West Shore Home Bath Remodel Price

The shower is leaking again, so we have to do something. We have tightened everything up as much as we can without getting at the pipes in the wall. They are behind the fiberglass in the bathroom. We could reach them on the other side of the wall, the living room wall, but that would be a real mess.

As long as we are going to have to put so much effort, time and money into it, we may as well make it an improvement instead of a repair. It adds to the home value if we decide to sell. We did some research. How much it adds to the home value is all over the place depending on the value of the home and the resale market. The minimum we came up with was $8000 with most coming in at $15000 to $24000. We decided if we could bring the cost to not much more than $8000, we should do it.

I had already done the research on replacing the old fiberglass tub. It’s the only thing left in the log cabin that I didn’t replace. We added up the cost and calculated the time involved. Then we decided to get some estimates on hiring someone else to do it for us.

I called around. Nobody could get to us to give an estimate very soon. They could give us an appointment some time in January. And that is just for measuring and giving us a price. We were also warned that a lot of inventory was on backorder.

If we were living there, we might wait, but this is a vacation rental now and we can’t rent it out with a leaky shower. We saw an ad on TV and called West Shore Home. We called the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and left a message. They called us back right away. We guessed nothing could be done that week, but they were able to come out the next day to take a look, show us samples and take measurements.

**NOT** West Shore Home Website **DO NOT FILL OUT THIS FORM**

I googled West Shore Home and got a link to get an estimate on-line. I filled out the form and got a price of $40,000. And the phone started ringing. First it was someone wanting to offer us a home equity line of credit. Then it was a competing bath company. Then more home improvement companies… This form has absolutely nothing to do with West Shore Home. It is a fake website that took my information and sold it. We stopped answering the phone.

I checked West Shore Home reviews on Google, Yelp, Home Adviser, BBB, Angie’s List (Angi now) and Facebook. They aren’t 100%, but they are way way more good than bad. A lot of the poor reviews were for things like colors. We want white, should be easy to not mess up.

West Shore Home Bath Remodel Sample Case

Two guys showed up on Wednesday with a big bag of samples. Ordinarily it would be just one guy, but they were training a new guy. One guy talked and the other guy listened. I thought the listening guy was the one learning what to say, but actually the new guy was the one we talked to and the other guy was making sure he was doing it right.

Wall panel samples and a demo of how the walls fit to the tub and don’t leak

We know exactly what we want. I want to tear out the fiberglass tub and the old pipes in the wall. I want to replace everything with an easy-to-clean step-in shower. I don’t want tile anywhere. I want the walls to be plain, un-textured acrylic or cultured marble like I put above the soaker tub at the new house. I want everything simple and easy to clean and take care of. I want chrome hardware, not satin nickel or dark bronze or anything.

Measuring to replace the old fiberglass tub with a new acrylic walk-in shower and easy-to-clean acrylic walls

West Shore Home could do exactly what I want. I didn’t need to see any other options, but Cliff wanted to see what is available. There are a lot of other options available.

Sold shower base doesn’t need a layer of mortar and liner over the subfloor
It’s thicker than this. This is just the little sample.

They showed us a video of the process and talked us through it. The shower base doesn’t need a layer of mortar and liner over the subfloor, beneath the shower pan. This make the install take a lot less time, usually only one day.

We debated the shower door. I hate cleaning a shower door, but it might help people keep the water in the shower. After a bit of debate, we went with a shower curtain rod. If we find that people get the tile floor wet, we can add a splash guard. If it is still a problem, we can add a shower door later.

A miniature shower to demonstrate how the products work

We selected a Standard 32″ x 60″ Jacuzzi Base in Alabaster White with matching Alabaster White Wall Surrounds in Smooth texture. Jacuzzi is the brand name. It’s not a shower with jets or anything.

We decided to have the surround walls go all the way up to the ceiling.

They gave us a price that is good for one year. We decided to add shelves and grab bars, which didn’t end up costing any more.

We are getting a chrome shower rod, one 12” and one 24” chrome finished grab bars and three Alabaster White corner shelves.

They said all my choices were standard and they could start in 8 to 12 weeks, maybe even sooner, before the end of the year. Since the other companies I called couldn’t even come out to measure before the end of the year, that sounds great.

We asked about any additional discounts we could get if we paid by check instead of credit card or financing. That brought the price down even more.

West Shore Home Bath Remodel Contract and Price

After everything, it will be closer to $9000 than $8000. But that was pretty much where we were hoping we could land. I can also subtract the repair we didn’t pay for. If we can get it finished and get guests back in here sooner, that’s an advantage, too.

The Friday after Thanksgiving we got a call that everything is in stock. They can come December 7. Unless they run into something unexpected, they will be done in one day!