Polybutylene, galvanized steel, pinholing copper — some pipe isn't worth patching anymore. A full repipe runs $4,000–$12,000, quoted line by line, with water on every night.
There's a moment every owner of an older Charlotte house recognizes: the third pinhole leak in two years, another ceiling stain, another patch — and the quiet math that says you're no longer repairing a plumbing system, you're subscribing to one. Repiping is the unsubscribe button. One project, every supply line in the house replaced, and the leak lottery is over for the next fifty years.
Three pipe materials drive most repipes here. Polybutylene — gray plastic, stamped PB2110 — went into a huge share of Charlotte-area homes built from the late 1970s through the mid 1990s, from east Charlotte and Mint Hill out through early Union County subdivisions. Chlorinated water embrittles it from the inside until it fails all at once; it was the subject of one of the largest class-action settlements in US history, and many insurers now surcharge or decline homes that still have it. Galvanized steel, common before the 60s, rusts shut from the inside — if your shower drops to a trickle when the washer fills, that's galvanized talking. And thin-wall copper from certain eras pinholes, especially where our acidic clay contacts buried runs.
The range is wide because houses are. A one-bath crawlspace ranch lands near the bottom; a two-story, three-bath slab home near the top. Your quote is itemized room by room and run by run — you can see exactly what drives the number, phase the work if cash flow matters, or pull bathrooms forward and leave the hose bibs for later. The number you approve is the number you pay.
Not sure what pipe you have? Send a photo of the lines at your water heater — we'll identify it free.
A typical single-family repipe takes two to four days. We cut over fixture by fixture, so water is on every evening and you keep a working bathroom throughout — no hotel, no cooler-of-pond-water survivalism. Drywall openings are planned, photographed, and patched behind the pipe crew; paint-ready is the standard, and we'll tell you upfront exactly which walls will need touch-up paint.
If you're pipe-shopping because of one bad week, get the leak fixed first — then let's look at whether your house is one repair into a pattern or genuinely fine. About a third of our repipe assessments end with us saying "your pipes are okay, save your money." We can afford to say that, because the houses that do need it really need it.
One visit, straight answers, and a room-by-room number if it's warranted.
Room-by-room quote, water on every night, walls patched behind us — and fifty quiet years ahead.