathroom, not an industry average.
We write these numbers up front because Plantation homeowners deserve to price the project before committing to anything. The difference between a $9,000 shower and a $22,000 one isn’t mystery, it’s square footage, material grade, and whether the existing drain and supply lines stay exactly where they are. More on that below.
How We Remodel a Walk-In Shower in Plantation, Step by Step
Every shower remodel follows the same sequence, but the details shift with the house. In Plantation, most of the bathrooms we open up are in CBS homes built between the late 1960s and mid 1980s, so we budget extra time at the rough-in stage for surprises behind 50-year-old concrete block and drywall. Here’s what the week actually looks like.
Stage 1: Protect, Demo, and Discover (Days 1-2)
Floor runners go down from the entry door to the bathroom, and plastic sheeting seals off the work zone from the rest of the house. The crew pulls the old shower pan, wall surround, and valve trim. By noon on day two the walls are open to the studs or block, and that’s the moment we know whether the job is staying on budget or not. In Plantation, we regularly find shallow plumbing chases cut into CBS block that limit valve depth, or old galvanized supply lines that have to come out to pass inspection. We show the homeowner photos of what’s behind the wall, confirm or adjust the scope, and proceed only after a written sign-off on any required change.
Stage 2: Rough Plumbing and Valve Prep (Days 2-4)
With the walls open, the plumber sets the new mixing valve at a depth and height that match the finished wall thickness. If the shower footprint is expanding or we’re converting from a tub, this is when the drain gets relocated. In Plantation, a tub-to-shower drain move on a slab-on-grade floor means cutting into the concrete, which adds a day and carries a higher permit scrutiny threshold. The plumber pressure-tests all new lines and leaves the rough-in capped until the county inspector signs off.
Stage 3: Wall Board, Waterproofing, and Pan (Days 4-6)
The substrate goes up, and this layer matters more than the tile. We use a full waterproofing system over cement board: seam tape, liquid membrane, and a bonded sloped pan that ties into a clamping-ring drain. Every screw head and board joint gets sealed. The pan gets flood-tested for 24 hours with a plugged drain and a water mark. If the level drops at all, we redo it. This is the stage where most Plantation shower remodels either become a problem five years from now or don’t.
Stage 4: Tile, Grout, and Fixture Trim (Days 6-10)
Tile goes wall-to-wall in the sequence required by the pattern the homeowner chose. The niche gets framed in with a Schluter edge or bullnose, the bench or corner shelf gets set, and the floor tile goes down after the walls are grouted and cured. Plumber returns to install the trim kit, showerhead, and handheld wand. This is the visual payoff, and it’s also the slowest stage because we don’t rush cure times in a humid climate like South Florida’s.
Stage 5: Glass Enclosure, Final Silicone, and Walkthrough (Days 12-14)
The glass contractor measures and installs the door and panels, which are usually ready 3-5 days after tile completion. We silicone every change-of-plane joint, run the shower, check for leaks at the curb and corners, and walk the homeowner through the finished job. The crew pulls the floor protection, cleans the bathroom, and hands over a care sheet for the grout and glass.
The Options You’ll Choose Between for a Walk-In Shower in Plantation
Every shower we build gets customized to the bathroom and the family using it, but all the decisions fall into a few buckets. Here’s what you’re comparing, with the trade-offs spelled out plainly.
- Acrylic or fiberglass surround vs. tile walls. A three-piece acrylic surround installs in a day, costs less, and never needs resealing, but it limits you to standard sizes and a handful of color options. Porcelain or ceramic tile gives you unlimited design choice and a heavier, more permanent feel. The trade-off is maintenance: grout lines in a Plantation bathroom with hard municipal water will need periodic sealing and scrubbing. Budget roughly $2,000-$3,500 more for a full tile job over an acrylic system.
