New Construction & Remodel Plumbing in Gainesville, FL

Underground before the pour, top out before the drywall, trim out on time.

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

Licensed Florida Plumbing Contractor CFC1430748

Owner prices and runs every build. Locally owned, out of Hawthorne. About the shop

Inspected phases on every build: underground, top out, trim out

Parts and labor warranty on our work

2 yr

Of the holes we cut get professionally patched

100 %

Do I need a permit for new construction or remodel plumbing? Yes. Florida requires a permit any time a plumbing system is installed, enlarged, altered, repaired, removed, converted or replaced, which covers every new build and any remodel that moves or adds a fixture. New construction plumbing in Gainesville is permitted and inspected in stages. First Choice Plumbing pulls the plumbing permit, calls in each inspection, and meets the inspector on site.

What are the phases of new construction plumbing?

Three, and they land at three completely different points in your schedule. Knowing them is how you tell a real construction plumber from a service company that took a build because work was slow.

Phase one is the underground. Before the slab is poured, the drain and vent piping goes in the ground, sleeved and stubbed exactly where the fixtures will sit, along with the water line entering the building and the tie in to the sewer or to the septic tank. It gets inspected before the concrete truck arrives. Almost every house in this part of Florida is slab on grade, which means there is no crawl space to go back into and fix anything. Once that concrete is down, a toilet flange in the wrong place is a saw and a jackhammer, not a phone call. This is the phase where hurrying costs the most and shows the least.

Phase two is the rough in and top out. After framing, the drain, waste and vent lines run through the walls and the attic, the water lines get run and tested, tub and shower valves get set, the water heater gets stubbed, and gas piping goes in if the house has gas. Gas lines The system is put under test and it has to hold for the inspector. Nothing gets insulated and nothing gets covered until that passes.

Phase three is the trim out. Once the floors and cabinets are in, the fixtures get set. Toilets, faucets, sinks, disposals, shower trim, the water heater, hose bibs, and the final connections. The plumbing gets its final inspection, and we walk it with you before anybody hands over a key.

What does plumbing cost on a new house?

Nobody can answer that from a phone call, and anybody who does is guessing. What we can do is tell you how the number gets built, so you can read any bid you get, including ours.

For context, national cost guides put new construction rough in plumbing at roughly $300 to $600 per fixture, or around $4.50 per square foot, and they commonly land a 2,000 square foot house with two or three bathrooms somewhere in the $10,000 to $15,000 range for the plumbing. Those are published national ranges, not our prices, and Florida slab construction sits at the higher end of them because the drain system goes in the ground before the concrete.

Here is what actually moves your number: how many fixtures you have and how spread out they are, whether the house is slab on grade or raised, how far the building sits from the water meter or the well, whether you are tying into a sewer or putting in a septic tank and a drain field, whether there is gas, what water heater you picked, and what fixture package you want.

We price off your plans. Send them and you get a written scope broken into underground, top out and trim out, so you can see what you are paying for at each stage instead of one lump number with nothing behind it. Estimates and bids on construction work are free, and financing is available on remodel and addition work. Financing

Who is actually running your job?

Will Harrod. He owns First Choice Plumbing, he holds Florida Certified Plumbing Contractor license CFC1430748, and construction is the side of the business he runs himself. He does the estimating, he reads the plans, and he is on the site.

The shop is locally owned and based out of Hawthorne. Mike handles the service calls, Ben is coming up behind him, and Kim answers the phone and dispatches, which is why you get a person instead of a queue. There is no call center and no rotating list of subcontractors under our name. When a licensed contractor’s own name and license number are on the work, the work tends to be done a certain way.

What kind of construction work do you take?

Single family new construction

Full plumbing scope from the underground through the final inspection, on spec homes, production homes and one off builds.

Custom homes and owner builder projects

If you are acting as your own general contractor, we will walk the plans with you and tell you plainly what your plumbing scope is and where it sits in the schedule.

Additions

Adding a bathroom, a master suite, a mother in law suite or a laundry means new drain and vent tying into piping that is already in the ground, and it means a permit.

