Bathtub Replacement Cost: What the Swap Actually Carries

Bathtub replacement cost is four material lines

A tub, a wall kit, the drain trim and the valve trim. Those four price off published supplier pages. The demo and the tie in do not.

One scope note. This page is the tub swap. A tiled surround instead of a wall kit is a different job with a different number, priced in our bathroom tile cost guide.

SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a photo of the room into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds.

What the tub costs

Named models with a published price at two suppliers, both read September 14, 2026.

Read the last row. Two Sax listings, $469 apart, on the same tub. Sutherlands sells part 105797-000-002-100 and McCoy’s sells 105797-000-002. Read the part number off the listing before you price it.

What we will not price

Cast iron. No supplier we checked publishes a price for one, so this page carries no cast iron number rather than a borrowed one.

The surround, the drain trim and the valve

The lines that turn a tub into a finished alcove.

Demo is where the swap earns or loses

An old alcove tub comes out through a wall you have to open, and what is behind it is unknown until then. Soft subfloor at the drain end, a rotted stud, a waste line that misses the new tub’s drain.

Three things decide the hours. Whether the tub is steel or cast iron, because iron comes out in pieces. Access to the waste and overflow, from below or by opening the floor. Whether the new valve fits the rough opening.

What the labor side pays

The occupation is Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters. The May 2025 national median wage was $30.67 an hour, the mean $34.70, across 465,840 people.

The 25th percentile sits at $24.13, the 75th at $40.92, the 90th at $52.13.

Those are wages an employer pays an employee. The survey excludes the self employed, so none of it is a billed rate.

A worked example, alcove swap

Stated inputs, builder grade. A Bootz Aloha steel tub at $219.00, a MAAX Elan wall kit at $139.00, a Danco 80977 drain trim kit at $24.99, a Delta Monitor 13 trim kit at $134.99, and four HardieBacker 500 sheets at $18.19, which is $72.76. Four sheets covers roughly 10 lineal ft of alcove to the 59 in top of the kit.

Material lands at $590.74. The drain trim line is trim only, so the drain shoe and overflow tee are not in this number. The Sutherlands listing for the Delta kit reads MultiChoice valve included, so confirm what ships in the box against the part number before you add or drop a rough in valve line. Call it ten hours valued at the 75th percentile wage of $40.92, which is $409.20.

Material plus wage is $999.94. That is a floor, not a price. No supplier or agency publishes a billed total, so neither do we.

Price a tub swap in four steps

1. Measure the alcove and the drain end

   A 54 in opening does not take a 60 in tub. Confirm the drain is on the same end as the tub you quote.

2. Pick the material, then the surround

   Enameled steel is the builder grade line. Acrylic and Vikrell cost more. The wall kit is a separate line.

3. Price drain trim and valve trim separately

   Two different parts, two different tasks. Quoting them as one line is how a change order starts.

4. Write demo findings as unit price adds

   Subfloor, framing and waste line relocation are invisible until the wall is open. Name each add and its price in the bid.