What does a bath to shower conversion cost in the Scottish Borders?
Our guide range in the Scottish Borders is £1,900–£4,800 including VAT. Prices in the Scottish Borders run at about 4% below the UK guide, based on Scotland labour rates.
Tray and enclosure
- Thermostatic shower, re-tiling
Walk-in shower
- Large tray and frameless screen
Level-access floor
- Level entry, linear drain
Guide prices for Scottish Borders including VAT. Your itemised written quote after the free survey is the price that counts.
Which towns do we cover in the Scottish Borders?
Supplies across most of the Scottish Borders are soft. If that holds for your street in Hawick, limescale on shower glass and heads builds up slowly and a squeegee after use is usually enough. Hardness varies street by street, so check the figure for your postcode with your water supplier. If your Hawick bathroom was refitted recently and you like the rest of it, we can convert just the bath area and finish the new tiling neatly against the old.
What the job includes
- A thermostatic shower valve, with the pipework moved for the new head position
- Boarding, tanking and re-tiling of the shower walls
- Repair or replacement of floorboards where the bath has left them soft or damaged
- A glass enclosure, walk-in panel or frameless screen
- A survey of the bath space, the waste position, the floor and your water system
- A low-profile tray, or a former and tanking for a level-access floor
Decisions to make first
Low tray or level floor
A low-profile tray has a small lip. A level-access floor removes the step altogether but needs a former, tanking and a linear drain.
How much to re-tile
Re-tile just the shower walls, or take the chance to re-tile the whole room so new and old tiles never have to match.
Your only bath?
If this is the only bath in the house, think about whether you, or a future buyer, will want one before you commit.
Enclosure or walk-in
An enclosure with a door keeps all the water in and suits a shorter space. A walk-in panel makes the most of the full 1700 mm length an old bath leaves.
Rules that apply in Scotland
Converting a bath to a shower does not need planning permission. The shower area is a special location under BS 7671, with 30 mA RCD protection on every circuit and at least IPX4 fittings in zone 1 above the tray up to 2.25 m. A shower pump can only be used on a gravity system with a cold tank, never on the mains. Where the conversion adapts the home for a disabled person, the work can be zero-rated for VAT under HMRC VAT Notice 701/7.
In Scotland, a bath to shower swap in the same position rarely needs a building warrant, but a level-access floor that alters drainage or structure may. For adaptation help, councils run a Scheme of Assistance rather than Disabled Facilities Grants.