How Much Does It Cost to Install or Replace Plumbing?

Cost to Install or Replace Plumbing Pipes

Installing new plumbing or repiping an entire home costs $2,000 to $15,000. Replacing or installing new fixtures or small sections of piping, like a bathtub, sink, or toilet will cost between $450 and $1,800 per fixture depending on if it's a rough-in or full install.

Rough-in plumbing for new construction costs $8,000 to $12,000, or about or about $4.50 per square foot for an average 2,000 square foot home with 2 or 3 bathrooms. Repiping an existing home the same size runs $3,100 to $5,500, or $0.40 to $2.00 per linear foot.

You may need to have the plumbing replaced if it’s old and has hazardous piping materials such as lead or polybutylene. For example, galvanized pipe needs replacing because it fills with rust, sediment, and mineral deposits, tainting your water. Your overall prices depend on the type of materials used, the home's age, and the square footage of your plumbing project.

Table of Contents

1. Cost to Install or Replace Plumbing Pipes
2. Cost to Plumb a New House
• Plumbing Cost Per Square Foot
• Rough-In Plumbing Cost for New Construction
3. Cost to Replumb a House
• Repipe a House with PEX
• Replace Galvanized Pipes
• Lead and Polybutylene Pipe Replacement
• Repipe a House with Copper
• Remove Existing Plumbing Pipes
• Replace Plumbing in an Old House
• Replacing Water Main from Meter to Home
• Replace Pipes Under a House
• Repipe a Mobile Home
4. New Plumbing Pipe & Materials Prices
• PEX, Copper, CPVC
• Polybutylene, Galvanized, Lead
5. Whole-House Plumbing Cost Factors
6. Hiring A Professional Plumber
7. Pipe Installation Contractors Near Me

Cost to Plumb a New House

The cost to plumb a new 2,000 square foot home with 2 or 3 baths ranges from $8,000 to $12,000 on average. Installing new plumbing depends on the type of materials used, the number of bathrooms and plumbing fixtures, how far apart the bathrooms are, and how many stories the house has.

To get an accurate price quote for your new plumbing installation, get free estimates from top-rated plumbing contractors near you.

Plumbing Cost Per Square Foot

Plumbing costs $4.50 per square foot on average when estimating the installation in new construction. This is an estimate only—factors such as the variable cost of fixtures and plumbing materials can drastically change the cost of plumbing.

Commercial vs. Residential

The rough-in costs for commercial plumbing a new construction typically ranges from $4 to $6 per square foot. However, the fixture cost can be considerably higher because of the heavy-duty nature of commercial fixtures. They need to be able to stand up to heavy public usage. The difference between commercial and residential plumbing is scale and complexity.

• In new home construction, a plumber may install 2–3 toilets and sinks, while in new commercial construction, that plumber could install 25–50 or more.
• Commercial building codes are much different than residential building codes.

Rough-In Plumbing Cost for New Construction

Rough-in plumbing costs range from $8,000 to $12,000 for a new construction home around 2,000 square feet with 2 or 3 bathrooms. Installing new fixtures, like bathtubs, sinks, dishwashers, or toilets will cost between $450 and $1,800 per fixture or about $4,000 for all.

The total cost for rough-in plumbing and installing fixtures is about $12,000 to $20,000. The term “rough-in plumbing” means that all the pipes are installed and connected to each other and the water main, but no sinks, faucets, or toilets have been installed. Once you’ve chosen the faucets and fixtures, that adds to your estimate.

When breaking down the costs, rough-in plumbing cost to install a new kitchen ranges from $1,700 to $4,000 depending on the square footage and how many fixtures it has. Typical fixtures include the kitchen sink, stove, dishwasher, and refrigerator.

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Cost to Replumb a House

Replumbing a 1,500 square foot home costs between $2,280 and $4,080, or $0.40 to $2.00 per linear foot depending on the type of pipe used. An accurate estimate depends on the number of bathrooms, how far they are from the kitchen, where the laundry room is, and the number of fixtures.

The cost to replumb a house varies widely, depending on many factors, the biggest two being the size of the house and the materials used. Most homes older than fifty years need to be replumbed because of corroded or cracked pipes. A bigger house or building will cost more to redo than a smaller one, and a home replumbed with copper pipe will cost more than one replumbed with PEX.

