- Leaks don't stand a chance.
Where We Serve in North Central Florida
Seven counties, one licensed local crew, and a truck that will actually drive to your address.
Rather text? Send a photo of the problem to 352-377-9447 and we’ll tell you what it sounds like.
Locally owned, out of Hawthorne. 2 year parts and labor warranty, with the manufacturer warranty on top. We patch every hole we cut. Read our story
First Choice Plumbing is a licensed, locally owned plumbing company based in Hawthorne, Florida, serving Alachua, Marion, Putnam, Clay, Bradford, Union and Levy counties. We handle leak detection, repipes, drains, water heaters, well filtration and septic work on both city water and private wells. Florida license CFC1430748. Call or text 352-377-9447. Leaks don’t stand a chance.
- FL Certified Contractor CFC1430748
- Locally Owned, Out of Hawthorne
- 2 Year Parts and Labor Warranty
- We Patch Every Hole We Cut
- Based in Hawthorne, where US 301 crosses SR 20
Why a plumber based in Hawthorne can actually get to you
Most plumbing companies in this part of the state sit inside Gainesville and work their way out until the drive stops being worth it. We started from the other direction. Our shop is in Hawthorne, right where US 301 crosses State Road 20, which is about fifteen minutes from Gainesville on SR 20, straight north up 301 through Waldo toward Starke, straight east on 20 toward Interlachen and Palatka, and south on 301 toward the Marion County line.
That is not a marketing line. It is the reason we say yes to addresses other plumbers pass on. If you live on a clay road outside Citra, or off a lake in Keystone Heights, or halfway between Lake Butler and nowhere, you have probably had a company tell you they do not come out that far, or quote you a trip charge that cost more than the repair.
Kim runs our dispatch, and she books the day geographically instead of first come first served. That is how a small crew covers seven counties without anybody driving in circles. It also means the honest answer to “can you be here today” is sometimes yes and sometimes tomorrow morning, and you will get the real answer on the phone instead of a four hour window that turns into six.
Call Now 352-377-9447 and tell us your address. We will tell you the day, straight up.
- City water, private wells and septic
What plumbing is actually like where you live
North Central Florida is not one plumbing market. It is two, sitting right next to each other, and the difference shows up in your bill.
On city water, the problem is usually the pipe, not the water
Gainesville's water comes out of the Floridan Aquifer and runs moderately hard, roughly 8 grains per gallon, which is enough to leave scale in a water heater and shorten the life of a tank over ten or twelve years. But the calls we get in town are mostly about age. Homes built before 1975 almost always have cast iron drains, and cast iron in Florida soil does not fail politely. It scales up inside, slows down, backs up, and eventually cracks under the slab. Homes built or repiped between 1978 and 1995 are in the polybutylene window, and polybutylene fails at the fittings, usually in the wall, usually at night. If your water bill jumped and nobody can tell you why, start with leak detection before you start opening walls.
On a private well, the problem is usually the water
The aquifer under this region is naturally high in iron and sulfur, and the limestone geology lets both move easily into groundwater. That is where rotten egg smell, orange staining in the tub, and ruined laundry come from. Private wells are not regulated the way a utility is, so nobody tests your water but you. We test it for free, then tell you what you actually need, which is often less than you think. An air injection or chlorine free system, a softener, a sulfur system with a gas off tank, or sometimes just a water heater flush and an anode rod change. Start here: well water filtration, water softeners, iron and sulfur removal.
On a septic tank, the yard is part of the plumbing
Outside the city sewer lines, your drains end at a tank and a drain field in your own yard. When drains slow down all at once, that is a different problem than one slow sink, and the fix is not another snake down the line. We locate tanks, install and replace tanks and drain fields, and properly abandon old ones. We are straight with you about what we do not do: we do not run pump-outs and we do not do septic inspections yet, and we will point you to the right person for those instead of taking your money for a call we cannot finish. See septic services.
Free water testing on any well property we visit
No charge, no obligation, and we will tell you if you do not need a system.
- The counties we cover
Which county are you in?
Pick your county for local detail, or scroll to your town. If you do not see your address, call us anyway. The list is where we work most, not a fence.
