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AfterHow Much Does Tub-to-Shower Conversion Cost in Fort Lauderdale?
A tub-to-shower conversion in Fort Lauderdale typically costs between $3,500 and $10,000 for a standard 5-foot alcove replacement. Most homeowners in neighborhoods like Victoria Park, Coral Ridge, and Rio Vista land between $5,500 and $7,500 for a mid-range conversion with quality acrylic or tile surrounds and basic plumbing modifications. The final price depends on your bathroom’s age, what’s behind the existing tub, and whether you’re choosing a prefab pan or custom tile work.
You’re asking this question because you’re tired of stepping over a tub wall that’s no longer doing anything for you. Maybe the kids are grown, maybe your knees have opinions about climbing over that 14-inch threshold, or maybe the 1990s builder-grade tub in your Wilton Manors condo has seen better decades. Either way, you want a real number. Here it is in writing, before anyone steps foot in your bathroom.
Tub-to-Shower Conversion Cost Breakdown (2026)
Here’s where the money actually goes. We break every quote down this exact way when we hand a written price across your kitchen table, so nothing hides behind a lump sum.
| Line Item | Typical Fort Lauderdale Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Demolition & tub removal | $400 – $900 | Includes haul-away. Second-story bathrooms in older Fort Lauderdale homes add labor time. |
| Shower pan / base | $300 – $1,400 | Acrylic or composite pans on the low end; custom tile pans with a mortar bed run higher. |
| Wall surround or tile | $900 – $3,800 | Prefab acrylic or cultured marble surround vs. ceramic, porcelain, or stone tile walls. |
| Plumbing valve & trim | $250 – $1,200 | You get what you pay for here. Moen, Delta, and Kohler valves cost more up front, last longer, and carry manufacturer warranties. |
| Shower door or curtain rod | $150 – $1,100 | Frameless or semi-frameless glass doors run the highest; a simple tension rod with a quality curtain is the budget option. |
| Waterproofing & backer board | $200 – $650 | Non-negotiable in Florida humidity. Proper waterproofing behind the walls is what keeps a conversion from failing in year two. |
| Trim, caulk, finish work | $150 – $450 | Includes baseboard transitions, drywall repair at the tub line, and clean silicone work. |
| Permit & inspection (if required) | $100 – $400 | Fort Lauderdale requires permits when plumbing fixture locations change. We handle the paperwork as part of the project. |
So what moves the number up or down? The single biggest driver is the wall material: a quality prefabricated surround keeps you near the bottom of that $3,500 – $10,000 range, while floor-to-ceiling porcelain tile with a custom mud pan pushes you toward $9,000 or beyond. The second driver is what we find behind the tub. In Fort Lauderdale homes built before the mid-1980s, we regularly find cast-iron tubs sitting on steel plates, water-damaged subflooring, or plumbing stacks that don’t align with the new shower drain location. Fixing those adds to the total, and we’ll show you exactly what we found before we do anything about it.
The third driver is whether the conversion is a straight “swap in place” or a full footprint change. If you’re keeping the existing 5-foot tub footprint and simply replacing the tub with a shower, you’re at the low end. If you’re widening the opening, moving the drain, adding a bench, or converting a corner tub in places like Pompano Beach-era patio homes, the number climbs in step.
What Affects Tub-to-Shower Conversion Pricing in Fort Lauderdale
Every estimate we write includes a line-by-line breakdown, because the price is built from real factors you can actually see and touch. Here’s what moves the needle in Fort Lauderdale specifically.
- The age of the drain and water lines. Fort Lauderdale’s older neighborhoods (think Sailboat Bend, Croissant Park, and Tarpon River) have a lot of original galvanized pipe from the 1960s and 1970s. Galvanized drain lines corrode from the inside out; when we open the wall and find them, the right move is often replacement, not a patch. That’s an honest cost addition we’ll explain before touching the pipe.
- Waterproofing standards in a coastal climate. You live in a subtropical environment with 60% average humidity and salt in the air within a few miles of the beach. We install cement board substrate (the moisture-resistant layer directly behind your tile) and apply a roll-on waterproofing membrane before any tile or surround goes up. That’s not optional upselling; it’s what keeps your tub-to-shower conversion in Fort Lauderdale from developing mold behind the walls within a couple of seasons.
- Floor deflection and slab conditions. Many Fort Lauderdale homes sit on concrete slabs. If your existing slab shifted or cracked around the old tub drain, the new shower pan may need additional leveling compound before day one. We measure and test for this during the estimate, so the written price you get accounts for it from the start.
