2026 plumbing price guide

How much does plumbing work cost?

If you searched for what a plumbing job should cost, you already know the frustrating part: nobody wants to give you a straight number. The honest reason is that two jobs with the same name can be very different once a plumber is actually under your sink. A "drain cleaning" might be a ten-minute snake or a stubborn clog forty feet down the line.

We could print a national range for each job. We have decided not to, and the reason is the same frustrating part you already noticed: the ranges circulating online come from lead-generation sites that quote each other, so five results agreeing is one source repeated five times. A number we cannot stand behind is worse to you than no number, because you would take it to a plumber and be told it means nothing. What we can give you is better for the phone call: for each job, the one thing that actually decides which end of the price you are at. Ask about that and you get a real answer in a minute, instead of a range you cannot use.

A real quote always beats a guide. The fastest plumbing businesses now send you a real price by text within minutes of you describing the job, instead of making you wait days for a callback. More on that at the bottom.

What real businesses are asking for this work

These are not a national average and we have not turned them into one. Each line is one price, from one named source, on a date, for the job described next to it. Every one is a link you can open and check.

And most of them are asking prices rather than invoices: 3 that somebody paid, 1 that somebody was quoted, 41 that a business advertises. That difference matters, so each one says which it is and they are grouped with the strongest evidence first.

They are here because it is the honest version of a price guide: a few real figures you can check beat a wide range nobody can defend. Read them as a handful of data points, not as what your job will cost.

Water heater replacement

Prices somebody actually paid

The strongest evidence here: a completed job, reported by the person who paid for it.

Gas tank, standard vent

Gas tank, power vent

Prices somebody was quoted

A written quote for a described job. Not yet an invoice, so the final figure may differ.

Gas tank, standard vent

Prices businesses advertise

What a business asks for the work on its own public price list. A starting price rather than a final one, and the most common kind of figure you will find anywhere.

Gas tank, standard vent

Gas tank, power vent

Electric tank

Drain cleaning

Prices businesses advertise

What a business asks for the work on its own public price list. A starting price rather than a final one, and the most common kind of figure you will find anywhere.

Toilet installation

Prices businesses advertise

What a business asks for the work on its own public price list. A starting price rather than a final one, and the most common kind of figure you will find anywhere.

Main line clog

Prices businesses advertise

What a business asks for the work on its own public price list. A starting price rather than a final one, and the most common kind of figure you will find anywhere.

45 observations, collected by hand and kept in the open. Prices move, sources get edited, and a figure from last winter may not hold today. If one of these is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it: support@tonovoice.com.

Want this for your own job? Answer a few questions and work out what yours should cost. It is free, and there is nothing to sign up for.