Cost to Repipe a House with PEX

The cost to repipe a house with PEX tubing is $0.40 to $0.50 per linear foot depending on the size of the house and the extent of replumbing you’re doing. Repiping a 2,000 square foot home with PEX costs between $2,000 and $4,000. PEX is plastic tubing or hose with many beneficial characteristics. However, PEX has only been used for about a decade, and any health risks of using plastic water supply lines are unknown.

• It is easy to install due to its flexibility.
• It can be snaked behind drywall, eliminating the need to remove the drywall.
• Because of the flexibility of PEX, it won’t burst if frozen; it will naturally expand to fit.
• PEX cannot be installed outside because the UV light will break down the plastic, destroying the tubing.
• It is suitable for both hot-water and cold-water lines.
• It’s noncorrosive.
• Rodents can chew through it.

Average Cost to Replace Galvanized Pipes

The cost to replace galvanized pipes is from $2,000 to $15,000 depending on if you use PEX, copper, or another material. Replacing galvanized pipes in older homes is important because of the way galvanized pipes tend to degrade over the years. Galvanized pipe is made by coating steel pipe with zinc. As time moves on, the zinc erodes, exposing the steel.

• The exposed steel rusts.
• Blockages can develop.
• Water pressure drops due to the blockages.
• Your water can become discolored due to the rust. Rusty water is unsafe to drink and makes for discolored clothes in the laundry.

Lead and Polybutylene Pipe Replacement Cost

Your lead and polybutylene pipe replacement cost is from $2,000 to $15,000, where PEX would be the cheapest, and copper the most expensive choice. The pipes must be replaced because they crack and leak from years of water treatment chemicals. Old piping is not only a hazard to your home because of water damage, but it’s a health hazard as well.

• Once the pipe gets cracked, your water is no longer safe to use.
• Polybutylene pipes and lead pipes are not repairable. Lead is toxic, and it needs replacing.
• They cannot be installed into any new construction, as they are not recognized as safe and reliable by any building code in the United States.

Repipe a House with Copper Pipe

The cost to repipe a house with copper pipe is between $8,000 and $16,000 or about $3 to $8 per linear foot. Replacing galvanized drain, waste, and vent pipe with copper costs $13 to $15 per linear foot. Copper pipe is more expensive than PEX, but it has some excellent benefits.

• Copper is naturally resistant to bacteria.
• It is recyclable and easy to install—not as easy as PEX, but still manageable.
• If you live in an area prone to earthquakes, copper is very resilient and may not break during an earthquake, saving your home from expensive water damage.

Cost to Remove Existing Plumbing Pipes

It can cost in the neighborhood of $1,000 to $5,000 to remove existing plumbing in an older home. Usually, it’s included in the price of repiping a home rather than treated as an individual cost. It’s a “remove as you go” type of repair to replace the plumbing in an entire house, so it’s not something you can do yourself to save money.

The cost is dependent on the size of the home and the number of bathrooms and plumbing fixtures—laundry room, wet bar, mud room, etc. The cost to repair the drywall that was cut into to gain access to the plumbing will add $500 or more to your final costs.

Cost to Replace Plumbing in an Old House

If your home is over 50 years old, it’s a good bet it’s time to replace the plumbing, at a minimum cost of $2,000 and a maximum of $15,000. The wide disparity in price is due to the size of the house, the kind of pipe you’re installing, and additional repairs you find you need to make any time you go behind walls.

How long do plumbing pipes last before they need to be replaced?

• Brass pipes will last from 40 to 70 years.
• Copper pipes will last about 50 years
• Galvanized steel pipes last from 20 to 50 years.

Replacing the Water Main from Meter to Home

Replacing the water main will cost from $32 to $53 per linear foot or about $800 to $2,000 on average. New construction costs to install a water main and hook it up from the meter to your home will run $1,700 to $3,000 or about double the replacement costs.

If you have an older home, it’s possible that the water main may hook into your home somewhere underneath it. Be prepared to have your yard torn up with a deep trench for at least a few days. The cost will vary depending on local prices and the obstacles between the street and the hookup in your home.

Cost to Replace Pipes Under a House

The cost to replace pipes under the house is merely the cost to install a new plumbing system which can range from $2,000 to $15,000 or more. You can install new copper pipes for $3 to $8 per linear foot, or $0.40 to $0.50 per linear foot for PEX hose. Pipes do run under houses, many times in concrete. It is quite common to leave the old pipes in place after disconnecting them. The new pipe is simply installed in the path of least resistance. Depending on the style of your home, the pipe can be installed in the attic or under a crawl space.

