Hi, We are remodeling our bathroom. I am getting an American Standard hand shower (serin line) along with the 2 handle thermostat trim kit and R520 rough valve body. Do I also need to purchase a diverter valve to divert from bath to shower? Or do some bathtub spouts come with built-in diverters?? I am having a hard time getting the bathtub spout from the same line.

I would never install delta - but that is my bias. I've never met a professional plumber who recommended delta but it's not like I've spoken to every plumber in the world either. What part do you mean is plastic on hansgrohe ? For example, did you know that all the Grohe shower diverter trim plates are actually chrome plated plastic? I highly suggest at least going into a fancy showroom just to touch and feel the items even if you order them on the net. I'm lucky in that I have a local plumbing supply that sells all the stuff at very similar price to the Internet so I get the best of both worlds. Grohe is very reliable and very respected. many plumbers here like the valves. Hansgrohe is a brother company to Grohe - both founded by members of the same family. Hansgrohe is considered generally having the higher end product lines whereas Grohe has a lot of very reliable, home-owner priced sets. To save money I do have one shower that is not Grohe or Hansgrohe - bought the shower set on Overstock.com basically. Wouldn't you know it, I had to repair/replace the shower mixer after a year. It was under warranty but took up 2 hours of my time. The Grohe shower on the other hand - no issues whatsoever. However, I have found several Hansgrohe lines that are similarly priced to Grohe. And some things you can mix and match whereas others you can not. For example, I recently helped a friend spec out several new bathrooms. All Grohe handheld shower valves and bars and handhelds. But for the "elbow" part that connects from the handheld hose to the wall water outlet, I suggested buying the Hansgrohe elbow instead of the Grohe one. The reason is for the same price Hansgrohe gives you an Elbow with a "check valve." The plumbing inspector will definitely be looking for that check valve as soon has he/she sees that handheld and hose. A picture of your open wall would be helpful to understand your dilemma with no room for a valve. Is this for a Tub - or a Tub shower combo - or a Tub, shower, Rainhead and handheld combo, etc., etc... If you choose more items - obviously the plumber has to connect more copper pipes off the shower valve to go to each separate thing you want. if he is limited with space - can you really have all those different items in your shower? Have you considered having the shower diverter valve not in the typical location? The plumber can put the Shower diverter valve on a wall far away and even on a separate wall from where all the heads and handhelds are. this might solve your problem. For example, it's not uncommon now for people to have their shower valve control closer to where they can reach to get the water started and warmed up without getting wet - like on a totally different wall - perpendicular to the actual shower head. For ideas and pictures - go to houzz.com and do a search for "showers" or make it more specific. They have thousands of pictures.

Thank you! That is definitely what we have. He is apparently not internet savvy because he said he couldn't get parts. I know it is something in 24a-27 that is causing our leak, any ideas as to how to narrow it down? Or do I just order them all because the plumber's time is the key.

Handyman here. Just replaced a shower valve today with different circumstances, but similar to what OP is talking about. My 2 cents: 1. Trades people will most likely charge more than you think they should. This is due to many of the things people already mentioned in this thread, but also because you bought the material. Trades people often have products they like to work with because they are familiar with them. Familiar with how they install, how they perform, how they function. When you provide materials, you also remove one of the ways they pay for their cost of doing business - markups. You can judge the practice of marking up however you'd like (just like some people don't like tipping), but its standard throughout every trade you are ever going to hire. Some people are transparent about it, some are secretive. Either way, it's how everyone pays for the cost of providing any semblance of a guarantee. 2. There will always be a spread of cost for the trades. Think of it compared to a whole house - at some point, someone is going to build a house that is less expensive in order to sell it faster or more often. The only way to do that, is to compromise somewhere. That price compromise can happen in the quality, profit margin, or speed. The race to the bottom sinks all ships. When you undercut the markets evolved price, you cannibalize small business (think about Amazon compared to small local boutique shops, toy stores, or anything non-chain). If you take a loss, you wont stay in business. If you hide cost cutting measures, like hidden poor workmanship or speedily done work that will not last, you might win in the short term, but your reviews and your customers will reflect that over time. If you are able to outlast everyone else, run at a loss, and own the whole industry - well thats not good for anyone except you. 3. Costing more often means more value. The person may have been a poor salesman, but I would wager that they provided more than their competitor - cleanliness, documentation, warranty/guarantee, etc. 4. Understand that often a quick quote will be some standardized cost that the company or person is confident they can make a reasonable profit with over time. This may mean that jobs like yours, while simple seeming to you, sometimes are more complicated than anticipated. Yours may not have been, but the next one down the road might take a whole day and they would loose money. The subsidized model is similar to the way insurance companies price their products - obviously different in other ways since it's not a subscription model. To those other people in the thread saying things like: "spare me the overhead' or "its on youtube, DIY it" or "my friends a master and says it should cost this" You should be cautious when telling other people how to run their business. Your assuredness and sometimes smug responses, while protected by the anonymity or distance of online communication, it doesn't protect you from forming poor mental habits filled with logical fallacies. You come across as arrogant and ignorant. Imagine everyone one you've ever met in your life - that's a garbage sample size from which to pull an opinion when you speak to the crowd of the world online.