Tub-to-shower conversion cost, and what the drain and valve add

Most Portland-area tub-to-shower conversions run $1,600-$8,400 for a single bathroom, materials included, and a typical job comes to about $3,200 (market data, November 2026) . Where yours lands depends on panels or tile, whether the tub drain has to get bigger or move, whether the old valve stays, the glass, and what the floor under the tub looks like.

The service page for tub-to-shower work walks through the job itself. This guide opens the number up. I'm Slava, and it's written for the person with a quote on the kitchen table, or two quotes that are thousands apart and no idea why.

How much does a tub-to-shower conversion cost near Portland?

For one bathroom, local market figures start at $1,600 and top out at $8,400, with $3,200 the most common ticket. Materials are already inside that price.

The market data behind this row assumes roughly 30 labour hours, with materials making up around 40 % of the price. A fair way to read the spread: the bottom is a prefab base and wall panels over a drain that hardly moves, and the top is tiled walls, new glass and real plumbing changes .

You'll run into much bigger numbers on national sites and in contractor forums. Those usually describe custom tile with the layout moved, or a whole bathroom redone and still called a conversion. Once the project reaches the vanity, the floor and the toilet, it's a full remodel, and the market range climbs to $7,700-$35,000, materials in . That work sits under our bathroom remodel service.

Why do two quotes on one tub differ by thousands?

Usually because the two contractors are pricing different jobs under the same name. Five choices swing the total, and they rarely line up between bids:

• Walls: panels or tile, and whether the finish runs all the way to the ceiling.
• Base: a prefab pan that sits in the tub's footprint, or a floor built and tiled on site.
• Drain: it stays where it is, gets upsized, or moves.
• Valve: the old one stays with new trim, or it gets replaced.
• Glass: a curtain rod, a framed door, or frameless panels.

The second big swing is what a quote leaves out. One bid may cover tearing out the tub, the plumber's part, the glass, a patch on the ceiling below and paint around the new shower, while the next one lists half of those as "by owner" or skips them . Ask too where the old tub goes once it's out . Compare the lines first and the totals second.

Size matters as well. Plenty of homes built here between the 1960s and the '90s, including the ranch and split-level houses in Beaverton and Cedar Mill's '60s and '70s homes, have a 5-foot hall-bath alcove that a stock base usually drops into. An odd-sized alcove needs a custom pan or a tiled floor, and either one adds money.

What do the drain and the valve add to the price?

The drain and the valve are the lines most likely to push a conversion from the low end toward the middle or above. Here's what sits behind them.

Drain size. A bathtub usually drains through a 1½-inch line, while a shower is usually plumbed with a 2-inch drain. If the pipe under the old tub is the smaller size, the plumber upsizes it from the trap back, and that's often the moment a simple swap becomes floor work .

Drain location. Many shower pans are made with an end outlet, which puts it close to where the tub drained. Pick a centre drain or a base larger than the tub, and the drain has to move. Moving it always costs more than leaving it.

Getting to the pipe. If a crawl space runs under the bathroom, as it does under a lot of homes west of the hills, the plumber can usually work from underneath and leave the bathroom floor alone. A house on a slab means cutting concrete. With an upstairs bathroom, the ceiling of the room below is often opened, and closing that drywall afterwards is a separate line (it's in the table in the next section).

The valve. The tub spout comes off and its outlet gets capped. An old two- or three-handle valve is usually replaced with a single-handle one that protects against a burst of hot water when somebody flushes a toilet. A newer single-handle valve can often stay with fresh trim, though the head may need to go higher for someone standing .

Our price sheet has no market row for this part, so I won't make up a figure. The plumber prices it, and you should see it as its own line on the quote .

Under the state's Building Codes Division rules, a plumbing permit comes into play once pipe hidden in a wall or below the floor gets changed, or when the remodel moves plumbing that's already there. Swapping only the shower head doesn't need one. The permit guide goes further.

What extras get priced on their own?

Four pieces tend to appear on a conversion quote as their own lines, and each has its own market range.

Pieces that often show up as their own line (November 2026 market data)

The door row is labour, so the glass itself is extra on top of it .

Subfloor is the line no one can price honestly until the tub is out. A slow leak along the tub's edge can soften plywood for years without a sign on the surface, and a bathroom that never fully dries through a long wet winter makes it worse. If the floor is soft, it gets replaced before the new base goes down.

Grab bars are cheapest to plan while the studs are open, because solid blocking can go in at that point for very little. One more thing that isn't in the table: if the bath fan is weak or missing, mention it early. Getting steam out of the room keeps a new shower cleaner than any mould-resistant product will.

Is it cheaper to replace a tub, or to keep it and refresh it?

Keeping a sound tub is the cheapest option by a wide margin. These are the small jobs people price instead of converting:

Same source and date as the other tables. Small fixes like these are bathroom refresh territory.

Putting in a new tub is a different comparison. It takes the same tear-out and surround work as a conversion, so the saving, if any, is mostly in the plumbing and the base. Our price sheet doesn't carry a row for tub replacement, so there's no figure here .

Does converting the only tub hurt resale?

It can, depending on who's buying. In a house with two full bathrooms, turning one tub into a shower is common. In a one-bath house, parents of young children often want a tub, and so do some other buyers. If you plan to sell in the next few years, ask a local agent before you commit.

The cost side is simple. Leaving a tub in the second bathroom costs nothing today, while putting a tub back later means paying for another conversion, just in the other direction .

Panels or tile: how much does the choice move the price?

Panels keep a conversion close to the low end of the range, and tile pushes it toward the top or past it. Panel walls, acrylic or solid-surface, go up in fewer hours and leave fewer seams. Tile needs more labour, a waterproofing membrane behind it, and time for the setting material to cure.

The "one-day" offers you see advertised are panel systems fitted over the old footprint. A curbless entry usually means lowering the floor framing, so it gets priced as extra carpentry .

What changes the price when the house is older?

When the house went up is the first question, before tile or glass. Oregon presumes lead paint in any home built before 1978, and disturbing more than six square feet of paint in a single interior room counts as renovation; only firms holding the state's lead-based paint renovation certification may bid or do that work. Pulling out a tub surround often opens up painted wall around it. We don't take on work that disturbs lead paint, so an older bathroom may need a certified firm for that part . The details are in our guide to Oregon's lead paint rules.

Old tile setting beds and joint compound can also contain asbestos. We don't remove it, so in an older bathroom the test comes before demolition. Cedar Hills, with its tract homes from the '50s and '60s, still has plenty of bathrooms of original age where both questions come up.

One more line, on paper this time: at the typical $3,200, the job passes the $2,000 mark, and above that Oregon wants the agreement for home repair work in writing.