Cost to Repipe a Mobile Home

Replumbing a mobile home costs between $2,000 and $4,000 depending on the size and model. The plumbing setup in a mobile home is different than that in a stick-built home. In a mobile home, all the plumbing is in the floor rather than the walls, so it has different costs and will be less expensive.

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New Plumbing Pipe & Materials Prices

If you want to put new pipes in your home or you’re building a home, there are three types of new plumbing pipe available that are building-code approved for homes—copper, PEX, and CPVC (chlorinated polyvinyl chloride). PEX and CPVC are both plastics and are excellent alternatives to the pricey copper piping.

PEX Plumbing & Tubing Costs

PEX piping costs $0.30 to $0.82 per linear foot. PEX piping is very affordable for plumbing jobs, and being flexible is easy to install. It’s noncorrosive and is a popular pipe for radiant heating setups.

Copper Pipe Prices

Copper pipe prices range from $1 to $3 per linear foot and are the best kind of pipe to have in your home. Copper resists bacteria and extremely durable, but it is becoming an increasingly difficult material to source and thus valuable, hence the likelihood of it falling prey to thieves.

• 1 ½” to 2” type DWV copper pipe costs $6.70–$8.40 per linear foot with fittings. Type DWV has the thinnest wall section and is generally only suitable for unpressurized applications, such as drain, waste, and vent (DWV) lines.” ^[1]
• ½” –3/4” type M copper pipe costs $1.89–$2.28 per linear foot for pipe and proper fittings. “Type M has an even thinner pipe wall section and is used in residential and commercial low-pressure heating applications.”

CPVC Pipe Material Cost

Chlorinated Polyvinylchloride Piping (CPVC) piping materials cost from $0.40 to $1.56 per linear foot. A popular replacement material for metal pipes, CPVC pipe is rigid plastic piping that has thick walls and can be used for hot and cold drinking water pipes. CPVC is easy to install and meets the most rigorous building codes.

Polybutylene, Galvanized, Lead, and Cast-Iron Piping

As time has moved on, we’ve found that the pipes we’d been using in homes across the country are not the best kind and have been discontinued. If you find these types of pipes in your home, they should be replaced as soon as possible.

• Galvanized pipes lose their zinc coating, making them unhealthy.
• Lead is poisonous to us.
• Cast iron is prone to breakage.
• Polybutylene pipes turned out to be very prone to leaking.

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Whole-House Plumbing Cost Factors

The cost of new plumbing or replumbing a house is affected by many different factors simply because every home is different in size, layout, and water features within the house.

• Home Size – The bigger the house, the more the plumbing or replumbing will cost. For example, a two-story home will cost more to pipe than a one-story home that's the same size. It will probably have more bathrooms than a smaller house, and one or more of those bathrooms could have more than one sink. A master suite might have a toilet and a bidet, or a shower with multiple showerheads, as opposed to a smaller bathroom with one showerhead. Each fixture (something that is hooked to a water line) adds to the cost of the plumbing.
• Number of Appliances – Water-using appliances such as dishwashers, washing machines, and water heaters will add to the cost. Some homes have two kitchens, which means two dishwashers and two or more sinks. You’ll also need water hookups to the freezer for the ice maker.
• Layout – Once you add a second floor and even third floor, pipes need to be run up to it. This is more complex than plumbing the ground floor and is more labor intensive. Plumbing services will use more materials which adds to your labor costs.
• Location – The amount of excavation that needs to be done to connect to city water and sewer lines will affect the cost. If the house is in a developed area, such as within city limits, this will be reasonably easy to accomplish. But if the house is in the country, that connection might be longer and harder to find.
• Materials Cost – The piping material used will lower or add to your cost.
• Permits and Inspections – If you’re dealing with new construction, inspections will need to be done. Costs of inspections vary based on the area you live in and your city’s building codes. You’ll also have to pay for any building permits needed.

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Hire a Licensed Professional Plumber

Always hire a licensed, professional plumber to make your piping installation a breeze. Make sure:

• They are licensed, bonded, and insured.
• They offer a warranty on their work.
• Their experience will make the work quick and (hopefully) faultless.
• They have the education and will be up to date in their knowledge and application of local building codes.
• They have the right tools for the job.

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