Typical ranges
These are working figures for this market, not a price list. Anyone publishing exact prices for plumbing without seeing the job is guessing, and the guess is usually optimistic.
- Service call / diagnostic: around $89-$150 to come out, diagnose and quote.
- Most standard repairs: $150-$500. Faucets, toilet rebuilds, disposals, valve replacements, minor leaks.
- Drain clearing: varies with access and severity. A cleanout at ground level is straightforward; no cleanout and roof access is not.
- Water heater replacement: roughly $1,500-$4,500 depending on tank or tankless, capacity, and whether the install needs venting, gas or electrical changes.
- Whole-house repipe: $4,500-$15,000, driven mostly by house size and access.
- After-hours and emergency: generally 25-50% above the standard rate.
Worth knowing
A wide range usually reflects real variability rather than vagueness. A water heater swapped for the same model in the same spot is at the bottom of that range; one that needs the vent rerouted, the gas line resized and a pan and drain added to meet current code is at the top — and that is the same “water heater replacement”.
The four things that actually move a quote
Access. The largest single factor and the one people never anticipate. A water heater in a garage with room to work is a different job from the same heater in an attic reached through a small hatch. A drain with a ground-level cleanout is different from one requiring roof access.
What has to be brought up to code. Replacing an old fixture often means the new one has to meet current requirements the old one predates — a pan and drain line, a proper expansion tank, correct venting, a shutoff where there was none. That is not padding; it is what makes the work legal and insurable.
Parts. A standard cartridge is a few dollars. A cartridge for a discontinued designer faucet may be forty and take a week.
Whether it is one problem or a symptom. A slab leak repaired at the failure point costs one thing. The same house on its third leak is a different conversation, and quoting only the immediate repair would be misleading.
Why emergency rates are higher
Worth being straightforward about. Standard hours here are Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm, and we take emergency calls on nights and weekends.
An after-hours call means someone leaves their family, and it means the work happens without supply houses open — so whatever is needed has to already be on the truck, or the job gets done twice.
The genuinely useful thing is knowing what actually needs the premium. Water you cannot stop, sewage in the house, a gas smell, or no water at all in freezing weather — those are emergencies. A dripping faucet at 9pm is not, and it will cost you less on Tuesday.
If you are unsure, call and ask. We will tell you if it can wait.
What to ask any plumber before agreeing
These four questions separate a real quote from a number on the phone.
- Is this a quote or an estimate? A quote is a price. An estimate is a starting point.
- What is the licence number? Texas requires it on advertising. Ours is Master Plumber M-38925, and it is verifiable through the state board.
- Is the diagnostic fee applied to the work if you go ahead?
- What is not included? The gap between the quote and the final bill is nearly always something that was never mentioned — drywall repair, permit fees, hauling the old unit away.
Where money is genuinely saved
Not by shopping the lowest hourly rate. A cheaper rate on a misdiagnosed problem is the most expensive plumbing there is — particularly on drains, where clearing the same line three times costs more than finding out why it blocks.
It is saved by acting on the early sign rather than the failure. A running toilet fixed for the price of a flapper versus a quarter of water. A water heater flushed rather than replaced. A slab leak found by a warm floor rather than by a cracked wall.
And by getting the diagnosis right once. This is the argument for a camera on a repeat drain problem, or a gauge before anyone touches the pressure — both cost less than the work they prevent.
We would rather tell you a repair is not worth doing than sell it to you. That occasionally costs us a job and it is still the right call.