Is it on the wall? If so, did they (and you) take into account that the shower arm has a downward curve, so that the head isn't actually at the height of the outlet? In other words, did you specify that the outlet is at 78", or that the head itself is at 78"?

I think you are worrying about nothing. That difference is in the noise level, and hardly worth tearing into the wall to fix. In fact, don't try to fix something that's not broken. If it's a problem in the future, it can be easily dealt with with some hardware. If that's the biggest problem in your build, you're fortunate.

Thanks! Wall is still open so just a matter of changing the pipe, but I think we've decided even that isn't worth worrying about. 78" was for the outlet--they just neglected to add in the thickness of the shower pan and tile, so it will be more like 76-77". We are planning to use a handheld shower head on it, which will add a couple of inches of height, so that's why we went with 78" vs. 80". The tallest person in the house is 5'6" so it's fine for us, but maybe not so hot for someone 6'+. (That said, the existing shower head in the house is at 72", so...) Decided future owners can worry about that in the future. We will run the tile up enough that someone could reasonably add a riser and call it a day. (Curious though--what difference does this make in the noise level?)

In all the houses and apartments I've lived in over the decades I can't ever remember thinking: "Gee that shower head is at a bad height; I wish it was 2 inches higher." ;-)

Ha, I think that about my 72” shower head and I’m only 5’4”… (But I didn’t notice that one for years until the handheld head broke and we put on an old traditional one that hung down 4”, so certainly fixable.)

Well, I'm 6' tall and I hate having water streaming continuously on top of my head and in my face while I'm showering, so even 78" is more than I want. ;-)

I checked three Hansgrohe and Kohler shower pipe installation sheets. Recommended heights from floor to center of shower head a) 85", b) 81", c) 79-82". (Mine: 83"). These are all rain showers.

Makes sense for rain showers...if you like rain showers. ;-)

We hadn’t planned on a rain shower—but one solution I’m actually considering now is the Kohler HydroRail, which comes in a range of sizes— one spec’ed for this height. So maybe will end up working out well in the end!

All of these are reasons to nix the fixed shower head and put in a slide bar with a handheld. There's no reason to have both a fixed and a handheld (unless they're in totally different locations), and the slide bar means everyone is happy.

@catbuilder, a handheld only is actually our preference and one on a bar would be great, but I've had a really hard time finding one that is designed to be a primary shower head where the bar can be in the center and won't interfere with the valves. That was one appeal to the HydroRail (and Grohe's equivalent). Do you know of good slide bar options where the handshower would be centered? Everything I've found seems to be intended to be installed off to the side of a primary fixed shower head.

I’m not sure I understand what you mean by the bar interfering with the valves? My understanding is that the Hydrorail is primarily a retrofit solution for when you have just one outlet but want to have both a fixed and handheld shower head. If you want just handheld having the outlet that high will be somewhat unusual, but I can’t see any other issues other than esthetics? But if the wall is open, why not put the outlet lower down?

Also, Brizo has a few models that have the outlet integrated into the slider bar, could that be something that you’re looking for?

https://www.brizo.com/bath/product/88776-PC

"a handheld only is actually our preference and one on a bar would be great, but I've had a really hard time finding one that is designed to be a primary shower head where the bar can be in the center"

I suppose you could do that with, say, this Kohler K-22178 Purist 2.5 GPM Multi Function Hand Shower Package but you'd want to install the valve off-center to prevent interference with the hose. And people may not be able to reach high enough to slide the shower head to the position they'd prefer.

@recorderas, we set it up to accommodate a traditional shower head for some future user, so that's the main reason we stuck (or tried to stick!) to a conventional outlet height. The outlet is in line with the valves, also for that reason. I think that's the challenge I'm having in figuring out how to place something like the example you show below--there, the bar is centered over the valves but the outlet is off to the side so it doesn't conflict. This is where the solutions where the outlet is part of the bar seem to work well--I'll check out the Brizo. (We could have put in a diverter valve, but opted not to since we only wanted the handshower, and we have a thermostatic valve so already have two knobs for temp and volume so a third seemed busy/unneeded extra cost given that we didn't plan to use it.)

The previous owners of our unit had a regular handheld attached to the outlet at fixed height and a slider bar slightly off center. Sorry for the poor quality photo but this was the best I could find quickly! I replaced that with a diverter valve for fixed and handheld, and it worked great for a couple of years. Now we’re remodeling and putting in two outlets.

Thanks! Looking at the HydroRail options more, I think the HydroRail-S may be pretty perfect--designed for the height of our outlet, and will raise the shower head to about 84" with an adjustable handheld option. Somehow I missed that one earlier. They make a version that is handheld only, but it's still offset to the side, which I'm not loving. We had been leaning towards the Grohe version since our valves and trim are Grohe, but theirs only accommodates a rainshower; would prefer a standard shower head if we'll have a fixed option at all.