Plumber in La Crosse, FL

The water heater quit, and every plumber in the phone results is fifteen miles the other way.

Rather text? Send a photo of the problem to 352-377-9447 and we’ll tell you what it sounds like.

Licensed and insured, CFC1430748

We answer at 2 a.m. Locally owned, out of Hawthorne, and La Crosse is on our regular north county route.

To come out. Waived on larger jobs.

$ 69

Flat leak detection. Find it or you don't pay.

$ 375

Parts and labor warranty on our work.

2 yr

The short version. First Choice Plumbing is a licensed, locally owned plumber serving La Crosse, FL and the rest of north Alachua County. We handle leak detection, drain clearing, water heaters, repipes, well water filtration and septic work on both site built homes and manufactured homes. The service call is $69, leak detection is $375 with a find it or free guarantee, and every job carries a two year parts and labor warranty.

Why plumbing in La Crosse is its own animal

La Crosse sits about fifteen miles north of Gainesville in the middle of what people around here have called the Potato District for a century. Farm ground, pasture, a few hundred neighbors, and almost none of it on city water.

That changes the plumbing in three ways, and the plumber who does not know it will guess.

You are on a well, so the water is doing things to your pipes. The Floridan Aquifer under this county is naturally heavy in iron and sulfur. That is the orange staining in the toilet bowl, the rotten egg smell out of the hot tap, and the scale that shortens the life of a water heater. A plumber who only works in town sees treated utility water all day and never learns what a sulfur system is.
You are on septic, so a drain problem is not always a drain problem. When a house out here backs up, the honest first question is whether the clog is in the line or the tank is full or the drain field has quit. Guess wrong and you pay for a snaking that fixes nothing.
And a lot of the housing out here is older or manufactured. Manufactured homes run black ABS drain pipe and a very different supply layout than a block house in Gainesville. Older frame houses out this way still have their original galvanized or cast iron. Both need a plumber who has actually crawled under them.

Here is the part that gets under people’s skin. None of that is exotic. It is just twenty minutes further out. And somehow that twenty minutes turns into “we can get somebody to you Thursday,” a trip charge that was never mentioned on the phone, or a quote that assumes you will not get a second one.

Living on a dirt road should not cost you a straight answer.

What we do in La Crosse

Nine things make up most of what we get called out here for. If yours is not on the list, call anyway and we will tell you straight whether it is ours.

Leak detection

Your bill jumped and nobody can tell you why. $375 flat to come find it, and if we do not find it you do not pay.

Well water filtration

Air injection and chlorine free systems sized to your actual water, not a catalog guess. Free water test first.

Iron and sulfur removal

The orange staining and the rotten egg smell are two different problems with two different fixes. We test before we sell you anything.

Water softeners

Two media tanks and a salt tank, set up so the hardness stops eating your water heater and your fixtures.

Water heaters

Tank and tankless, electric, natural gas and propane. Rheem and Navien. Repairs when a repair is honestly the right call.

Drain clearing

One clog, one visit, usually in and out in about an hour and a half. Different from drain cleaning, and we will tell you which one you actually need.

Septic work

Installs, replacements, drain fields, locating and abandonment. We do not do pump-outs or inspections, and we will hand you the right phone number for those.

Repipes and pipe repair

Galvanized, cast iron, polybutylene, CPVC, copper, PEX and the black ABS drain line in manufactured homes. Every hole we cut gets professionally patched. Pipe repair

Farm and agricultural plumbing

Horse waterers, feeder lines, hose bibs, outdoor kitchens and pool lines. Because you don’t just have one hose bib.

$69 to come out, and we tell you the price before we start.

Well water and septic questions people actually ask out here

Why does my well water smell like rotten eggs?

Almost always hydrogen sulfide, and the aquifer under north Alachua County is full of it. The tell is whether the smell shows up on the hot side only or on both. Hot side only usually points at the water heater and the anode rod inside it, and that is a couple hundred dollar conversation, not a filtration system. Both sides means it is coming in with the water and you are looking at an air injection or a sulfur system with a gas off tank.

We test first. Free. Then we tell you which of those two it is, even when it is the cheap one.

My toilets and sinks are staining orange. Is that fixable?

Yes, and it is iron. The same limestone that gives this county its springs also puts iron into the groundwater. Softeners take out hardness. They are not built to take out heavy iron, which is why people buy a softener, watch the staining continue, and decide water treatment does not work. What actually works is the right media in the right order, sized to your test results. That is a two or three tank train for most La Crosse houses, and roughly what a whole system runs is worth a real conversation and not a number off a website.

