How Much Does a Tub-to-Shower Conversion Cost in Lighthouse Point?
A tub-to-shower conversion in Lighthouse Point typically runs $3,500-$10,000 and takes 5-10 working days from demo to final inspection. Most homeowners call us at (844) 665-0162 when they’re ready to lose the unused tub and gain a walk-in shower that fits how they actually live. The price swings based on whether we’re keeping the existing plumbing footprint or moving drains and walls, and whether the underlying concrete slab needs moisture remediation common to canal-era homes here.
Lighthouse Point’s housing stock, built almost entirely between the late 1950s and early 1980s, means we’re often working with original cast-iron or galvanized drains, 1960s-era venting, and bathrooms that weren’t designed for modern shower enclosures. That age profile isn’t a problem, but it does change what we find once the tub comes out and what we quote before we start.
Our Tub-to-Shower Conversion Process, Start to Finish
We’ve refined this into five clear stages so you know what’s happening, what’s being decided, and when your bathroom will be out of commission.
Stage 1: Site evaluation and scope lock (Day 1)
We arrive with a moisture meter, a drain camera if the line’s older than 1980, and a checklist of Lighthouse Point-specific issues we’ve learned to expect. The 1960s concrete slab common in neighborhoods like Venetian Isles and Lighthouse Estates often reads elevated moisture at the tub perimeter, especially on canal lots where the water table sits just below grade. We’ll tell you by the end of this visit whether your job is a straightforward swap or if we need to budget for slab prep, drain replacement, or vent reconfiguration. You decide on shower configuration, curb height, and door style here. Duration: 2-3 hours.
Stage 2: Demo and substrate inspection (Days 2-3)
The tub, surround, and valve come out. We expose the drain line, wall framing, and slab condition. This is where we sometimes find galvanized drain arms, improper venting, or prior DIY repairs that don’t meet current Florida Plumbing Code. If the drain needs replacement, we flag it now with a line-item revision, not a surprise later. You confirm tile or wall panel selection and grout color if you haven’t already. Duration: 1-2 days.
Stage 3: Plumbing rough-in and pan installation (Days 4-6)
We set the shower pan, whether that’s a bonded acrylic base, a tiled mud pan with waterproofing membrane, or a solid-surface custom form. The drain connection gets pressure-tested. If we’re moving the drain location, this is when the concrete gets cut and repoured with proper slope. On canal-front homes in Lighthouse Point, we also verify that the slab repair uses sulfate-resistant concrete mix, standard practice here due to soil salinity. You don’t make decisions this stage, but we send photo updates. Duration: 2-3 days.
Stage 4: Wall finish, fixture set, and glass templating (Days 7-9)
Tile or wall panels go up. We set the valve, trim, and any body sprays or handhelds. If you’ve chosen frameless glass, we template now for fabrication, typically a 10-14 day lead time. Many Lighthouse Point homeowners upgrading from a 1960s tub are also doing Bathroom Remodeling in Lighthouse Point as part of a full renovation, so we coordinate tile runs and fixture schedules with the broader project timeline. Duration: 2-3 days.
Stage 5: Glass install, final plumbing test, and closeout (Days 10-12)
The glass arrives. We install, seal, and run a 30-minute flood test on the pan. Our plumber does a final pressure and flow check. We walk you through operation, cleaning, and what to watch for. If permits were pulled, we schedule the Broward County inspector. Duration: 1 day, plus inspection scheduling.
The Shower Options You’ll Actually Choose Between
- Shower pan material: Acrylic bases run $400-$900 installed and work well for standard 60″ x 32″ openings. They’re lightweight, crack-resistant, and easy to clean, but the color palette is limited and they can feel less premium. Tiled mud pans with Schluter-Kerdi or Laticrete Hydro Ban waterproofing run $1,200-$2,800 and give you any tile you want, but they need resealing every few years and cost more in labor. Solid-surface custom pans from brands like Kohler Choreograph or Swanstone split the difference at $900-$1,800, with integrated seats and niches available.
- Wall surround system: Acrylic or fiberglass three-panel surrounds are fastest and most budget-friendly, $800-$2,000 total. They’re practical for rental properties or quick turnovers. Tile walls, whether ceramic, porcelain, or natural stone, run $2,000-$6,000 depending on material and pattern complexity. For Lighthouse Point’s luxury renovation market, we’re seeing strong interest in large-format porcelain panels, 32″ x 64″ or bigger, which read as stone or concrete but install with minimal grout lines. Silestone and Caesarstone also make shower wall cladding in select colors, though we typically reserve those for vanity tops and use porcelain or ceramic in wet zones for better traction and thermal performance.
- Fixture grade and features: Moen and Kohler are our go-to lines for this market. A pressure-balance valve with standard trim runs $180-$350. Thermostatic valves, which hold temperature within 1 degree even when someone flushes a toilet elsewhere in the house, jump to $450-$900 for the valve body alone. Handhelds on a slide bar add $150-$400. Body sprays require thermostatic capacity and add $800-$2,000 to the plumbing rough-in. We spec thermostatic on most Lighthouse Point jobs now, homeowners here expect hotel-grade performance.
- Door and enclosure style: Framed bypass doors in aluminum or stainless, $400-$900. Semi-frameless with minimal metal, $700-$1,400. True frameless with 3/8″ tempered glass and wall-mounted hinges, $1,200-$2,800. Curbless entry with linear drain and recessed channel, $2,500-$5,000 including the structural prep. The curbless option requires either a sunken pan or a slab cut, which on Lighthouse Point’s older slabs sometimes reveals moisture issues we need to address first.
- Curb height and accessibility: Standard 4″-6″ curb, no additional cost. Low-profile 2″-3″ curb, $200-$400 in modified pan engineering. Zero-threshold curbless, as noted above. We ask every homeowner to think five years ahead, knee surgery, aging in place, resale to an older buyer. A curbless shower adds cost now but often pays back in accessibility and resale.