Whole house and bathroom remodels

We price the plumbing, we set the fixtures, and we work alongside your tile and cabinet people.

Repipe during a gut

If the walls are already open, that is the cheapest a repipe will ever be. Old cast iron, galvanized or polybutylene comes out while it is easy to reach.

Water heaters and tankless

Sized to the house and the fixture count, tank or tankless, gas or electric, with the gas line sized correctly if it is tankless. Tankless water heaters

Water service line and meter to house

The run from the meter or the well to the building, sized and buried right the first time.

Well water treatment rough in

On a county build, plan the filtration and softener location during rough in instead of bolting it on later. Water softeners

Septic tank and drain field for county builds

New installs and drain fields where there is no sewer to tie into. Drain fields

Gas rough in

Range, tankless, generator, fireplace and outdoor kitchen piping run with the rest of the plumbing.

Light commercial and tenant build out

Restaurants, salons and small commercial spaces.

Barns, shops and outbuildings

Rural property plumbing that most construction plumbers will not drive out for.

Do I need a permit for new construction or remodel plumbing?

Yes. Florida requires a permit any time a plumbing system is installed, enlarged, altered, repaired, removed, converted or replaced, which covers every new build and any remodel that moves or adds a fixture. New construction plumbing in Gainesville is permitted and inspected in stages. First Choice Plumbing pulls the plumbing permit, calls in each inspection, and meets the inspector on site.

Which office issues it depends entirely on your address, and people get this wrong constantly. If the property is in unincorporated Alachua County, the permit goes through the Alachua County Growth Management Building Division. If you are inside the City of Gainesville or another municipality, it goes through that city’s building office. Marion, Putnam, Clay, Bradford, Union and Levy County addresses each go through their own county or city building department.

On a new build the plumbing gets looked at more than once. There is an inspection on the underground before the slab is poured, an inspection on the rough in and top out before anything gets covered, and a final inspection at trim out. A swap of a like for like fixture in the same spot is usually a minor repair that does not need a permit, but the moment a toilet, a sink or a shower moves, or piping is added or altered, it does.

We pull it, we schedule it, and we are the ones standing there when the inspector arrives. You do not need to learn any of this. Book Online

Unincorporated Alachua County

The permit goes through the Alachua County Growth Management Building Division.

City of Gainesville addresses

Inside Gainesville or another municipality, the permit goes through that city's building office. We figure out which one you are and pull it.

Marion, Putnam, Clay, Bradford, Union and Levy

Each goes through its own county or city building department.

Three inspections on a new build

Underground before the pour, rough in and top out before anything gets covered, and a final at trim out.

What is different about building on a well and a septic tank?

A lot, and it all has to be decided early. Plenty of the land people are building on around Hawthorne, Melrose, Micanopy, Waldo, Windsor, Archer and out toward Williston has no sewer main and no city water anywhere near it.

On the drain side, that means a septic tank and a drain field instead of a tie in, sized to the number of bedrooms and sited around your setbacks, your soil and your water table. Alachua County sits inside springs protection areas, and depending on where your lot falls, a new system can be required to be an enhanced nutrient reducing type rather than a standard tank. That is a permitting question worth answering before you buy the lot, not after the foundation is in. Septic services

On the supply side, well water in this part of Florida comes out of a limestone aquifer that is naturally high in iron and sulfur, which is where the rotten egg smell and the orange staining come from. The time to plan filtration is during rough in, when we can set the location, the drain and the power where they belong. Bolting a treatment system onto a finished garage later always costs more and never looks as good. We will test your water for free and tell you what it needs. Water testing | Well water filtration

Call Now: (352) 377-9447

What is involved in moving plumbing during a remodel?

Remodel plumbing is harder than new construction, and that surprises people. On a new build the ground is open and nothing is in the way. On a remodel we are working around a house that is already standing, with piping that somebody else installed decades ago and did not document.

Moving a sink a few feet is usually straightforward. Moving a toilet is the one that costs, because the drain has to keep falling in the right direction and on a slab house that drain is under concrete. Adding a bathroom means new drain, new vent, new water lines, and finding a place to tie in that has the capacity to take it.

