Nobody can price
glass from a plan.
We can give you a ballpark from a photo in about ten minutes, and we will. But the firm number comes off a measurement in the finished room, because that is the only place the real dimensions exist. Anyone quoting a fixed price off a drawing is either padding it or planning to come back to you later.
Six things, roughly in order.
Configuration
A single fixed panel is the least glass, the least hardware and the least labour. A door with a panel is the common middle. A corner enclosure adds a second wall of glass and a joint that has to be right. A full-height steam unit with a transom is the top of the range — more glass, different sealing, and a ceiling that has to be worked to.
Size and thickness
Square footage matters, but the jump from 3/8" to 1/2" matters more — heavier glass, heavier hardware, and sometimes an extra person on site to set it. Tall panels cross that line sooner than wide ones.
Glass type
Standard clear is the baseline. Low-iron Starphire is a genuine premium, and on a small alcove with mid-tone tile it is often not worth paying. On a wide panel in front of pale stone it usually is. Obscure patterns sit between the two depending on the pattern.
Hardware finish
Chrome and brushed nickel are the value finishes. Matte black is close behind. Satin brass, champagne bronze and oil-rubbed bronze cost more and have longer lead times. This is the easiest place to spend money and the easiest place to save it without anyone noticing a functional difference.
Site conditions
Out of square is normal and priced in. What isn't normal: notching around a finished bench, drilling stone, hitting a header where there's no blocking, or an opening so far out that the gap has to be taken up with a scribe. None of these are disasters. They are just time, and we'd rather find them at the measure than on install day.
Protective coating
An applied treatment is a modest add. A sealed-in product like ShowerGuard or ClarVista costs meaningfully more because it's specified at the factory and changes the glass you're ordering. Worth it on genuinely hard water, not worth it everywhere.
A ballpark today. A firm number after the measure.
Text a photo and rough dimensions and you'll get a range back, usually the same day. That range is enough to budget against and enough to decide whether to keep talking.
When the tile is in and the room is finished, we measure. That number is firm — it's what the glass will be fabricated to, and it doesn't move afterward unless you change something.
Ballpark from a photo
No visit, no obligation, no follow-up calls you didn't ask for.
Measure and firm quote
Booked once the room is finished. Tempered glass can't be trimmed, so this is the step everything else depends on.
About money.
Why won't you just give me a price over the phone?
We will give you a range over the phone. What we won't do is commit to a fixed number before measuring, because the difference between a square opening and one that's three-quarters of an inch out over seven feet is real work. A firm price quoted blind is either padded to cover the worst case or it changes later. Neither is what you want.
Where can I save money without regretting it?
Hardware finish and glass type, in that order. Chrome or brushed nickel instead of satin brass is a real saving and nothing about the enclosure works differently. Standard clear instead of low-iron is a real saving too, and on mid-tone tile in a normal-sized alcove you will genuinely not see the difference. Where we'd push back is on thickness or on skipping a header the panel needs — that's buying a problem.
Is the cheapest bid usually the cheapest job?
Not in this trade, no. The usual ways to come in low are stock sizes forced into a custom opening, lighter hardware than the panel wants, and no time budgeted for an out-of-square wall. All three show up later as a door that won't stay closed. Ask any low bidder what happens if the opening is out — the answer tells you whether they measured or guessed.
Do you take payment in stages?
Standard for us is a deposit when the glass is ordered — because it's being cut to your room and can't be sold to anyone else — and the balance on completion. We'll set it out in writing before anything is ordered.
Get the ballpark first.
It takes one photo and about ten minutes of our time. If the number doesn't work for you, that's a useful thing to find out today rather than after a site visit.