Guide · 7 minute read
How much does a walk-in shower cost? Bath to shower conversion prices in the UK (2026)
By Dee Valley Bathrooms · Updated 3 November 2026
The short answer
Replacing a bath with a walk-in shower in the same position typically costs between £2,500 and £5,000 in the UK in 2026: a low-profile stone resin tray, a fixed glass panel, a thermostatic mixer, tiles or wall panels on the three walls around it, the plumbing changes and three to five days of labour. An enclosure with sliding doors instead of an open panel lands in much the same range. A tiled, level-access shower area is a wet room and costs more, usually £5,000 to £9,000 for that part of the room, because the floor is formed to a fall and tanked. Swapping an electric shower like for like is a few hundred pounds; a new thermostatic mixer fitted on existing feeds is £400 to £900. These are typical market figures from published UK trade cost guides and the quotes we see customers comparing, not Dee Valley Bathrooms' prices: ours are itemised after a free survey.
What a bath to shower conversion actually involves
A standard bath is 1700 by 700 millimetres. Take it out and you have the footprint for a 1700 by 700 or 1600 by 800 shower tray, with the hot and cold feeds and the waste already within a few hundred millimetres of where they need to be. That is why a like-for-like conversion is one of the cheaper bathroom jobs: the plumbing barely moves.
The work runs like this. The bath, panel and taps come out and the waste is adapted to the tray position. The three walls are stripped of old tiles where needed, boarded flat if they are not, and tanked in the shower area. The tray goes in on a bed of mortar or a riser kit, level and tested. The valve and riser rail are plumbed and the walls are tiled or panelled. The glass goes on last, then silicone, and the shower is left for 24 hours before it is used. Three days for a panelled job where nothing else changes; five where the walls are tiled to the ceiling or the toilet and basin are replaced at the same time.
Typical prices, element by element
The ranges below are typical UK supply and fitting figures for 2026. Supply prices are for mainstream brands from trade merchants and the bigger online retailers; premium brassware can double them. Fitting figures assume the work is part of a conversion where the fitter is already on site.
| Element | Typical supply | Typical fitted or extra | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low-profile stone resin tray, 1200 by 800 to 1700 by 800 | £200 to £500 | £250 to £450 to fit | Rigid, takes tiling to the edge; the usual choice |
| Fixed glass panel, 8 mm toughened | £150 to £400 | £100 to £200 to fit | No door to clean; needs a 1200 mm or longer tray |
| Enclosure with sliding or hinged doors | £250 to £700 | £150 to £300 to fit | Keeps spray in on short trays |
| Thermostatic bar mixer with riser rail | £120 to £350 | £400 to £900 fitted on existing feeds | The sensible default on a combi boiler |
| Concealed mixer with rainfall head | £300 to £900 | £600 to £1,200 fitted | Needs good pressure and a stud wall or boxing |
| Electric shower, 9.5 or 10.5 kW | £120 to £300 | £150 to £400 to swap like for like | A new circuit adds £300 to £600, done by the registered electrician |
| Wall panels on three walls | £300 to £600 | £400 to £900 supplied and fitted | A day; no grout |
| Tiling three walls to the ceiling | £20 to £60 per square metre for tiles | £800 to £1,800 supplied and fitted | Three days including boarding and tanking |
| Wet room former, tanking and linear drain | £300 to £700 | £600 to £1,200 extra over a tray | Adds curing days; see the wet room guide |
| Moving the waste to a new position | £150 to £400 | Depends on the fall available to the stack | |
| Shower pump for a gravity system | £250 to £500 | £400 to £800 fitted | Only where the pressure test says so |
Typical market ranges, not Dee Valley Bathrooms' quotes. Your figure comes from a survey of your room and your water.
What moves the price up or down
- Tray or tiled floor: a low tray with a panel is the cheapest route; a tiled level-access floor is a wet room and adds the former, the tanking and two or three curing days.
- Glass: a single fixed panel costs less to buy and fit than doors, and there is nothing to go wrong with it.
- Tiles or panels: panels are a day's work with no grout; tiles to the ceiling are three days with boarding and tanking underneath.