Two things are worth knowing before you start. First, if the walls are open anyway, that is the moment to deal with old piping. Cast iron drains in a pre 1975 house and polybutylene supply lines from the late seventies through the mid nineties are both on borrowed time, and replacing them behind open drywall is a fraction of what it costs later. Whole house repipe

Second, every hole we cut gets professionally patched. You bring the paint color. That promise is not a marketing line here, it is how we work. Book Online

What will you tell me not to hire you for?

We would rather say this here than after you have a bid in hand.

We are not a general contractor. If you are remodeling a whole house, we price the plumbing and the gas and we work alongside your builder, your tile setter and your cabinet installer. We are glad to recommend the tile partner we use.

We do not do tile and we do not paint. On a shower we set the pan, the drain and the valve. The tile belongs to somebody else, and the patch we make in your drywall gets finished by a professional but not painted.

We are not electricians and we are not an HVAC company. On a tankless heater, a generator or a gas furnace, the piping is ours and the wiring and the equipment are theirs.

And if your project is one fixture in one spot, you may not need a construction bid at all. Call us and we will tell you straight whether this is a service call or a job. Residential plumbing

What goes wrong when the plumbing sub is the weak link?

Rarely a flood. Usually a calendar.

Plumbing gates the trades on either side of it. Miss the underground and the concrete crew stands down, which pushes framing, which pushes everything behind it. Fail the rough in and nothing gets insulated or covered until the inspector can come back, and on a busy week that is not tomorrow. Every one of those days is carrying cost on a construction loan and one more phone call you have to make to a customer.

The quieter version is worse because it does not show up for years. Piping buried in a slab in the wrong place. A vent that technically passed but never worked right. Undersized supply lines that make every shower in the house drop pressure when the washing machine fills. Nobody notices at the walkthrough. Everybody notices in year two, and by then your name is on it, not the sub’s.

Then there is the callback. A sub who does not answer after final leaves the builder standing between an unhappy homeowner and a problem he did not create.

The Difference Is in the Details

What matters on a build	First Choice Plumbing	Typical construction sub or big-name call center
Who prices the job	The owner, holding the license, who is also on the job	An estimator who never sees the site
License published	CFC1430748, printed on every page of this site	Often no license number published anywhere
How the bid reads	Written scope split into underground, top out and trim out	One lump number with nothing behind it
Permit and inspections	We pull it, call it in, and meet the inspector at all three stages	Sometimes handed back to the builder or the homeowner
Schedule communication	You get a straight answer on where the crew is and when we are ready	You chase, and you find out at the pour
Crew on your site	A small local crew you will recognize week to week	Whoever the dispatcher sent that morning
Drywall and holes	Every hole we cut gets professionally patched	Holes left open, patching is "not included"
Rural builds	Well, filtration, septic and drain field handled in house	Referred out, or declined
Warranty	Two year parts and labor, plus the manufacturer warranty on equipment	Ninety days, or nothing in writing
Callbacks	The owner answers the phone after the final inspection	The builder absorbs it

Talk to the licensed contractor who will price your job and stand on your site. See our license and insurance

How does it go from here?

Send the plans, or walk the site with us.

A floor plan and a fixture count is usually enough to start. On a remodel or an addition, we come look at what is already there, because that is the part plans never show.

You get a written scope and a price, free.

Broken out by underground, top out and trim out, with the fixture allowances stated, so you can compare it honestly against any other bid. Financing is available on remodel and addition work. Financing

We pull the permit and build it in phases.

Underground before the pour, top out before insulation, trim out at the end, every inspection called in and met by us, every hole we cut professionally patched, and a walk through with you before it is called done.

Where do you take construction work?

We are based in Hawthorne and we build across north central Florida. Gainesville and the rest of Alachua County, plus Newberry, Archer, High Springs, Alachua, Jonesville, Hawthorne, Melrose, Micanopy, Waldo, Windsor, Keystone Heights, Interlachen, Starke and Williston.

