Ada County · City
Custom Shower Design & Construction in Meridian, Idaho
The centre of our work: three distinct building eras in one city, and the largest concentration of oversized corner tubs waiting to become showers.
Short answer
Meridian shower projects divide cleanly by the age of the house. Homes around the original downtown grid tend to have small, much-modified bathrooms where the shower has been rebuilt before, often badly. The very large stock of late-1990s and 2000s subdivision homes almost universally pairs a corner garden tub with an undersized fibreglass shower — the tub is the space we reclaim. Newer construction on the south and west sides usually has a workable footprint but a builder-grade wet area that was never waterproofed to the standard the tile suggests.
Housing stock in Meridian and the showers it produces
- Pre-war and mid-century homes near the downtown grid, where the bathroom is often the smallest room in the house and has been reworked at least once.
- The large late-1990s and 2000s subdivision belt, where primary suites were built around a corner garden tub with a 36-inch fibreglass shower beside it.
- 2010s and newer construction on the south and west edges, typically with a large enough wet area but a one-piece pan and an untested wall assembly.
What we build in Meridian
- Removing a corner garden tub is the single most common Meridian scope. The tub deck usually yields enough width for a genuine 60-to-72-inch tiled shower with a bench, without touching another wall.
- Two-storey subdivision homes put the primary bath over the great room, so any drain relocation is governed by joist direction and by whether the client will accept a ceiling opening below.
- Hall baths shared by children are more often tub-to-shower questions than pure shower rebuilds; where the household has no other tub, we say so before removing it.
Permits and jurisdiction
Permit thresholds, inspection sequences and contractor-registration requirements are set locally and change over time. We confirm current requirements with the authority having jurisdiction before work starts, and you should expect any shower contractor to tell you which office that is. In Meridian that is the City of Meridian building services division.
Most Meridian housing is wood-framed over a crawlspace or a second-floor bay, which makes a recessed curbless entry genuinely achievable more often here than in slab-heavy areas. Where the primary bath sits above living space, the practical question is whether the ceiling below can be opened.
Meridian is supplied from municipal groundwater wells and the water is hard. Expect visible scale on glass and fittings within weeks unless you specify a treated glass coating and a grout that tolerates routine descaling. This is worth deciding at specification, not after the shower is finished.
Our guide on what to ask a shower contractor covers the permit, scope and waterproofing questions worth asking before you sign anything.
Areas we cover in and around Meridian
- Downtown Meridian and the surrounding older grid
- South Meridian toward Amity and Lake Hazel
- North Meridian near Chinden and Linder
- West Meridian toward Ten Mile
- The Paramount and Bridgetower areas
Services available in Meridian
Preparing for the build
Before the first day, clear the bathroom and the route to it, take anything off the walls that shares framing with the shower, and tell us which bathroom stays in use and where the crew can park. We bring floor protection, door containment and dust control, isolate the water supply at a point we show you, and clean the work area at the end of each day.
- Selections — tile, grout, valve trim, drain and glass — are confirmed before demolition so a lead time cannot stall the build.
- In a single-bathroom home we sequence the work so the shower is out of service for the shortest possible stretch, and we say up front how long that is.
- Pets and children are kept clear of the work area; there are open drains, power tools and wet membrane in there for days.
Timeline and site conditions
Most single-shower projects in Meridian run roughly two to three weeks on site once materials are on hand: protection and demolition, framing corrections and blocking, plumbing and electrical rough-in, the complete waterproofing system with its cure and flood test, tile setting, grout, then glass. Glass is templated after tile is set, so the panel often arrives a week or two after the shower already looks finished. Your written scope carries the schedule for your specific shower rather than a stock number.
Conditions found after demolition change that schedule more often than anything else — rot at the base of a wall, a drain that is not where it should be, framing out of plane, or an older pan with no membrane behind it. We photograph what we find, price it, and get your agreement before we carry on.
What drives the price of a shower in meridian
Estimates are written after we have seen and measured the shower. We do not publish prices, because a shower quoted sight-unseen is a guess. These are the factors that move the number most, in roughly the order they matter:
- Size of the wet area and how high the tile runs — square footage of tile and membrane is the base of the estimate.
- Whether the drain and valve stay where they are. Moving either means opening the floor or the wall and coordinating a licensed plumber.
- Floor structure. A joisted floor lets a curbless pan be recessed; a slab often means either a ramped approach or cutting concrete.
- Tile choice. Large-format panels, mosaics, natural stone and any pattern that needs mitred or mapped joints all add setting time.
- Waterproofing system specified, and whether a linear drain, bench, niche or steam enclosure has to be integrated into it.
- Glass — a fixed panel, a door, low-iron glass or a custom radius each price differently.
- Conditions behind the old shower, which is why nothing is quoted before we have seen it.
Written scope, exclusions and change orders
Every project is built from a written scope that names the waterproofing system by manufacturer, the drain type, the tile and its layout, the glass, the schedule and the price. It also lists what is excluded, because that is where disputes come from.
Typically included
- Protection, containment, demolition and disposal
- Framing corrections and blocking for benches, niches and grab bars
- Plumbing and electrical rough-in for the valve, drain and any light or fan in the wet area
- The complete waterproofing system, flood test and pan slope verification
- Tile setting, grout, sealing where the material requires it
- Glass templating and installation, final clean and a punch-list walkthrough
Typically excluded and stated as such
- Work outside the shower: vanities, mirrors, bathroom flooring, paint beyond patching
- Hidden rot, mould remediation or structural repair discovered after demolition
- Moving walls, windows or the room's ventilation route
- Whole-house water treatment, though we will tell you when hard water is the real problem
- Owner-supplied materials, which we install but do not warrant
Anything that changes the scope becomes a written change order with its price and schedule effect, agreed before the work is done. Nothing is carried out on a verbal instruction.
Permits and inspections
A like-for-like tile shower replacement often needs no permit, while relocating a drain, altering supply plumbing, changing framing or adding electrical usually does. Jurisdiction follows your address, and the Treasure Valley has several — Boise, Meridian, Eagle and Star each issue their own permits, and county addresses go through the county. We identify permit-triggering work in the written scope and confirm the requirement with the authority for your address before work starts, rather than assuming.
Warranty and aftercare
Our craftsmanship is covered by a 1-year warranty, alongside the manufacturer warranties that come with the waterproofing system and materials specified in your scope.
Idaho contractor registration RCE-57919. Bonded and insured, with the current certificate of insurance provided in writing with every estimate. At handover you get the product documentation for the waterproofing system and tile, plus written cleaning guidance suited to the surfaces we installed and to Treasure Valley water. If something is not right, tell us and we will come back. Request an estimate or call (208) 891-1890.
Shower questions from Meridian homeowners
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Planning a shower project in Meridian?
Tell us about the shower and what is not working. We will follow up, arrange a visit and put a written scope and price in front of you.