Answers from licensed Florida CFC technicians.

All 612 incorporated Florida cities and unincorporated communities across all 67 counties — Pensacola to Key West. We operate from eight regional dispatch hubs (Panhandle, Northeast FL, Central FL, Tampa Bay, Southwest FL, Treasure Coast, Southeast FL, Florida Keys), each staffed with technicians who specialize in that region's leak patterns.

Major metros (Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, St. Pete): 45–90 minutes typical. Suburban Florida cities (Sarasota, Naples, Pensacola, Daytona, Lakeland, Gainesville, Tallahassee): 90–150 minutes. Rural Panhandle counties and the Florida Keys: 2–4 hours. Emergency calls always jump the queue.

Yes. Live dispatch operates 365 days a year — Christmas morning, Sunday at 3 a.m., during hurricane prep windows. Real humans answer, not a call center or chatbot. The flat-rate price you'd be quoted Tuesday at noon is the same flat rate at midnight on a holiday.

Single-family homes (the bulk of our calendar), condos and multi-unit buildings, mobile homes on slab foundations, small commercial properties (restaurants, retail, multi-tenant offices), and pool/spa plumbing. We do not service utility-scale or industrial plumbing.

Phone diagnosis is always free. For active leaks where we need to identify the source, we charge a flat-rate detection fee ($295–$495 in most metros) — which credits back to your invoice if you proceed with the repair. For non-active scenarios where the leak source is obvious (a visible burst pipe, a known fixture failure), we'll provide a flat-rate repair quote in writing before starting work without a separate detection charge.

Yes. Florida Certified Plumbing Contractor (CFC) license — the highest tier of FL plumbing license, required for new construction, repipes, and service-line work. $2M aggregate general & professional liability coverage. Active workers' compensation on every technician. Certificate of insurance available before any job begins on request.

W-2 employees, not 1099 subcontractors. Background-checked at hire. Continuing education funded by us (Uponor ProPEX, Viega ProPress, Sewerin tracer-gas certifications). Insurance covers our team and your property — not a separate subcontracted crew.

5 years on workmanship for surgical pipe repairs (copper press, PEX expansion, CPVC reglue, etc.). 1 year on minor cartridges and consumables. Up to 10 years on full PEX-A repipes. Manufacturer warranties on individual components (water heater, smart leak sensors) carry their own terms which we provide at job completion. Warranty details print on every invoice.

Active flooding, burst pipes, water spraying inside the home, ceiling stains spreading visibly, slab leak with audible water hissing, no-water service (whole house). Anything where damage is compounding by the hour qualifies. Slow leaks that have been there for weeks are urgent but not emergency — they can usually be scheduled same-day or next-day.

Correct. Same flat-rate pricing 24/7/365 — including Christmas, hurricane prep windows, and Sunday at 3 a.m. Your written quote at midnight matches your written quote at noon for the same job. We don't add "after-hours fees," "weekend surcharges," or "holiday rates" — those are common industry practices we deliberately don't follow.

Metro Florida: 45–75 minutes typical. Suburban: 90–150 minutes. Rural Panhandle & Keys: 2–4 hours. We give you a real ETA when you call — not a sales-pitch number. If we tell you 90 minutes, the tech is there in 90 minutes (or we call you with an update).

Close the main shut-off (garage wall near water heater, exterior box near the meter, or front-yard meter box — turn clockwise). Photograph everything with timestamps (insurance evidence). Move electronics and cardboard up off wet floors. Cut power to wet areas at the breaker panel if water is near outlets. Don't try to mop standing water — let pros extract it.

Three usual spots: (1) Garage wall near the water heater, (2) Exterior wall facing the street in a small access box, (3) Front-yard meter box near the curb — turn the valve clockwise. If you can't find it, call us and the dispatcher will walk you through locating it while the tech is en route.

We dispatch through hurricane prep windows and resume the moment storm conditions safely allow. We don't drive in active wind warnings above ~50mph. Emergency calls queued through landfall get prioritized post-storm. All eight regional hubs plan their post-hurricane response calendars in advance.

Slab leaks have a specific signature: water bill spike with no usage change, warm spots on tile floors (hot-water line failures), audible water-running sound with all fixtures off, localized cracks or mildew on flooring, and sometimes a sudden drop in water pressure. We confirm with a pressure isolation test before any cutting — if it's not a slab leak, we tell you and bill only the diagnostic.

