Hiring a Plumber or Repipe Specialist: Quotes, Scope and Red Flags

The fixture count and which fixtures; the material (PEX-A or PEX-B with the fitting system, or Type L copper), pipe sizes, and trunk-and-branch or manifold layout; whether old lines are removed or abandoned; the new main shutoff and any pressure-reducing valve; new angle stops and supply lines at every fixture; hose bibbs and water heater connections; the number of wall openings and who patches, textures and paints them; insulation on lines in unconditioned spaces; the permit, rough-in pressure test and final inspection; the schedule and when water will be off; and a warranty. Get three quotes on that scope.

Either, on the same written scope. Repipe specialists — common in California, Texas, Florida and Arizona — send a crew of three or four, finish a single-story house in a day or two, and usually include drywall patching because they do it every day. General plumbers take longer, may exclude patching, and are the better choice when the job also involves drains, the water heater or a fixture change. Beware of any company that quotes from the driveway without counting fixtures or looking under the house.

One to two days for a specialist crew on a single-story PEX repipe, two to three for a two-story, three to five for copper or a slab reroute. Water is typically off for a few hours at a time and back on each evening. Patching and paint, if included, add two or three days after the final inspection. A general plumber working alone or with one helper may take a week.

Almost always — a plumbing permit, a rough-in pressure test witnessed by the inspector before walls close, and a final inspection. The contractor pulls it and the fee ($100–$600) should be a line in the quote. A contractor who offers to skip the permit is offering to skip the inspection of work that's about to be sealed inside your walls, and leaving you without the document that proves the polybutylene or galvanized is gone.

PEX for most houses: half the price, fewer fittings, no soldering, quieter, and resistant to the pinhole corrosion that kills copper in aggressive water. Copper where local code or an HOA requires it, where rodents in the crawl space are a known problem (they chew PEX), where lines are exposed and UV is a concern, or where buyers in your market expect it. PEX has a 25-year track record in US homes and is accepted by every model code; the old objections are mostly gone.

A lifetime or long-term workmanship warranty on the joints and installation is standard from repipe specialists; general plumbers offer one to ten years. The pipe itself carries a manufacturer's warranty — 25 years is common for PEX — that only applies when it's installed with the manufacturer's fittings and rings by a qualified installer. Get the fitting system named so the warranty can be claimed, and keep the permit and test results with it.

A price without a fixture count; no mention of the permit or pressure test; drywall 'not included' buried in fine print; a quote that says PEX without naming the type and fitting system; mixed fitting brands; a demand for full payment before the final inspection; and a crew that closes walls before the inspector has seen the rough-in. Also a repipe pushed on a house whose only problem is one slow faucet — get a second opinion before a $7,500 job.