- Shower glass: framed, semi-frameless, or frameless. Frameless glass doors are beautiful and also add $500 – $1,100 over a curtain rod setup. In smaller Fort Lauderdale bathrooms where space is tight, a sliding semi-frameless door is a middle-ground option we recommend often.
- Permit status of the existing bathroom. If previous work was done without a permit (common in homes bought from flippers across Fort Lauderdale), we may need to file an as-built permit to bring the conversion up to code. It adds to the cost, but it also protects your resale value when you eventually sell.
- Access and parking at your property. If you’re in a high-rise condo along Galt Ocean Mile or a gated community with strict delivery windows, material staging and demo haul-away require more coordination. That is a modest cost line, but it’s not zero.
How to Save on Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Fort Lauderdale
Saving money on a bathroom conversion shouldn’t mean sacrificing the waterproofing layer or hiring a handyman who “sort of does tile.” Here’s how to trim the number without cutting into what actually protects your home.
- Choose a quality prefab pan and surround over full custom tile. You’ll save $2,000 – $4,000 compared to floor-to-ceiling tile, and the best acrylic and composite systems are engineered to shed water just as well. We install fiberglass-reinforced acrylic bases that come with their own manufacturer warranty.
- Keep the footprint identical. The moment you move a drain, widen an opening, or relocate a valve, labor, plumber time, and permit fees all climb. Staying within the existing tub footprint is the single fastest way to keep the project in the $3,500 – $5,500 range.
- Reuse your existing plumbing if it’s in good shape. If a valve inspection shows internal stops and copper in serviceable condition, you may not need a full valve replacement. We’ll tell you straight whether the existing valve is worth keeping. If it is, that’s money that stays in your checking account.
- Install a high-quality glass door now, not later. It’s tempting to start with a curtain rod and “add glass later,” but retrofitting glass after tile is set often costs more than doing it during the initial conversion. If you want frameless glass eventually, the time to price it is day one.
- Ask about our written price guarantee before demo day. The price we put in writing before any work begins is the price on your invoice. No change orders because “we found something unexpected” with no pictures. If we do uncover a problem in the wall, we show you, we stop, and we give you a new written number before proceeding. That’s part of the Kingswell standard we’ve operated under since 2004.
If you want an exact number for your specific bathroom rather than a range, we’d rather walk the space ourselves. A free onsite estimate takes about an hour, and the written quote you get is yours to keep, regardless of whether you hire us. Call (754) 551-2922 and we’ll set a time that works for you.
Is a Tub-to-Shower Conversion Worth It in Fort Lauderdale?
Here’s the math we walk our clients through, because “worth it” depends entirely on your situation. If you plan to stay in this house for five or more years and the tub is currently a tripping hazard, a standing storage unit for shampoo bottles, or a source of constant tile-grout scrubbing, a $5,000 – $7,000 shower that gets used every single day is better value than a rarely-used tub taking up the same footprint.
There’s also a resale angle. Fort Lauderdale’s market does not penalize homes for having at least one bathtub, but that penalty shrinks when the home still has a tub in a second bath. If your home has one bathroom only and you’re considering removing the tub entirely, think carefully: young families want a tub for babies. Empty nesters and condo buyers in your position often prefer a walk-in shower. If a future buyer with young children matters to you, keep a tub somewhere in the home. If you’re in a 55+ community or a mid-rise condo along the Intracoastal, the shower conversion is almost certainly the better choice.
How Long Does a Tub-to-Shower Conversion Take?
Most straight footprint conversions in Fort Lauderdale take 3 to 5 working days from first demo cut to final caulk line. That includes demolition, plumbing adaptation, waterproofing, pan setting, wall installation, and finish trim. Custom tile work with a built-in bench or niche adds 2 to 3 more days for mortar bed curing and grout between coats. If we’re moving a drain, expect 5 to 7 days with rough-in inspections scheduled around your permit.
We’ll also give you a defined arrival window before we start, not a “sometime between 8 and 5” shrug. The Kingswell Way says: say the price before the work, show up in the window we gave, leave the place cleaner than we found it. Written on every project. No asterisks.
FAQs – Tub-to-Shower Conversion Cost
How much does it cost to convert a tub to a walk-in shower in Fort Lauderdale?
A standard 5-foot tub-to-shower conversion in Fort Lauderdale costs $3,500 to $10,000, with most projects landing between $5,500 and $7,500. The range spans prefab units on the low end and custom tiled showers with frameless glass on the high end. Call (754) 551-2922 to get a written number specific to your bathroom, not a ballpark.
Is it cheaper to repair a tub or convert it to a shower?