Spot repairs: $1,500–$3,500 depending on access depth and tile material. Reroutes through walls/attic: $2,500–$5,500. Full PEX repipe of an average 2,000 sq ft home: $5,500–$11,000. Every quote is flat-rate in writing before work starts — no time-and-materials surprises.

Spot repairs: 4–6 hours including slab cut, replacement, pressure test, and patch. Reroutes: 1–2 days depending on access. Full repipes: 3–5 days for an average single-family home. Same-day completion is standard for non-reroute repairs in metro Florida.

Depends on three factors. Pipe age: if your supply system is 30+ years old, repipe almost always wins. Failure history: 2+ slab leaks in 24 months is a system warning, not a coincidence — repipe. Material: polybutylene, galvanized, or Type M copper past 25 years should be replaced regardless. We walk you through both numbers (cost of multiple spot repairs vs single repipe) so you can decide on data.

No. Chemical sealants ("stop-leak") clog fixtures, void warranties, and don't address the underlying failure. Slab leaks are pressurized — a homeowner "patch" without proper soldering or fusion typically fails again within months and may flood the slab cavity in the interim. Florida code also requires licensed plumbers for any pipe replacement work.

We stop and quote the reroute or repipe option before continuing. Multi-leak homes almost always cost less to reroute or repipe than to spot-repair repeatedly. You choose — we don't keep cutting slab to chase failures. The conversation we have at that moment matters: most homeowners run the numbers and pick the permanent solution.

Most Florida HO-3 policies cover access (slab cut, tile demo) and resulting water damage but exclude the failed pipe itself. We document with moisture meter readings, before/after photos, and an itemized invoice formatted for adjuster review. Many customers receive full access-cost reimbursement on first submission. We don't bill insurance directly — you file the claim, we provide the documentation.

Polybutylene was a flexible plastic supply pipe used heavily in Florida between 1978 and 1995. It chemically reacts with chlorine in treated municipal water and gets brittle from the inside out. A 1995 class-action lawsuit (Cox v. Shell) settled for $1B confirming the material fails systematically. An estimated 250,000+ Florida homes still have it. Insurance carriers increasingly refuse new policies on polybutylene homes. Spot-repairing it is throwing money at a system that keeps failing — repipe is the right answer.

Visible runs at the water heater, under-sink valves, and exposed exterior bibs are diagnostic. Red/blue flexible = PEX (post-2005). Cream-colored rigid = CPVC (1995–2010 builder favorite). Copper-colored metal = copper. White rigid = PVC (drain only). Gray flexible with acetal fittings = polybutylene. Threaded gray steel = galvanized. We verify in-wall via the smallest cut needed.

Both are cross-linked polyethylene flexible supply pipe. PEX-A (Uponor's signature product) uses cold-expansion fittings that grip the pipe back tighter than the original wall — almost never fails at the fitting. PEX-B uses crimp or clamp rings to grip — slightly stiffer pipe, fittings depend on installer skill for tightness. Most big-box DIY repipes from the 2010s are PEX-B. We prefer PEX-A for new repipes.

Florida's treated municipal water is naturally acidic (pH 5.8–6.8 vs ideal 7.0–7.5) and contains chlorine plus chloramine — all of which corrode copper interior walls. Pitting microcells form within years 1–5. Stagnation legs (dead lines, summer-home water sitting still) accelerate it. After 18–30 years, the deepest pit finally breaches the outside wall and water starts escaping. Type M copper fails 2x faster than Type L because of the thinner pipe wall.

PEX-A is our default for full repipes in Florida — it's chemically inert to FL water chemistry, faster to install (lower labor cost), more flexible (fewer fittings), and carries a 25-year manufacturer warranty. Copper is the better answer in specific cases: visible aesthetic runs the homeowner wants exposed (architectural), or where local code requires it. PEX behind walls is invisible anyway.

Cream/tan-colored rigid plastic supply pipe used heavily in Florida tract builds 1995–2010. Cheap to install, but goes brittle from UV exposure (attic installations especially) and from years of thermal cycling. The fitting joints crack before the pipe itself — failures usually show up at glued elbows behind walls. We can spot-repair CPVC with proper cement, but on heat-degraded systems we recommend transitioning to PEX-A with brass adapters.

Three classic signs: a wet patch in the yard between the meter and house that stays wet even in dry weather, water pressure that dropped across every fixture in the home (not just one), and a water bill that doubled with no usage change. Inside-the-house leaks usually show up at a fixture or in a wall — not across the yard.

The water utility owns and maintains the line from the city main up to and including the meter. Everything from the meter back to your house is your responsibility — that's the section we work on. If the leak is on the utility's side of the meter, we'll tell you that and you call the city for free repair.