Our home county and the busiest one. City water in Gainesville runs moderately hard, around 8 grains per gallon out of the Floridan Aquifer, and most of the housing stock went up in the 1960s and 70s, which means original cast iron drains and a lot of water heaters living past their years. Out past the city limits it flips to private wells and septic tanks.
Towns: Gainesville · Hawthorne · Alachua · High Springs · Newberry · Archer · Jonesville · Micanopy · Waldo · La Crosse
Horse country, and almost all well water. Iron and sulfur are the two things we get called about most out here, along with barn plumbing, automatic horse waterers and frost free hydrants that nobody wants to dig up twice. Our regular Marion reach is the northern end of the county.
Towns: McIntosh · Citra · Anthony · Sparr · Fort McCoy
Straight east on State Road 20 from our shop. Lake houses, older block homes and a lot of properties on a well and a septic tank at the same time, which is exactly the kind of address that needs one company instead of three.
Towns: Interlachen · Melrose
The Keystone Heights end of the county, where sandy soil and lake level swings are hard on water lines and drain fields alike.
Towns: Keystone Heights
North on 301. Small town water systems, older homes, and plenty of galvanized and polybutylene still hiding in walls that were built or repiped between the late 70s and the mid 90s.
The smallest county we serve and one of the most underserved. Wells, septic, and long driveways.
Towns: Lake Butler
Farm and equine properties on the Williston side, where filtration, hose bibs, pasture lines and outdoor kitchens make up most of what we do.
Towns: Williston
Not sure yet? Read what we do and call when you are ready.
- What we do everywhere we go
What we do in every county on this page
Water bill spiked, warm spot on the floor, sound of running water with everything off. We find it for $375 flat, and if we don’t find it, you don’t pay.
Cast iron, galvanized and polybutylene replaced with PEX or copper, and every hole we cut gets professionally patched.
Two different jobs. Clearing is the clog today. Cleaning is milling the inside of an old cast iron line back to smooth. Drain descaling
Tank and tankless, gas, propane and electric, installed and repaired, with the permit pulled.
Iron, sulfur, staining and smell, sorted out after a free test instead of a guess.
Locating, installs, drain fields and proper abandonment. No pump-outs and no inspections yet, and we will say so.
First Choice Plumbing, NuFlow Certified Contractor. Line the old pipe instead of cutting up the house or the parking lot.
Horse waterers, hydrants, pasture lines, hose bibs and outdoor kitchens, out where the barn is.
Burst pipe, no water, water where it should not be. Call and we will tell you how to shut it off while we are on the way.
Restaurants, salons and older buildings that cannot afford to close. Lining and descaling instead of demolition.
Licensed Florida plumbing contractor CFC1430748. Financing available on jobs over $500.
- What happens when you call
What happens when you call us
Tell us the address and what it's doing.
Call or text 352-377-9447. Kim will ask where you are and what you are seeing, because a slow drain in a 1968 Gainesville house and a slow drain on a septic tank in Interlachen are two different conversations.
We give you a real day and a real window.
Not a promise we cannot keep because you live an hour out. If today is not honest, we will say tomorrow.
- Permits
Who issues your plumbing permit out here?
It depends on your address, not your mailing city, and that catches people out constantly. In Florida, altering, repairing, replacing or converting a plumbing system generally needs a permit, and that includes a water heater changeout that plenty of handymen do without one.
If you are in unincorporated Alachua County, permitting runs through Alachua County Growth Management. If your address is inside the City of Gainesville, or inside another municipality like Alachua, High Springs, Newberry or Waldo, that city’s building office handles it. In Marion, Putnam, Clay, Bradford, Union and Levy counties, the county building department handles unincorporated addresses and each town handles its own. Septic permitting is its own track and runs through the county health department, with extra requirements in the springs protection zones around the Santa Fe River and the Gainesville area.
We pull the permit and meet the inspector. You should not have to learn any of this to get a water heater replaced.
- Meet the owner
The licensed name behind the truck
First Choice Plumbing is owned and run by Will Harrod, Florida Certified Plumbing Contractor CFC1430748. It is a local shop.
That matters more out here than it does in the city. When you are on a dirt road forty minutes from anywhere, you are not looking for a brand. You are looking for somebody whose name is on the license, who will pick up when you call back, and who will still be around in two years when the warranty means something.
