How Much Does It Cost to Rebuild a Leaking Shower Pan in Phoenix?

Rebuilding a leaking tiled shower pan in Phoenix runs $2,500–$7,500 for most pan and bottom-row rebuilds, and up to $12,000+ for a full gut and re-tile — driven by whether we rebuild just the pan or gut the whole shower, whether your existing wall tile can be saved, and how far the water has already wicked into the walls. Because any real tiled pan rebuild clears Arizona’s $1,000 unlicensed cap and needs a licensed contractor, it’s work that’s squarely within our bathroom remodeling in Phoenix scope, ROC #365090. Here’s the honest, scope-by-scope answer.

Can You Rebuild Just the Pan and Save My Existing Wall Tile?

Often, yes — and it’s the scope option that separates our quote from the full tear-out most contractors default to. When your upper wall tile is sound, a pan-and-bottom-row rebuild is the less destructive, less expensive path, and it’s the first option we price. It isn’t always the right call: if the water damage runs too far up the wall, we’ll tell you plainly that a fuller rebuild is the smarter long-term spend rather than sell you the cheaper fix. Curious how the save-the-tile method actually works, and its honest risks? We walk through it step by step in the story of a Phoenix shower we rebuilt this way.

What Drives the Price of a Shower Leak Repair?

Five things move the number. Scope: a pan-and-bottom-row rebuild is a fraction of a full gut. Whether the tile is salvageable: saving the upper wall tile saves real money; a discontinued tile that forces a full re-tile does the opposite. Hidden damage: this is the big one, and the honest truth is that damage is often worse than it looks once the wall is open. On a recent job, water had wicked up past the first row of tile, which forced a decision about pulling a second course. Drain and layout: a standard center drain is cheaper than converting to a curbless entry or a linear/trench drain, which reroutes plumbing. Glass: reusing your enclosure beats buying new, if the panels survive demo. We price after we see it. Guessing high or low helps no one.

Can My Shower Glass and Doors Be Reused?

Sometimes, and it changes your quote enough that we settle it before demo, not after. When you hire us, we measure the exact opening and set the glass aside before demolition starts, and we price a new enclosure as the fallback since tempered glass doesn’t always survive the process. The glass line in the table above reflects a real recent job. What makes reuse possible or not, and why the decision has to happen before demo, is covered in the project story.

Do You Handle Permits, and Can You Do This Without Gutting My Bathroom?

Yes and yes. We work metro-wide, from Phoenix and Scottsdale to Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, and Peoria, and we default to the least-destructive scope that actually solves the leak. A like-for-like pan and tile rebuild that doesn’t move the drain usually doesn’t need a building permit; relocating the drain, converting to curbless, or altering the plumbing does, and each city sets its own thresholds, so we pull the permit in your city when the scope calls for it. One thing that isn’t optional: under Arizona’s A.R.S. §32-1121, an unlicensed handyman can’t legally take a job over $1,000 in combined labor and materials, and a real tiled pan rebuild always clears that, so a licensed contractor is required. That’s us, Class B, ROC #365090, bonded and insured. Text us photos of the tile, the corner, and any staining on the adjacent wall and we’ll give you a same-day read.

How We Rebuild a Shower Pan the Right Way

There are two correct ways to waterproof a shower, and mixing them up is how a “fixed” shower fails again. The old mud-set method relies on a PVC or CPE liner buried under a deck-mud bed, which needs two slopes: a pre-slope under the liner so water that reaches it still runs to the drain’s weep holes, plus a finish slope over it. Most old pans fail because that pre-slope was flat, so water pooled on the liner. The modern method we build instead waterproofs at the tile surface with a bonded membrane, a sheet like Schluter-Kerdi or a liquid like RedGard, over a single properly sloped mortar bed, so there’s no buried liner to fail. Either way, the walls get a cement or foam backer and a membrane, not moisture-resistant greenboard, which isn’t a code shower substrate at all. We coordinate a licensed plumbing sub for the drain connection, and we flood-test the finished pan well beyond the code minimum before a single tile goes on. Ask any contractor to show you photos of the waterproofing before the tile went on. A pro documents it. A hack won’t have it. See how we rebuilt a leaking shower and saved the wall tile →

Shower Leak & Pan Rebuild FAQ

Do you charge to look at a leaking shower? No. Text us photos of the tile, the corner, and any staining on the adjacent wall and we’ll scope most shower pan jobs and give you a ballpark the same day, then confirm with an in-person look before we quote firm.

Do you quote the pan-only option, or just full tear-outs? We quote both scopes side by side whenever the wall tile is sound, so you can see the price difference and choose. If the damage makes the fuller rebuild the smarter call, we’ll say so before you spend a dollar.

Do I need a licensed contractor for a shower pan rebuild? Yes. Under A.R.S. §32-1121, an unlicensed handyman can’t legally take any job over $1,000 in combined labor and materials, and a real tiled pan rebuild always exceeds that. Norem is a licensed Class B general contractor, ROC #365090, bonded and insured, and pulls permits when the job needs one.

Which Phoenix-area cities do you serve? We rebuild shower pans and repair corner leaks across the Phoenix metro: Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, and Peoria.

How long does a shower pan rebuild take? Most pan-and-bottom-row rebuilds run several working days: demo, the plumbing check with our licensed sub, waterproofing with proper cure time, a flood test, then tile and grout. We give you a schedule with the quote and flag anything that could move it, like hidden damage found once the wall is open.

Related costs: drywall repair prices in Phoenix · full bathroom remodeling · see our completed work

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