- Moving the waste or the valve: along the same wall is cheap; to a different wall depends on the fall to the soil stack.
- Electrics: an electric shower on a new circuit, a new fan or lights all need the registered electrician and a certificate.
- Water pressure: if the survey shows a gravity system or weak mains, a pump or an electric shower is the honest answer, and that changes the quote.
- What else changes: if the toilet and basin are replaced at the same time, the labour days overlap and the room costs less than two separate jobs.
Pressure and flow decide the shower, not the brochure
The commonest disappointment after a conversion is a rainfall head that dribbles. The head did nothing wrong; the house could not feed it. A combi boiler with good mains pressure runs a standard or medium rainfall head happily. A combi on weak mains wants an electric shower or a mixer with a smaller head. A system boiler with an unvented cylinder is the best case and will run a large head and a hand shower together. A gravity tank in the loft needs a pump, or an electric shower, or the mixer will always be weak. We measure pressure and flow at the survey and tell you which row you are in before you buy a single part, because the cheapest way to waste money on a shower is to choose it from a picture.
When the conversion is worth it
For anyone who finds climbing into a bath harder each year, a level or low-step shower with a seat and rails is the single most useful change a bathroom can have, and the Disabled Facilities Grant can help where there is a long-term condition. In a small bathroom, losing the bath makes the room feel twice the size and gives you storage where the bath panel was. In a rental, a shower with no bath is cheaper to maintain and there is no sealant along a bath edge to fail.
The caution is resale. In a three or four bedroom family house with only one bathroom, buyers with young children expect a bath, and removing the only one can narrow your market. The usual answer is a wet room or walk-in shower in the ensuite and a bath kept in the main bathroom, or an L-shaped shower bath with a fixed screen in the main room if you want both in one. We will say which applies to your house at the survey.
Ask for the quote split three ways
Tray and glass, valve and plumbing, walls and finishing. A conversion quoted as one figure hides where the money is, and makes it impossible to see whether a panel instead of a door or wall panels instead of tiles would bring it within budget. Ours lists every item and we talk you through it.
Questions people ask
How long does a bath to shower conversion take?
Two to four working days. Two where the shower goes where the bath was, the walls are panelled and nothing else changes; four where the walls are tiled to the ceiling, the toilet and basin are replaced at the same time, or the waste moves. The shower is used from the day after the silicone goes on.
What size walk-in shower replaces a standard bath?
A 1700 by 700 bath leaves room for a 1700 by 700 or 1600 by 800 tray, which is a generous shower. Where the room is tight a 1400 by 800 or 1200 by 800 tray leaves a shelf or storage at the tap end. A single fixed panel suits trays from 1200 millimetres; shorter trays usually want a door.
Is an electric shower cheaper to install than a mixer shower?
To swap like for like on an existing circuit, yes: a few hundred pounds fitted. A new electric shower where there was none needs its own circuit from the consumer unit, an isolator and a certificate from the registered electrician, which usually puts it level with or above a thermostatic mixer fitted on existing hot and cold feeds.
Does replacing the bath with a shower reduce house value?
It can in a family house with only one bathroom, because buyers with small children expect a bath. In an ensuite, a second bathroom, a small flat or a home where mobility matters, a good walk-in shower usually helps a sale. Keep a bath somewhere in a three or four bedroom house if you can.
What is the cheapest way to replace a bath with a shower?
A low-profile stone resin tray in the bath's footprint, a single fixed glass panel, a thermostatic bar mixer on the existing feeds and wall panels on the three walls. Nothing moves, there is no grout and the job takes about three days. Avoid very cheap acrylic trays: they flex, the seal fails and the saving is gone within two years.
How much does it cost to move a shower to a different wall?
Typically £150 to £400 extra for the waste and the feeds where the new position is on the same wall or an adjacent one with a route under the floor, plus any boxing or tiling the move creates. Across the room depends on the fall available to the soil stack; the survey gives a yes or no with the reason.
Next step
Tell us about your bathroom
Send a few photos of the room and a line about what you want changed. You get a free survey, an itemised quote in writing and a start date, and nobody chases you if you decide to wait.
Quotes are free, itemised and in writing. The price you agree is the price you pay unless you change the job.