What a Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Plantation Really Costs and What Happens Day by Day
A tub-to-shower conversion in Plantation runs between $3,500 and $10,000 for most homes we work on, and the job itself takes three to five working days once we start demolition. The spread depends almost entirely on whether you’re keeping the existing footprint, the wall surround material you pick, and what we find behind the original tub when we open the wall. Call (844) 638-7249 and we’ll give you a written, line-item price before any work begins - not a ballpark, not a range, a real number.
How We Actually Do This Job: Five Stages, No Mysteries
We’ve performed enough tub-to-shower conversions across Plantation to know that homeowners want the straight sequence, not a sales pitch. Here’s exactly what happens.
Stage 1: Demo and discovery (Day 1, morning). The crew lays floor protection from the entry to the bathroom, isolates the workspace, and shuts off water to the bath. The old tub, surround, and valve trim come out. This is the moment we see what’s behind the wall - cast-iron drain lines that have been quietly rusting since 1972, moisture that got past a failed caulk joint into the drywall, or a slab cutout that was never properly sealed. We show you what we find and adjust the plan in real time if needed.
Stage 2: Rough-in - plumbing, valve body, any framing corrections (Day 1 afternoon through Day 2). A tub drain sits at 1-1/2 inches; a shower drain must be 2 inches by code. In most Plantation CBS homes built between 1958 and 1988, the original drain line is undersized for a shower, so we cut the slab and upsize the trap and riser. This is also when we set the new mixing valve - we typically use a pressure-balanced valve with a separate volume control so you can dial in temperature once and leave it alone. If you’re adding a bench, a niche, or moving the showerhead to an opposite wall, the framing and blocking go in now.
Stage 3: Waterproofing and the pan (Day 2 or 3, depending on size). This is the step where cheap contractors save money and you pay for it five years later when the subfloor rots. We install a bonded waterproof membrane - either a sheet membrane or a liquid-applied system - over the entire shower floor and up the walls to at least six feet. The pan gets a pre-slope under the membrane and a mortar bed on top, so water that hits the floor moves toward the drain instead of pooling. In Plantation, where humidity hangs around 75% year-round, a shower that doesn’t dry out will mildew fast. The waterproofing layer is what prevents that.
Stage 4: Wall surround, tile, and fixtures (Days 3 and 4). This is the part you’ll look at every morning. We set the wall material - acrylic panel system, porcelain tile, or a solid-surface slab system - and install the showerhead, arm, control trim, and any body sprays or handhelds. Grout goes in, gets tooled, and cures. The glass enclosure is measured if it hasn’t been already, and depending on the supplier, it arrives in three to ten days. We install a temporary curtain rod so the shower is usable while the glass is being fabricated.
Stage 5: Glass install, trim-out, and final walkthrough (Day 5 or later, once glass arrives). The enclosure goes in - framed, semi-frameless, or frameless, depending on what you chose - and the door gets adjusted so it closes without a whisper. We silicone every seam, test the drain with a five-gallon bucket dump, and walk the bathroom with you to make sure every detail is right. A building inspector signs off on the permit if your municipality required one, which Broward County almost always does when plumbing is altered.
The Choices That Actually Matter for Your Shower
Most homeowners in Plantation focus on the wall finish and the glass. Those drive the price and the look. Here are the real trade-offs, based on what we install week after week.
- Acrylic or composite wall panels. These are factory-molded sheets, typically in white or a light solid color, with integrated corner shelves. They cost the least and install in half a day because there’s no grout and no sealing. The trade-off is fewer size and color options. They work well in a guest bath or a rental where durability matters more than design.
- Porcelain or ceramic tile. This is what most people picture when they think of a custom shower. You get full control over tile size, pattern, grout color, and accent bands. The cost goes up because the labor is substantial - each tile is set and leveled individually, and large-format tiles require a perfectly flat substrate. Grout needs occasional sealing in Plantation’s humidity, but a properly built tile shower will outlast any other wall system in the house.
- Solid-surface slab walls. These are custom-cut panels of nonporous material, often a quartz or solid-surface composite, with very few seams. They’re easy to wipe down, nothing grows on them, and they look clean-lined and modern. The material price is higher than tile, but installation is faster because there’s less piecework. They’re a strong choice if someone in the household has allergies or simply hates scrubbing grout.
- Shower pan vs. tiled floor. A pre-manufactured shower pan is a single piece - acrylic, fiberglass, or composite - that drops into the floor opening, sloped at the factory. It’s the most leak-resistant option and costs less than a tiled floor. A tiled shower floor gives you design continuity but adds a day of labor and requires vigilant sealing over time. In older Plantation slabs where the drain relocation is already cutting concrete, a tiled floor doesn’t add much complexity - we’re already pouring new mortar.
- Glass enclosure configuration. Framed glass is the workhorse - aluminum channels hold each panel, the door swings on hinges, and it’s the most budget-friendly. Semi-frameless uses metal only on the header and the curb, with the vertical edges left clear, which opens up a small bathroom visually. Frameless glass uses thick tempered panels clipped directly to the wall and floor, and it’s the most expensive option. If your Plantation home’s bathroom faces a window, frameless glass lets the natural light move through the whole room.