Spot repair (single failure on healthy pipe): $1,500–$3,500. Trenchless pipe-bursting full replacement: $4,500–$9,500 for a typical 50–80 ft residential run. Horizontal directional drilling where obstacles require it: $7,500–$15,000. Open-trench replacement: $3,500–$7,500 depending on length and restoration scope.

Yes, in most cases. Trenchless pipe bursting only requires two small access pits at the meter and house entry — driveway, sidewalk, and mature landscaping stay intact. Horizontal directional drilling can route under obstacles entirely. Open-trench is the alternative when soil conditions or short runs make trenchless economically wrong.

Pipe bursting: 4–8 hours of no-water during the actual pull and reconnect. Open trench: similar window. HDD: 4–6 hours. We schedule the water-off in coordination with the utility — usually a morning start with water restored by mid-afternoon.

No. Detection is non-invasive — acoustic listening, thermal imaging, tracer gas, line pressurization. We open the wall or slab only at the exact pinpointed location, which keeps restoration cost down. Most jobs end with a 6"x12" drywall patch, not a torn-up bathroom.

Flat-rate $295–$495 in most metros depending on scope. Pool-leak detection $395–$595. Whole-house mystery-leak diagnostic with written report $395 standard. The fee credits to your repair invoice if you proceed with us — so the effective cost is zero if we end up doing the repair.

45–90 minutes for a standard residential pinpoint. Whole-house mystery-leak diagnostics: 1.5–2.5 hours. Pool leak detection: 1–2 hours. Service-line leak in the yard: about 1 hour. The written report is delivered within 4 hours of the visit, usually same-day.

A non-flammable, non-toxic blend of 95% nitrogen and 5% hydrogen. We pump it into an isolated pipe section. Hydrogen is the lightest gas, so it escapes through any leak and migrates upward to the surface, where a handheld H₂ sensor picks it up. Right tool when acoustic fails — very small leaks, depressurized lines, drain leaks under concrete.

Rare — but if we exhaust our seven detection technologies without confirming the leak source, we explain what was ruled out and refund the detection fee minus the callout charge. In 15 years of doing this in Florida, that's happened about a dozen times — almost always cases where the "leak" turned out to be HVAC condensate, roof migration, or condensation, not plumbing.

A typical "leak detection" invoice from a general plumber says "leak located, repair $X." Ours is a 3–5 page PDF: pinpoint coordinates with floor-plan diagram, accuracy radius, pressure-test data, moisture readings, thermal images, cause-of-loss assessment, and a flat-rate repair quote. Built for the adjuster, not just the homeowner.

Most HO-3 policies cover resulting water damage and access costs (drywall, tile, slab cuts) but exclude the failed pipe itself. Two exceptions: (a) "sudden & accidental" supply-line bursts are usually covered including the pipe, (b) some carriers offer a buried/concealed-pipe rider for $30–$80/year that explicitly covers underground service-line replacement up to $10k–$15k. Check your declarations page for "buried service line coverage."

No. You pay us; we provide adjuster-grade documentation; you file the claim. This is deliberate — direct-bill arrangements give the carrier negotiating leverage and slow the payout. Our way: you control the claim, our paperwork makes it processable on first review, and most customers report full reimbursement of covered access costs.

Pinpoint location with floor-plan diagram, before/after photos, moisture meter readings, pressure-test data, cause-of-loss assessment (sudden vs. gradual — critical for coverage outcome), itemized repair invoice, written workmanship warranty, certificate of insurance, and W-9. Formatted as a single packet the adjuster can attach to the claim file.

HO-3 policies usually cover "sudden & accidental" water damage (a pipe burst, a fitting that snapped) but exclude "wear and tear" or gradual deterioration (a 30-year-old pipe slowly pinholing). Our diagnostic reports include a cause-of-loss assessment with supporting evidence — pressure-test rate of loss, moisture readings, pipe material/age. The wording determines whether your claim gets approved.

It can. Florida's homeowner insurance market has been turbulent — water claims are a leading underwriting concern. Carriers may non-renew or surcharge after a claim, especially if the cause was a known-failure material like polybutylene. We're not insurance agents and can't predict your specific outcome, but a documented, justified claim is harder to penalize than an undocumented one.

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (the state-run insurer of last resort), State Farm, Tower Hill, Universal, Heritage, USAA, ASI, Florida Peninsula, People's Trust, and the handful of regional carriers operating in the FL market. Our documentation format is structured to satisfy the most common adjuster expectations across these carriers.

