Shower Installation Cost: What Decides the Price

Shower quotes vary wildly because "fit a shower" covers four completely different jobs. Swapping a shower unit for a similar one is a few hours' work. Installing an electric shower where there was none means a new circuit from the consumer unit. Building an enclosure means tray, waste, tanking and tiling. This guide separates them, explains what each price is made of, and covers the thing most people find out too late: your water system decides which showers you can have.

We do not print prices here because every one of these jobs depends on the house. What we can do is show you what to look for on a quote so you can compare two like for like.

The four jobs

Like-for-like replacement

An existing shower swapped for a similar one in the same position, using the existing hot and cold supply and, for an electric unit, the existing cable and isolator. Normally half a day. The cost is mostly labour plus the unit. What pushes it up: the old unit was fitted with the pipework in a different place, the isolator or cable is not up to current standards, or the wall behind is damaged and needs making good.

New electric shower

The shower itself is modest. The cost is the dedicated circuit: cable from the consumer unit sized for the shower's rating, a suitable protective device, a pull-cord isolator, and testing and certification, because this is notifiable electrical work in a bathroom under Part P of the Building Regulations. The price depends on how far the cable has to run, whether it can be routed through a loft or has to be chased into walls, and whether the consumer unit has a spare way or needs upgrading. On many jobs the electrical work costs more than the shower.

Mixer shower

A thermostatic mixer valve connected to hot and cold supplies. Cheap and quick if the supplies are already behind the wall in roughly the right place. More if pipework has to be run or chased in, and more again if it is a concealed valve, because the wall has to be opened, replastered and retiled. Pay for a good thermostatic valve rather than a fancy finish; the valve is what holds the temperature when someone flushes the toilet.

Power shower or pump

Only for gravity-fed systems with a cold tank in the loft and a hot water cylinder. The pump needs a location near the cylinder, a dedicated feed from the cylinder or tank, and a fused electrical connection. Cost depends on access to the cylinder cupboard and whether the existing pipework is suitable.

Digital shower

A processor box in the loft or a cupboard, a control panel on the wall, and a head. Price depends heavily on how accessible the loft is and how far the cable and pipe runs are. Functionally a good thermostatic mixer does the same job; you are paying for precise control and a tidy wall.

Full enclosure

Tray, screen, waste, tiling or panels, tanking and often a new supply run. This is a small building job, not a shower swap, and it is quoted like one: materials, labour across trades, and days on site including drying time.

What your water system allows

This decides everything, so establish it before you buy anything.

• Combi boiler. Hot and cold both at mains pressure. Suits mixers and digital showers rated for high pressure. You cannot fit a pump: pumping the mains is not permitted under the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999, and it would not help anyway, because the limit is the boiler's hot water flow rate. An electric shower works but is usually pointless when you already have instant hot water.
• Gravity system with a loft tank. Low pressure. This is what power showers and pumps were designed for. A plain mixer may be disappointing unless the tank sits well above the shower head.
• Unvented cylinder. Mains pressure hot and cold, usually excellent for mixers and digital showers. No pump needed or permitted.

Not sure which you have? A cold water tank in the loft means gravity. A large insulated cylinder with no loft tank usually means unvented. No cylinder at all means a combi. Our combi boiler explainer covers the differences.

The costs people do not expect

• The electrical circuit. Covered above. Get it as a separate line on the quote.
• Chasing walls. Concealed pipework looks better and costs more, and it drags in replastering and retiling.
• Waste and falls. A tray in a new position needs a waste run with enough fall to the soil stack. That sometimes means lifting floorboards or building the tray up.
• Tanking. Any tiled shower area needs a waterproof membrane behind the tiles. Grout is not waterproof. Skipping tanking is the most expensive saving available, because the leak shows up in the ceiling below a year later.
• Undersized supply pipework. Old 15mm runs with several bends feeding a modern high-flow head will disappoint whatever shower you buy.
• Hard water. In hard water areas scale blocks shower heads and thermostatic cartridges. A budget valve with no serviceable cartridge is a false economy.
• Ventilation. If there is no extractor fan, budget for one. It is what stops a new bathroom growing mould.

How to get a quote you can compare

• Ask for it itemised: shower unit, valve and head, pipework, electrical work and certificate, tray and waste, tanking and tiling, making good.
• Ask what happens if the wall is not what they expect. Old houses hide surprises. A good fitter tells you how they price extras before they find them.
• Check the flow rate first. Time how long the bath tap takes to fill a jug of known size. That tells you more than any brochure about which shower will feel good.
• Ask who does the electrics and who is signing the certificate. If the answer is vague, move on.

Here is the honest bit: the most common shower complaint we are called to is a perfectly good shower fitted to the wrong system. A high-flow rainfall head on a gravity system without a pump. A pump bolted onto a combi. An electric shower next to a boiler that could have fed a mixer for a fraction of the running cost. None of those are the shower's fault, and none of them show up until the first use. Match the shower to the system, not the other way round.

If your existing shower is weak rather than broken, you may not need a new shower at all. Scale in the head, a partially closed isolation valve or a tired cartridge are all cheaper fixes.

Frequently asked questions

Can I fit an electric shower myself?
Replacing like for like on an existing suitable circuit is within reach of a competent DIYer, but the electrical connection in a bathroom is notifiable and needs certifying. A new circuit is an electrician's job, full stop.

Why can I not fit a pump to my combi?
A combi already gives mains pressure and the regulations do not allow pumping the mains. If flow is poor on a combi, the cause is the incoming supply, the pipework or the boiler's flow rate, not a missing pump.

Is a digital shower worth it?
For precise temperature control and a clean wall, yes. A good thermostatic mixer does the same job for less, and the processor needs to live somewhere you can reach it for servicing.

How long does it take?
A like-for-like swap is half a day. A new electric shower with a circuit is usually a full day across two trades. A full enclosure is several days including tiling and drying time.

Getting it specified properly

If you are in Milton Keynes or the surrounding towns and want to know what your system can actually support before you spend anything, get in touch. We will tell you which type suits the house and quote it itemised. For a leak from an existing shower or a burst behind the tiles, our emergency plumbing page explains what to do first.