In town that usually means a sewer tie in and city water. Out in the county it means a well, a septic tank and a drain field, and that is exactly the work most construction plumbers in this market would rather not drive out for. We live out there. See the full service area

What does a build with the right plumber look like?

The underground is set and inspected the day before the pour, and nobody is standing around. The rough in passes the first time, so insulation and drywall start when you said they would. The fixture list matches what the customer picked, and nothing shows up in a box that nobody ordered. The final inspection is a formality because everything was done right the first time.

At the end you hand over a house where the showers hold pressure when the washer fills, the water heater is sized for the family that lives there, and the piping under that slab is where it is supposed to be for the next fifty years. And you have the cell number of a licensed contractor who picks up after the certificate of occupancy, not just before it.

Leaks don’t stand a chance.

Builders and general contractors

A plumbing sub who is ready at the underground, the top out and the trim out, and who answers the phone after final.

Custom home clients and owner builders

We walk the plans with you and tell you plainly what your plumbing scope is and where it sits in the schedule.

Homeowners adding on

A bathroom, a suite or a laundry, with new drain and vent tied into what is already in the ground, and a permit.

Bathroom and whole house remodels

We price the plumbing, set the fixtures, and work alongside your tile and cabinet people.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you take new construction for builders, or only for homeowners?

Both. We work as the plumbing subcontractor for builders and general contractors, and we work directly for custom home clients and owner builders who are running their own project. The scope and the permit process are the same either way. What changes is who we are coordinating the schedule with.

How much does plumbing cost on a new house in Florida?

National cost guides put new construction rough in plumbing at roughly $300 to $600 per fixture, or about $4.50 per square foot, and commonly land a 2,000 square foot home with two or three bathrooms in the $10,000 to $15,000 range. Those are published national ranges for context, not our prices. Your number depends on fixture count, slab or raised construction, distance to the meter or well, sewer or septic, and the fixture package. We price off your plans and the estimate is free.

What plumbing inspections does a new build have to pass?

Three main ones. The underground drain and vent is inspected before the slab is poured. The rough in and top out is inspected after framing and before anything gets insulated or covered. The final is at trim out once fixtures are set. First Choice Plumbing calls in each inspection and meets the inspector on site.

Do I need a permit to move a toilet or a sink in a remodel?

Yes. In Florida, replacing a fixture in the same location with no change to the piping is generally a minor repair that does not require a permit, but relocating a toilet, sink, tub or shower, or adding to or altering the water or drain piping, does. Unincorporated Alachua County permits through County Growth Management and City of Gainesville addresses permit through the City.

How far out do you travel for construction work?

We are based in Hawthorne and we build throughout Alachua County and the surrounding counties in north central Florida. Construction radius is not always the same as service radius, so call us with the address and we will tell you straight whether it is a job we can staff properly. We would rather say no up front than be the sub who cannot get there.

Can you handle the well, the filtration and the septic on a county build?

We handle the plumbing side of a rural build, including the water service into the building, the filtration and softener rough in, and septic tank and drain field installation where there is no sewer to tie into. We do not do septic pump outs or septic inspections. Planning treatment during rough in rather than after the house is finished saves money and looks better.

Do you run PEX or CPVC?

Both, plus copper where the job calls for it. PEX is flexible, fast and holds up well against the mineral content in this area's water. CPVC is still common in Florida new construction. We will tell you what we would put in our own house and why, and we will run what your builder or your plans specify.

Who supplies the fixtures, and can I buy my own?

Either way works. We can supply a fixture package with the bid, or you can buy your own and we will set them. If you supply them, the manufacturer warranty follows the fixture rather than us, and it is worth having them on site before trim out so nothing holds up the schedule.

Send us the plans and find out what a plumbing sub is supposed to feel like.

Licensed, permitted, priced in writing, and phased so nobody on your job is standing around waiting on us. Estimates and bids on construction work are free. Send Us Your Plans

First Choice Plumbing | 6940 SE 221st St, Hawthorne, FL 32640 | FL Certified Plumbing Contractor CFC1430748

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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