What a Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Marco Island Actually Costs and How Long It Takes
A tub-to-shower conversion in Marco Island typically runs between $3,500 and $10,000, with most projects landing around $5,500 to $7,000 for a standard 60-inch alcove replacement. The physical work takes 3 to 5 days on site, not counting the day or two needed for permit approval through the City of Marco Island’s building department. Call us at (844) 638-7249 and we’ll walk you through a real number for your bathroom, not a guess. We see a lot of Mackle-era CBS homes on the island where the original cast-iron tub has been collecting rust and re-grouting isn’t worth the effort anymore, and the switch to a curbless, low-threshold shower actually makes the room feel twice as large without moving a single wall.
Why Marco Island Homeowners Pull the Tub and Go Shower-First
The question we hear most on Marco Island isn’t whether to convert, it’s how soon we can get started. Those 1960s and 1970s tubs in the original Collier Boulevard and Bald Eagle Drive neighborhoods were installed when the island was still vacation cottages. Today’s homeowner lives here year-round or rents weekly, and a deep-soak tub that takes 10 minutes to fill doesn’t match how anyone actually bathes. Add in the salt-air corrosion that eats at old tub drains and overflow gaskets, and the conversion stops being a style upgrade and starts being a practical fix for a fixture that’s slowly failing behind the tile.
For homes in the 34145 and 34113 ZIPs especially, we’ve done conversions where the subfloor under the tub had softened from decades of slow, invisible seepage through rusted-out drain assemblies. Coastal humidity accelerates all of that. You don’t know it’s happening until the tile grout starts cracking in a straight line along the tub flange. At that point you’re past a reglaze and into a real decision. The tub comes out, the framing gets inspected, and the shower goes in. It’s one of the smartest moves you can make before it becomes a Bathroom Remodeling in Marco Island project that costs two or three times as much.
How We Handle a Tub-to-Shower Conversion, Step by Step
Every contractor sequences this differently. Here’s how we do it, based on 10 years of working in and around Marco Island homes where the plumbing and framing are never exactly what you expect once the tile comes off.
Step 1: Demo and framing assessment, day 1
We pull the existing tub, surround tile or fiberglass, and the first row of floor tile if needed to tie the new shower pan correctly. The big variable here is what we find once the walls are open. In Mackle-era CBS construction, the tub alcove is often framed with furring strips over block, and those strips can hold moisture you’d never see otherwise. We check every stud and replace anything that’s even slightly soft. This is also when we map existing plumbing supply and drain locations and confirm whether the current 1-1/2-inch tub drain line can stay or needs to be upsized to 2 inches per code. The homeowner decision at this stage is simple: do you want the shower valve body moved to a different height or wall position. Most people leave it center-drain, standard height, but if you’re going to do a rain head and handheld combination, we’ll need the extra blocking in the wall that day.
Step 2: Rough plumbing and valve installation, day 2
The drain gets converted from a tub shoe to a shower pan base, the mixing valve and any diverter go in, and we run the supply lines to match the new trim. If the existing plumbing is original 1965-era galvanized, this is where we’d strongly recommend switching to PEX back to the nearest accessible junction. We don’t bury old galvanized in a new shower wall. The homeowner decision point here is choosing your shower valve trim finish and the number of functions: single-function pressure-balance valve, or a thermostatic valve with volume control if you’re adding body sprays or a second shower head.
Step 3: Pan, waterproofing, and wall board, day 2 through 3
The shower pan gets set and leveled on a properly sloped mortar bed or a pre-formed solid surface base, depending on what you’ve chosen. Then the walls get waterproofed, either with a sheet membrane system or a liquid-applied membrane over cement board. This is the part we never rush. On Marco Island where indoor humidity runs higher than inland Collier County, we insist on full waterproofing up to the shower head height minimum, and we extend the membrane past the wet zone by at least 6 inches on every side. Tile goes over a surface that’s designed to handle condensation cycles year-round without wicking moisture into the wall cavity.
Step 4: Tile, grout, and niche installation, day 3 through 4
Wall tile goes up, floor tile inside the shower gets set, any built-in niches or corner shelves get integrated, and we grout everything. The homeowner decision here is niche placement and size, which should relate to the actual bottles you use, not just whatever looks symmetrical. We also recommend epoxy grout for shower floors and the lower 2 feet of walls. It costs a little more and takes an extra half day to cure, but it repels water and resists the kind of pink mildew staining that porous cement grout picks up in a coastal climate. Standard grout with a quality sealer works fine, too, it just needs re-sealing every 18 to 24 months in this environment.
Step 5: Trim-out, glass enclosure measurement, and final inspection, day 5
Shower trim, shower head, controls, and any accessories go on. We test everything under full pressure, check drain flow, and have the inspector walk through if the permit requires final sign-off that day. If you’re doing a framed or frameless glass enclosure, the glass company comes to measure after tile is complete and typically installs 7 to 10 days later. The shower is fully usable the day after grout is sealed, no waiting around. That timeline holds for most standard 60-inch alcove conversions in Marco Island unless unforeseen framing or plumbing complications show up during demo.
