Walk-In Showers & Shower Remodeling in Tice Costs $9,000-$28,000, and Most Jobs Are Done Within Two Weeks
A walk-in shower remodel in Tice typically runs between $9,000 and $28,000, with the actual number hinging on whether you’re converting a tub, relocating plumbing, or working inside an existing shower footprint. A straightforward shower replacement in an alcove can be wrapped in a week; a full custom build with bench seats, multiple showerheads, and frameless glass enclosures usually takes 10 to 14 working days. Call (844) 638-7249 for a free on-site estimate that accounts for your home’s specific layout, and we’ll give you a written, fixed price before any work starts.
How a Walk-In Shower Remodel Actually Goes in Tice
We don’t do vague timelines. Here’s the real sequence, step by step, so you know what happens each day and when you’ll need to make decisions.
Step 1: Demolition and inspection of what’s underneath
Day one starts with removing the old shower pan, wall surrounds, valve, and trim. In Tice’s 1950s-1970s concrete block homes, this is when we find out what’s really behind the walls - sometimes it’s clean, sometimes we discover moisture damage from decades of Florida humidity working its way through cracked grout. If the subfloor or wall framing needs repair, we’ll document it with photos and give you a line-item cost before proceeding. Demolition and inspection take one day in most cases.
Step 2: Plumbing rough-in and waterproofing
If you’re keeping the drain and valve in the same location, rough-in is quick - half a day. If you want to move the showerhead to a different wall or add body sprays, we’ll open the slab or block to relocate supply lines and the drain, which adds one to two days. Waterproofing comes next: we apply a liquid membrane or a sheet membrane system like Schluter-Kerdi across the entire shower floor and walls up to the showerhead. This is non-negotiable in Tice’s high-humidity zone - skip a proper waterproofing layer, and you’re looking at mold inside your walls within three years.
Step 3: Tile, pan, and niche installation
Once the waterproofing cures, tile work begins. The shower pan goes in first, sloped precisely toward the drain so no water pools. Wall tile follows, and we cut in any niches, corner shelves, or bench seats you’ve chosen. This is the stage where material choices affect the timeline most - large-format porcelain goes up faster, while intricate mosaic patterns or natural stone add a day or two. Expect three to five days for tile installation, depending on complexity.
Step 4: Glass enclosure measurement and fabrication
With the tile set and grouted, we take exact measurements for your glass enclosure. Frameless glass is custom-cut to your opening, and fabrication takes five to seven business days. During this window, your shower is fully functional with a temporary curtain rod - we don’t leave you without a working shower. If you’ve chosen a semi-frameless or framed enclosure, lead times are shorter, usually three to four days.
Step 5: Fixture trim-out and final walkthrough
The last day brings it all together: valve trim, showerhead, handheld sprayer, grab bars, and the glass enclosure installation. We run the shower, check every connection, and make sure the glass door seals correctly. One of our bathroom remodeling crew leads walks you through the finished job, points out the waterproofing warranty, and hands you the care instructions for your tile and glass. That’s the job - no punch list left behind, no “we’ll come back next week.”
The Choices That Shape Your Walk-In Shower in Tice
You’ll pick from a handful of real product categories. Every choice pushes the budget and timeline a little in one direction. Here’s what actually matters:
- Shower pan vs. tiled floor. A prefabricated acrylic or composite pan costs less and installs in hours, and modern options from brands like Kohler don’t look cheap. A tiled floor with a mortar bed feels solid underfoot and lets you match the wall tile exactly, but it costs more and adds a full day of labor. Both work in Tice’s slab-on-grade homes; the choice is aesthetic and budget-driven.
- Wall surround material. Acrylic or cultured marble panels are the most affordable and the easiest to keep clean - no grout lines to scrub. Porcelain tile is the middle ground: durable, available in hundreds of colors and sizes, and installed with narrow grout joints that resist Florida’s humidity-driven mildew. Natural stone like marble or travertine is the high-end option, gorgeous but porous; it needs annual sealing in Tice’s damp climate or it will stain.
- Glass enclosure type. Frameless heavy-glass enclosures give you a clean, open look and are the easiest to squeegee - they start around $1,200 for a standard opening and go up from there. Semi-frameless uses thinner glass with minimal metal framing and costs roughly 30% less. Framed glass is the budget choice, functional but harder to keep clean where water meets the track.
- Fixtures and spray patterns. A single showerhead is straightforward. Adding a handheld on a slide bar or a second showerhead on a diverter is popular in Tice homes where the walk-in shower replaces a tub - it gives you the flexibility of rinsing off kids or pets without a full overhead spray. Body sprays, rain heads, and digital thermostatic valves push the job toward the high end of the price range and may require upsizing the water heater or adding a recirculation line.
- Built-in storage. Recessed niches, corner shelves, and full-width ledges are standard requests. A single niche framed between studs adds minimal cost. A bench seat or a knee wall with a shelf requires more tile work and waterproofing; figure $600-$1,200 for a built-in bench, depending on size.
What Walk-In Showers & Shower Remodeling Costs in Tice, FL
The honest range for a walk-in shower remodel in Tice is $9,000 to $28,000. The low end gets you an alcove replacement using acrylic walls, a prefab pan, a single showerhead, and a framed glass door with no plumbing moved. The high end is a fully custom build: relocated drain and valve, tiled floor and walls, frameless glass, bench, niches, multiple sprays, and upgraded fixtures.
Here’s what moves the number:
- Footprint changes. If you’re keeping the shower in the same spot with the same drain location, labor is straightforward. Moving a drain in a slab-on-grade Tice home means cutting concrete, which adds $1,500-$3,000 depending on distance and access.
