Homeowners looking to update their homes often start with the bathrooms — and the first target is often the shower. Replacing an old, water-stained shower door makes a bathroom look more beautiful, modern and clean. Homeowners can choose from clear glass, frameless shower doors, smaller pivot doors, or sliding, pebbled glass doors. The cost of this project depends on the size and materials of the door, plus the fee the professional installer charges.

Shower door types and styles

A full-service glass and window services company, such as GlassMogul in Mesa, Arizona, or Allstate Glassworks in La Porte, Texas, can install a wide variety of residential shower door types, including alcove, bathtub, bypass, corner, double- and single-pane, fixed, framed and frameless, hinged, pivot, and sliding doors. The glass may be clear or some type of privacy glass, such as etched, frosted or paneled. Hardware colors and metals include bronze, brown, gray, silver, chrome, nickel, stainless steel and white.

Shower door prices

A simple, single door with chrome hardware on a pivot will cost $150-$200. A set of sliding glass doors with nickel hardware ranges from $350 to $700. A frameless shower enclosure will cost about $1,000, and a bathtub may cost as much as $900.

Installation services

If the site is clean and doesn’t require additional repairs or modifications, the labor included in installation shower doors includes securing the door frame to the shower walls, adjusting and leveling the doors, caulking the edges of the door frame, and preparing and cleaning up the area in the bathroom.

Installation costs

Installation fees will vary depending on whether you buy the doors and materials yourself or have a professional installer and contractor purchase them. The basic labor runs $100-$300, and supplies usually cost less than $10. In some jobs, the installer may need to acquire special equipment, such as a specific size of miter saw, which generally costs $50-$100, and some of this cost may be passed on to the customer. Homeowners can also hire the installer to remove and dispose of old shower doors, which usually costs less than $100. The total cost of professional shower door installation can range from $250 to $700, not including the price of the shower doors.

Special circumstances

Your installation costs may be higher if your bathroom is very small or has an unusual layout that’s difficult for the installer to navigate, especially when wielding floor-to-ceiling-size pieces of glass. The design of your tub or shower may mean increased costs as well; for example, it’s more complicated to install shower doors on top of a bathtub than to put simple sliding doors on a shower stall. Similarly, a frameless enclosure with two walls requires more labor than a single door on a pivot. The more unusual the room design or shower components, the greater your installation cost will be.