What Tub-to-Shower Conversion Costs in Lighthouse Point, FL
$3,500-$10,000 covers the full range we see in this market. Here’s what pushes a job toward the top or bottom of that span.
Size and layout: A direct replacement in a standard 5′ x 8′ bathroom with the drain left in place starts around $3,500-$5,500. Expanding the footprint, moving walls, or converting a tub alcove into a full wet room can hit $8,000-$10,000.
Plumbing condition and relocation: Keeping the existing drain and vent location saves $800-$2,000. Moving the drain across the slab, replacing galvanized lines, or upgrading to a 2″ drain from an old 1.5″ adds that back in, plus concrete repair.
Material grade: Acrylic surround with a basic pressure-balance valve and framed door lands low. Large-format porcelain, thermostatic valve, frameless glass, and solid-surface pan with integrated seat lands high. The spread between “functional upgrade” and “luxury renovation” is real, and we quote both tiers when homeowners aren’t sure where they sit.
Slab and moisture remediation: On canal lots in Lighthouse Point, we find elevated slab moisture in roughly one-third of demo openings. Minor topical treatment runs $400-$800. Full epoxy moisture barrier with recoat adds $1,200-$2,500. We don’t tile over active moisture, it’s a callback waiting to happen.
Permit scope: A simple fixture swap with no plumbing modification may not require permitting. Any drain relocation, electrical work (new lighting, exhaust fan, heated floor), or structural modification triggers a Broward County permit, typically $200-$500 in fees and one to two inspection visits.
Our written estimates itemize labor, materials, fixture allowances, and permit costs separately. What they don’t include: homeowner-supplied fixtures (we warranty what we source), asbestos or lead abatement if discovered, or seawall repairs if a county inspection flags an unrelated coastal issue. We flag that last one specifically because of what happens in Lighthouse Point, which brings us to the local reality.
What Lighthouse Point Homes Specifically Do to This Job
Lighthouse Point was carved from coastal wetlands in the 1950s and 60s with a network of finger canals that give nearly every lot direct water frontage. That geography shapes every construction decision we make here, including tub-to-shower conversions that seem purely interior.
The housing stock is almost entirely concrete block and stucco single-family homes from the canal-development era, now fifty to seventy years old. Bathrooms in these homes were built with cast-iron tubs, galvanized drains, and venting that predates modern code. When we demo a tub in a Venetian Isles home or a property on NE 24th Street, we expect to find at least one plumbing component that needs replacement, not repair.
The salt-laden air and persistently high water table accelerate corrosion inside walls and under slabs. We’ve replaced drain lines where the exterior of the pipe looked fine but the interior was reduced to a rust flake. Slab moisture readings on canal lots routinely run higher than equivalent homes a mile inland in Lighthouse Point or neighboring Pompano Beach.
Then there’s the permitting wildcard. Broward County’s coastal construction control line and seawall regulations mean that pulling any construction permit on a canal lot can trigger a mandatory seawall inspection. A straightforward bathroom permit for a tub-to-shower conversion won’t typically trigger this, but if your project is part of a larger renovation, a kitchen addition or re-roofing job alongside the bathroom, the county may bundle inspections. We’ve seen homeowners discover a failing 1960s seawall mid-project, adding $30,000-$80,000 in unplanned repair. We don’t bring this up to alarm you, we mention it because we believe in quoting with eyes open. If you’re planning multiple projects, our Bathroom Remodeling crew coordinates with our exterior teams to sequence work and inspections efficiently. Some homeowners tackling whole-home updates also look at Metal Roofing in Lighthouse Point or Tile Roofing in Lighthouse Point to address wind-load requirements in the same construction window.
Finally, many Lighthouse Point properties sit within homeowner associations with architectural review requirements. We handle the submittal package, but the timeline adds a week or two before demo can start.
Serving Lighthouse Point, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
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Frequently Asked - Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Lighthouse Point
Most conversions take 5-10 working days, with frameless glass adding 10-14 days for fabrication. HOA review and Broward County permitting can add 1-3 weeks before work starts. Call (844) 665-0162 and we’ll check current permit turnaround times.
You need a permit if you’re moving plumbing, electrical, or walls. A direct fixture swap with no drain relocation may not require one. We pull permits on any job with plumbing modification, it’s protection for you at resale and ensures inspection sign-off. Call us to review your specific layout.
Yes, if the existing drain location works for your desired shower configuration. Many 1960s tubs had center drains that align poorly with modern shower pans. We evaluate this on our first site visit and show you options that keep costs down versus layouts that require drain relocation. Call for a free evaluation.
Canal-lot properties often need slab moisture treatment, galvanized drain replacement, or vent upgrades that inland homes don’t. The 1960s-70s build era here means more underlying infrastructure surprises than you’d find in a 1990s Deerfield Beach subdivision. We price for what we find, with line-item transparency. Call (844) 665-0162 for an exact quote.
We warranty our workmanship for one year on plumbing and installation. Manufacturer warranties apply to fixtures and materials, Kohler and Moen valves carry limited lifetime warranties, tile and pan systems vary by product line. We register all warranties in your name and provide documentation at closeout. Call to discuss specific product coverage.
Get Your Free Tub-to-Shower Conversion Estimate in Lighthouse Point
We’ll visit your Lighthouse Point home, evaluate your existing bathroom and slab condition, and deliver a written estimate with itemized options. No pressure, no deposit required to review the scope. Call (844) 665-0162 or request an appointment online. Most estimates are scheduled within 48 hours, and we can often start work within two weeks of approval.
Written by Raymond Estevez, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving Lighthouse Point and South Florida homeowners since our founding.