I'm confused, you say your material cost is $2K and then you say you don't know what is material vs labor?

I got a quote for our 4.5x7 shower. to do slabs vs tiling was an upcharge of almost 25k we would have had to do the ceiling as well, because we hade a steamer. we ended up using 24x48 porcelain tile instead, it looks great. when i watched how much work that was, i could only imagine how hard working with slabs must be.

Typically the cost of most slab jobs are not by the foot but a combination of how many slabs are needed how much shop time & equipment is needed, how many bodies needed onsite for install.

Slab stone is the most expensive showers to create which is why we don't see them very often

Thanks all for the quick response! - a couple clarifications. We are looking at using porcelain slabs (rather than quartz or stone). Retail quote from the tile supplier is 16/ sqft so I had estimated 2K for materials. I don’t know what the tiler himself has for the cost of material but it should be close to 2K, which means 9K for everything else (labor, prep, etc) but the tiler doesn’t break down that level of details, just a total 11K.

Porcelain slab fabrication and install is not something most tile contractors are capable.

I believe there's only a couple of good porcelain slab fabricators in my region and they're not cheap.

24x48 porcelain is about the largest a tile contractor will install but even that size is usually a double labor premium

You are not calculating correctly for two reasons

The cost of materials is only a portion of the final cost because the fabrication and installation will vary. When I got actual bids for my remodel all of the materials and designs were specified because they would impact the GC's actual costs and I supplied all of the finishes - i.e. marble for counters and showers and tile for walls and back splashes

The other thing that could be going on is that your GC is quoting a high cost because he really doesn't want to do it since there are risk elements involved and he would probably have to track down installers that are in short demand to handle this kind of very tricky installation.

Have you gotten all the quotes in - glass, cabinetry, etc? For what you are describing this could easily be a 100k bathroom

" We got some really nice pricing for our slab at $16 per square feet which comes out to be around $2K in materials. Our builder came back with a quote for $11K For the shower only. Is this reasonable?"

It is. What's not showing in your calculations is the risk involved. Suppose your fabricator/installer breaks one of the pieces. And it turns out you got such a good material price because your slabs were the last of a lot. Now there aren't any replacement pieces available and even the perfectly good ones that he installed have to be removed, you have to make a new selection, and he has to do a job twice for which he is getting paid once. Oh, and the new material you like is $32.00 psf and he's gotta eat that too.

Unlike Corian wall cladding which is tough as nails, is unlikely to break, and is inconspicuously repairabe if it does, porcelain is very delicate until it's secured in place and even then if the substrate behind moves, you've got an un-repairable crack. So your contractor isn't sending the illegal aliens he usually uses for tile installation, he's sending his best crew. Guys who are making 60-100K a year.

You may get a better price if you tell him you'll eat it if they break it.

DTSWI:

Constrution is all about risk and reward. The bearer of the most risk makes the most money. If homeowners are sharing in that risk, they will share in the rewards.

I can assure you that a properly credentialed installation team is absolutely concerned about the cost of breakage. Any who are not are on their way to bankruptcy, as it's a cost of doing business.

Appreciate everyone’s comments and advice!