- Valve and supply upgrades. Older Tice homes built in the ’60s and ’70s often have galvanized supply lines that have corroded internally. If we open the wall and find galvanized pipe, replacing it with copper or PEX adds cost but prevents pressure problems later.
- Waterproofing scope. A basic alcove needs floor-to-ceiling waterproofing on three walls. A walk-in with a curbless entry, a bench, or a window inside the shower footprint requires more membrane work and more tile cutting; both increase labor hours.
- Material grade. The difference between $3/sq ft ceramic tile and $12/sq ft porcelain with rectified edges shows up fast across 80 square feet of wall. Glass enclosure thickness and hardware finish move the price too.
- Permit fees. Lee County building permits for a shower remodel where plumbing is altered run a few hundred dollars. We pull the permit and schedule the inspection - it’s included in our fixed price, and we don’t surprise you with it at the end.
Our written estimates in Tice itemize every line: materials, labor, permit, and the exact shower scope. What’s typically not included are changes you request mid-project - adding a niche after tile has started, upgrading a fixture after the valve is roughed in. Those get priced separately and approved by you before we pick up a tool. Call (844) 638-7249 for a free estimate with no obligation.
What Tice’s Older Concrete Block Homes Mean for a Shower Remodel
Nearly every walk-in shower we do in Tice is in a CBS home built between the 1950s and 1970s, and those homes share a set of challenges that newer subdivisions around Fort Myers don’t have. The slab is typically a monolithic pour with no under-slab moisture barrier, which means groundwater vapor pushes up through the concrete over the decades. When we demo an original shower pan in these homes, we almost always find efflorescence and sometimes spalled concrete at the drain - the old pan liner failed years ago and the homeowner never knew. We grind, patch, and seal the slab before any new pan goes in; skip that step and the new tile will fail the same way. It’s a Tice-specific step that outside contractors who mostly work in newer Fort Myers subdivisions sometimes miss.
Permitting adds another local wrinkle. Because Tice is unincorporated Lee County, all permits route through the county building department in Fort Myers. Post-Ian, inspection backlogs linger, and a plumbing rough-in inspection that used to happen within 48 hours can now take four or five business days. We pre-schedule inspections at the moment we file the permit - it’s how we keep a shower remodel on a 10-to-14-day timeline instead of letting it drag to three weeks waiting on a county inspector. That scheduling discipline is something we learned the hard way after 2022, and it’s one reason we can give Tice homeowners a completion date and actually hit it.
The upside of these older homes is that the block walls are dead flat and dead solid. Once we strip off the old tile and mud bed, we’re working on a surface that doesn’t flex or settle. That means a properly installed tile shower in a Tice CBS home will outlast the one in a stick-framed house - no nail pops, no drywall movement cracking the grout. It’s a good foundation for a walk-in shower that’s built to stay, and we take advantage of it. When a Bathroom Remodeling in Tice project grows beyond the shower - maybe you’re redoing the vanity and flooring at the same time - we coordinate the trades so the shower work doesn’t hold up the rest of the room.
Serving Tice, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Tice 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 Tice
An alcove replacement where nothing moves takes 5 to 7 working days. A full custom walk-in with relocated plumbing, tiled floor and walls, bench, and frameless glass takes 10 to 14 working days, with about a week of that waiting for custom glass fabrication. We protect the rest of your home with floor runners and zip-wall dust barriers, and your shower stays usable with a temporary curtain during the glass wait.
Yes, if plumbing is being altered - and in Tice, replacing a shower valve or moving a drain both count as plumbing alterations under Lee County code. We pull the permit, schedule the inspections, and include both in your fixed price. A finish-only job (new tile, new glass, same valve and drain) typically does not require a permit, but we’ll confirm that during your estimate. Homeowners in Tice sometimes pair a shower remodel with a Roof Replacement & Installation in Tice when multiple Ian-related repairs are in play, and we can sequence both under one project schedule.
Yes, and keeping the drain in its original location saves $1,500-$3,000 in slab-cutting costs. Most Tice homes have the shower or tub drain positioned near the center of a 60-inch alcove, which works for a walk-in build without relocation. If you want a true curbless entry where the shower floor flows level with the bathroom floor, the drain usually needs to move toward the center of the shower footprint, which does require cutting the slab.
An acrylic or cultured-marble surround in a standard 60-inch alcove starts around $9,000-$12,000 complete with pan, glass door, and single showerhead. The same footprint in porcelain tile with a tiled floor, niche, and the same glass door typically lands between $13,000 and $18,000. The tile route costs more in labor and materials but gives you complete control over color, pattern, and layout, and a well-installed porcelain shower in Tice’s climate will last 30 years with basic maintenance.
Every walk-in shower remodel is covered by our 730-Day Done Right Promise - if it’s not done right, we make it right, no fine print and no runaround. Warranty coverage extends to our workmanship on the waterproofing, tile setting, glass installation, and plumbing connections. Fixture manufacturers carry their own warranties (typically lifetime on valves, one to five years on finishes), and we register those on your behalf so you have the paperwork. Many Tice homeowners who add a shower remodel also explore Metal Roofing in Tice as a longer-term Ian-resilience upgrade, and we coordinate warranties across all the trades we handle.
Get a Fixed-Price Walk-In Shower Estimate in Tice
A walk-in shower should feel like the best part of your morning, not a construction headache that drags on. We’re a live-answer company - call (844) 638-7249 and a real person picks up, 24/7. We’ll schedule a free on-site estimate, walk through your Tice home’s specific layout, show you material samples, and hand you a written, line-item price before you commit to anything. Estimates are free, and we don’t use high-pressure sales tactics. Just straight answers from a team that’s been doing this in Tice long enough to know exactly what these older block homes need.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving homeowners across Lee County with transparent pricing and the 730-Day Done Right Promise.