For a one-story California home with 1,800 square feet, two bathrooms, and a crawl space beneath the floor, a repipe with flexible plastic pipe called PEX costs about $7,000 to $13,000. Once leaks, low pressure, or rusty water start showing up in several places around the house, a repipe is usually worth it. If that sounds like your house, call now. A repipe company that works in your area will come out, look at the pipes, and give you one fixed price. This site charges you nothing for the call.
What a repipe costs in California
The numbers below are this site's estimates for typical California homes, not quotes. PEX is a bendable plastic pipe used for water lines, with red marking the hot side and blue marking the cold. A crawl space is that shallow, open area beneath a house with a raised floor.
| House | Pipe | Below the floor | About |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 story, 1,800 sq ft, 2 bathrooms | PEX | Crawlspace | $7,000–$13,000 |
| 1 story, 1,800 sq ft, 2 bathrooms | PEX | Slab | $9,100–$17,900 |
| 1 story, 1,800 sq ft, 2 bathrooms | Copper | Crawlspace | $10,300–$20,700 |
| 2 stories, 2,400 sq ft, 3 bathrooms | PEX | Crawlspace | $8,900–$17,700 |
For a one-story, 2-bathroom home over a crawl space, a PEX repipe takes about 2 to 3 days, and most families stay in the house the whole time.
Why do prices run higher in California?
The biggest share of a repipe bill goes to the plumber's time. Roughly 70 % of the cost is labor, so what local plumbers earn drives the price. In California, plumbers make an average of $39.58 an hour. That works out to about 14 % more than the US average of $34.70.
Here's that same one-story, 1,800 sq ft, 2-bath PEX house over a crawl space, compared across a handful of states.
| State | Hourly plumber wage | About |
|---|---|---|
| FL | $26.94 | $5,400–$9,900 |
| TX | $29.22 | $5,700–$10,500 |
| CA | $39.58 | $7,000–$13,000 |
| WA | $42.69 | $7,400–$13,700 |
Homes that sit on a slab
With a slab, the concrete floor is poured right on the ground, and the pipes run either beneath it or embedded inside it. Getting to those pipes takes extra effort, so expect a slab to add 25 to 50 % to labor costs. In California, that pushes the 2-bath PEX estimate up to about $9,100 to $17,900.
How to get a fixed price
Quotes for the very same job can be $2,000 to $5,000 apart. A price from someone who has actually seen your house is the one you can count on. Call now, and a repipe company in your area will come out and give you a fixed price.
California plumbing contractors are licensed by the Contractors State License Board.
Repipe numbers for California
| Average plumber wage | $39.58 an hour |
| Plumbers working in California | 47,660 |
| 2-bath PEX repipe, crawl space | $7,000 to $13,000 |
| 2-bath PEX repipe, slab | $9,100 to $17,900 |
| Who licenses plumbers | Contractors State License Board |
Wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for plumbers.
Cities in California
- Repipe specialists in Los Angeles ($6,900 to $12,700)
- Repipe specialists in San Diego ($6,800 to $12,500)
- Repipe specialists in Sacramento ($6,700 to $12,300)
- Repipe specialists in San Jose ($9,000 to $16,600)
Common questions
Can I stay home while the work is done?
Yes. Most families remain at home through the whole repipe.
Do extra bedrooms raise the price?
Bedrooms don't factor into the cost. Repipes are priced by how many bathrooms the house has and how big it is. A house with 3 bedrooms usually has 2 bathrooms.
Is a permit included in the price?
Permits usually cost between $50 and $800. When you receive your fixed price, ask if the permit is covered.
How do I find out my home's pipe type?
The pipe identifier on this site recognizes 8 pipe types by color and feel. Among them are copper, PEX, galvanized steel, CPVC, polybutylene, Kitec, cast iron, and Orangeburg.
Does this site have pages for California cities?
Yes. Separate pages here cover Sacramento, San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego.