Homeowners in Vancouver ask this question more than almost any other when planning a bathroom renovation. Keep the tub or ditch it? Go walk-in shower only? What about my resale value? What about the kids?
After 25 years in Lower Mainland residential construction and renovation, the answer I give isn’t the same every time – because the right answer depends on your house, your household, and honestly, how long you plan to stay.
Here’s how to think through it.
The Question Behind the Question
Most people frame this as a style decision. It isn’t. It’s a space decision, a lifestyle decision, and – if you’re thinking about selling – a market decision.
Walk-in showers win on three things: they feel larger, they’re easier to clean, and they’re more accessible as you age. And honestly, if you don’t take baths, then why not convert? Tubs wins on two: resale flexibility and the fact that if you have young kids, you need one somewhere in the house, depending, of course, on the age of the kids.
The mistake most Vancouver homeowners make is deciding without thinking about which bathroom they’re renovating and whether it’s the only tub in the house.
The Rule That Changes Everything: Is This Your Only Tub?
If the bathroom you’re renovating has the only tub in your home, removing it carries some resale risk – not because walk-in showers aren’t desirable, but because buyers with young families want at least one tub in the house. In Vancouver’s housing market, where a detached home can list at $2 million or more, limiting your buyer pool may be a costly mistake.
If you have another tub somewhere in the house – a main bathroom, a kids’ bathroom – then this bathroom is free to become whatever works best for you. And that’s usually a walk-in shower.
This single factor settles the decision for more clients than anything else.
Walk-In Shower: What You’re Actually Getting
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A properly built walk-in shower in a Vancouver house, waterproofed correctly with a system like Schluter Kerdi or Wedi board and tiled well, with a frameless glass enclosure, transforms a bathroom. It makes a small bathroom feel larger, it reads as a luxury finish, and it’s genuinely easier to use and maintain day to day.
Cost range in Vancouver: $11,000 to $20,000+ depending on size, tile selection, glass, and whether plumbing moves.
What drives cost up: moving the drain, custom tile work, a niche or bench, a rainfall head, and frameless glass versus framed. Finishing items such as the toilet, the vanity, the mirror, the ceiling fan, etc. also have a large impact on the final grand total.
What most people underestimate: waterproofing. It’s not visible once the tile goes up, but it’s the difference between a shower that lasts 20 years and one that destroys your subfloor in five. Don’t let a contractor skip this or cut corners here. It’s by far the single most important part of any bathroom renovation.
Keeping the Tub: When It’s the Right Call
A tub isn’t a compromise. In the right bathroom, it’s precisely the right choice.
If you have a growing family, if the tub is the main family bathroom, or if you’re renovating a home you plan to sell in the next few years, then keeping a tub makes sense. A well-tiled tub surround with quality fixtures looks sharp and adds value without the complexity and cost of a full walk-in shower build.
A soaker tub in a primary ensuite, paired with a separate walk-in shower, is the best of both worlds if you have the space. That combination is what high-end buyers in Vancouver’s west side neighbourhoods look for, and it’s what we see in homes where the bathroom budget is being spent to add real value.
Tub to Shower Conversion: The Middle Ground
The most common request we get: a standard tub-shower combo that the homeowner is done with. They want to reclaim the space, modernize the room, and stop cleaning around a tub they haven’t soaked in for years.
A tub-to-shower conversion is straightforward if the drain stays in roughly the same location. The tub comes out, the floor is properly sloped and waterproofed, the walls are rebuilt with a proper membrane system, and tile goes in. Done right, it’s one of the most satisfying renovations in terms of how dramatically it changes a bathroom.
What it is not: a quick job. Our experience, combined with the number of times we have done this type of work under difficult circumstances, points to a simple conversion taking anywhere from 7-10 working days. Any contractor quoting a cheap price and faster is almost certainly cutting corners on waterproofing. That’s where some of the timeline rests and where future problems live.
What About Resale in Vancouver Specifically?
Vancouver buyers are not a monolith. A young couple buying a house in East Van has different expectations than a family buying in North Vancouver. Here’s the practical breakdown:
Primary ensuite in a detached home: A walk-in shower is almost always the right call, especially if there’s a tub elsewhere in the house. Buyers in this market expect an updated primary bathroom.
Main family bathroom: Keep the tub. Full stop.
Secondary bathroom in a house with another tub: Walk-in shower adds more appeal than a dated tub-shower combo.
Condo: Different thought process entirely. Space is tighter, and a walk-in shower can make a small bathroom feel significantly larger. Over the last 12+ years, out of the more than 50 bathrooms we’ve renovated in condos, we have done this conversion around 70% of the time. Even the ones that only had one bathroom with a tub.
The Honest Summary
There’s no universal right answer. But there’s usually a clear right answer for your specific home once you think through: how many tubs you currently have, who uses the bathroom, how long you’re staying, and what your renovation budget actually is.
If you’re still on the fence, the first conversation should be with a bathroom contractor who has done enough of these in enough Vancouver homes to tell you what actually holds up, not just what looks good on Instagram.
Thinking About a Walk-In Shower or Tub Renovation in Vancouver?
We work with homeowners across Vancouver, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, and the surrounding Lower Mainland. The first step is always a conversation — no pressure, just an honest look at your space and what makes sense for your home.
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I’ve been working in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver residential construction since the year 2000, specializing in home renovations, with the most volume involving bathroom & kitchen renovations. I started Bathroom Renovators on a straightforward idea: homeowners deserve trade-level integrity, honesty and a headache-free approach to their renovation needs.