Repiping Cost Calculator
Quick answer: a whole-house PEX repipe runs $4,000 to $15,000 for most single-family homes in 2026 — about $7,500 for a typical two-bathroom house. Copper adds roughly 40 to 60 percent. Move the inputs below to get the range for your house, using the same rates published in our cost to repipe a house guide.
This is a planning range, not a quote. Access, wall finishes, and local code add-ons move real bids — sometimes by thousands. Prices vary, so get 2–3 written quotes on the exact same scope before you commit. Drywall patching and paint ($300–$1,500 in our guide) are not included.
How does this calculator price a repipe?
It prices the job the way an estimator does: fixtures first, floor area second. The base figures come straight from the pricing table in our cost to repipe a house guide — a one-bathroom house runs $4,000 to $6,500 in PEX and $6,000 to $10,000 in copper, a two-bathroom house $6,000 to $10,000 in PEX and $9,000 to $15,000 in copper, and a three-bathroom house $9,000 to $15,000 or more in PEX and $13,000 to $22,000 or more in copper. Your square footage then scales that anchor up or down, because a bigger house means longer runs. Stories add an access adjustment — pipe in a two-story house hides behind finished ceilings, and reaching it is labor. The permit, $200 to $800 in most cities, is added as its own line, the same way it appears on a real quote.
The material rates underneath those anchors are the ones from the same guide: PEX installed at $3.50 to $7 per square foot, copper at $8 to $14 per square foot. CPVC has no separate published rate in the guide because it usually prices between the two, so the calculator uses the midpoint of the PEX and copper ranges for CPVC. If a contractor quotes you CPVC, expect the bid to land between a PEX bid and a copper bid on the same house — if it doesn't, ask why.
What moves your real quote outside this range?
Access is the biggest swing factor. A single-story ranch on a crawl space is the cheapest repipe there is; a house on a slab forces everything through walls and the attic, and a two-story house with finished ceilings costs the most of all. Local labor matters just as much — our guide notes that a high-cost metro can run 30 to 50 percent above the national ranges, which is what the region setting above models. Code add-ons are the third factor: some jurisdictions require a new main shut-off, backflow prevention, an expansion tank, or an upsized water service line while the system is open. Those are legitimate charges, but a good contractor lists them as separate line items rather than burying them in one number.
Should you repipe the whole house or just part of it?
Run the calculator both ways and compare honestly. A partial repipe — one bathroom group, one failing branch, the horizontal runs in a basement — solves an immediate problem for far less; targeted partial jobs in our guide run $1,500 to $3,500. The catch is that the old pipe you leave behind keeps aging on the same schedule, and you pay for permits, access, and drywall twice. If your system is copper with one bad section, partial work often makes complete sense. If it is galvanized or polybutylene, partial work is a patch, not a fix. Not sure which camp your house is in? Read the signs your house needs repiping first — two leaks in twelve months is the line where I stop recommending repairs and start recommending quotes.
How do you use this estimate to hire well?
Treat the range as your budget anchor, then get three written quotes against the exact same scope: same material, same fixture count, permit included or not, patching included or not. The lowest number on mismatched scopes is meaningless — a quote that looks $1,200 cheaper often just excludes the permit and the patching. Ask every bidder the direct question: does this price include patching, and to what finish level? And before you hire anyone for a job this size, read plumber vs handyman — a repipe is permitted, inspected work that belongs to a licensed plumber in every state I know of.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is this repiping cost calculator?
It is a planning estimate, not a quote. The calculator is built on the same 2026 rates published in our cost to repipe a house guide — PEX at $3.50 to $7 per square foot installed and copper at $8 to $14 — adjusted for bathroom count, stories, scope, and regional labor costs. Real quotes vary with access, wall finishes, local code add-ons, and how much drywall has to open. Use the range to budget and to sanity-check bids, then get two or three written quotes on the same scope before you sign anything.
Why does bathroom count change the price so much?
Because plumbing cost follows fixtures, not floor area. Every bathroom is a fixture group — toilet, sink, tub or shower — and each fixture needs hot and cold supply runs, fittings, valves, and pressure testing. A 1,200 square foot house with three bathrooms has more pipe connections than a 2,000 square foot house with one and a half baths, so it costs more to repipe. That is why the calculator asks for bathrooms first and treats square footage as the second input, exactly the way an experienced estimator prices the job.
Does the estimate include permits and drywall patching?
The permit is included — the calculator adds the $200 to $800 permit range from our guide as its own line, because a repipe is permitted, inspected work in almost every jurisdiction. Drywall patching and paint are not included. Opening walls is part of the plumbing job; patching, taping, texturing, and painting them back is finish work that typically adds $300 to $1,500. Always ask each bidder whether patching is in their price and to what finish level, and get the answer in writing.
Can I save money with a partial repipe?
Yes, sometimes. The partial scope in this calculator replaces roughly half the system — one bathroom group, one failing branch, or the horizontal runs — and prices it at about 55 percent of the whole-house figure, because the permit, setup, and access costs do not shrink with the pipe count. In our guide, targeted partial jobs run $1,500 to $3,500. Partial work makes sense on sound copper with one bad section. On galvanized or polybutylene, it is usually a short-term patch, because the pipe you leave behind keeps failing on the same schedule.
Why is copper so much more expensive than PEX?
Two reasons: material and labor. Copper pipe and fittings cost more per foot, and every change of direction needs a soldered fitting, while PEX bends around framing in long flexible runs with far fewer joints. On the rates in our guide, a copper repipe runs roughly 40 to 60 percent more than the same job in PEX. Copper still earns its premium in exposed mechanical rooms, houses with rodent problems in the walls, and short tie-ins to existing copper. For a whole-house job on a budget, PEX is the better value in most homes.