HumbleStone @JohnWhipple,Painstakingly level the mortar coat? Why? Shouldn't this be common practice for a tile pro? A mud job can take less time than installing CBU.
Also you mention sloping a shower floor 1/4" to a 1/2 per foot!!?. That sounds extremely uncomfortable to stand on and very unsightly. You seem to know quite a bit about the tile industry so these statements actually shocked me.

Portia+Rohm Realty Not sure why this test is a big deal. It's required for all shower pans just like the fill test for tubs in Northern California. Never even questioned it. We do mostly spec housing and we nearly always use an acrylic pan because it will never suffer from any of the waterproofing problems a tile or custom mortar bed can. If you can handle not having tile on the floor you can get a great looking pan in all sorts of sizes from Florestone or (high-end) Duravit. There's a gasket that seals the connection with the pipe. Just use a lot of silicone to seal the gasket and pipe and you will never see leaks. Two layers of asphalt paper stapled to the studs then HardiBacker over gives a pretty good tile substrate that can go up and tile same day (sorry John!). Just make sure the paper wraps over the tile flange on the pan at the bottom so any moisture that makes it through the tile and hardibacker (if ever) will drain down and out into the pan. Never had a call-back on an acrylic shower pan and yes, I used them in my own house.

John Whipple - By Any Design ltd. @ Humble Stone: I'm taken back that you where "Shocked". Are you not in the stone business?

1/4" per foot is a 2% grade. This is the minimum allowed in a custom shower pan. Code.

1/2" per foot is the max allowed slope. Don't you have a copy of the TCNA Guidelines? This should be listed in there.

@ Portia + Rohm: Many ready made shower pans leak. Once built you should be flood testing your connection with a test plug in your ready made shower pan builds. The connection of the plumbing line to the pan is the weak point. Especially for heavier people as the units often flex.

As for skipping additional waterproofing measure your OK to do this. It's just you are building to the minimum requirement. It's nice to see you use building paper behind your installs since many do not. I would used poly myself if I went that route but we prefer to build to a higher standard and apply waterproofing to the cement board itself.

The connection point from the walls to the pan would get some Kerdi Fix and some Kerdi band.

My way would cost you more be shower - it's no surprise a spec builder skips these steps. Most do here in Vancouver as well.

Most spec builders nail on their backer boards in these budget bathrooms.

Most spec builders skip the solid blocking on the cement board edges.

Most Spec builders skip the flood test of these showers.

I see it every month. It's allowed I give you that.

But this is the least you can do for your future client. As a client designing a bathroom I think you would want more.

JW