How much does it cost to repipe a house?

A PEX repipe of a typical 1,500 to 2,000 sq ft house generally runs $8,000 to $20,000 with walls opened and patched, and roughly a third less where the pipe is accessible from an open basement or crawlspace. Copper adds about 50% to the material portion.

Why is drywall repair such a large part of a plumbing quote?

Because reaching pipe inside finished walls means cutting, and closing it means patching, taping, texturing and painting each opening — typically $140 to $380 apiece. On a ten-fixture repipe that is twenty openings, which regularly costs more than the pipe itself.

Is PEX as good as copper?

For most residential supply work, yes, and often better: fewer joints, freeze tolerance and a third less cost. Copper still wins on proven longevity, on hot recirculation lines, and anywhere the pipe is exposed to sunlight or rodents, since PEX degrades under UV and can be chewed.

Does plumbing under a slab cost more?

Substantially. Slab access multiplies labour by roughly 1.45 because the plumber must either break and re-pour concrete inside or tunnel from outside. Many slab repipes are instead routed overhead through the attic and dropped down walls, which avoids the concrete entirely.

Do I need a permit for plumbing work?

Repipes, sewer replacements, re-routes and new fixture rough-ins almost always require one. Like-for-like water heater swaps usually do too, and the inspection is worth having — gas venting and temperature-and-pressure relief piping are common failure points.

Should I replace my sewer line or line it?

Get a camera inspection first. Trenchless lining or pipe bursting avoids trenching a driveway or lawn and is often competitive on cost, but it needs the existing line to be intact enough to work with. Collapsed or badly offset sections must be dug.

Plumbing Cost Calculator

Pick the job, enter the size and how the pipe is reached, and get a low-to-high installed cost. The breakdown separates pipe and fittings from plumber labor, the demolition needed to reach the pipe, and the patching that closes it back up.

Job type

House size or run length(sq ft / linear ft)

Whole-house repipe uses floor area. Re-route, sewer and drain jobs use linear feet. Rough-in and water heater use unit counts.

Fixtures involved(fixtures)

Every sink, toilet, tub, shower, hose bib, washer box and water heater connection.

Pipe material

Access

Walls must be opened and patched?

Regional market

Estimated total cost

$10,405 – $24,944

Repipe whole house

Most likely total: $17,675
Materials (pipe, fittings, valves): $1,440 – $3,240
Plumber laborCrawlspace access: $5,175 – $11,454
Access & demolition20 openings: $900 – $2,200
Drywall & finish repair: $2,800 – $7,600
Permit & inspection: $90 – $450

What this figure includes

These are contractor prices for permitted residential plumbing work: pipe, fittings, valves and hangers, licensed plumber labor, the demolition needed to reach the pipe, drywall cut-and-patch with texture and paint at the access points, and the permit. They exclude fixtures and faucets themselves, tile or cabinetry removal and replacement, concrete slab cutting and re-pouring, excavation and landscaping restoration on sewer work, mould or asbestos remediation, water treatment equipment, and any repair to damage that was already there.

How this is calculated

The formula

Every plumbing job here is built the same way:

Total = materials + labor + access/demolition + finish repair + permit

Materials and labour scale on whatever unit fits the job. A whole-house repipe scales on floor area, because floor area predicts run length. A re-route, a sewer replacement or a drain repair scales on linear feet. A rough-in scales on fixture count. A water heater is largely a flat job with the equipment as the variable.

Pipe material multiplies the material half only: PEX is the baseline at 1.0, CPVC about 1.05, copper about 1.55. Access multiplies the labour half: an open basement is 1.0, a crawlspace 1.15, and a slab 1.45, because under a slab the plumber is either tunnelling from outside or breaking concrete inside.

The part people get wrong: the plumbing is the cheap half

On a repipe, the pipe is not the expense. A PEX repipe of a 1,800 sq ft house might use $1,300 to $2,900 of material. The plumber's labour is roughly double that. And then someone has to open twenty holes in finished walls and ceilings to get at the manifold and every riser — and close them again, tape them, texture them and paint them.