- Pre-cast shower pan vs. tiled mud bed. A solid-surface pre-cast pan is factory-molded with a consistent slope, installs in hours, and never leaks. A custom tiled floor with a mortar bed under it feels premium, matches the wall tile, and lets us build any size or shape. The downside is that tile-on-floor shower pans demand perfect waterproofing and more upkeep than a smooth single-piece base. In Plantation’s master-planned neighborhoods from the 1970s and 80s, we often recommend a solid pan when the bathroom is on a slab, because a failed pan on grade means major demolition.
- Framed, semi-frameless, or full-frameless glass. Framed enclosures are the most affordable and most watertight, but the metal rails collect soap scum. Full-frameless 3/8-inch or 1/2-inch tempered glass is a cleaner look and easier to squeegee, but it costs more and can show water spots faster. Semi-frameless splits the difference: frameless door with framed side panels.
- Single showerhead vs. multi-outlet system. A standard wall-mount showerhead on a mixing valve is straightforward and what most Plantation homes already have plumbed. Adding a handheld on a slide bar requires a diverter and another supply line, which adds a few hundred in parts and an hour of plumbing labor. A full rain-head-and-body-spray system demands a larger valve, a looped supply, and often a tankless water heater or booster pump to keep pressure consistent when multiple outlets run at once. That jumps the plumbing cost meaningfully.
What Walk-In Showers & Shower Remodeling Costs in Plantation, FL
We quoted the top-line range of $9,000-$28,000. Here’s what pushes a number toward one end or the other, and exactly what goes into a fixed-price estimate from us.
Five variables that move the price:
- Footprint change. Replacing a 32″ x 32″ shower stall in the same footprint with the same drain location is the low-cost scenario. Expanding into a closet, bumping a wall, or converting from a standard tub to a 60-inch walk-in adds framing, drywall, flooring patch, and a relocated drain. That alone can add $2,500-$6,000.
- What the walls reveal. In concrete-block Plantation homes, we sometimes open a shower wall and find termite-damaged furring strips, rusted-out pipe straps, or mildew deep in the block cells. Remediation adds labor and materials before we start building back. We budget a contingency for it, but we don’t spend it unless the wall gives us a reason.
- Material grade. Entry-level large-format porcelain keeps the tile line item low. A handmade zellige or through-body porcelain with a herringbone install pattern doubles or triples the labor and raises the material cost substantially. Trim pieces, niche detailing, and accent bands all add line items.
- Glass spec. A standard sliding bypass door in a 60-inch opening costs less than a custom-fabricated frameless door with a transom and a fixed panel. Glass thickness, coating, and hardware finish all adjust the number.
- Valve and fixture selection. A single-handle pressure-balance valve with a standard showerhead is in the base budget. A thermostatic valve with volume control and three outlets changes the plumbing scope and the fixture package price considerably.
What a Groundwork Construction Co. written estimate includes: the full scope line-by-line with materials specified by brand and model number, labor, permit fees, debris disposal, and project management. It’s a fixed price, not an estimate range, and it’s the number you pay unless you change the scope mid-stream. What it does not include is tile, grout, fixtures, or glass you supply yourself; if you want to provide your own materials, we adjust the scope and warranty terms accordingly before we start.
Call (844) 638-7249 for an exact quote on your walk-in shower remodel. Estimates are free, and we walk you through the pricing at your kitchen table, not over the phone.
What Plantation Homes Specifically Do to a Shower Remodel
Plantation was developed as a master-planned community almost entirely between the late 1950s and the mid-1980s, so a disproportionate share of the bathrooms we tear into here sit inside CBS-block homes that are now 40 to 65 years old. That single fact drives more of the process than anything else.
Because so many Plantation neighborhoods were built in uniform phases by the same developers, we walk into the same floor plans on repeat. We know that a three-bedroom ranch in the areas off Peters Road or Broward Boulevard likely has an original 32-inch-square shower stall with a 72-inch ceiling and a mud-set pan on a slab floor. The plumbing is often a shallow galvanized riser set in a narrow block chase, and the venting may not meet the current Florida Building Code, Broward County edition. Our plumbers have learned to price that valve swap accordingly before they cut the wall.