The Options You’ll Choose Between
This isn’t a one-size-fits-all job. The decisions are specific and they change both the price and how the shower holds up in a coastal bathroom. Here are the choices that matter most:
- Shower pan type: solid surface vs. tile-over-mortar. A solid surface or cast-polymer pan is seamless, easier to clean, and costs less to install. A tile-over-mortar pan gives you the exact tile match from floor to ceiling but requires more maintenance on grout lines. For a rental property on Marco Island where cleaning crews turn the unit in three hours, we almost always recommend solid surface. For a primary residence where you want the floor to disappear into the design, tile is the right call.
- Curbless entry or low-threshold. Curbless means the shower floor flows continuously into the bathroom floor with no step-over. It’s perfect for aging in place but often requires either recessing the subfloor or building up the bathroom floor to get the needed slope, which adds $800 to $1,500. A standard low-threshold curb gives you the shower look with a 3- to 4-inch step, and it works with your existing floor height with no structural changes.
- Wall tile and waterproofing system. This is where the salt-air environment tilts the math. A sheet membrane system like Schluter Kerdi paired with large-format porcelain tile (12×24 or larger) gives you fewer grout joints in the wet zone and a continuous waterproof surface that won’t degrade from condensation cycles. The alternative is cement board with a liquid membrane, which costs less up front but has more seams. Both work when installed correctly. We just prefer fewer failure points near the coast.
- Shower valve and trim configuration. A single-function pressure-balance valve with one shower head is the budget-friendly standard and does the job. Stepping up to a thermostatic valve with a diverter lets you run a rain head and a handheld on separate controls, and it holds temperature steady when someone flushes a toilet elsewhere in the house. Kohler and Delta both make reliable options across the price range. The trim finish (chrome, brushed nickel, matte black) affects cost more than you’d expect, and it’s worth picking something that matches the rest of the bathroom hardware now, not later.
- Glass door or curtain rod. A tension rod and curtain keeps costs down and is the fastest install. A framed sliding glass door encloses the shower completely and costs $400 to $800 installed. A frameless heavy-glass door with hinges, which requires precise measurement after tile is finished, runs $900 to $1,600 and delivers the look most Marco Island homeowners want when they’re doing a full conversion in a master bath.
What a Tub-to-Shower Conversion Costs in Marco Island, FL
A standard 60-inch alcove tub-to-shower conversion in Marco Island runs $3,500 to $7,000 with basic finishes and no plumbing relocation. Expanding the footprint, moving the drain, or upgrading to a curbless entry with frameless glass pushes the range to $8,000 through $10,000. Here’s what moves the number.
Shower size and the drain location. Keeping the shower inside the original 30-by-60 tub footprint is the most affordable path. If you want to widen the shower to 36 or 42 inches or extend it into a closet, you’re into framing, drywall, floor patching, and potentially relocating the drain center, all of which step the price up by $1,500 to $3,000.
Plumbing condition and age. The biggest wild card in any Mackle-era Marco Island home. Original galvanized supply lines and a 1-1/2-inch cast-iron tub drain aren’t unusual, and bringing those up to current code with PEX supply lines and a 2-inch PVC drain adds $600 to $1,200 depending on access. We’ll know for certain when the walls are open, and we’ll show you exactly what we’re looking at before any change order gets written.
Waterproofing and tile grade. Sheet membrane systems cost more in materials than liquid-applied membranes but install with fewer days of curing time. Large-format porcelain tile in a neutral color is the workhorse choice. Handmade or glass mosaic tile, accent bands, and a full-height tile ceiling push the labor number up. Epoxy grout adds roughly $200 to $400 over cementitious grout for the whole shower.
Glass and door hardware. A curtain is under $50. Framed sliding glass is a few hundred installed. A custom frameless door with a heavy-glass panel, inline hinges, and a matching towel bar is a thousand-dollar line item that transforms the room. We’ll give you a line-by-line quote so you see exactly where the dollars go, and the number you approve is the number you pay. No change orders unless you ask for something different mid-job. Groundwork Construction Co. runs every project on upfront pricing with nothing hidden.
We also offer 0% financing for 18 months on projects that qualify, and if your conversion is part of a larger scope that clears $10,000, there’s $1,000 off the total. A tub-to-shower conversion in Marco Island by itself usually won’t hit that number, but if you’re pairing it with a Metal Roofing in Marco Island replacement or new impact windows, we can often stack the savings. Call (844) 638-7249 and we’ll talk through what makes sense.
