Walk-in shower in Tampa, FL, low curb or none.
Most of Florida sits on a concrete slab with nothing underneath it. That single fact decides what the curbless shower in your saved photo will cost. In some houses it is a straightforward job. In others it is a concrete saw. Almost nobody tells you which before you have paid for a design.
Call or text (813) 819-6778.
Priced by written scope, never by the hour.
Curbless on a slab: the three ways, and what each one costs you.
Water leaves a shower by falling. For a curbless shower the drain has to sit below the floor around it. On a slab there is nothing below. There are exactly three ways out of that. The brochures show you the result and never tell you which one it took.
Cut the slab
The concrete is opened so the pan and drain sit low enough. This is the honest curbless answer, and the expensive one. It brings in a licensed general contractor we work with. It also adds an inspection and a wait in the middle of your job. Every dollar of it disappears under the tile, where nobody will ever admire it.
Raise the bathroom floor
Instead of going down, the whole floor comes up. It sounds cheaper and often is not. It moves the door, the threshold and sometimes the vanity. You end up with a step at the bathroom door instead of at the shower. You have moved the step, not removed it.
A low curb instead
Not curbless, but a step of a few inches instead of a bathtub wall. For most households this is the honest answer. You get nearly all of the benefit and none of the slab work. We will say so even though it is the smaller job.
What moves the price once the curb is decided.
The curb is the big fork in the road, but it is not the only thing in the number. These three are what separate two quotes for the same shower.
Whether the drain moves
If the new shower keeps the old drain where it is, this is a much smaller job. Moving it means opening the floor. On a slab that brings in a licensed general contractor we work with, a permit and a wait.
How the waterproofing is done
There is more than one system, and they do not cost the same. A sheet membrane, a liquid applied one, and a bonded tray each behave differently at the drain. The scope names which one, so you can compare two quotes that look alike.
The size, and then the glass
A shower has to give you at least 900 square inches inside. It also has to be at least 30 inches across at its narrowest. That is the floor the code sets, not the target. Past that, the glass is what moves the number.
How much lower is the step, exactly?
This is the whole reason for the job, so it deserves real numbers instead of the word easier.
A standard bathtub wall
What somebody is climbing over today, several times a day.
A tiled low curb
The usual result, and the difference people notice the first morning.
Fully curbless
Only with slab work or a raised floor. Real, and worth it when somebody genuinely needs it.
What is included, and where it ends.
A written scope is only worth something if it says where it stops. These are the boundaries we put in writing before anyone starts.
How long the bathroom is out of use.
This job has more sequence in it than a straight shower replacement. The pan has to be built and proved before anything decorative happens. If the slab is opened, a licensed general contractor we work with comes in, then an inspection. Your written scope carries the dates.
When we tell you not to do it
Every company on your list will say yes to this job. These are the times we tell you to wait, or to pick a different shower. It costs us the odd project, and it saves you a lot more than that.
You want curbless purely for the look
Say nobody in the house has a mobility reason for it. Then a low curb gives you nearly the same room, tile and glass. It costs a lot less. And it keeps your budget above the floor, where you can see it.
The bathroom is upstairs with a shallow joist bay
There is not always enough depth to drop a pan and still have fall. That is a framing question and it gets answered before you pay for anything.
You need it certified to an accessibility standard
Aging in place and formally accessible are not the same thing. If a specific clearance has to be met on paper, say so up front. It changes the layout and sometimes the room.
Lifetime warranty on our workmanship.
If the work we did fails, we come back and fix it. That holds for as long as you own the home. Not one year. Not five. As long as you live there.
A warranty is only worth what its exclusions say. Ours are above, in the same size type as the promise. Ask any other company for theirs in writing. Then check how long the tile is covered.
Questions we actually get asked
Is curbless always better?
No. It is better when somebody needs it, and it helps for aging in place. For everyone else a low curb does most of the same job for less. The expensive part of curbless is under the tile, where nobody can see it.
Will a curbless shower flood the bathroom?
Not when the fall is built correctly and the glass is placed to keep spray in. Water goes where the floor sends it. That is why the pan is built and checked before tile. It is also why the fall is not something to eyeball.
Can you add grab bars later?
Only into blocking that already exists. Blocking is cheap while the wall is open and expensive once it is tiled. So if there is any chance you will want bars, we put the blocking in now. You add the bars whenever you like.
What about the shower floor tile?
Small tile with more grout lines gives more grip. It also follows a four way fall more easily. That is why shower pans usually get mosaic. If slip resistance matters to you, the rating is named in the scope.
Is a walk-in shower the same as a walk-in tub?
No. A walk-in tub is a bathtub with a door in the side. It is a different product, with different plumbing and a different price. If that is what you are looking for, say so at the walkthrough.
The other bathroom services
Where we work
Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee and Sarasota counties. If your town is not on this list, call and ask: the answer is often yes.
A walkthrough, then a written scope with one closed price.
Never hourly, never a verbal figure, and our workmanship carries a lifetime warranty. Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee and Sarasota counties.