Quick answer
Tiling a shower enclosure in Plymouth typically costs £400–£1,200, with most jobs landing in the middle once you include tanking, adhesive, grout and labour. The main drivers are the area being tiled, the tile you choose, and the waterproofing the wet zone needs. A full bathroom re-tile sits inside the wider £800–£3,500 tiling range.
What goes into the price
Tiling a shower isn’t just sticking tiles to a wall — it’s a small wet-room job in miniature, and the price reflects that. A shower enclosure has to be fully waterproofed before tiling, which means tanking the walls and tray junction, then setting out, cutting and fixing the tiles, leaving the adhesive to cure, grouting, and finally sealing the joints and running fresh silicone where the tiles meet the tray and walls. Each of those stages takes craft and curing time, and that’s what you’re paying for — not just the square metres.
For a standard shower enclosure of three walls, you’re usually looking at £400–£800 for labour and materials with a mid-range tile. Larger walk-in showers, floor-to-ceiling tiling, premium or large-format tiles, and tricky cuts around niches and pipework push it toward £1,000–£1,200. Because Plymouth runs around 9% below the UK average, you’ll generally pay a little less here than the national figures suggest.
What pushes the cost up or down
Adds to the cost
- Floor-to-ceiling tiling rather than just the splash zone
- Large-format, natural stone or patterned tiles
- Built-in niches, recesses and feature bands
- Stripping out old tiles and making good first
- Re-boarding or re-tanking a poorly prepared wall
Keeps it down
- A sound, flat, already-waterproofed background
- Standard-size ceramic or porcelain tiles
- A simple rectangular enclosure with few cuts
- Tiling as part of a wider bathroom fit (shared set-up)
The hidden waterproofing under the tiles is part of the price — and the part that makes the job last.
Tiling a shower as part of a bigger job
If you’re re-tiling the shower on its own, you carry all the set-up cost — protecting the room, mixing adhesive, the call-out — against a small area, so the per-metre rate looks high. Fold it into a wider bathroom refit and that set-up is shared, which is why a shower re-tile is far better value done alongside other work. A full bathroom in Plymouth runs £4,075–£10,870 (average around £6,340), with tiling a meaningful slice of that. Our guide to bathroom tiling costs sets out the full range, and bathroom costs in Plymouth shows where tiling fits in the overall budget.
Whatever the scope, every shower we tile is tanked first — see waterproofing before tiling — because a cheap re-tile that leaks costs far more in the end. We’d always rather quote the job done properly than win the work on a price that quietly leaves the waterproofing out, and we’ll show you exactly what’s included so you can compare like with like against any other quote you’ve had.
Common questions
Does the price include waterproofing?
In our quotes, yes — tanking the wet zone is part of tiling a shower properly and is never an optional extra we leave out. Be wary of any quote that’s cheap because it skips it.
Is it cheaper to re-tile or replace the shower?
Re-tiling is usually cheaper if the tray, plumbing and enclosure are sound and you just want a fresh surface. If the shower itself is failing, replacing it while you re-tile is often better value than doing each separately.
How long does it take to tile a shower?
A standard shower enclosure is usually a couple of days including tanking and curing time, though it’s often folded into a longer bathroom timeline. See how long tiling takes.
For shower tiling and full re-tiles, see our tiling & flooring service and walk-in showers.
A fixed price, including the bits others skip
Get your shower tiled properly
We’ll measure up, specify the right tiles and tanking, and give you one written price with no surprises — fixed before we start.