The house is backing up. Is it the drain or the septic?

Good question, and it saves people money. Signs it is the drain line: one fixture, gradual, a snake fixes it. Signs it is the system: multiple fixtures at once, gurgling, soggy or unusually green grass over the drain field, and a smell outside. We can locate the tank, camera the line, and tell you which conversation you are actually in before you spend money on the wrong one.

One thing to know if you own land near the river. Alachua County properties that sit in the Santa Fe River basin can be required to put in an enhanced nutrient reducing septic system rather than a conventional one, and the county has run a rebate program covering half the upgrade cost. If your parcel falls in that basin, that changes the design and the budget before a shovel moves. We will check it with you rather than let it surprise you at permit. Septic services

Do you need a permit for plumbing work in La Crosse?

More often than people expect. Under the Florida Building Code, a permit is required to install, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace a plumbing system. That covers the obvious ones like a repipe or a sewer line, and it also covers a water heater changeout, which surprises almost everybody.

The Town of La Crosse does not run its own building department. Building permits for La Crosse addresses go through the Alachua County Building Division under Growth Management, the same office that handles the rest of the unincorporated county. If you are setting a manufactured home inside La Crosse town limits, the county also wants a zoning certification form from the town before the manufactured home permit is issued.

Two reasons this matters to you and not just to us. A permitted job gets inspected, which is your third party check that the work was done right. And unpermitted plumbing work has a way of showing up years later at closing, when a buyer’s inspector finds it and you are the one paying to make it right.

We pull the permit. It is part of the job, not a line item we spring on you.

Not sure whether your job needs a permit? Call and ask. We will tell you either way, no charge.

The guy who shows up is the guy who owns it

Will Harrod is the licensed plumbing contractor behind First Choice, Florida license CFC1430748. He does the estimating himself. Not a salesman with a tablet and a commission target. Will.

He runs a small crew on purpose. Mike handles the service and drain calls and has seen most of the drains in this county twice. Ben is coming up behind him. Kim answers the phone and batches the schedule geographically, which is the actual reason a La Crosse call does not get pushed to next week. If you are out here, she groups you with the rest of the north county route.

What that gets you is somebody watching the work instead of collecting a fee behind a curtain. Will’s line on it is simple: we can run like a corporate office, but we’re down to earth where we care about you.

He also likes the jobs nobody else wants. The leak three plumbers could not find. The house where the last quote made no sense. The harder the job, the better.

The difference is in the details

None of that is a shot at the big shops. They run a real business. It is just a different one, and out here the difference shows up on your invoice. Straight answer on the phone. $69 if we come out.

What matters	First Choice Plumbing	Typical Franchise or Out of Town Crew
Coming to La Crosse	Routed with the north county run. It is a normal stop, not a favor.	"We can get somebody out Thursday," or a trip charge that appears on the invoice.
What it costs to come out	$69, published, waived on larger jobs.	Not published anywhere on the site. You find out on the phone or at the door.
Finding a hidden leak	$375 flat. Find it or you don't pay.	Hourly diagnostic with no cap and no guarantee it gets found.
Well water	Free test first, then a system sized to your results. Iron and sulfur treated as separate problems.	One softener for every house, sold off a price sheet.
Septic	Install, replace, drain field, locating and abandonment. We say plainly what we do not do.	Either no septic capability at all, or a subcontractor you never meet.
After a repipe	Every hole we cut gets professionally patched. You bring the paint color.	Drywall is "not included." The mess becomes your next project.
Who is accountable	The license holder is on the job and his name is on the page.	A dispatch number, a rotating tech, and no name anywhere on the site.

What happens when you call

You tell Kim what is going on.

No script, no phone tree. She gets the address, gets the problem, and tells you honestly when we can be there. If it is an emergency, that is now.

We come out and find the real problem.

$69 for the trip, waived once the job gets big enough. If it is a hidden leak, that is the $375 flat rate and we do not get paid if we do not find it. You get the price before any work starts.

We fix it and stand behind it.

Two year parts and labor warranty on our work, manufacturer warranty on top of that. We pull the permit where one is required, and we patch every hole we cut.

That is the whole process. There is no step where somebody in a different truck shows up to renegotiate the price.

