Shower leak repair cost: regrout, reseal or rebuild?

A leaking shower can be a $200 job or a $25,000 one, and the published prices cover that whole range. The difference is not the company. It is what has failed: the grout and silicone you can see, or the waterproofing membrane underneath that you cannot. This page puts the prices Australian businesses publish side by side, then sets out how to tell which job you are pricing.

Published shower repair prices

For the bigger end, hipages publishes waterproofing an average bathroom at $500–$750 and a bathroom renovation at $8,000–$35,000. The Queensland Building and Construction Commission reports that bathroom claims under the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme in 2024–25 averaged almost $25,000 in rectification costs (Queensland Building and Construction Commission, Industry Snapshot Top 10 defects: Waterproofing).

Three different jobs behind one word

The reason the first row can be cheap and the second cannot is in the building code. The National Construction Code’s wet area requirement is that water must be prevented from penetrating behind fittings and linings; or into concealed spaces (National Construction Code 2022, Volume Two, H4P1 (Wet areas)). In a compliant shower, the layer that does that is the waterproofing beneath the tiles. Grout and silicone matter, and failed silicone at the base can be a leak point, but if the membrane itself has failed, new grout on top seals the surface and leaves the leak where it is. Some shower repair businesses say as much in their own marketing.

How to tell which job you are pricing

• Look at the joints. Cracked, missing or mouldy grout and silicone that has lifted from the base or the wall corners are the surface layer.
• Look outside the shower. The QBCC lists damp patches that get worse after showers or rain, and loose tiles or cracked grout, as signs of waterproofing problems (Queensland Building and Construction Commission, Industry Snapshot Top 10 defects: Waterproofing). Swollen skirting boards, bubbling paint on the other side of the wall, or a stain on the ceiling below point to water already past the tiles.
• Ask for the test. A repairer who says it is only the grout should be able to say how they know. Ask whether they will test the membrane, and ask for the answer in writing.

Paid assessments are published too: one Melbourne business advertises a shower assessment and rectification quote at $159. If the shower is in a newer home, an assessment can also be the evidence for a warranty claim.

Licences, warranties and insurance

Licensing. In Queensland, the QBCC says waterproofing is regulated work that must be done by licensed professionals. Ask whether a quote includes waterproofing and, if it does, who will do it and under what licence.

Builder’s warranty. In New South Wales, waterproofing is one of the major elements of a building, so a waterproofing failure in work less than 6 years old can be a major defect under the statutory warranty (Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) s 18E(4)). In Queensland, building work that allows water penetration into a building is structural defective work (Queensland Building and Construction Commission, What is defective work). The leaking shower guide sets out the warranty periods state by state.

Insurance. A shower that has been leaking slowly through failed waterproofing is where insurers rely on the wear and tear exclusion (Insurance Contracts Regulations 2017 (Cth) reg 19(2)(b)); the drying and the damage around it are the parts a claim may reach. The repair itself is then a question for the owner, or for the builder’s warranty.

Common questions