Pricing

What Does a Frameless Shower Door Cost?

The honest version, from a glass company that will not guess at your bathroom.

Why there is no number on this page.

You want a number before you pick up the phone. That is a completely reasonable thing to want, and almost no glass company website will give you one.

We are not going to either, and we would rather tell you why than bury it. A frameless shower door is made for your opening and nobody else's. Change the glass thickness, the configuration, the hardware or how far out of square the walls are, and the price moves, sometimes a long way. Any figure we published on this page would be one of two things: a range so wide it tells you nothing useful, or a low number designed to make the phone ring that would never survive the measure. You would find out which on the day someone stood in your bathroom.

So here is the other half of the deal. Below is exactly what we are looking at when we price a shower, in plain language, so you can see which way your own project leans before you speak to anyone. And if you want a real number, we can usually give you a rough one on the phone the same day.

Get a Real Number
Frameless glass shower enclosure installed by Maven Glass in the Triangle

What We Are Looking At

What actually moves the price.

These are the things we weigh up when we quote a shower enclosure. None of them are reasons to charge you more. They are simply the variables, and knowing them means you can tell roughly which way your own project leans before you speak to anybody.

Glass thickness
Frameless enclosures are normally half-inch or three-eighths-inch tempered glass. Thicker glass is heavier, needs stronger hardware to carry it, and costs more, but it is also what gives a frameless panel that solid, immovable feel. On a large door it is usually the right call. On a small fixed panel it can be money that does not show.
The configuration
A single fixed panel beside a walk-in opening is the simplest thing we install. A door with an inline panel is more. A neo-angle in a corner, a door with a return panel, or a steam enclosure with a transom above it and a header carrying the top are more again, because there are more pieces, more hardware and more places the fit has to be exact.
Hardware
Hinges, clamps, handles, headers and seals span a wide range, and many options are available. This is the part of the quote you have the most control over, and the part where the difference is genuinely visible and felt every day, because the hardware is what you touch.
Whether the opening is square
This is the one nobody expects. Glass is rigid and cut to a fixed shape, so if a wall leans or the curb is not level, the glass does not bend to meet it. We take up the variance in the wall channels, the hinge selection and where the glass is notched. In an older house that is more work than in a new one, and the measure is where we find out.
What the glass lands on
Hinges and clamps have to fix into something solid. Tile over a stud lands differently from tile over backer board, and natural stone is drilled with more care and more slowly than ceramic. Where your fixings land affects both the method and the time.
Height and size
Standard height is one thing. Running the glass to the ceiling, or a door tall enough that it needs a header for stability, changes both the glass and the hardware. Oversized panels also change how many people it takes to carry and set them.
Glass options
Clear tempered is the default. Low-iron glass removes the faint green cast you see in the edge of ordinary glass and is noticeably more neutral against white tile or marble. Textured and patterned options exist too, as does a factory-applied protective coating that makes the glass easier to keep clean. Each is a choice, not a requirement.
Access
Heavy glass is carried in by hand. A ground-floor bathroom with a straight run in is easy. A second-floor bathroom at the top of a tight staircase is not, and in a townhome the turn at the top sometimes decides what panel size is sensible in the first place. We look at the route in, not just the opening.
Removing what is there now
Most of our shower work replaces an existing enclosure. A framed unit has a track bedded in caulk on the curb, and lifting it without chipping tile is careful work. We remove and haul away the old enclosure, and if the tile underneath it has a problem, you will hear about it from us before it becomes your surprise.

How It Really Works

From your call to a price in writing.

  1. Tell us what you have

    Call 919-520-4447 or send the quote form. Rough dimensions help, and a photo of the opening helps more. It costs you nothing and there is no obligation attached to it.

  2. Most of the time, a rough number on that call

    We prequalify most shower projects by phone, and we can usually give you a ballpark before anyone visits. That is unusual in this trade and it is deliberate. If your project is not what you hoped it would be, you should find that out in five minutes, not in three weeks.

  3. We call within 24 hours to book the measure

    If you want a firm price, we schedule the critical measure. You get a one-hour arrival window for that appointment, not a half-day of waiting around for us.

  4. The critical measure

    We measure the finished opening at several heights, check the walls for plumb and the curb for level, and confirm the configuration, the glass and the hardware with you. This is the appointment everything else depends on, because tempered glass is made to final size and cannot be cut, drilled or trimmed afterward.

  5. A written proposal by email

    You get your price in writing, itemized, so you can read it properly instead of trying to remember what someone said on your doorstep. Nothing is ordered until you approve it.

  6. Then we build the schedule around it

    On approval we take a deposit and your glass is made to your exact dimensions. Lead time runs from about 1 to 15 days depending on the project. We quality-check every piece when it arrives, before installation day, and the work carries a 5-year product and labor warranty.

One thing we tell every shower customer before they spend anything. Frameless glass is designed with small, intentional gaps, so a little water movement at the edges is normal and is not a defect. We set honest expectations for your layout rather than promise a watertight seal frameless is not built to provide. The full explanation is on our frameless shower water containment page.

By Town

What moves the price where you are.

The variables above are the same everywhere. Which of them actually bites depends on the house. An older Durham bathroom has settled and needs more designed out. An Apex house built in the last twenty years is mostly a straight swap of the builder unit.

Want the actual number?

Most shower projects get a rough quote right over the phone. We call within 24 hours to book the measure.

Call 919-520-4447 Request a Quote
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