That is why this calculator prices access and finish repair as their own lines. On a typical ten-fixture repipe with walls opened, cut-and-patch alone runs $2,800 to $7,600. It is common for the drywall and paint to cost more than the pipe.

The practical consequence: bundle the work. If a bathroom is being remodelled anyway, repipe that wall while it is open — the marginal cost is the pipe and an hour of labour, because the expensive part was already happening. Repiping a finished house standing on its own is the most expensive way to buy the same pipe.

PEX versus copper, honestly

PEX has taken over residential supply work, and the reasons are real. It runs in long continuous lengths from a manifold, so there are far fewer joints and far fewer holes to cut. It flexes, so it can be fished where rigid pipe cannot. It tolerates a freeze better than copper — it will often expand and survive where copper splits. And it costs roughly a third less installed.

Copper still wins on three things. Longevity: a properly installed copper system routinely goes 50 to 70 years, and PEX's long-term field record is shorter. Heat: copper is unbothered by hot recirculation lines and by proximity to flue pipes and recessed cans. And UV and rodents: PEX degrades in sunlight and mice will chew it, so it cannot be used exposed outdoors and needs protection in some crawlspaces.

Neither is wrong. On a whole-house repipe in a finished home, PEX is usually the better value. On short exposed runs, on a hot water recirculation loop, or where the pipe is visible, copper earns its price.

A worked example

Repipe of an 1,800 sq ft house, 10 fixtures, PEX, crawlspace access, walls opened, national pricing:

Materials: ($180 + 1,800 × $0.70) to ($360 + 1,800 × $1.60) = $1,440 – $3,240
Labor: ($420 + 1,800 × $1.60 + 10 × $120) to ($840 + 1,800 × $3.40 + 10 × $300) × 1.15 = $5,290 – $11,320
Access and demolition, 20 openings: $900 – $2,200
Drywall and finish repair, 20 openings: $2,800 – $7,600
Permit: $90 – $450
Total: roughly $10,500 to $24,800

Switch to copper and the material line roughly rises by half, to $2,230 – $5,020 — meaningful, but far smaller than the swing between "walls already open" and "walls to be opened and patched".

Sewer work is a different animal

A sewer line replacement is priced per foot but the variance is set by depth, by what is above the line — a driveway, a mature oak, a patio — and by whether the jurisdiction allows trenchless pipe bursting. Always start with a camera inspection. Spending $250 to see the actual break has saved a great many people from replacing sixty feet of sound pipe.

Cost figures last reviewed 9 Sept 2026 · Residential plumbing contractor quoting by job type, separating material takeoff from labour hours.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to repipe a house?: A PEX repipe of a typical 1,500 to 2,000 sq ft house generally runs $8,000 to $20,000 with walls opened and patched, and roughly a third less where the pipe is accessible from an open basement or crawlspace. Copper adds about 50% to the material portion.
Why is drywall repair such a large part of a plumbing quote?: Because reaching pipe inside finished walls means cutting, and closing it means patching, taping, texturing and painting each opening — typically $140 to $380 apiece. On a ten-fixture repipe that is twenty openings, which regularly costs more than the pipe itself.
Is PEX as good as copper?: For most residential supply work, yes, and often better: fewer joints, freeze tolerance and a third less cost. Copper still wins on proven longevity, on hot recirculation lines, and anywhere the pipe is exposed to sunlight or rodents, since PEX degrades under UV and can be chewed.
Does plumbing under a slab cost more?: Substantially. Slab access multiplies labour by roughly 1.45 because the plumber must either break and re-pour concrete inside or tunnel from outside. Many slab repipes are instead routed overhead through the attic and dropped down walls, which avoids the concrete entirely.
Do I need a permit for plumbing work?: Repipes, sewer replacements, re-routes and new fixture rough-ins almost always require one. Like-for-like water heater swaps usually do too, and the inspection is worth having — gas venting and temperature-and-pressure relief piping are common failure points.
Should I replace my sewer line or line it?: Get a camera inspection first. Trenchless lining or pipe bursting avoids trenching a driveway or lawn and is often competitive on cost, but it needs the existing line to be intact enough to work with. Collapsed or badly offset sections must be dug.