What Marco Island Homes Specifically Do to This Job
The built environment here isn’t like inland Collier County. Most of the bathrooms we open up on Marco Island are original to 1965-1980 CBS builds, framed with furring strips against block, ventilated by a single small exhaust fan that hasn’t been cleaned since the Clinton administration. That means the wall cavity behind the tub has been cycling warm, humid air through tiny cracks in the grout for decades. We find corrosion on the tub flange, rusted fasteners, and sometimes mold in the bottom plate of the furring wall that requires replacement before any new shower can go in. It’s predictable by neighborhood: the older sections near the Snook Inn and around the canals toward the southern end of the island see this more than the newer elevated builds going up now, but any home built before 1990 is a candidate.
Permitting through the City of Marco Island building department is straightforward but not optional. A tub-to-shower conversion triggers a plumbing permit at minimum, and if we’re moving or altering any framing, a building permit as well. We pull both, schedule the inspections, and pass them. The inspector will want to see the drain and trap before the pan goes in, plus a final on waterproofing or tile completion depending on the system. It adds a day or two to the timeline but it’s not something to skip, especially when you’re planning to sell the home later and a buyer’s inspector asks to see the permit history. The coastal building environment here also means every penetration matters: we seal top plates, we use stainless or coated fasteners in wet zones, and we pay attention to how the bathroom exhausts moisture, because a new shower tightens the room envelope and you don’t want that humidity sitting against a furred-out block wall.
Some Marco Island condo associations have their own architectural review requirements for plumbing alterations inside the unit, particularly in high-rise buildings where a shower pan leak affects the unit below. We’ll help you navigate that. It’s usually a one-page form and a spec sheet for the pan and valve, nothing that holds up the job. We’ve also done conversions in homes where the owner was simultaneously re-roofing with Tile Roofing in Marco Island, and sequencing the two trades so the bathroom isn’t open to the sky during a tear-off is something we coordinate from the first walkthrough.
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Frequently Asked - Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Marco Island
The on-site work takes 3 to 5 days from demo to a usable shower, assuming no hidden framing or plumbing surprises that expand scope. Permit approval through the City of Marco Island adds 1 to 3 business days before we can start, and if you’re doing a frameless glass door, the glass fabricator typically needs 7 to 10 days after tile completion for measurement and install. So from the day you call us to the day you’re stepping into a finished shower, plan on 2 to 3 weeks total. Call (844) 638-7249 for a timeline specific to your project.
Yes. The City of Marco Island requires a plumbing permit for the drain and trap conversion, and a building permit if any framing is altered, which it usually is when we’re adjusting the alcove for a shower pan. We pull the permits, schedule the inspections, and make sure everything passes. Skipping the permit isn’t a shortcut worth taking: it creates problems at resale and can flag an insurance issue if a leak ever does damage.
In most cases, yes. The drain stays in the same location and we convert the tub shoe to a 2-inch shower drain within the existing footprint. The supply lines and valve body can often remain at their current height if you’re happy with the control location. The instances where plumbing does need to move usually involve older galvanized pipe that’s too corroded to reuse, or a homeowner who wants the shower head on a different wall or a center-drain configuration changed to a linear drain at the back wall. We’ll walk you through exactly what’s needed after demo.
For a master bathroom in a home you plan to stay in, a curbless entry is absolutely worth considering. It eliminates the step-over, makes the bathroom feel larger, and works for every stage of life. The trade-off is that getting the proper 1/4-inch-per-foot slope without a curb usually means either recessing the shower subfloor into the joist bay or raising the rest of the bathroom floor with a mortar bed or additional underlayment, which adds $800 to $1,500 to the project. For a guest bathroom or a rental property, a standard low-threshold curb accomplishes 90% of the visual upgrade at a lower cost. We’ll give you a side-by-side quote with both options.
Groundwork Construction Co. backs every tub-to-shower conversion with our 730-Day Done Right Promise: if it’s not done right, we make it right, for two full years. That covers workmanship on the pan, waterproofing, tile installation, and plumbing connections we performed. Manufacturer warranties on the valve, shower trim, pan material, and glass enclosure run separately and vary by brand, typically ranging from a limited lifetime warranty on major plumbing components to 5 to 10 years on glass and finishes. We’ll give you all the warranty documentation organized in one place at project close. This is the kind of thing that separates a Bathroom Remodeling crew that stands behind its work from one that disappears after the final check clears.
Get a Real Quote for Your Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Marco Island
You want a number that means something, not a ballpark. Call us at (844) 638-7249 and we’ll set up a free on-site estimate at your Marco Island home. Derek Hollenbeck or one of our project managers walks through the bathroom, checks access, talks through your material choices, and hands you a written line-item quote before we leave. No pressure, no same-day-close tactics. Just a real number, a real timeline, and a plan that accounts for what a coastal CBS home actually needs. Calls are answered by a live person, 24/7, so you won’t get a voicemail box when you call after work or on a Saturday. We’ve been doing this long enough to know that a tub-to-shower conversion done right is a decision you’ll appreciate every morning for the next 20 years.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving Marco Island since 2014.