When is it worth it to buy from Lowe’s than going for a full custom shower?

Over my years I have worked over hundreds of showers including homeowners who buy showers from big box stores like Lowe’s or wayfair an online retailer. The notion that a shower from stores like these will provide lesser quality or less customization is becoming less and less true. Many of these retailers offer some form of customization inside their site. More varieties of shower layouts are becoming more available and due to the mass manufacturing of these showers you can get some nice packages in the glass like a pre installed hard water resistant coating. Referring to hardware quality, issues in its integrity can be true not just with these brands who source poorly to cut cost but is also true of local vendors and glaziers. I am not saying this in a disparaging way the quality in most vendors at least for me is still of quality just I would avoid hyping up my door hinges like other installers might.

So the gap between a box store shower and a locally source glazier isn’t huge like some may think. The question from the title is when is it worth buying from a store like Lowe’s versus going to a shower installation company. The main reason would be price, followed by design options, and lastly layouts. These three factors should sway where you land in choosing a shower.

Pricing, is the biggest factor in choosing a fully custom shower versus something you buy. Because they are mass manufactured you can get better deals, use a credit card, if you have reward points at certain stores. Usually these showers are cheaper with some drawbacks the metal isn’t the best quality, packaging issues etc. You still have to install the shower and if you can follow the instructions perfect you save money there to. However handling glass and ensuring a proper fit and installation to avoid unnecessary water damage is rather difficult. A lot of homeowners opt to pay a company to install the shower some stores even offer that service as an add on package. These installers are usually local shower companies who have been approved to install showers for these stores. The pricing for these installation services can vary from 200 dollars all the way to 800 dollars in some cases. Adding up the buying and installation you may come around the price if you went to a local shower/glazier company. But if you get a good pricing on the shower in the color and design you want, install it yourself or find a reputable and budget friendly installer like (Mike and son glass services) you can save a couple hundreds dollars.

Before you go buying you do have to consider your design, this is all about what you want in your shower glass, frameless? Grid pattern? A certain color like champagne bronze? Most local glass installers can offer these services but sometimes the amount of labor needed like for a grid pattern shower is too costly or the vendors used don’t source a certain color in a certain layout. This happens all the time. So if you can get the design you want and it’s better price then I don’t see why not using one.

you may have asked yourself what’s the difference between layout and design well they are similar, difference is that design you are limited to only what you can find. Layout involves what you have been given. Most of the time you came into a house with a simple layout of where the shower is located; by the toilet in between cabinets, standing shower, is it a bathtub? you get my point. Unless you can have a fully open layout at the start of your renovating you may be stuck with only certain options that make sense for the space you have. You can’t choose a shower door where the main entry way hits your toilet every time you get in or out. In some cases the layout is what forces homeowners to go with a local installer, the walls or floor is so out of squared you can’t purchase a stock door and make it work. You need a very specific door size that you can’t find anywhere else. Now if you layout does fit and the other 2 points mentioned are not compromised then why not go with the discounted shower at Lowe’s? Well, its never fully perfect.

Here me out, the color you want isn’t available at Home Depot but is with a vendor. You want the custom clean fit and pricing isn’t that much of a gap. You need all three to make sense of a big box store shower buy unless you are willing to compromise somewhere. Other issues I found buying from a retailer is the customer service on returns and missing parts. I’ve worked on countless showers that had parts missing or damaged, they don’t just have those parts sitting in the back sometimes they will open a brand new box to grab you a part you need but usually you need to email the brand and create support ticket that can take days to respond. With a glazier like myself we can have the part replaced same day. The glass is designed and thought with your shower layout in mind. We can create a clean look, you get an experienced installer who can work with you to make a shower that is functional and clean, warranty from someone who lives in the same city. I’ve listed sound reasoning when to buy from a big retailer but from my experience if you end up needing to compromise base off one of these three factors its better to go with the more custom option if the price isn’t a ridiculous amount. The biggest piece of advice I do want to give is contact a shower installer who would be willing to install a shower from Lowe’s or wayfair or any online store, they can ensure you get the right size of shower glass, give you their opinion on what brands they have found to be quality and they can even install the shower for you. If you are in the San Antonio or Austin area consider contacting mike and son glass service we offer services specializing in frameless showers installation and free consulting. We also offer services in helping you pick out a shower from stores like Lowe’s to special online brands and we are experienced in many brands. We will do what we can at a price that works for both of us.

Here us some showers we have installed: Evo, Dreamline, Vigo, Delta, Kohler, Coastal Showers Gridscape, Alumax and more.