Permitting moves at a specific rhythm here. Plantation falls under Broward County jurisdiction, not Miami-Dade’s High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, so the submittal checklist is lighter on wind-mitigation engineering for interior remodels that don’t touch the exterior envelope. But the county inspection backlog during hurricane season (June through November) is real, and we schedule rough-in inspections with that in mind. The typical shower remodel permit in Plantation runs $200-$450 depending on valuation, and we pull it, post it, and close it out. The homeowner never stands in line at the building department.
The climate matters too. South Florida’s humidity and hard water mean we lean toward epoxy grout and silicone caulk rated for continuous moisture exposure. A poorly sealed shower in a Plantation CBS home doesn’t just stain, it feeds mold inside the wall cavity where the block stays cooler than the dew point for half the year. We build every waterproofing assembly to handle that.
If your project is part of a wider home refresh, many homeowners in Plantation pair a shower remodel with other exterior work like Roof Replacement & Installation in Plantation to tackle the house inside and out during the same renovation window. Others take the opportunity to upgrade to Metal Roofing in Plantation for a longer-lifespan solution that handles South Florida’s storms. For any bathroom that needs more than just the shower, see Bathroom Remodeling in Plantation for the full scope of what we offer. And when the job grows beyond the bathroom, our Bathroom Remodeling team coordinates with other trades so you’re dealing with one company, not three. We cover all of Plantation this way, from the older established subdivisions to the newer infill builds.
Serving Plantation, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Plantation area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
Frequently Asked - Walk-In Showers & Shower Remodeling in Plantation
Most projects take 7 to 14 working days from demolition to final walkthrough. The gap between the short and long end depends on whether we’re moving a drain in a slab floor, waiting on custom glass fabrication, or dealing with hidden water damage behind the old shower walls. Broward County inspection scheduling during hurricane season can add a few buffer days, which we factor into the timeline at contract signing.
Yes, any shower remodel that touches plumbing or changes the footprint requires a permit pulled through Broward County’s Building Code Services division. We handle the permit application, post it on site, and schedule the rough-in and final inspections on your behalf. The permit fee is included in our estimate. Skipping it risks a stop-work order and complicates a future home sale when an unpermitted bathroom comes up on the seller’s disclosure.
In most Plantation CBS homes we can, and keeping the drain location unchanged is the single biggest cost-control move on a shower remodel. As long as the existing drain assembly passes inspection and the new shower pan is sized to the same center point, you avoid cutting a concrete slab. The savings can be $1,500 to $3,000 compared to relocating the drain. We’ll camera the existing line before we commit to reusing it.
A tub-to-shower conversion starts with removing a bathtub and building a shower in its footprint, usually a 60-inch wide alcove. A full walk-in shower remodel may be replacing an existing shower or building a custom-sized shower from scratch. The conversion often involves drain relocation and drywall patching where the tub deck sat. In Plantation homes from the 1970s with single-bathroom floor plans, we caution homeowners that removing the only tub can affect resale appeal, and we talk through that openly before the first day of work.
Every walk-in shower remodel we complete in Plantation is covered by the 730-Day Done Right Promise. If something isn’t done right, we make it right, no fine print and no chasing us. Fixtures carry their own manufacturer warranties, and we register them in your name at completion. The waterproofing assembly and tile work fall under our workmanship guarantee for two full years.
Get a Free Estimate for Your Walk-In Shower Remodel in Plantation
Call (844) 638-7249 to schedule a free, no-obligation on-site estimate. Derek or one of our project consultants will come to your home in Plantation, measure the bathroom, discuss your material and layout preferences, and hand you a written, line-item quote, usually within 48 hours of the visit. A live person answers the phone when you call. From the first measurement to the final walkthrough, we keep the pricing transparent, the crew background-checked and uniformed, and the work backed by the 730-Day Done Right Promise. That’s the only way we build showers in Plantation.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving Plantation, FL.