Repiping & Pipe Replacement in Santa Fe, NM
When galvanized is 60 years old or copper is pinholing from the inside, a $400 patch is a subscription. Eastside mid-century houses are the usual candidates. We repipe in PEX or copper, pull the permit, and plan chases so adobe and finished rooms are not gutted for sport. Typical 1,200–1,800 ft homes land in the high four to low five figures depending on access — we quote the house, not a blog average. 505-316-4231.
When galvanized is 60 years old or copper is pinholing from the inside, a $400 patch is a subscription. Eastside mid-century houses are the usual candidates. We repipe in PEX or copper, pull the permit, and plan chases so adobe and finished rooms are not gutted for sport. Typical 1,200–1,800 ft homes land in the high four to low five figures depending on access — we quote the house, not a blog average. 505-316-4231.
Content reviewed 2026-10-01.
Partial versus whole house
A single failed copper run in a 2005 PEX house is a repair. Rust at two baths and the kitchen in a 1962 galvanized house is a repipe. We will show you the cut pipe. People who spend $4,000 on sequential patches still buy the $9,000–$14,000 repipe. We say that once, then we do the work you choose.
Materials that survive this water
PEX handles hardness and freeze better than people fear if it is supported and not left in a sun-cooked attic. Copper is fine if you accept pinholes later on aggressive water without treatment. We do not install mystery pipe from a van.
When a patch is finished being honest
One pinhole on a copper branch can be a repair. Three pinholes, rusty water from every hot fixture, or a galvanized tree that has already had two sections replaced is a repipe. We say that before we sell the third patch. Spot repairs on galvanized buy months. The rust is on the inside, and the next fitting upstream is the same age. You should hear “this house wants a repipe” as a diagnosis, with a number, not as a scare after we have already opened one wall.
Adobe changes the route, not the speech
In a frame house we open a bay, run the pipe, and close drywall. In an 18-inch adobe wall we do not chase every old galvanized path. We look for a chase, a closet, a crawl, or an attic that lets us refeed the fixtures with less plaster. Sometimes a fixture has to be fed from a different direction than it was in 1955. We draw that before we cut. PEX is usually the right material for the new tree because it moves and it tolerates a freeze better. Copper is the right material where the pipe is exposed to sunlight, to rodents in an open attic, or where you want it visible and permanent. We pick per run, not per slogan.
Hot, cold, and the heater at the end of it
A whole-house repipe includes the mains and the branches we can reach. It includes new stops at the fixtures. It includes a plan for the water heater connections so we are not leaving the new pipe tied to a rotten dielectric. It does not automatically include a new heater, and it does not include moving every fixture to a new location. If you want the kitchen sink on a different wall, that is a remodel and we price it as one. Pressure, a PRV if the street pressure is high, and an expansion tank on a closed system are part of making the new pipe last. We test the new system before we close walls. You watch the gauge.
Living in the house while we do it
We can often keep one bathroom and the kitchen on temporary feeds, but there will be hours with no water. We tell you which day that is. Dust in an adobe cut is not drywall dust. We contain what we can and we do not promise a white-glove remodel. If the house is a rental with a tenant, we need a person who can let us in and a plan for the night the water is off. We do not start a repipe on a Friday with no way back in on Monday.
The number and the permit
Repipes in the city are permitted. The inspector wants to see the work, so we do not close every wall the same day we run the pipe. The price moves with access: a crawl-space house is not a two-story adobe with no attic. We quote a range after we have walked it, not from the square footage you remember. A phone quote for a repipe is a guess and we will not pretend it is a bid. Call 505-316-4231 and we will schedule the walk-through.
Walk-through before any wall is open
We count fixtures, find the main, find the heater, and look for a crawl, an attic, or a chase that can carry the new tree. Adobe walls get a plan, not a series of discoveries. You see which rooms lose plaster and which rooms we can feed from a cabinet. The quote after that walk is the one we mean. A phone range is only a range. Water quality gets a mention: if the repipe is going in because of pinholes and the pressure is high, the PRV is in the quote. If the heater is weeping, we will tell you whether to change it while the water is already going to be off.
The days the water is off
We try to keep a working toilet and a hose bib or a temporary feed as long as we can. There is still a day when the house is dry. You should know which day, and tenants should know which day. We pressure-test the new mains before branches are tied to fixtures, so a leak is a fitting in the open, not a stain after the plaster is closed. Fixture stops go on last. We open them one at a time and we look. Air will spit. That is normal for a few minutes. Rusty water on the first fill of a heater that was drained is normal for a short while. Rusty water a week later is not, and you should call.
Close-up and the inspector
Walls stay open where the inspector has to see pipe. We do not schedule a painter for the same afternoon as the rough inspection. Covers go on after the approval. Labels on the main shutoff are part of leaving. You should be able to kill the house without calling us. A sketch of anything we could not follow the old path on — a tub fed from the other side, a hose bib moved — stays with you. Call 505-316-4231 to set the walk-through. We do not start a repipe from a text message and a hope.
Materials, shutoffs, and living through the week
PEX for the concealed tree, copper where the pipe is exposed or baked by a south roof, stops at every fixture, and a main you can find. That is the usual spec. We change it when the house gives us a reason: a rodent attic wants copper or a protected run, a historic exposed wall wants the material you will look at every day. The walk-through sets the rooms that get opened. The days without water are on the schedule you approve, including a warning for tenants. Pressure testing happens while the joints are visible. The inspector sees the work the city asked to see. We do not close that work to make a kitchen usable for one dinner and then fail the inspection. PRV and expansion are included when the pressure and the closed system require them. A water heater that is at the end of its life is offered while the water is off, not required. Haul-away of old pipe is limited to what we remove, not a garage full of leftover remodel debris. Patching plaster is a different crew unless we wrote patching into the bid. Ask which walls we leave ready for paint and which walls we leave open. The bid should already say it. Phone 505-316-4231 to book the walk-through. A repipe quoted only from square footage is not our bid.
What we actually get called for
Not a generic list — these are the failures this climate and housing stock produce.
Rusty water on hot only
Galvanized or a dying heater. We check both.
Pressure that died room by room
Internal scale. Cameras do not save galvanized.
Pinhole a year
Chemistry plus thin wall. Repipe or keep soldering until you sell.
Polybutylene marks
We replace it. We do not “repair poly.”
How a job runs
Map the house
Fixtures, access, finish risk.
Quote phases if you need them
Some families do baths first. We will not hide that the mains still have to happen.
Repipe, test, patch access
We close what we opened. Finish carpentry beyond access is scoped if you want it.
Questions people ask before they call
How long does a house repipe take?
Often two to five days for a typical ranch if crawl or basement access is real. Adobe and finished second floors take longer.
Will I have water during the job?
We keep a temporary or work in zones when we can. Overnight dry spells are planned with you, not sprung at 4 p.m.
Does a repipe add value?
It removes a sale-killing inspection item and the next five leak claims. That is the value. We do not invent an appraisal number.
City pages that stay
Piping & Repiping stays on this URL. Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and Española each have one plumber page. Other towns 308 here or to those three. Call 505-316-4231.
Need piping & repiping?
Lobo Tech · NM license 384927 · 1259 Coriander Rd, Santa Fe · 505-316-4231