What a Tub-to-Shower Conversion Costs in Plantation, FL
We quote $3,500 to $10,000 for a tub-to-shower conversion in Plantation. That range covers everything: demo, drain upsizing, waterproofing, wall surround, valve and trim, showerhead, glass enclosure, and the final inspection. The written estimate you get from us is the price you pay - no change orders appear mid-job because we missed something in the walkthrough.
Four main levers push a job toward the high or low end. Plumbing scope is the biggest: an existing drain that’s already 2 inches and in the right spot keeps costs down; moving the drain across the slab or replacing a section of rusted cast-iron stack pushes them up. Wall material is next - acrylic panels keep the number low, large-format porcelain tile or a solid-surface slab system moves it toward the top of the range. Enclosure type adds incrementally: framed, semi-frameless, frameless, in that order. Accessory features - a built-in bench, a recessed niche, body sprays, a handheld on a slide bar - each add material cost and a few hours of labor. Permits in Broward County are a fixed percentage of the job valuation and are always included as a separate line item so you see exactly what goes to the municipality.
A complete written estimate from us breaks out materials by category, labor by stage, and the permit fee. It does not include a full Bathroom Remodeling in Plantation scope - if you’re also doing a new vanity, flooring, or lighting, those are separate line items on the same proposal so you can decide what phases to tackle now versus later.
How Plantation Homes Shape Every Tub-to-Shower Job We Do
Plantation was laid out as a master-planned community almost entirely between the late 1950s and the mid-1980s, and that matters when you open a bathroom wall. The vast majority of homes we work on here are single-story CBS construction - concrete block and stucco - built on a slab-on-grade foundation. A tub in one of these homes typically sits in a three-wall alcove with the drain cast directly into the slab. When we cut that slab to upsize the drain from 1-1/2 inches to the 2-inch minimum for a shower, we’re working within a few inches of the water table during the rainy months, so we test for moisture before we pour. The original copper supply lines in pre-1980 neighborhoods like Plantation Acres and the areas east of University Drive are often at the end of their service life, and we strongly recommend replacing the stub-outs and valve while the wall is open rather than burying 50-year-old copper behind a new shower.
Plantation falls under Broward County building jurisdiction, not Miami-Dade’s stricter High-Velocity Hurricane Zone rules. That means our plumbing submittals move through the county’s Building Department - in person at the Pine Island Road office - without the additional HVHZ engineering reviews that Miami-Dade requires for wet-area penetrations. It’s a narrow advantage, but it routinely saves three to five days on the permit turnaround compared to what a Miami-Dade-based crew would experience. Homeowners in neighborhoods governed by HOAs - and Plantation has many, from Jacaranda Lakes to the communities around Central Park - should budget an extra week for architectural review if the shower enclosure is visible from the street or if any exterior venting changes.
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 - Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Plantation
Three to five working days for the construction phase, plus a separate trip to install the glass enclosure once it’s fabricated, which usually takes another three to ten days. The shower is fully functional with a temporary curtain while you wait for the glass.
Yes, if plumbing is being altered - and up-sizing a 1-1/2-inch tub drain to a 2-inch shower drain is an alteration under the Florida Building Code as enforced by Broward County. We pull the permit, schedule the inspection, and walk the job through to sign-off. It’s included in our pricing as a separate line item.
Sometimes, but not often in Plantation’s slab-on-grade homes. If the original builder used a 2-inch drain line (unusual for a tub alcove built before 1990) and the drain location happens to center on a standard 30-by-60-inch shower pan, the slab stays intact. Most of the time we’re cutting a small section of concrete to upsize the trap and reposition the drain. It sounds invasive, but it’s a controlled cut - about two feet by two feet - and we patch and re-level the slab before the pan goes in.
Demolition and removal of the existing tub and surround, drain upsizing and any slab work, new mixing valve and trim, waterproofing, the wall surround material you choose, a shower pan or tiled floor, a glass enclosure, and the final building inspection. A free, exact quote takes about 45 minutes at your home - call (844) 638-7249 and we’ll set a time.
Our 730-Day Done Right Promise covers the entire installation: materials, labor, waterproofing, everything. If something isn’t right, we make it right - that’s two full years, one of the longest workmanship warranties in this trade. The fixture manufacturer’s warranty covers the valve and trim separately, and we register those on your behalf.
Only if we uncover something hidden that we couldn’t have reasonably known about during the estimate walkthrough - a slab void, extensive termite damage in the bottom plate, a cast-iron stack that’s actively leaking inside the wall. We stop, show you what we found, give you a fixed price for the correction, and wait for your approval. This happens on maybe one in fifteen jobs in Plantation. It’s not a tactic; it’s an honest conversation.
Get a Real Number for Your Plantation Tub-to-Shower Conversion
You’re looking at a specific job, not a vague remodel, and you deserve a price that matches. Call (844) 638-7249 and we’ll schedule a free, on-site estimate at your Plantation home - one of our Bathroom Remodeling specialists will measure the alcove, check the drain access, show you material samples, and hand you a written proposal before leaving. The number on that proposal is the number you’ll pay. If you’re also considering exterior work - many Plantation homeowners tackling interior renovations pair them with a new Metal Roofing in Plantation replacement or Tile Roofing in Plantation repairs to get the full property done in one coordinated timeline - we can scope that on the same visit.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co. We’ve built our reputation on upfront pricing and work that stays done.