Yes — and that's a frequent use case. A homeowner already knows where the leak is but the adjuster requires a third-party diagnostic report with cause-of-loss documentation. We provide that as a standalone deliverable for the detection fee, without proceeding to repair.

Because time-and-materials creates an inherent conflict: the longer the work takes, the more we make. Flat-rate aligns our incentives with yours — finish the job correctly, document it clearly, get paid the agreed amount. You know the price before we start. If something unexpected comes up during the work, we stop and re-quote — we don't proceed and adjust at the end.

Credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover), check, cash, ACH/bank transfer, and Apple/Google Pay. We do not accept Bitcoin or other crypto. For repipe jobs and larger projects, we offer 0% financing through GreenSky and Synchrony with approved credit.

Yes — 0% APR for 12 months on jobs $1,500+ through GreenSky or Synchrony, with approved credit. Longer-term financing (up to 84 months) available for repipes and main-line replacements. Application takes about 5 minutes online; we can do it during the on-site quote visit.

No. The quote you authorize is what you pay. Permit fees (when required) are itemized on the quote, not added after. Restoration costs (drywall patch, paint, sod, irrigation reconnect) are itemized on the quote when applicable. No fuel surcharge, no environmental fee, no shop-supply charge, no "after-hours" surcharge.

$5,500–$11,000 for a typical 2,000 sq ft single-family home in PEX-A. Variables: home size, story count (single vs two-story), pipe material being replaced (polybutylene full-house repipes run slightly more than copper because of more access points), drywall patch scope, fixture count.

We charge a flat detection fee ($95–$495 depending on scope) to come out and locate the leak. If you authorize the repair with us, that fee comes off your repair invoice. If you choose to use a different contractor for the repair, you still receive a written diagnostic report you can hand to them. You never pay twice for finding the same problem.

Faucet cartridge replacement, toilet wax seal swap, toilet fill valve replacement, washing machine hose replacement (and we recommend braided over rubber), dishwasher supply line replacement (when accessible), exterior hose bib washer replacement, drain trap cleaning, P-trap reseating, and angle-stop valve replacement under sinks if you have a real shutoff. Most cost under $30 in parts.

Sweat-soldering copper near drywall, insulation, or wood framing (fire risk). Repipes of any kind. Slab cuts of any kind. Main water line excavation. Anything requiring Florida 811 utility-locate ticket (legal requirement). Anything inside a wall cavity with electrical proximity. Anything requiring a permit (and FL law requires permits for most pipe replacement work).

Technically yes, code-wise yes, and they work — for accessible repairs. We use them ourselves on emergency calls when speed matters. The caveats: SharkBite fittings can fail at higher pressures or with poor pipe-prep, and most warranties require they remain accessible (not buried in drywall). For long-term in-wall installations, soldered/pressed copper or PEX-expansion fittings are more robust.

Avoid them. Sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid-based drain cleaners damage older galvanized and cast iron drain lines, corrode P-traps, can blind back at the user (caustic burns), and rarely clear root or grease clogs anyway. Mechanical cabling and hydro-jetting are the right tools.

Not a real solution. Epoxy injection kits address symptom not cause. The underlying pipe failure continues, and the epoxy clogs fixtures downstream. Slab leak repair requires either spot replacement, reroute, or repipe — there's no shortcut chemical fix that works long-term on a pressurized supply line.

Three triggers: (1) Two or more leaks in 24 months on the same supply system — system warning, not coincidence. (2) Pipe material is documented to fail systematically — polybutylene, galvanized steel, Type M copper past 25 years. (3) Annual repair costs exceeding ~15% of repipe cost — the math favors replacement.

3–5 days for an average 2,000 sq ft single-family Florida home in PEX-A. Two-story homes add a day. Larger homes (3,500+ sq ft) take 5–7 days. Schedule includes: rough plumbing, manifold install, drywall opening at fixtures, pressure test, inspector visit, drywall patches, paint-ready finish.

Water-off windows are typically 4–8 hours per day during active work, restored each evening. Most homeowners stay in the home during the repipe; some choose a hotel night during the most disruptive phase. We coordinate the daily schedule with you in advance.

A documented repipe (especially polybutylene → PEX-A) often increases resale value enough to fully offset the cost — sometimes more. Florida buyers increasingly demand polybutylene-out documentation before closing. We provide a permanent file: permit, inspection sign-off, materials list, workmanship warranty — exactly what a future buyer's inspector wants to see.