Horry County Bathroom Remodel Guide

Local context

Horry County housing splits between coastal Grand Strand stock — 1970s–2020s beachfront and second-row condos and townhomes along Ocean Boulevard, the 38th / 48th / 76th Avenue North corridors, Cherry Grove, Ocean Drive, Crescent Beach, Windy Hill, and Tilghman Beach; 1980s–2020s primary-residence subdivisions across Carolina Forest, Forestbrook, Socastee (Arrowhead, Waterway Palms, Clear Pond, Berkshire Forest, Carolina Waterway Plantation, River Oaks), Market Common (Withers Preserve, Emmens Preserve), Grande Dunes, Plantation Point, Myrtlewood, Pine Lakes, Wild Wing Plantation, Burning Ridge, Shaftesbury Glen, Barefoot Resort, and the International Drive corridor; mid-century brick ranches and cottages across Pine Lakes, Dunes Club, Arcadian Shores, Forest Dunes, Seagate Village, downtown Myrtle Beach, downtown North Myrtle Beach (Ocean Drive), and downtown Conway / Rivertown; older inland Horry County stock around Conway, Aynor, Loris, Longs, Green Sea, Galivants Ferry, and Bucksport with crawlspaces, older plumbing, and prior partial remodels; and Intracoastal Waterway communities across the Socastee / Carolina Forest / Barefoot Resort / Little River edge. Coastal humidity, salt air, hurricane / flood exposure, Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority moderately hard water, slab-on-grade plumbing on the beach side, crawlspace plumbing inland around Conway and Aynor, HOA / condo-association rules on the beachfront and in master-planned communities, and South Carolina LLR plumbing and residential builder licensure shape the regional context.

Tub-to-shower, walk-in shower, or full remodel — which fits?

Most homeowners come into this thinking they need a full remodel and end up doing something narrower. The right project usually maps to how the bathroom actually gets used today.

If the tub hasn't been used in a year, a tub-to-shower conversion typically lands in 1–3 days, in the existing footprint, and removes the step-over. If aging-in-place is the real driver, a walk-in shower with a low-threshold base and grab-bar blocking is often the better long-term call. A full remodel makes sense when the layout itself is the problem — bad ventilation, an unusable vanity, or water damage behind the walls.

What actually drives the cost of a bathroom remodel

Bathroom remodel pricing depends on a handful of choices, not a single line-item. The biggest swings come from the scope of demolition, the type of shower or tub system, plumbing relocation, tile vs. acrylic surfaces, and any accessibility features.

A like-for-like tub-to-shower swap in an existing footprint is the most predictable. A full gut down to the studs — moving plumbing, replacing the subfloor, adding new vanities and fixtures — is where prices start to spread.

• Scope: cosmetic refresh vs. full gut to the studs
• Shower system: acrylic insert, semi-custom acrylic, or tile build-out
• Plumbing: keeping the existing layout vs. moving drains or supply lines
• Accessibility: grab bars, low-threshold pans, comfort-height fixtures, seats
• Finish materials: stock vanities and fixtures vs. semi-custom selections
• Permits, disposal, and site conditions (older homes often need more)