- Will runs the estimates and still works jobs.
- Big Mike runs the service and drain calls.
- Kim answers the phone and dispatches.
- Ben is the helper who is catching on fast.
- How we compare
The difference is in the details
Licensed Florida plumbing contractor CFC1430748. Financing available on jobs over $500.
| What you are comparing | First Choice Plumbing | Typical franchise or big-name plumber |
|---|---|---|
| How far they will drive | Seven counties, based in Hawthorne so the outlying towns are on the way, not out of the way | A radius drawn around a city shop, with the rural edge quietly declined |
| What it costs to get them out | $69 flat, published on the site, waived on larger jobs, same fee in every county | No price anywhere on the website, plus a mileage or after-hours add-on you hear about later |
| Finding a hidden leak | $375 flat. We find it or you don't pay, and we write it up for your insurance claim | Hourly diagnostic with no guarantee and no claim paperwork |
| Well and septic properties | Filtration, softeners, iron and sulfur, septic tanks and drain fields, all in house | City water and sewer only, then a referral out for anything past the meter |
| After a repipe or a wall cut | We patch every hole we cut, by a drywall contractor. You bring the paint color | Holes left open and a patch crew that is your problem to hire |
| Who shows up | A small local crew. The owner still runs estimates and still works jobs | A rotating tech on commission, with the owner three states away |
| Who answers the phone | Kim, in the office, who knows the route and the county | A national call center reading a script |
| Warranty | 2 years parts and labor, manufacturer warranty on top | 1 year, or parts only, buried in the paperwork |
| Honest limits | We publish what we do not do and send you to the right person for it | Everything is offered, then subcontracted at a markup |
- Honest limits
Where we don't go, and what we don't do
Most companies will not tell you this until the truck is supposed to be there, so here it is up front.
Our regular Marion County reach is the northern end: McIntosh, Citra, Anthony, Sparr and Fort McCoy. Ocala proper is not our routine territory yet. On the west side we run Williston, and we are not pushing service into Bronson or Chiefland. If you are past our regular route, call anyway and we will either work you in or tell you honestly that you are better off with somebody closer.
On the work itself: we are plumbers, not general contractors. No tile, no paint, no HVAC, no electrical. We do not do septic pump-outs or septic inspections, we do not pull tanks out of the ground, and we do not do backflow certification. When your job needs one of those, we will tell you who to call. We would rather lose the call than take your money for something we cannot finish right.
- Why it matters
What it costs to keep waiting
A hidden leak does not stay the same size. It runs up the bill every month, softens the slab or the subfloor, and turns a repair into a claim. Iron and sulfur keep eating fixtures and staining laundry. A cast iron line that is already scaled shut does not un-scale. The longer a rural address goes without a plumber willing to drive out, the more of these small things quietly turn into big ones.
What it looks like fixed. The bill goes back to normal. The water stops smelling like eggs. The drains run. You have one licensed company you can call for the house, the well and the yard, and you have the same phone number two years from now when something else comes up.
Want to see how we work first? Read our story.
How far we will drive
Seven counties, based in Hawthorne so the outlying towns are on the way, not out of the way.
What it costs to get us out
$69 flat, published on the site, waived on larger jobs, same fee in every county.
Warranty
2 years parts and labor, manufacturer warranty on top.
Honest limits
We publish what we do not do and send you to the right person for it.
- Frequently asked questions
Questions we get about our service area
- Ready when you are
Tell us where you are. We'll tell you when we can be there.
Licensed, locally owned, and based right in the middle of everywhere we serve. $69 to come out and diagnose it, waived on larger jobs, and a two year warranty on the work. Leaks don’t stand a chance.
Call Now 352-377-9447 | Book Online
First Choice Plumbing · 6940 SE 221st St, Hawthorne, FL 32640 · FL License 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.
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First Choice Plumbing
6940 SE 221st St
Hawthorne, FL 32640 - Office Mon to Fri, 8 to 5. Emergency line 24/7.
Copyright © 2026 First Choice Plumbing Inc. All rights reserved. FL Certified Plumbing Contractor CFC1430748.
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