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Repiping a home is the process of replacing pipes in your house. The most common reason for whole house repiping is because your home was built between 1978 and 1995 with polybutylene pipes. In many cases, your homeowners insurance will require a whole house repipe.
No matter what the cause, you are here because you want to how much does it cost to repipe a house. In this article we'll give you the average cost to replace plumbing in an old house and several factors that contribute to the overall cost to repipe a house.
Repipe House Cost
There are several factors that go into repipe cost. We'll discuss several of those factors in the rest of this article. But on average, replacing pipes in a house cost $6,000 - $8,000. Keep in mind that this is the cost to pipe a house with pex material.
While this is the average price for an average sized home, there are are additional factors that will affect the cost to repipe a house.
Factors That Influence The Cost To Repipe A House
Every repipe, like every house, is different and may include an additional cost depending on the plumbing in your home. Based on our experience, these are some of the things that will increase your repipe cost.
1. The Quality of Service
The cost to replumb a house will increase as the quality increases. Just like anything else, it takes more time to do the job right than it does to cut corners. Therefore, be wary of hiring the "cheapest" company in town to do the work. It's not just the cost of a repipe you need to be worried about, but also the service you get from the company you hire. If something goes wrong will they be quick to make it right? When you have a question about your repipe, will it be easy to get them on the phone?
2. In House Labor vs. Subcontractors
A second factor that can impact polybutylene pipe replacement cost is the source of labor. Many plumbing companies don't actually do the whole house repipe that they sell. Instead, they outsource it to subcontractors. Subcontractors often get paid per job, which encourages them to do the job as quickly and cheaply as possible.
On the other hand, a plumbing company that uses their own in-house plumbers to replumb your house has direct oversight and control of your whole house repipe. They can also vet their plumbers to ensure they are background checked and drug free. When problems arise, you can deal with them directly rather than having to go through subcontractors.
If getting the lowest repipe cost possible is your greatest concern, then using a company that hires subcontractors may not bother you. On the other hand, if quality, safety, and responsiveness are important to you, you may prefer paying more for a company that uses in-house plumbers rather than subcontractors.
3. The Number Of Drops
A third factor that affects that cost of new plumbing in an old home is the number of drops. A "drop" is a water line that is run to a plumbing fixture or appliance in your house that uses water. A good rule of thumb is that if it needs hot and cold water, then it has 2 drops. If it only needs cold water, then it has one drop. The plumbing repipe cost will increase as the number of drops increases. See below for the number of drops typical plumbing fixtures and appliances have:
4. The Size Of Your Home
You can also expect repiping costs to increase if your home is larger than normal. The cost to repipe a house will increase if you have a two-story home vs a one-story home. The simple reason for this is because the cost of material increases and the amount of time to complete the repipe also increases as your home increases in size.
5. Whole House Repiping Materials
Repiping a home with copper will be more expensive than the cost to repipe your house with pex. If you use copper pipes then you can expect the cost of your repipe to increase by 60-70% over PEX pipes. (Learn more about the pros and cons of PEX vs Copper pipe)
6. Hiring Professional Plumbers
Never hire a plumber who is unlicensed, uninsured or fails to pull permits. While you may save money hiring "a guy in the neighborhood who does plumbing", you'll end up spending more later to fix the problems created by shoddy work. Repipe cost might increase when you hire a professional plumber, but trust us when we tell you that it's much cheaper than fixing a job that wasn't done right.
If the plumber asks you to pull the permits yourself, this is also a red flag. At Pro-Tech we include the costs required for us to pull permits. We are also fully licensed and insured for your protection. Once the job is complete, we will call the inspector to look over the project. This protects you and ensures the job meets all local codes.
Get The Exact Repipe Cost By Requesting A Free Estimate
You don't have to guess about the cost to repipe your house, simply fill out the form below or call us at (877) 416-4727 and one of our experienced plumbers will inspect your home and provide you the exact cost to repipe your house.
And with Pro-Tech, you can be assured that we will use our own in-house plumbers, we'll use the highest quality materials, we'll take our time to do the job right and we'll pull all the necessary permits.