What it costs to keep putting it off

Small plumbing problems out here do not stay small, because there is no city meter reader knocking to tell you something changed. A slow leak under a slab runs for months before anybody notices. Iron and sulfur keep chewing on a water heater that had eight good years left. A drain field that is starting to fail gives you warning signs for a season and then gives you a yard you cannot walk on. And the repair bill on all three of those roughly doubles once you cross from maintenance into replacement.The other cost is quieter. It is the two weeks you spend not calling anybody because you are dreading the number.

What it looks like done right

Water that does not stain the sink or smell like a boiled egg. A shower that holds temperature. A bill that goes back to normal because the leak is actually gone, and paperwork clean enough to hand your insurance company. A drain that stays clear. A water heater that gets flushed once a year instead of replaced twice a decade.Mostly it looks like not thinking about your plumbing at all. That is the whole goal out here.

Where we work around La Crosse

La Crosse is on our regular north county route, and so is everything around it. If you are somewhere on this list, you are a normal stop for us. All of North Central Florida

Not sure whether your address makes the route? Call and ask. If you are outside what we can honestly cover, we will say so and point you somewhere reputable rather than waste your afternoon.

Alachua

On our regular north county route.

High Springs

On our regular north county route.

Brooker

On our regular north county route.

Alachua County

The rest of the county, out of our shop in Hawthorne.

$69 to come out

Waived on larger jobs. You get the price before any work starts.

Two year parts and labor warranty

On our work, manufacturer warranty on top of that.

Licensed and insured, CFC1430748

Will Harrod, the licensed plumbing contractor behind First Choice.

We answer at 2 a.m.

We run an emergency line and someone picks up.

Frequently asked questions about plumbing in La Crosse

Do you actually come out to La Crosse?

Yes. La Crosse is on our regular north county route out of Hawthorne, along with Alachua, High Springs and Brooker. Kim batches the schedule by area, so a north county call gets grouped with the rest of the run instead of pushed to the end of the week.

How much does it cost to have a plumber come out?

$69 for the service call, and it is waived once the job gets large enough, generally in the $800 to $1,000 range and up. Hidden leak detection is a flat $375 and carries the find it or free guarantee. You get the price for the actual repair before we start any work.

Do I need a permit to replace a water heater in La Crosse?

Usually yes. The Florida Building Code requires a permit to replace or alter a plumbing system, and a water heater changeout counts. Permits for La Crosse addresses go through the Alachua County Building Division, because the town does not run its own building department. We pull it as part of the job.

Why does my well water smell like rotten eggs?

That is hydrogen sulfide, and it is common in the aquifer under this county. If it is only on the hot side, the water heater and its anode rod are usually the cause and it is an inexpensive fix. If it is on both sides, it is coming in with the water and you need treatment. We test for free before recommending either one.

Do you work on septic systems?

We install, replace, locate and abandon septic systems and install drain fields. We do not do pump-outs or septic inspections, and we will not pretend otherwise. If that is what you need, call us anyway and we will give you the number for the outfit we trust.

Do you service manufactured and mobile homes?

Yes, and it is a real part of the work out here. Manufactured homes run black ABS drain pipe and a different supply layout than a block house, which is exactly why some plumbers dodge them. We are comfortable under them.

Do you answer after hours?

Yes. We run an emergency line and someone picks up. If you have water coming in right now, shut off the main first if you can safely get to it, then call. Knowing where your shutoff is before you need it is the single best plumbing decision you will make this year.

Tell us what it's doing. We'll take it from there.

You do not have to diagnose it. Describe what you are seeing, the stain, the smell, the sound of water running with everything off, and we will tell you what it usually means and what it takes to fix. If it is something small enough for you to handle yourself, we will say that too.

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$69 to come out. Two year parts and labor warranty. Financing available on jobs over $500. Licensed and insured, CFC1430748.

Leaks don’t stand a chance.

Tell us what's going on and we'll take it from there

You get a real person, a $69 visit, a flat price before we start, and a company that patches what it cuts and answers the phone when you call back. If a smaller fix is the right call, we’ll tell you that too.

First Choice Plumbing is a locally owned, owner led plumbing company working Gainesville, Hawthorne and Greater Alachua County. Leak detection, repipes, water heaters, drains, trenchless lining, well water filtration and septic. We find it, we fix it, we guarantee it.

Florida Certified Plumbing Contractor CFC1430748

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