Common plumbing jobs and what decides the price

We do not print a national range for these, because the ranges you find online come from lead-generation sites that quote each other, and a number we cannot defend is worse to you than no number. What we can tell you is what a plumber is actually pricing, which is the thing that moves your quote by hundreds of dollars. Ask about the line on the right and you will get a real answer faster.
Drain cleaningOne fixture, or the main line
A single sink or tub clog is a cable and half an hour. It becomes a different job with a main-line clog, a deep blockage, or roots in the pipe, which need a heavier machine or a camera to find. Say how many drains are affected when you call: that one answer decides which visit you are booking.
Toilet repairA tank part, or the floor
Swapping a fill valve or flapper is quick. It is a different job when the wax ring, supply line, or the toilet's seal to the floor is the real problem, or if water has been leaking long enough to reach the subfloor. Water at the base, or a pan that rocks, is the sign that moves it.
Faucet replacementThe shutoffs under the sink
Mostly labor on a standard kitchen or bath faucet. Old shutoff valves that will not turn are the classic mid-job surprise, and hard-to-reach mounting nuts add time. The faucet itself is a separate cost, and whether you supply it changes who carries the warranty.
Leak repairWhether anyone can see the pipe
An exposed pipe under a sink is straightforward. A leak inside a wall, in the slab, or behind a fixture is a different job, because finding it and opening up the area is the work, not the patch. Making good afterwards is separate again, and somebody has to quote it.
Garbage disposal installSwap, or first one
A like-for-like swap is bounded work. Adding a disposal where there was not one brings in new wiring and a switch, which is an electrician's job as well as a plumber's. Unit horsepower is a smaller factor than either.
Water heater repairWhether the tank itself has gone
A thermocouple or a heating element is a bounded fix. A failing gas valve, a tank that is already leaking, or a tankless unit is a different conversation, and a leaking tank is usually not a repair at all. Ask for the replacement number at the same time, so you are comparing rather than deciding twice.
Sewer camera inspectionAccess, and whether it locates too
A standard line scope to see what is going on. Harder access, a longer run, or pairing the camera with locating the exact spot of a problem all add to it. Ask whether the fee is credited against the repair, because many plumbers do that and few say so unprompted. It is usually the smartest first step before any digging.
Sump pump installIs there already a pit
A direct replacement of an existing pump is a swap. A new pit, or routing a new discharge line outside is drainage work, which is a different trade of job entirely. You can check this yourself before you call: look for a hole in the floor with a pipe running out of it.
Water heater installTank swap, or tankless conversion
A tank swap on the same fuel in the same place is bounded work. Switching to tankless, code upgrades, new venting, or moving the unit is a different project, and the gap between the two is larger than the whole spread of either. Permits matter in many areas and are worth asking about by name.
Repipe (small job)How much has to open up
Replacing a single run of old or failing pipe. It turns on how much pipe, the material, and how much wall or floor has to open up to reach it, and the making good afterwards is often quoted separately. A whole-home repipe is a much larger project than this and should be priced as one.

Why two quotes for the "same" job can look so different

Same job name, different real work. These are the honest factors that move a plumbing price up or down.

How bad it actually is

A slow drain and a fully blocked main line both get called "a clog." Until a plumber sees it, the price is a guess. The range exists because the real problem hides until they're on site.

When you need them

A scheduled weekday visit costs less than a 2am emergency call. After-hours, weekend and same-day work often carries a higher rate, because someone is dropping everything to get to you. Not always, though: we have found companies that publish the same flat rate nights, weekends and holidays, so it is worth asking rather than assuming.

Your home and access

Older homes with corroded valves, tight crawl spaces, or pipe that's hard to reach take longer. Easy access under a modern sink is one job. Opening a wall or slab to reach a pipe is another.

Parts, permits, and warranty

The fixture you pick, code-required materials, a pulled permit, and the labor warranty a good plumber carries are all real costs. A rock-bottom price sometimes means one of these got skipped.

Stop guessing. Ask the business for a real number.

A guide can tell you what decides the price. Only a real quote, for your home and your exact job, can tell you the number. Businesses that use Tono answer your price question in minutes, in their own words, instead of leaving you waiting for a callback.

See how instant quotes work → What is Tono?

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Run a plumbing business?

Customers ask what it costs all day, and the first clear answer usually wins the job. Tono answers them in your voice, with a price built from your own rates, while the lead is still warm. Your trade is one of the four Tono prices today, so there is nothing to wait for. Leave your email to claim a founding rate, or go straight to setting up your quote page.

Founding rate for the first 20 businesses. No card, and nothing is ever sent to a customer without your approval.

Why this page has no price on it. It used to. The ranges were ours in the sense that we wrote them down, and they came from nowhere we could point at, which we only found when we went looking for the source. Almost every price range you can find for this work traces back to two or three lead-generation sites that quote each other, so five results agreeing is one source repeated five times. We are not willing to republish that and call it research, and we are not willing to print a number you would take to a tradesperson and be told it means nothing.

What we put here instead. For each job, the one thing that actually decides which end of the price you land on. That we do know, from building the questions a quoting engine has to ask, and it is the more useful half. A range you cannot use tells you nothing. Knowing which single question the price turns on lets you answer it before you are asked, and get a real number back in about a minute.

They are not what Tono prices with. When a business runs its quotes through Tono, every price comes from that business's own rate sheet. Nothing on this page feeds into it.

Written and maintained by the Tono team. Updated August 2026. If a number here looks wrong to you, tell us and we will fix it: support@tonovoice.com.

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