If your tub needs a new surface or new faucet, repairs are cheaper: $300 to $1,500 for typical refinishing or valve work. If the tub is cracked, leaking into the subfloor, or you simply can’t safely get in and out of it anymore, a conversion at $3,500 to $10,000 is the better long-term fix because it also addresses the waterproofing layer behind the wall. A cracked tub that’s been leaking for months often means subfloor repair anyway, which narrows the price gap between “repair” and “replace the whole thing.”
Can you convert a tub to a shower in one day?
For a high-quality conversion, no: a proper tub-to-shower conversion in Fort Lauderdale takes 3 to 5 working days because waterproofing membranes and mortar beds need cure time. Companies advertising one-day tub-to-shower “makeovers” typically use a one-piece acrylic liner that covers the existing tub without removing it or addressing what’s behind the wall. We remove the tub, inspect the substrate, and rebuild it so the wall stays dry. If waterproofing is rushed, you’ll see the failure in 18 months, not 18 years.
Does converting a tub to a shower add value in Fort Lauderdale?
For most single-family homes in Fort Lauderdale, a well-executed tub-to-shower conversion is value-neutral to modestly positive: buyers appreciate a functional, code-compliant, waterproofed shower, especially in homes with a second tub elsewhere. The bigger financial benefit is avoiding the ongoing repair and maintenance cost of an aging tub-and-surround that’s already failing. If your home is a one-bathroom property and you’re thinking resale within five years, we’ll tell you honestly whether keeping that tub is the smarter play. A reputable contractor gives you the tradeoff, not a sales pitch. Call (754) 551-2922 for a straight assessment.
What’s the difference between an acrylic surround and tile for a shower conversion?
Acrylic or composite surrounds run $900 to $2,500 for materials and labor, while a fully tiled shower with waterproofed cement board behind it typically starts around $3,000 and runs to $6,500 or more depending on tile selection and layout. Acrylic is easier to clean, faster to install, and carries less grout maintenance. Tile offers design flexibility, but every grout joint is a future cleaning surface. In Fort Lauderdale’s humidity, both work well if the waterproofing behind them is done properly. That waterproofing is where we never cut corners.
Does the $3,500 price include a shower door?
No, the low end of the range reflects a shower rod and curtain. A framed glass door adds $300 to $800, a semi-frameless door runs $500 to $900, and a fully frameless door typically starts around $800 to $1,100 installed. We’ll price your door in writing as a separate line item so you can decide exactly where your budget goes.
Who Is Doing the Work? Meet the Fort Lauderdale Team
Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale is led by Trevor Nash, a general contractor who has spent his career cleaning up after remodelers who didn’t stand behind their work. Trevor runs every project on the Kingswell standard: every job gets a written price before work starts, a real arrival window before we show up, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise covering every conversion we complete. If something fails inside that year, we come back and make it right at no charge. That promise is in writing, on every project, every time.
The crews you’ll see in your home are background-checked and uniformed, so the face at the door matches the name on the schedule. Materials we install are drawn from recognized trade brands: Kohler and Moen for valves and fixtures, with tile and stone sourced from vetted distributors who supply South Florida’s commercial and custom home market. A live person answers the phone at (754) 551-2922 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Not a voicemail prompt, not a call center. A person who can talk to you about your bathroom.
We don’t do one-day liners. We don’t do verbal estimates that “evolve” at the door. We hand you a written number and a written guarantee, and then we show up in the window we gave you. If you’ve been burned by a contractor before, you already know why that matters. If you haven’t, we’d rather you never find out.
Get a Written Price for Your Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Fort Lauderdale
The number on this page is a range because bathrooms differ. Yours deserves an exact figure. Call Trevor and the team at Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale at (754) 551-2922 for a free onsite estimate. We’ll walk the space, ask how you use the bathroom today, and hand you a written price you can hold us to. No pressure, no follow-up spam calls, and the estimate is yours to keep whether you hire us or not. If you’re ready to stop climbing over the tub wall, start with one call.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner at Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale, serving Fort Lauderdale homeowners with remodeling projects that stand up to coastal humidity, aging plumbing, and everyday life.
Pricing reflects the Fort Lauderdale market as of 2026. Penhallow Remodeling Fort Lauderdale offers free estimates – call (754) 551-2922.
What Our Customers Say
"Did our whole kitchen. The written estimate held, which after reading remodel nightmares online I did not take for granted. Showed up every morning on time and the crew was clean and polite."
- Warren Updike"We'd been burned by a contractor before who disappeared halfway. Penhallow finished on time and stood behind everything. The written price gave me peace of mind the whole way."
- Simone Clarke"Redid two bathrooms at once. The crew protected the floors and cleaned up every single day before leaving. Quote was detailed and there were no mystery charges at the end."
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