If leaks keep showing up in your house and you've begun searching for repipe specialists in Los Angeles, here's something worth knowing first: for the exact same job, one company may charge $2,000 to $5,000 more than another. That's why it pays to call now and lock in a fixed price before signing anything. The call puts you through to a repipe company serving the Los Angeles area, and this site never charges you for it. A repipe specialist swaps out all the water pipes in a home in a single project rather than fixing one leak here and another there. One company describes its business in a few words: repiping is the only thing it does.
Repipe cost in Los Angeles
Picture a single-story home of 1,800 square feet with 2 bathrooms, having its pipes replaced with PEX above a crawl space. In the Los Angeles area that job runs roughly $6,900 to $12,700 and takes 2 to 3 days. PEX is a bendable plastic pipe for water, usually red on hot lines and blue on cold ones. A crawl space is the low, open area beneath a floor raised off the ground.
| Type of home (LA area) | Rough cost |
|---|---|
| 1,800 sq ft home, 2 baths, single story, PEX, crawl space | about $6,900 to $12,700 |
| That house, slab foundation | about $9,000 to $17,600 |
| That house, copper pipes | about $10,100 to $20,300 |
| 2,400 sq ft home, 3 baths, 2 stories, PEX, crawl space | about $8,800 to $17,400 |
Keep in mind these numbers fit those particular houses, not yours. After the repipe company sees your home, you'll get a firm price.
Why do prices run higher here?
Roughly 70 percent of a repipe bill goes to labor, so what local workers earn drives most of the cost. Plumbers around Los Angeles make $38.57 an hour, about 11 percent more than the typical US rate of $34.70, based on figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The California average sits slightly higher, at $39.58 an hour.
This explains the gap for the same 2-bath house: roughly $6,400 to $11,800 when labor is priced at the US average, but closer to $6,900 to $12,700 in this area.
Slab foundations raise the price
A slab means a concrete floor poured directly on the ground, with pipes running under it or inside it. Getting to those pipes is extra work, which is why a slab tacks 25 to 50 percent onto the labor and roughly 30 to 38 percent onto the project as a whole.
For that 1,800 square foot, 2-bath Los Angeles house, the estimate climbs from about $6,900 to $12,700 to about $9,000 to $17,600. A gap that big means a phone quote won't hold up for a slab house; the company has to lay eyes on it first.
Choosing a repipe company
Get the price in writing. It should spell out whether it covers the permit, the drywall repairs, and the final inspection, plus how many years the warranty lasts. Some specialists bundle all of it: one company says its quotes cover wall patching, permits, inspections, and a lifetime warranty.
California licenses plumbing contractors through the Contractors State License Board, which covers about 285,000 contractors across 45 classifications. Before any work begins, check the license number. That's your proof the state stands behind the company.
If comparing quotes isn't your idea of a good time, call now and a repipe company near you will visit your home.
Repipe numbers for Los Angeles
| Plumber wage in the Los Angeles area | $38.57 an hour |
| Plumbers working in the area | 15,690 |
| California average | $39.58 an hour |
| 2-bath PEX repipe, crawl space | $6,900 to $12,700 |
| 2-bath PEX repipe, slab | $9,000 to $17,600 |
Wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for plumbers (Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA); prices from this site's calculator.
Repipe specialists in other cities
Common questions
Can I stay home during the work?
Yes. Most households live at home through the entire repiping process, so there's no need to book a hotel or bunk with relatives.
How long does the job take?
Plan on 2 to 3 days for a one-story, 2-bath home using PEX. Copper stretches that to 3 to 5 days. A 3,200 square foot home with 4 or more bathrooms across 2 floors needs 4 to 6 days.
Do our 3 bedrooms affect the price?
Bedrooms don't factor in at all. Repipes are priced by bathroom count and house size, since that's where the pipes actually run. Most 3-bedroom houses have 2 bathrooms, so the 2-bath numbers are the right starting point.