Is PEX or copper better for a whole-house repipe?

PEX costs 40-60% less than copper and installs faster, with a comparable service life for most residential uses. Copper is more resistant to UV and rodent damage and remains popular in higher-end homes, but for most homeowners PEX offers similar durability at a lower cost.

How much does it cost to repipe a 1,500 square foot house?

Based on published cost guides, a 1,500 square foot home typically runs $5,500-$11,000 with PEX or $12,000-$22,000 with copper. The exact price depends on wall access, number of bathrooms, and local labor rates, so local quotes are the only reliable number.

Will I be without water during a repipe?

Most repipes shut off water for about 8-10 hours during working hours each day of the project, which typically runs 2-5 days total. Many plumbers restore service overnight so your household has running water in the evenings and mornings.

How do I know if I need a full repipe instead of a repair?

Recurring leaks in different areas, rusty or discolored water, low pressure throughout the house, and visible galvanized steel or lead pipe are all signs pointing toward a full repipe. A single isolated leak usually just needs a targeted repair instead.

Why do repipe quotes vary so much between plumbers?

Repipe pricing depends on judgment calls — how hard the walls are to access, how much drywall repair is needed, and labor rates — that differ plumber to plumber. Getting multiple quotes is the only way to see whether a bid reflects your home's actual scope or is priced high.

How Much Does It Cost to Repipe a House in 2026?

A repipe rarely comes out of nowhere. It's usually the fourth pinhole leak this year, or a plumber pointing at galvanized steel pipe in your basement and asking how old the house is. Once you're facing a whole-home repipe, the range of prices you'll hear from different contractors can be enormous — and that gap is exactly why it pays to understand what's driving the number before you sign anything.

How Much Does It Cost to Repipe a House?

According to Angi's 2026 cost data, a whole-house repipe generally runs $1,500 to $15,000, with most homeowners paying somewhere around $7,500. That's a wide band, and the material you choose accounts for most of the spread.

Material	Typical Whole-Home Range	1,500 Sq. Ft. Home
PEX	$4,000–$8,000	$5,500–$11,000
Copper	$8,000–$15,000	$12,000–$22,000

These are national ranges pulled from published cost guides — your local quotes will differ based on labor rates, permit costs, and how your house is built. That's also the core reason to collect more than one bid: two licensed plumbers can look at the same job and land $5,000 apart, and without a second or third quote you have no way to know which number reflects a fair local price and which one is padded.

Copper vs. PEX: Which Costs Less?

PEX is the cheaper option in almost every case, and it's become the default choice for most residential repipes. Installed cost runs roughly $3.50–$7.00 per square foot for PEX versus $8.00–$14.00 per square foot for copper. Because PEX uses flexible tubing with crimped fittings instead of soldered joints, it also installs faster — which matters, since labor typically makes up the majority of the total bill.

Copper still has fans. It's been used in home plumbing for generations, it doesn't degrade from UV exposure the way exposed PEX can, and some homeowners prefer it for resale reasons in older, higher-end homes. But for most whole-house jobs, PEX delivers comparable longevity — manufacturers generally rate it for 30 to 50 years of service, close to the 50-to-70-year range typically cited for copper — at 40 to 60 percent less cost.

What Affects the Price of a Repipe?

A handful of factors move the number up or down:

Home size and number of bathrooms. More fixtures means more pipe runs and more labor hours.
Wall access. Open crawl spaces and basements are cheap to work in. Repiping through finished walls, slab foundations, or multi-story construction adds drywall repair and patching costs on top of the plumbing itself.
Number of stories. A two-story home costs more to repipe than a single-story home of the same square footage.
Permits and inspections. Most municipalities require a permit for a whole-house repipe, and that fee is typically separate from the plumber's quote.
What you're replacing. Swapping old galvanized steel for PEX is a more involved job than replacing an already-modern system.

None of these are fixed costs — they're variables a plumber estimates on-site, which is another reason a single quote isn't enough information to judge whether a price is reasonable.

How Long Does Repiping Take?

Most whole-house repipes take 2 to 5 days, with water shut off for roughly 8 to 10 hours during working hours each day. Smaller homes with one or two bathrooms often wrap up in 2 to 3 days; larger homes with four or more bathrooms can run closer to a week. PEX jobs tend to move faster than copper because there's no soldering involved. Many plumbers will restore water service overnight so your household isn't without running water for days at a stretch.

Do You Actually Need a Full Repipe?

Not every plumbing problem calls for repiping the whole house. Signs that point toward a full repipe rather than a spot repair include:

Frequent or recurring leaks in different parts of the house
Rusty, discolored, or metallic-tasting water
Noticeably low water pressure throughout the house, not just at one fixture
Visible galvanized steel or old lead piping
Pipes that are original to a house built before the 1970s

If you're dealing with a single leak rather than a pattern of failures, a targeted repair may be all you need — see our guide on what it costs to fix a leaking pipe before assuming a full repipe is necessary. And if the symptom you noticed was a spike in your utility bill rather than a visible leak, it's worth ruling out a hidden leak first with our water bill checklist.

What to Do About It

If a plumber has told you that you need a repipe, don't treat their number as the number. Get quotes from at least two or three licensed, local plumbers before deciding on material or contractor — the spread between bids on a job this size is often thousands of dollars, and the only way to know a price is fair is to have something to compare it against. Ask each plumber to specify material (PEX or copper), estimated timeline, whether drywall repair is included, and whether the permit fee is separate. If your water heater is also aging out, it's worth asking whether bundling that replacement into the same project saves on labor — our water heater replacement cost guide covers what that job runs on its own.